The family that owned Stick-e Star, which closed in April 2010, launched Skew at the same South University location.
Skew — a new restaurant that seeks to turn steak, chicken, pork and seafood into “art on a stick” — opened its doors Jan. 10 in space vacated by Stick-e Star in April 2010.
The new eatery at 2070 S. University Blvd. offers 41 grilled or fried “skews” for eat-in or take-out.
“The food that we do here is the same food you’d get in a four- or five-star restaurant, but I do it at a much lower price and a lot faster than a full-service restaurant,” says Watcharat Phairatphiboon, one of the six owners of the family restaurant. “It’s quick casual.”
Choices range from the chicken yakitori skew for $3.75 and the Tsukune meatball skew for $4 to a spicy Newport shrimp skew that melds tiger shrimp with onions, peppers and a “Newport” sauce of ginger, scallions and sake for $6.75.
Fried skew offerings include items such as kneaded pork with onions, scallions, nori and katsu curry sauce for $4.75 or Philly Katsu, a Panko-breaded mozzarella-stuffed Angus steak with onions, tri-color peppers and black pepper sauce for $5.50.
Side dishes include sticky rice, noodle salad and “volcanic edamame.” Vegetarians can pick from crispy organic tofu to grilled asparagus, zucchini and shiitake mushrooms.
Even the desserts are exotic, with a mango and sticky rice parfait made of infused coconut sticky rice with fresh mangos and coconut gelato ice cream for $5.
“I’ve been a student here so I know how sensitive people are to price,” Phairatphiboon says. “If you want people to try a new type of cuisine or food, you have to make the price low enough for people to try it.”
Skew offers a full bar of beer, wine, sake, and fruit-inspired or muddled martinis among a range of exotic beverages. One concoction — the $12 Volcano — even claims to be strong enough per serving to “quench” a party of four.
Skew is open daily from 11 a.m.–midnight.