Wealthy Street "goes electric" with new noodle bar and sushi eatery

The owner of Grand Rapids' Electric Cheetah restaurant once again plans to light up the growing Wealthy Street business district with an eclectic eatery, The Electric Eel, an Asian-influenced noodle bar and sushi restaurant.

Cory DeMint is well into the renovation of 1133 Wealthy, former home of The Rib Crib, bringing his unusual taste for décor, and food, to the 600-square-foot storefront.

"On one wall Beth Jacobson of Grand Rapids Mural Company will create a 3-D scene from a very famous movie, we're keeping which movie a secret, and we'll light each layer," DeMint says.

The menu includes a variety of noodles, such as rice noodles or ramen. Customers will select the noodles they want, top it with a homemade sauce like chili, fish sauce or peanut sauce and choose a meat or seafood. The restaurant will have seating for about 20 patrons, but is intended to be a takeout and will have a pickup window.

"One type of noodle we've been researching but don't have it decided yet," says DeMint, "but we'll make it in-house. We're thinking of building a drying rack for the front window so when you drive by you'll see the noodles drying in the window."

DeMint plans to start slow with the sushi menu and build it over time. He also plans to offer homemade ice cream at a walk-up window in the summer months.

"We're planning to bring an old ice cream dipping cabinet from the Cheetah which is just up the street, and put it in the front window where we'll scoop ice cream by the cone," he says.

DeMint hopes to open The Electric Eel sometime in February.

Source: Cory DeMint, The Electric Eel

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Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].