Gregory J. Holman

GHOLMAN@NEWS-LEADER.COM

There's a new Asian mashup restaurant in town.

The Exotic Grill opened Oct. 11, serving Filipino and Japanese food. The two cuisines come together in the same eatery due to a collaboration between the owners, Letty Soriano and her son Dennis, plus the chef and manager, Satoshi Hiromitsu.

The new restaurant is at 307 S. National Ave., a converted house whose past tenants include a barbecue joint, a pizza place and a chicken-wing pub.

Now, it serves dishes like lumpia, a hearty Filipino take on spring rolls, along with ramen, a Japanese staple consisting of noodles swimming in pork or chicken-based broth, garnished with meats and vegetables.

"We wanted it to be regular-people food, street food," said Dennis Soriano. "It's what we ate growing up. It's not only different for Springfield, it's something we hold very close to us."

The Sorianos hail from Poplar Bluff, where they worked with Hiromitsu before he moved to Springfield eight years ago.

In 2003, they decided to open a restaurant in Poplar Bluff, also dubbed The Exotic Grill, because other than Chinese buffets they weren't aware of any Asian restaurants in that southeast Missouri city of 17,000 people.

"In Poplar Bluff, our menu was very eclectic," Dennis Soriano said, from sushi to sandwiches. "We wanted to have something that anyone could eat."

Before the Sorianos began to eye the Springfield market, a series of real-estate hiccups led them to relocate their Poplar Bluff restaurant four times.

"It was like they're pushing us away — shoo, shoo," Letty Soriano said. "But once we were in the location we have now, then we made good. I think it's the Lord's guidance."

In Springfield, the Sorianos noticed a more diverse population than in Poplar Bluff, including college students and a developing Filipino community. Many Filipino folks newly arrived in Springfield work in health care, they said.

Meanwhile, despite a wide range of Asian restaurants, Springfield didn't have one with a focus on ramen.

The Sorianos and Hiromitsu said that these factors presented a market ripe for development.

Thus, the Springfield version of The Exotic Grill is “a little bit different” than the one in Poplar Bluff.

In their first two weeks of business, they said Springfield's response has been enthusiastic. They’ve already begun booking some meetings for a bank and other companies in their upstairs private dining room, they said.

Meanwhile, the Sorianos and Satoshi said members of the local Filipino community have told them the food reminds them of home.

Letty Soriano said she has begun taking requests from people who are interested in Filipino dishes that aren’t listed on the menu.

“Call me the week before and tell me how many people,” she said.

Want to Go?

The Exotic Grill

307 S. National Ave., 417-368-1394

Find the restaurant on Facebook.

Tues.-Thurs. 11 a.m.-9 p.m.

Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-10 p.m.