New Japanese Grocery Keeps Customers In The Loop

Jody Sharninghausen bought matcha powder, umeboshi, and furikake powder to go — and ordered a fried chicken bento box to stay — at a new Japanese grocery store and restaurant downtown. 

Sharninghausen was one of a handful of customers the Independent spoke with on Sunday at The Loop by Hachiroku, which opened on June 22 at 367 Orange St. in a ground-floor commercial space at Audubon Square. 

“We go out of our way to come here,” said another customer, Kari Williams, in praise of The Loop. Williams and her family appreciate having access to authentic Japanese cuisine and ingredients, something that can be difficult to find in New Haven.

“We come here from Westport,” she said. ​“I’ve recently been working in Japan, and this is the closest place to get Japanese food.”

Williams’s family’s favorite dish to get is the pre-packaged fish and seafood onigiri. They like to pick up a couple and take them on a family excursion. ​“It makes everybody happy,” said Williams.

For Yuta Kamori, chef and owner of The Loop, the restaurant fills a niche. ​“We felt like New Haven was missing a Japanese market here,” he said. ​“We want to make a hybrid market and restaurant, that’s the concept.”

Currently, customers can purchase packaged meals from the kitchen and eat them in a large and comfortable room to the left of the grocery area. They are able to have a meal while doing their shopping at the same time, a convenience that — along with the delicious food — keeps customers coming back for seconds.

“People know the food, they know what they’re looking for,” said Kamori. ​“We’re proud our customers choose us.”

“People are the most key,” he added. ​“I’m lucky to have good people working for me.”

Fumio Minoguchi has been working at The Loop as a cashier and a kitchen worker since its opening. He enjoys the ability to cycle between roles and experience all aspects of the grocery store and restaurant.

“I like doing groceries and kitchen things,” he said. ​“I like the flexibility of doing different things instead of being a cashier all the time.”

Minoguchi also appreciates the concept of combining a grocery store and a restaurant. ​“It feels different,” he said.

His favorite dish is the beef or rice bowls, although he eats ​“pretty much everything” The Loop has to offer. The beef is seasoned to perfection, like an explosion of flavors on the tongue.

James S., a third- or fourth-time customer at The Loop, has kept coming back to buy his groceries there. ​“It’s pretty much the only Japanese convenience store in the area,” he said. So when he gets hungry for Japanese cuisine, he knows where to go. He and his wife particularly enjoyed the tamari jelly, which contains chunks of fruit and has twice the tang and all of the sweetness of other store’s jelly. ​“I got quite a few,” James S. laughed.

Jessica Bautista and Zeff Bona are also regulars at The Loop. ​“I like that it has a wide array of Japanese groceries,” said Bautista. ​“They stock a lot of harder to find items, especially the meats and fish,” added Bona.

Bautista’s favorite dish to buy is the chirashi bowls, which contain seafood sashimi and sushi rice. Bona enjoys all the dishes. ​“I’ll eat any of the prepared foods here,” he said.

Sharninghausen, meanwhile, was a first time customer. ​“I’m really happy to see the food here,” she said. ​“I think some of these things you couldn’t get in New Haven before.” Previously, if Sharninghausen wanted Japanese food, she had to go to Maruichi Japanese Food & Deli in downtown Stamford. The Loop was much easier and more convenient.

“It adds something, because we didn’t have this before,” she said.

The customers and staff of The Loop all agreed that the grocery store and restaurant was filling a noticeable hole in the New Haven culinary experience. Whether they were traveling to get there or just walking a few blocks, customers had easier access to Japanese cuisine and ingredients. In the words of Kari Williams, everybody was happy.