When a new restaurant fills its dining room by 6:45 on a Friday night, word travels fast. That has been the story at Rayza’s in Daphne, an Asian fusion restaurant opened in 2023 that specializes in sushi, steak and seafood and has quickly become one of the most talked-about tables on the Eastern Shore. Behind it is a husband-and-wife team whose paths ran from Jakarta and Dubai to cruise ship galleys, a Tuscaloosa seafood restaurant and, finally, their own place on Highway 90.
Early diners have found a menu that moves easily between Japanese sushi craftsmanship, Southeast Asian flavors and Gulf Coast staples like fresh fish and cheese grits. Here is a closer look at the couple behind the restaurant, what is on the plate and what to know before you go.
From Jakarta to Dubai to the High Seas
Chef Rayza grew up in Jakarta, Indonesia, and spent much of his childhood in the kitchen, where he fell in love with cooking. His first professional job was in the kitchen of Nikko, a five-star hotel in the Indonesian capital. At 19, he left his home country for Dubai, determined to turn his passion into a career. There he studied his craft meticulously and learned the ins and outs of the broader hospitality industry.
Dubai’s hotel and restaurant scene, built to serve travelers from across the globe, is known as a demanding training ground for young cooks, exposing them to cuisines from every continent. After building a solid foundation in the Middle East, Rayza’s route to the United States began in the galley of a cruise ship, where he worked a variety of positions and gained experience cooking at volume for guests from around the world.
Cruise ship kitchens are a world of their own. Chefs on large ships often prepare thousands of meals a day across multiple restaurants and buffets, rotating through stations and learning to work with ingredients and diners from dozens of countries. For a young cook, that experience builds speed, discipline and versatility, all qualities that serve well when opening an independent restaurant.
After roughly 20 years in the industry, his dream of running his own restaurant has become a reality.
A Love Story That Started at Chuck’s Fish
Rayza’s wife and business partner, Laura, is a Mobile native. The two met at Chuck’s Fish in Tuscaloosa, where she worked as a server and he was head chef and sushi roller. They fell in love, married and came to Mobile to help open the Chuck’s Fish location in the Port City.
The couple settled in Daphne and started raising two children, then faced the question of what came next. Laura, who holds a degree in exercise science, moved into a corporate wellness position. Rayza enrolled at Highlands College to pursue what he thought might become full-time ministry. After much prayer and reflection, they decided to open a restaurant of their own.
Faith remains part of the business. Rayza’s has partnered with Wycliffe Bible Translators, giving a portion of its sales to help provide Bible translations for people who do not yet have one in their own language. Wycliffe Bible Translators, founded in 1942 by William Cameron Townsend, works with language communities around the world on translation and literacy projects, and many languages still lack a complete Bible, a need the organization has made its central focus for more than 80 years. The restaurant describes its current mission as serving guests culturally diverse food with bold new flavors.
The Room and the Welcome
Reservations are recommended. The restaurant is easy to find on Highway 90, and inside, the dining room is decorated in soft, muted colors with large abstract paintings on the walls. A large sushi bar at the back draws customers who like to watch the chefs at work.
Service has been a highlight for early visitors, with attentive servers and owners who are happy to stop by a table and share their story. On one Friday evening visit, a party arriving at 5:15 p.m. found a table ready, and by the time they finished around 6:45, the restaurant was packed.
What’s on the Menu
The menu rewards diners who share. A party of three who agreed to each order something different and trade tastes sampled a wide cross-section of the kitchen’s work:
- Seaweed salad, served in a generous portion with a sesame dressing.
- Miso soup and coconut soup, two warming starters.
- Catch of the day, which on that visit was swordfish served over cheese grits with asparagus and napa cabbage slaw, finished with a curry cream sauce.
- Spider roll, made with soft-shell crab, avocado, green onion and sweet soy, prepared futomaki style.
- C Roll, a combination of baked scallops, shrimp and bacon topped with smoked salmon.
