Go Fish Eatery Was in the Cards for Sushi Fan

There was a period of time about three years ago when Tom Welton, then manager of the Ventura Theatre, was looking for something to occupy his time after work.

Welton, a regular diner at Juro’ Cho’ Sushi, located near the theater in downtown Ventura, decided to request some sushi lessons several nights a week from the Juro’ Cho’ chefs.

Apparently the lessons had quite an impact.

In mid-November, Welton plans to open his own restaurant, Go Fish California Sushi & Grill, across from the Arcade in Ojai.

“Ojai is a very unique area, quite an eclectic group of people, but one thing I have found is everybody likes to eat healthy,” said Welton, who left the Ventura Theatre in January after 8 1/2 years there. “Sushi is a very clean food, almost purifying.”

Welton said his menu will be about one-third sushi and two-thirds grill--a cuisine, he said, that will be influenced by Japan, China, Thailand and California. He expects the combination of sushi and grill to attract even the sushi-shy community.

“It will appeal to the vegetarians in the community and it will appeal to people who wouldn’t ordinarily come in,” he said. “We’ve also got cooked fish, grilled fish, blackened fish. It’s geared more to an American audience.”

The Go Fish menu will include appetizers such as charred tuna with sun-dried cherry pepper sauce, poached whole-garlic tempura and grilled yellowtail wrapped in a Japanese mint leaf and served with nori seaweed, jalapeno and green onion. The appetizers will range from $3 to $6.95.

Entrees, priced from $9.95 to $16.50, will include paper-wrapped salmon baked with ginger and Japanese mushrooms, banana curry scallops on a bed of mango butter and spicy, skillet-seared shrimp with cilantro, garlic and red chile.

Welton plans to share the kitchen duties with two other chefs.

“It’s a fun menu,” he said. “This is in no way extremely fancy or pretentious. It’s a place where people will feel comfortable in jeans and a T-shirt or a shirt and tie.”

Go Fish will be open for dinner Tuesday through Friday and for a late lunch and dinner Saturday and Sunday. The restaurant will be located at 469 E. Ojai Ave.

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Rose Burtchby, the new owner of Ventura’s City Bakery, believes in maintaining the status quo if it works. And as far as she’s concerned, City Bakery works.

“I’m planning on keeping the same good foods, the same breads, the same salads, the same good quality,” said Burtchby, formerly the head cook and kitchen manager at the establishment. “It’s successful just the way it is.”

Burtchby, who left the restaurant in January after three years heading up the kitchen, purchased City Bakery earlier this month. Its previous owner, Mabel Chase, moved to Hawaii in August with her husband, George Keenan, who took a teaching job on the island.

It was on Chase’s return visit home in early September that she and Burtchby worked out the deal, much to the latter’s surprise.

“I had no idea I was going to buy the bakery,” said the new owner. “She made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

Burtchby will prepare specials and host dinner events--such as the Moroccan meal she has planned for Nov. 2--but for the most part she will leave the food preparation to three other cooks.

Nick Santos, a six-year City Bakery veteran, will continue as breakfast chef and kitchen manager. He shares duties with cooks Jason Bayes and Romeo Solis.

City Bakery is located at 2358 E. Main St.