Shiitake Sizzle brings fresh, exotic mushrooms to the table

MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake has a pretty good variety of places to eat, but this is something new: a restaurant centered around mushrooms. 

Shiitake Sizzle, which opened in late August in downtown Moses Lake, incorporates into its cuisine the varieties of mushrooms grown by Basin Mushroom, a local grower and frequent vendor at the Moses Lake Farmers Market. 

“We have our own gourmet mushrooms,” said chef Koey Pan, who co-owns Shiitake Sizzle with Dahlia O’Neil and Iris Ou and Basin Mushroom with Pan’s husband, Dennis Schonberg. “All the mushrooms we provide are from (our) mushroom farm. We’ll harvest in the morning, and then we sell them all through the day in the restaurant.” 

These are not the little white or brown mushrooms you typically buy in the supermarket. Besides the eponymous shiitake, Basin Mushroom grows varieties with names like bear hat, lion’s mane and blue oyster, any of which might be on the menu on a given day, depending on what was picked that morning.  

“Every day is different,” Pan said. “Sometimes you come here, and we have this in the morning, but we don’t have that.” 

The menu is a fairly short one, and O’Neil said that won’t change any time soon. The centerpiece dish is what they call a “sizzle,” which is rice and vegetables stir-fried with meat, fish or tofu and, of course, the mushrooms of the day. Sizzles are served up in a hot skillet with a little paper ring around it to keep the diner from getting burned.  

Besides the sizzles, there are truffle fries and a deep-fried sampler of a variety of mushrooms, and sushi tacos, which is basically salmon or eel with rice in a folded shell made from crisp-fried nori seaweed. Desserts are Ou’s specialty: hand-rolled mochi balls and egg tarts. 

 It’s Asian fusion, O’Neil said, but still authentically Asian. 

“(Some) other Asian restaurants, they’re Chinese food, but more like Americans’ Chinese food,” said Pan, who came to the U.S. 10 years ago from China. “When I first came here, I couldn’t find the food that actually felt like home, so I want to provide that.” 

None of the owners of Shiitake Sizzle has run a restaurant before, O’Neil said, although Pan and Ou have worked as servers at other restaurants. O’Neil’s background is in business management, so she handles marketing and keeping the books. Pan’s cooking has all been at home in the past, but she’s not at all put off by making the same dishes for crowds.

“We’re in the black,” O’Neil said. “So, it’s been successful so far.” 

The move from mushroom farm to restaurant came when the owner of the Tree Cafe, a Chinese restaurant, wanted to retire and asked Pan to help sell the equipment, O’Neil said. Instead, the three women decided to buy it themselves and renovate the space. 

The renovation took about a year, O’Neil said. 

“We bumped out the kitchen, made it larger, made the bathroom ADA-compliant, all the plumbing and electrical. We put in a new ceiling, we put in new lights, painted, put in flooring and all-new flooring and purchased (some) special equipment,” she said. 

The result was a minimally decorated, well-lit space. Shiitake Sizzle opened at the beginning of August, had its grand opening Sept. 10 and has enjoyed a steady stream of business since, O’Neil said. 

“We're still getting new faces, but we have a lot of returning customers as well,” she said. “Some very loyal customers in just a month and a half. So it's been great.” 

Shiitake Sizzle 

218 W. Third Ave.
Moses Lake, WA 98837
509-910-0187 

Hours: Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

    Shiitake Sizzle’s signature sizzle dish is served on a hot skillet and includes plenty of the restaurant’s own sizzle sauce.
  

    Besides the sizzle, Shiitake Sizzle’s menu includes Asian desserts and a fusion concoction called a sushi taco, served in a crisp nori shell.
  

    Shiitake Sizzle is located at 218 W. Third Ave. in Moses Lake, across the street from the U.S. Post Office.