La Hacienda Mexican Restaurant

Jimmy “Sushi Jimmi” Sinh was going to move to Orlando, but he’s staying in Memphis, where he’ll continue to do his private chef jobs.

For now, he’s taking a two-month vacation at his home in the country near Memphis. “I don’t know what I want to do yet, but, so far, I just want to continue doing my private chef-ing,” Sinh says. “So, that’s what I’ve been trying to do, trying to get people to reserve more dates and book up the rest of the year. If I don’t, somebody else will. The main thing is I’m going to take two months to relax and spend some time with my wife, my kids.”

Sinh and his family talked it over, he says. “We don’t want to move the family when the kids are so young. And we just felt like the kids need to bond a little more as a family.”

Part of his family was moving to Texas. “I was moving in one direction, the other part of my family in another direction. We feel like the family would be split a little too far. We decided to stay back a little bit and raise the family here.”

Long range plans include starting another food truck. “The last one I did I just pretty much overwhelmed myself. Like I was just trying to do too much. This one, I’m going to still keep the sushi. And I want my customers to eat a lot cleaner. I don’t know if I’m going to have a lot of the stuff I’d normally have, like a lot of fried stuff. Everything would just be cooked a lot cleaner. And have a lot more healthier options and do more sashimi and nigiri on this truck.”

The food truck won’t be called “Sushi Jimmi,” he says. “It’s going to be called something else. I want to come out with a different brand. Still have it made by Sushi Jimmi.”

Sinh wants to chill for a couple of months. “We live in the countryside and I’m loving it.”

And, he says, “I’m more of a country boy. I love large land. I don’t like to be in the city. And when I’m home I like to be in my own personal space. I don’t want to be in a noisy environment or anything like that.”

As for his plan to move to Orlando, Sinh says, “I was going to grab just a regular job and just kind of get a feel of how things work out there. But working all these years I never really took a nice vacation for myself or took the family out on a nice vacation. It makes you hate where you are in one spot and makes you not appreciate where you are.”

Sinh, who moved to Memphis from an Orlando suburb in 1995, closed his first restaurant, “Sushi Jimmi,” and food truck in May 2019. Sinh, who gained legions of fans, went on to work at Saltwater Crab, La Hacienda Mexican Restaurant, and, finally, at Saito 2.

“When I shut Sushi Jimmi down, I hopped back into my work. Worked really hard like I did at Sushi Jimmi. I never gave myself a break, so I kind of burned myself out and just hated what I was doing. That’s why I decided I’m taking a break. Take two months off. Give myself some ‘me’ time and think about what I can do for this city. And that’s what I’m doing right now. I’m actually driving out of town to pick up some stuff to improve my private chef-ing. I want to bring Sushi Jimmi to you. Make sure it’s something you’ll never forget. It’s one of those experiences you’ve got to have.”

And, as for opening another restaurant of his own some day, Sinh says, “I don’t know about a restaurant just because of how bad of an experience I had when I had my restaurant. I’d hire people and people don’t want to go to work. Look at right now. Nobody wants to work. I don’t want to have to deal with those situations any more.

“I’m a one-stop shop. I come fix the food, serve you, and clean up. I like to keep it simple. I don’t like to put too much on myself anymore.”

And, he says, “That’s how I feel right now.”

Does Sinh plan on maybe moving again? “Not any time soon. Right now, we’re settled for a while. At this moment, we’ll worry about what’s going on now. Let’s give this city what the city deserves, which is good food.”

People can book Sinh by going to “Sushi Jimmi” on Facebook and Instagram.

Sushi Jimmi is moving again.

But this time it’s out of town.

Jimmy “Sushi Jimmi” Sinh plans to move to Orlando, Florida in May. His last day as head chef at Saito 2 restaurant in Cordova is May 15th, he says.

“It’s a better opportunity for me, the wife, and kids,” Sinh says. “We’ve been living here so long. This is our next move as the family. The whole family is moving.”

That’s his wife and six children, including a baby girl on the way, Sinh says. They currently are living in Atoka, Tennessee.

Why Orlando? “It’s a tourist city. More than four million tourists a year. Things are opening back up and I just want to expand my career to a bigger city. It’s a better opportunity for me. I don’t know what my plans are. I don’t want to speak too soon.”

But, he says, “I’m always going to be cooking.”

Sinh moved to Memphis from a suburb in Orlando in 1995. “I was only down in Florida a year and we moved here.”

Since that time, he made his mark and gained a legion of fans.

He closed his restaurant, Sushi Jimmi, which he owned for three years on Poplar, on May 23, 2019. He closed his food truck the next day.

Shortly after, he reopened the restaurant with his brother as owner and Sinh as chef. It closed for good soon after.

Sinh then went to work at Saltwater Crab, La Hacienda Mexican Restaurant and, finally, at Saito 2.

Will he return to Memphis some day? “I told myself if I ever become really successful I’ll come back to Memphis and invest my money,” Sinh says. “I wouldn’t mind being an investor here. Do business in Memphis.”

Something in the food industry, he says. “Or just have another restaurant again here.”

Memphis, he says, is “home to me. I don’t want to leave, but it’s good for my future and my kids’ future. That’s more important than anything else. I made a pretty good impression here. I want to see how far it will take me. To me, the sky’s the limit. I don’t have a limit. Anything I do, I want more and more and more. It just doesn’t stop.”