- Homemade ice creams, including coffee and yuzu.
The swordfish plate captures the restaurant’s fusion approach: a meaty Gulf-friendly fish, a bowl of Southern cheese grits and a curry cream that nods to the flavors of Southeast Asia. The sushi, meanwhile, reflects Rayza’s years behind a sushi bar, with careful presentation that treats each roll as a small work of art.
A Quick Guide to the Flavors
Several ingredients on Rayza’s menu may be new to some diners. A few definitions help:
- Futomaki is a thick Japanese sushi roll, typically wrapped in nori seaweed and filled with several ingredients at once. Its name translates roughly to “fat roll.”
- Spider rolls get their name from the soft-shell crab inside; because the crab is eaten whole, its legs can poke out of the roll like a spider’s.
- Yuzu is an aromatic East Asian citrus fruit with a flavor often described as somewhere between lemon, lime and grapefruit. It is prized in Japanese cooking for sauces, dressings and desserts.
- Miso soup is a Japanese staple made from dashi broth and fermented soybean paste, often with tofu, seaweed and green onion.
- Coconut soup is common across Southeast Asia, where coconut milk forms the base of many soups and curries.
Indonesian cooking, the cuisine of Rayza’s childhood, is itself a product of centuries of trade. The archipelago was the heart of the historic spice trade, and its dishes draw on coconut milk, lemongrass, chilies, galangal and a wide range of spices. That background makes an Indonesian-born chef a natural fit for fusion cooking, blending those flavors with Japanese technique and Gulf Coast ingredients.
Asian fusion as a style has been around for decades, but it is at its best when a chef has genuine roots in the cuisines being combined. Rather than simply putting soy sauce on a steak, the approach relies on understanding how flavors such as sesame, curry, citrus and umami-rich broths can complement familiar Western and Southern ingredients. At Rayza’s, that means sushi and seafood share the menu with steak, and a curry cream can land on a plate beside cheese grits.
Daphne’s Growing Dining Scene
Rayza’s joins a dining scene that has grown alongside Daphne itself. Known as the “Jubilee City” for the rare natural phenomenon in which shrimp, flounder and crabs crowd the Mobile Bay shoreline on certain summer nights, Daphne has become one of Baldwin County’s largest cities. Its location at the top of the Eastern Shore, just across the bay from Mobile via the Causeway and Interstate 10, makes it a convenient destination for diners from both sides of the bay.
As more families settle on the Eastern Shore, independent restaurants with distinctive points of view have found a receptive audience. Asian fusion, sushi and chef-driven seafood spots have become an important part of that mix, giving residents options that once required a drive to Mobile or New Orleans.
Planning a Visit
As of January 2024, Rayza’s hours were:
- Lunch: Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
- Dinner: Tuesday through Saturday, 4:30 to 9:30 p.m.
- Closed: Sunday and Monday
Because the dining room fills quickly, especially on weekends, reservations are a good idea, and early arrival helps for walk-ins. Hours can change, so check with the restaurant before heading over. Diners who enjoy variety may want to follow the lead of earlier guests: order several dishes across the menu, share them around the table and save room for the house-made yuzu ice cream, which one table unanimously declared among the best desserts they had ever tasted.
For those less familiar with sushi, a few pointers can make the experience more enjoyable. Sitting at the sushi bar is a good way to see the rolls being made and ask questions. Pickled ginger is traditionally eaten between bites as a palate cleanser rather than piled on top of a roll, and a light touch with soy sauce lets the fish and other ingredients shine. Cooked options, such as rolls built around baked scallops, shrimp or soft-shell crab, are a comfortable starting point for diners who are hesitant about raw fish.
For a couple whose journey began in a Jakarta kitchen and wound through Dubai, the open ocean and Tuscaloosa, Rayza’s represents both a homecoming and a new beginning, and a welcome addition to the Eastern Shore’s table.