Sushi Village is a Whistler landmark. After four decades as a vibrant social hub and hedonistic home for many, the restaurant’s mark on the map is, arguably, more cultural than culinary — although kitchen creativity and cuisine rank up there in almost equal measure.
Feet Banks — writer, editor, “(shitty) filmmaker,” as he describes himself, and local legend-of-many-things — has written the book on this Whistler institution and its colourful legacy: a 300-page celebration of the who, how, why and what, including the recipes “people have been trying to duplicate for literal decades and failed!”
“For all intents and purposes, I tell people I grew up at Sushi Village,” explains Banks. “I started working there when I was 18, fresh out of high school. I paid my way through university by working at Sushi Village.… I worked there till I was 30.”
It was owner Naoko Homma who first expressed interest in creating a book that honoured the history of the infamous establishment. Banks relays how she wanted to share “the real deal.” There would be no sugar-coating. Naoko, who has been with the restaurant for more than 30 years — she’s the wife of co-founder Miki Homma and now the sole proprietor — gave Banks “the green light to take it as far as [he] wanted.”
And how far did he go? “There’s definitely a chapter called ‘A Brief History of Whistler Nudity’ to set up Johnny Thrash streaking through the restaurant with chopsticks on his nuts,” Banks says, and “there’s definitely ‘Sex, Drugs, and Dumbo Sake.’” So, pretty far.
Banks’s book celebrates Sushi Village’s recent 40th anniversary and is set for release in June. At the time of this writing, its final title was still being debated, but its disclaimer was set:
It was a long time ago. Memory is fluid, subjective, and most of us were drinking heavily in those days. The stories in this book have been pulled from the recollections of people who were, for the most part, already living on the fringes of “normal” society (and happy to do so). Under such circumstances, it’s realistic to expect that some of these retellings may include exaggerations, omissions, and a few outright lies. Please take everything that follows with a proverbial grain of salt.
Especially if you are the liquor inspector.
But what flows through the pages is not all salt and sass, raucous and raunchy. The book includes a sobering exploration of the devastating history of Canada’s Japanese internment camps and some of the lingering effects. “There’s a history of sushi in North America,” as well as a discussion of “the impact that Japanese tourism had in the ’80s when their economy was booming and how that helped Whistler grow,” Banks explains. “I wanted to be very respectful and pay tribute to the Japanese culture, to the three founders of the restaurant.”
To do so, and to pay homage to Toshi Saito, Koji Shimizu and Miki Homma, Banks spoke with 100 people. He interviewed the two remaining co-founders (Miki passed away in 2017). “I spoke with old sushi chefs. I spoke with old servers. I spoke with old customers. And I spoke with just general Whistler history people.” This included staff at the Whistler Museum and Archives. Banks then handed all the ideas, hundreds of photos and a 50,000-plus-word manuscript to a trusted designer friend (and fellow spicy tofu lover). The resulting book reflects the dynamism of the restaurant and underscores its multi-tiered value and place in the community.
Banks worked with an appreciative all-star crew on this project, packing the pages with photographs and memories that highlight everything from the partying to the steady, supportive role Sushi Village has played in Whistler philanthropically. “They really supported their staff, and they really supported their community more than anyone, I think, ever realized, because they didn’t make a lot of fanfare about it,” Banks says. “Every single person who walked into Sushi Village saying, ‘Hey, can you give certificates for our charity fundraiser?’ walked out with gift certificates.” Supporting everyone from athletes to not-for-profits, Sushi Village continues to be an active sponsor within the community.
The book is loosely structured into two parts. Half focuses on the restaurant’s ideologies and history (including the Sushi Too! location in the Upper Village that was open for a couple of years). The serious stuff.
For the other half, Banks “literally went through the restaurant, table by table. Table one told a story, table two told a story, table three told a story, table four.… There’s definitely a story or two for every table,” says Banks of the place whose décor has stayed much the same since its inception.
And then there are the recipes for the dishes prepared and plated in the kitchen’s open sushi bar. Banks was surprised how willing Naoko was to share some of the beloved menu features. Authentically Japanese dishes and all-time customer faves include the chicken karaage, spicy agedashi tofu, seared salmon box, pan-fried squid and the “unparalleled” spinach gomae. Other original Sushi Village creations included in the mix: the sake margarita and the super hiro roll.
There are stories about the legendary Dumbo bottles (a Sushi Village staple: large rice-wine vinegar bottles decorated with edgy art and filled with a lot of sake — something a young Banks had a hand in devising), the Jack-O’Clock (when the siren sounded, staff and customers alike would bolt to the bar for a shot of bourbon) and the stairs (crooked at best, and the cause of a few too many concussions).
Folly and fun may earmark Sushi Village, but perhaps most invaluable is the feeling of family that it exudes and fosters. It’s hard to quantify. “It feels like home, but other people who didn’t grow up in there all say they feel that same thing,” claims Banks. It’s true. That feeling of home is what has drawn me, the writer of this article, back time and time again. Sushi Village is where I’ve marked my milestones. It’s where I’ve written some of my best work, scribbled on soy-sauce-stained napkins. It’s where people feel seen and heard — and leave more than just well-fed.
And it’s why I wanted to speak with Banks about this project, one that I, as a writer, would find extremely daunting: honouring the almost-indescribable essence of a place that defies categorization. He conveyed how special Sushi Village is and what it means to so many of us.
I asked Banks if he felt he’d captured the spirit of Sushi Village in the book. “I think I captured what it is for me. If anything, [the book is] a love letter, a well-researched love letter to one place and 10,000 hearts.”
Visit Sushi Village for the experience and to buy the book (also available at Armchair Books), slated for release in June.