Fenixa Breakfast & Sushi Rises From Geisha Restaurant Fire

A New Kitchen Rises on 41st Avenue

When a fire partially destroyed the Geisha Japanese Restaurant last March, it displaced a community of staff who had spent years working there and eventually pooled their resources to open a new business. Fenixa Breakfast & Sushi has officially opened its doors at 2623 41st Avenue, transforming the site of a former breakfast spot into a restaurant that serves traditional American breakfast and sushi with Mexican influence. The venture is led by Raymundo Cortes, who spent over 20 years at Geisha, rising from a dishwasher to a manager. When the fire forced the closure of his longtime workplace, Cortes and his business partner, Daniel Sanchez—alongside a core group of former Geisha employees—decided to pool their resources. By September, they had launched Fenixa, a business that reflects the personal history of its founders while offering a menu that refuses to choose between morning classics and evening sushi.

The Fusion of Breakfast and Sushi

The logic behind the menu is as pragmatic as it is creative. Cortes and Sanchez both brought years of experience cooking traditional American breakfasts, and they knew the space they acquired was already equipped for that service. Rather than abandoning their background in Japanese cuisine, they integrated it. The result is a dual-identity menu that features scratch-made country-fried steak, seafood omelets, and pancakes in the morning, shifting to sashimi, nigiri, and specialized rolls as the day progresses.

“Before we took over this space, it was a breakfast place and both Daniel and I had previous experience cooking breakfast, so we thought that would be a good idea. And since we already had the space, we thought why not offer sushi too, because we were so familiar with it from our time at Geisha.” — Raymundo Cortes

The Mexican influence is the connective tissue of the operation. Both founders grew up cooking traditional food taught to them by their mothers, a foundation that now informs everything from their chilaquiles and huevos rancheros to the jalapeño and cilantro accents found in their sushi rolls. The “Home Ruler” roll, for instance, pairs spicy albacore, avocado, cucumber, and cilantro with a topping of yellowtail and ponzu. They are also moving toward more explicit fusion concepts, with plans to introduce rolls featuring carne asada and al pastor.

Economic Reality for Local Staff

While the restaurant currently focuses on coffee, espresso, and an extensive selection of loose-leaf tea, the owners have indicated that beer and wine offerings are on the horizon. For now, the focus remains on the kitchen, where tempura eggplant, yam, and baked tofu in the “Spiced House” roll sit alongside traditional breakfast staples, proving that a menu can be as diverse as the history of the people who write it.

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