Sushi Fukami, a new eight-seat omakase counter from seasoned Portland sushi pros, is lining up a July debut in downtown and betting that a tiny room with serious fish can hang with the city’s heavy hitters. Diners will sit elbow-to-elbow at an intimate hinoki-wood chef’s counter for a tasting that is expected to include roughly 13 to 15 pieces of nigiri, plus five to seven snacks, with pricing projected around $175 to $195 per person before drinks and tip. The operation will run inside a moody, roughly 700-square-foot space near the Multnomah Whiskey Library and will start with a single seating per night on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.
That plan comes via Michael Russell at The Oregonian/OregonLive, which reports that Sushi Fukami will take over a street-level storefront at 1128 S.W. Alder and is aiming to open in July. A commercial listing for the address describes the unit as roughly 700 square feet and notes its proximity to the Multnomah Whiskey Library, with existing kitchen infrastructure that helps explain why the team chose the spot. According to the same report, the counter will seat eight guests, with a few additional a la carte seats, and will offer just one nightly seating from Thursday through Saturday.
Portland Pedigree
Cody Auger, the chef behind Nimblefish and the long-running Fukami pop-ups, is attached to the downtown counter, which gives Sushi Fukami instant credibility among local sushi obsessives. Auger’s work at Nimblefish helped cement his reputation for Edo-style nigiri and for putting rarer Japanese seafood on Portland menus. Eater Portland and other local outlets have documented how that approach helped reshape the city’s high-end sushi scene.
Menu, Service and Sourcing
According to The Oregonian/OregonLive, the omakase will lean heavily on Edo techniques such as curing, marinating, and other traditional preservation methods, with the team planning to source most of its seafood from Japan. The tasting is expected to revolve around a 13 to 15 piece progression of nigiri, framed by five to seven snacks, a soup course, and dessert. Guests will be able to order extra pieces between courses if they want to keep the party going, though the base experience is still expected to land around $175 to $195 per person before drinks and tip. The same report notes that the counter will be topped in hinoki, or Japanese cypress, so the fish is showcased cleanly in front of the chef’s station.
Downtown Fit
The new counter is moving into a compact, tourist-facing storefront in Portland’s West End, close to several hotels and the Multnomah Whiskey Library, which puts fine-dining sushi within easy reach of visitors and downtown regulars alike. A Crexi listing for 1128 S.W. Alder highlights a type-I hood, grease interceptor, and potential for sidewalk seating, features that make a small, chef-centric counter more practical than a full-scale dining room. For downtown diners, Sushi Fukami brings a high-end omakase option to a neighborhood that has historically ceded much of the city’s top-tier sushi to its Southeast corridors.
Sushi Fukami is scheduled to open in July 2026, and with only a handful of seats and a single seating each night, reservations are likely to be scarce. The owners are positioning the project as a tightly focused, Japan-forward tasting counter rather than a larger full-service restaurant, and reservation details are expected to land as opening day gets closer. For now, local coverage will be the place to watch for booking information and any tweaks to the initial game plan.
