Crystal Wise
Little Lilly Sushi
There was a time — surprisingly, not that long ago — when good sushi was hard to find in Fort Worth. Japanese Palace and the now-gone Tokyo Steakhouse were longtime sushi fixtures, but it wasn’t until Piranha Killer Sushi opened downtown that the raw fish trend really took hold of Fort Worth.
One of the early entries was Little Lilly Sushi, a quaint spot on Camp Bowie that specializes in sushi that goes beyond the norms of California and Philadelphia rolls. Much of the exotic seafood is brought in from around the world; if it wasn’t the first place in Fort Worth to serve uni, it was among the first.
Owner Chih "Danny" Liu, a native of Taiwan, opened Little Lilly in 2012. He had spent years working in sushi restaurants, including another Fort Worth spot ahead of the trend, Sushi Yoko. Little Lilly quickly established itself, winning countless awards; it’s often regarded as the city’s finest sushi restaurant.
Even while countless other sushi spots flooded Fort Worth, Little Lilly continued to thrive — until this past May when a major fire blurred its future.
“At that point, we weren’t sure what we were going to do,” says Ann Liu, daughter of Danny. “We wanted to reopen, but what that was going to look like, no one knew.”
Ann, who works at Little Lilly as a manager and server, says after neighboring west siders and local foodies begged them to return, the family decided to push forward and reopen. A GoFundMe campaign was launched, and the Lius began rebuilding the restaurant, practically from the ground up, Ann says.
In September, after more than three months of work, Little Lilly Sushi reopened, sporting a new dining room and menu and practically the same staff.
“Just about everybody came back,” says Ann, whose mother, Shu, also works there. “Which says a lot about how my dad treats his staff.”
New menu items include miso black cod, a filet of black cod marinated in miso paste, then pan-seared; chu tartare, a rich tartare made from blue fin tuna; and the 2022 roll, a sushi roll stuffed with garlic-seasoned salmon, avocado, and asparagus, then topped with seared king salmon, green onions, and garlic ponzu sauce.
The dining room has been rejuvenated with new paint and light fixtures. Likewise, the large sushi bar was rebuilt with a new marble counter. "It feels much bigger and brighter now," Ann says; the patio features all new tables and chairs.
The family has faced dire situations before. In 2017, the restaurant was forced to close for a month after a fire — the restaurant’s first — caused significant damage to the kitchen. COVID, of course, dealt a serious blow, causing the restaurant to cut back on its hours and also switch to take-out only. In May 2021, in the middle of the pandemic, Danny was diagnosed with Stage 3 bladder cancer. But after several rounds of chemotherapy, the restaurant announced he was cancer-free.
“I think we’ve faced a lot of the same problems that other families who own restaurants face,” Ann says. “But we’re a pretty persistent. We love this business and the customers who've been coming here since we opened. We’ve been doing this for 10 years now, and so, for us, stopping isn’t really an option.”
So much time has passed since Little Lilly originally opened, Ann points out, that the young girl for whom the restaurant is named is no longer that young. Lilly Liu, Danny and Shu’s granddaughter, is now 14.
“She’s old enough to work here now,” Ann says, laughing. “In Texas, if you’re 14 you can work in your family’s business. And she wants to work here, not just to make money, but because she loves interacting with the customers who've known here since, well, she was Little Lilly. It means a lot to her."
Little Lilly Sushi, 6100 Camp Bowie Blvd., littlelillysushi.com
