BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Sushi chef Kelly Viall thinks food should be fun, creative and, in her particular case, transportable.

So when Viall opened her Wasabi Juan's Sushi Burritos fast-casual restaurant in Avondale earlier this summer, she capitalized on an exceptional idea that she calls "a Japanese/Mexican mash-up."

And while Viall got her inspiration from a couple of sushi burrito food trucks on the West Coast, the concept of serving Japanese sushi wrapped in a Mexican-style burrito has proven to be a hit here, too.

"You can get sushi in a lot of places, but we wanted to offer something different," Viall says. "So we offered the burritos. We wanted to try to do like a Japanese/Mexican mash-up. . . . It's traditional Japanese ingredients, just rolled in a different style, rolled like a burrito.

"We just want it to be fun," she adds. I teach sushi classes, and a lot of people in sushi class are intimidated by sushi because they don't know enough about it. . . .

"So we wanted to make it really simple, fun and creative, and give everybody something that they enjoy eating. So Mexican and sushi together -- everybody's happy."

Viall, who lives in Huffman, learned to become a sushi chef while working at Jellyfish in Perdido Key and at Live Bait in Orange Beach. After she moved back to Birmingham about five years ago, she also worked at Rock 'N Roll Sushi in Trussville and Bluefin on Southside.

In Birmingham, she befriended Barbie and Luis Toro, who took her sushi classes. When Viall decided to open a place of her own, the Toros not only became her financial backers, but they also work at Wasabi Juan's as her business partners.

Viall originally wanted to start a food truck, but changed her mind because of all the red tape she would have had to go through to get one up and running.

Then Coby Lake at Avondale Brewing Company offered her a good deal on the same block with the brewery, Saw's Soul Kitchen and Post Office Pies. She couldn't say no.

"I was like, 'Absolutely,''' Viall says. "You have a built-in customer base because the brewery is so big and they have so many people over there."

Wasabi Juan's Sushi Burritos also offers a kids' meal with a choice of shrimp or steak, a rice penguin, apple slices and Doritos. (Photo courtesy of Wasabi Juan's)

The building had been a dentist's office, and after several weeks of construction work converting it into a restaurant space, Wasabi Juan's Sushi Burritos opened on July 20.

Although Viall abandoned the idea of a food truck, she stuck with the idea of having "portable" food, she says.

"The whole idea of making burritos is that they are portable," she says. "You can stand on a sidewalk and eat it or walk down the street and eat it."

Wasabi Juan's has even converted a few diners who haven't tried sushi before, Viall says.

"You don't have to use chop sticks," she says. "You eat with your hands. It's transportable, and it's kind of user-friendly to new people who have never had sushi before."

The menu features 13 burritos, which are served in a soy wrap, and they come with chips and house-made salsa on the side.

The most popular burrito is the LHM ($11), which is short for "Lord Have Mercy," and comes with shrimp, spicy raw ahi tuna, avocado, cream cheese, spicy mayo and unagi (eel) sauce. Another favorite is the Toro ($11), with seared steak, shrimp, cream cheese and unagi sauce.

Meat lovers have the Cowboy ($10), with seared steak, avocado and cream cheese. And vegetarians have the Hippy ($7), with avocado, jalapenos, cucumbers, apples, cabbage and furikake seasoning.

A popular appetizer is the 420 Nachos ($7), a basket of Doritos topped with spicy ahi tuna, avocados, spicy mayo and unagi sauce. "It's a weird combo," Viall says, "but it works and everybody raves about it."

To see the full menu, go here.

To see photos of some of the menu items, click on the slideshow at the top of this story.

Wasabi Juan's is at 4120 Third Ave. South in Avondale. The phone number is 205-703-8891, and the website is www.wasabijuan.com.

Hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. (and occasionally later) Fridays and Saturdays, and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays.

New to the Menu in Birmingham appears periodically on AL.com's Birmingham site. To suggest a new restaurant or one that has made changes to its menu, email bcarlton@al.com.