By Lori Fredrich Senior Food Writer, Dining Editor, Podcast Host Published Dec 28, 2015 at 5:08 PM

RuYi will be expanding its operations with final touches being completed this spring.

The Asian fusion restaurant located in the Potawatomi Hotel & Casino will add a sushi bar and additional seating as part of an expansion plan expected to debut March 1.

The new sushi bar menu will include starters like vegetable or tiger shrimp tempura ($10/13), buttery uni with with tobikko, parmesan cheese and truffle oil ($12) and a sushi tasting flight with scallops, tuna, salmon, yellowtail and sweet shrimp ($14).

Soups will include options like miso and shiitake soup (by the cup or bowl for $4 or $8) and nabemono with shrimp, squid, scallop, salmon and daikon (bowl for $10). There will also be ramen: pork tonkatsu or chicken katsu ($15), a sashimi bowl with salmon, tuna, escolar, scallops, salmon roe and tamago ($21), a BBQ unagi bowl with eel sauce ($18) and bun thit nuong with vermicelli noodles, vegetables, shrimp and pork ($15).

Salads will include options like seaweed salad with agar and sesame ($7), chicken and cashew salad ($12), crispy salmon skin with yuzu vinaigrette ($8) and nori seafood salad with spring mix, grapefruit, avocado, tuna, salmon, tempura shrimp, crispy nori and grapefruit vinaigrette ($16)

Nigiri and sashimi (priced $5-10) will be made with salmon, red snapper, fluke, scallops, surf clam, fresh water eel, octopus, halibut and more, as well as a variety of tuna including blue fin, white, yelowtail, big eye and ahi. Specialty rolls will include options like dragon and caterpillar rolls along with the RuYi with spicy salmon and tuna, tempura crunch and avocado ($19) and the Firekeeper with salmon, yellowtail, jalapeno, avocado ($18).

An Omakase menu (chef’s choice), prepared by the restaurant’s highly trained sushi chefs, will also be available by reservation for $80 per person.

A new sake program will upgrade the restaurant’s beverage offerings, which will also be expanded to include Japanese whiskey.

Asian Specialty Chef and founding chef of RuYi, Tony Ho, will oversee the opening of the sushi bar. Meanwhile, nine-year veteran chef My Ong Vang will oversee daily operations of the restaurant.

"We’re excited about this next phase of adding sushi and sashimi to RuYi," says food and beverage director Don Sally. "When guests come to RuYi, they can expect to experience more authentic foods and flavors in this highly recognized and acclaimed restaurant."

The restaurant, which will be open for most of the renovation save for between Feb. 1 through Feb. 8, will feature a limited menu throughout the month of January. The limited menu will continue through Monday, Feb. 8, when the full menu will return to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

RuYi is open Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 12 a.m. and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.

Lori Fredrich Senior Food Writer, Dining Editor, Podcast Host

Lori is an avid cook whose accrual of condiments and spices is rivaled only by her cookbook collection. Her passion for the culinary industry was birthed while balancing A&W root beer mugs as a teenage carhop, fed by insatiable curiosity and fueled by the people whose stories entwine with each and every dish. She’s had the privilege of chronicling these tales via numerous media, including OnMilwaukee and in her book “Milwaukee Food.” Her work has garnered journalism awards from entities including the Milwaukee Press Club. 

When she’s not eating, photographing food, writing or recording the FoodCrush podcast, you’ll find Lori seeking out adventures with her husband Paul, traveling, cooking, reading, learning, snuggling with her cats and looking for ways to make a difference.