Oishii owner brings new ramen-focused Japanese restaurant to former Captain D's location

Origami Japanese Restaurant is coming to the former Captain D’s location on Sterling Street sometime in early November.

Owner Julie Phan Bentley said the new restaurant will feature build-your-own ramen, an idea she said she is excited to share with Morganton, while staying true to Japanese restaurant staples, including hibachi grill offerings and sushi.

Bentley’s family, including her dad and his wife, has owned Nara Express in Lenoir for more than two decades and Oishii Japanese Restaurant in Morganton for 12 years, but neither of those restaurants offer ramen, she said. Each restaurant has its unique offerings, but Origami will be the only one with the ramen feature on the menu.

“I like ramen and it’s hard for me to find a restaurant to go eat at with ramen, so I decided why not add it to our menu,” Bentley said, adding that while she is new to offering ramen, she loves to eat it so she’s excited to implement it.

The location of the restaurant at 2117 S. Sterling St., is a major perk, Bentley said, because of its proximity to Interstate 40, the hospital nearby, the higher education training center across the street, and the busy business corridor of South Sterling Street.

For the style of restaurant, Bentley said that Origami will be a quick service experience more than a dine-in restaurant. Customers will be able to utilize online ordering, call-in ordering, or even ordering through the drive thru. However, there will be a few spots for people if they want to come in and eat.

“We’re not fast food. We’re cooked fresh and good food, but that drive thru has that convenience,” Bentley said.

The hibachi and sushi menus have already been developed, Bentley said, but she’s still working on the ramen menu to perfect it before opening.

“With ramen there’s endless toppings and different broths and so I’m trying to make it as straightforward as possible, but also you can kind of get creative because that’s the beauty of ramen,” she said.

The hibachi and sushi menu will be similar to the menus at the other restaurants, she said. “That’s just a classic that’s like the bread and butter of Japanese restaurants, like Teriyaki chicken or Hibachi steak and it has the shrimp sauce with it to go over the rice. That’s just the staple so we can’t not have it.”

The sushi menu will feature classic sushi rolls like the California roll and the Philadelphia roll and include creations of their own. There will also be the option to build your own roll, Bentley said, just like the ramen.

In addition to a new fresh coat of paint and signage, Bentley said she will be decorating the interior of the restaurant with fun paper cranes and paper stars.

“Origami kind of goes into the make-your-own ramen and sushi because it’s like an art,” Bentley said. “You can kind of mold it into what you want, so that’s kind of the idea of what we’re going for.”

Bentley said she’s hoping to hire around 15 employees to get the business up and running. She said she has already hired some employees who are training at the other restaurant locations to prepare them for working at Origami, but she’s still looking to hire front-of-house employees like a cashier or an assistant manager. For those interested in applying, they can come to either Origami or one of the other restaurant locations.

Depending on staffing, Bentley said she’s hoping to have the restaurant open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. for lunch and dinner like the other restaurant locations. But she said there’s a possibility that they could be closed on Sundays.

With the cold months ahead, Bentley said she encourages people to try ramen if they haven’t as it’s a cozy meal that “warms the soul.”