Popular Mexican sushi mobile restaurant now has brick-and-mortar in Kansas City
KCulichi Sushi opened its brick and mortar location at 542 Southwest Boulevard Thursday after years as a mobile restaurant. The restaurant serves a beloved Mexican take on Japanese sushi, turning the tradition of small raw rolls on its head.
“It’s the complete opposite of traditional sushi,” said co-owner Jorge Sotelo Garcia, 23. “The only thing that we share with the Japanese-style sushi is the rice and the name.”
Instead of raw food, everything comes either baked or fried. The melted cheese on top of the rolls pulls, like with a pizza. Though chopsticks come with the order, there’s no shame in needing both a fork and knife to cut the pieces apart.
Culichi (pronounced Ku-Lichi) is a Sinaloa-style sushi made with very large portions and cooked meat. All the rolls at KCulichi Sushi are either baked or fried and feature meats like chicken, shrimp, crab and beef and come with a side of shaved carrots.
“Taste the difference between your traditional sushi compared to Mexican style sushi, get the best of both worlds,” Sotelo Garcia said. “People love Mexican food, the tacos, the meat, and also the sushi portion.”
Sotelo Garcia began the restaurant inside a trailer with his two other co-owners, Fidel Lugo, 29, and Noel Lugo, 30, in the fall of 2024. The demand for culichi grew so quickly that Sotelo Garcia said they had the same pick-up system as Chick-fil-A to take and deliver orders to cars.
“We would be there in the snowstorms, in the rain, in the cold, so our customers would be comfortable,” he said.
Sotelo Garcia grew up cooking with his mother and had known for years he wanted to open a culichi restaurant. He had known Fidel Lugo for three years when he called him up asking if he would be interested in the venture. The Lugo brothers had previously owned a restaurant of the same concept in Mexico.
“It’s a huge blessing to have a huge kitchen like we have now, because there were five of us (in the trailer),” Sotelo Garcia said. “It’s been an experience, it hasn’t been easy at all.”
Portions are very large. Two hungry people will be full from sharing two of KCulichi’s rolls, especially since the meat can be found both inside and on top of the rolls. Baked rolls are $16, fried rolls are $15, and empanadas are $12.
All rolls come with avocado, cream cheese and eel sauce. Customers are also given a tray of spicy peppers and seasoned onions, which should be added as you eat for even more flavor.
Sotelo Garcia’s favorite roll is the Bichi, a baked roll with cooked shrimp, surimi, spicy melted cheese with chipotle sauce, avocado and cream cheese.
The Star tried two baked rolls: the Chiefs Roll (beef, chicken, avocado, melted cheese, cream cheese and eel sauce) and the Buchona Roll (chicken, crab, melted mozzarella, avocado, cream cheese and eel sauce). The Buchona Roll with bits of the spicy pepper, seasoned onions and spicy mayo was the favorite.
Besides there being more space to work, Sotelo Garcia has enjoyed being able to watch customers eat and interact with them. During their soft opening, he saw a customer come in with her mom. The mom didn’t like fish or sushi and resisted ordering.
“She took a bite from her daughter’s sushi roll and was like, ‘can you actually put me an order for this and this roll?’” he said. “So seeing those expressions, all those reactions face to face is very exciting.”
The owners hope to host soccer events during the World Cup, show the games and also create a couple of new rolls. Updates on the restaurant and upcoming events can be found on Instagram.
KCulichi Sushi is closed Tuesdays but open noon to 9 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday and from noon to 10 p.m. Friday through Sunday.
