At the new downtown Cedar Rapids sushi spot Wasabi, the food is all-you-can-eat, but don't expect a buffet.

Each item is cooked to order. Diners can order two or three dishes at once and keep ordering until they are full.

"We cook it fresh and bring it to the table," manager Sarah Knoot says.

That gives people a chance to try different dishes and encourages them not to be afraid to branch out, says co-owner Vicky Zheng.

"A lot of people want to try sushi, to try different things," she says. "But a lot of people are scared about sushi - a lot think it's just raw fish, but it's not."

Wasabi's menu features many rolls with fully-cooked fillings. Along with soup and appetizers, they also offer fried rice, teriyaki, tempura and teppanyaki, sometimes also known as hibachi in the United States.

Lunch is $15.99 for all-you-can-eat, and dinner is $24.99. The restaurant also has an a la carte and to-go menu and a limited late-night menu, along with a full bar.

Zheng and her brother, Leo Zheng, opened Wasabi Oct. 7 at 221 Second Ave. SE. The duo also own Osaka Japanese Steak House and Sushi Bar, 5001 First Ave. SE #104, Cedar Rapids, which they bought in December from original owner Kong Ni, who now owns Mandarin Spice Asian Grill at 1412 Twixt Town Road in Marion.

Osaka focuses on hibachi-style food, complete with flashy chefs who turn cooking into a performance, flipping food and lighting onions on fire in front of customers. But Zheng says it was time to open a sushi-focused space.

"Sushi has become so much more popular, the sushi bar there (at Osaka) was getting very full," she says.

Wasabi also serves hibachi, but it is cooked in the kitchen rather than as a performance.

The restaurant's location previously housed another sushi restaurant, Kazoku, which closed earlier this year. Zheng has kept the Kazoku decore, which she says allowed her to open quickly. She says she's confident her restaurant can succeed despite Kazoku's closure.

"I heard downtown Cedar Rapids was growing, and I wanted to offer sushi downtown," she says.

She has plenty of experience behind her - Zheng has been in the restaurant business for eight years. Originally from China, she moved to

Canada as a teen before coming to the United States to attend Louisiana State University. After college, she helped friends open two Chinese buffet restaurants in West Virginia, and then moved to Washington state, where she helped open another restaurant.

After another move, this time to New York City, she met her husband, a hibachi chef who owned a restaurant in Pennsylvania. The couple live in Fargo, N.D., where they own another hibachi-style restaurant.

Her brother, who serves as Wasabi's chef, lives in Cedar Rapids, and Zheng says she and her husband are considering relocating here, if the new venture goes well.

"It's always been hibachi restaurants - I've never tried quiet, fine dining style before," she says. "But I want to let more people know more about Japanese food beyond just hibachi."

Eat Up!

WHERE: 221 Second Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids

WHEN: Open 11 a.m. to late. Limited menu after 9:30 p.m. Sunday to Thursday, 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Closing times vary.

DETAILS: (319) 366-3242; wasabicr.com