Rayza’s is a must-try Alabama restaurant serving great food for a greater purpose
The pork belly bowl at Rayza's has pork belly covered in Asian barbecue sauce as its center, but also has rice, pickled cucumber, cilantro, avocado and red onion. (Michael Tomberlin / Alabama News Center)
You can taste the world at Rayza’s Sushi, Steak and Seafood in Daphne. That’s because chef-owner Mochamad Rayza’s experience spans the globe.
The South Alabama restaurant, owned by Rayza and his wife, Laura, offers beautiful, inventive sushi; delicious steaks; and lots of fresh seafood from the Gulf and beyond. Bold, and unexpected, dishes draw people in, too – from shrimp and grits spicy with Panang red curry to a traditional Indonesian chicken satay with rich, creamy peanut sauce to fresh fettuccine with beef rendang Bolognese to house-made sweet potato, marshmallow and pecan caramel crunch ice cream.
This is destination dining.
Rayza, as he is known to all, is from Jakarta, Indonesia. He fell in love with the art of cooking at a young age, landing his first job in the kitchen of a five-star hotel called Nikko. At age 19, he traveled to Dubai for more culinary and hospitality training. Then he decided to realize his lifelong dream of living in the United States. He began his journey here in the galley of a cruise ship that operated out of Miami, gaining experience cooking a wide variety of cuisines.
“Rayza’s is the culmination of experience and flavor,” the chef says. “It is the culmination of a lot of places that I’ve been and also the experiences that I’ve had … as I’ve worked in America … over the past 16 years in different places. Rayza’s offers a variety of different tastes and different flavors. There’s something for everyone.”
Rayza met Laura in Tuscaloosa, where he was head chef and award-winning sushi roller at Chuck’s Fish and she was working front of the house. They began exercising together. They fell in love. They shared a dream of mission work overseas. When Rayza helped open an additional Chuck’s location in Mobile, it was an opportunity to raise their young boys near Laura’s family.
The pandemic pushed their mission plans back, but soon they realized the opportunity to serve in another way – through their own restaurant and by offering “good food with purpose.”
Rayza and Laura opened Rayza’s in June 2023. A portion of the restaurant’s sales helps pay for Bible translations in an area in Indonesia. Rayza, raised a Muslim, converted to Christianity as an adult; this mission is close to both their hearts, and they support it through a partnership with Wycliffe Bible Translators.
“As Christian (business) owners,” Laura says, “we are very passionate about helping people, about helping reach people who don’t have the good news of the Bible. … On our website, we say, ‘food with a purpose,’ and that’s the purpose we’re talking about. We try to help others in need as well by reaching out to the (local) community, too.”
The restaurant’s promise, Chef Rayza says, “is to bring our guests the story of our passion and purpose through culturally diverse dishes and brave new flavors. Flavors that tell our story, and diversity that shares who we are.”
On the plate, that looks like lobster spring rolls; bulgogi steak; a delicious pork belly appetizer with gochujang barbecue sauce; miso soup and coconut soup; Instagram-worthy cheesy Korean corn dip; truffle fries; blistered shishitos with togarashi, peanuts and a mango vinaigrette; the freshest seasonal local catch; and colorful, made-to-order sushi of all kinds.
Food here is made from scratch using high-quality, fresh ingredients. They make their own cocktail syrups and buy produce from farmers they know; they fly in specialty fish from Japan for sushi.
The CAB filet is a big seller. Rayza uses a sous vide preparation for the Angus beef and serves it with grilled broccolini and chive mashed potatoes. There are fresh, beautiful catches from the nearby Gulf – Laura loves the red snapper.
The chicken satay is a favorite of Chef Rayza because it reminds him of food from his childhood. “I will never forget just the flavor and the taste of my mom’s home cooking.” He says this dish also reminds him of when they would get food from the street vendors and how his family would all eat together.
It’s different, he admits. “But why not Indonesian food? Why not that?” Maybe the bold flavors are different, and the presentation is unusual, but, he says, “I believe that now we are seeing people, especially in our area, our clientele, they’re craving more authentic flavors.”
There is a huge emphasis here on authenticity, with dishes from Indonesia, Cambodia and Singapore and especially with the sushi. “It takes some courage to do it,” Rayza admits. And it’s tricky, catering to the client and perhaps educating them at the same time. “For a business owner, it’s a fine line. … The market is there. But the challenge is: Are we willing to do it with the right ingredients and the highest quality we can get? … The response of the community is amazing.”
Even the burger – that most American of dishes – gets an exotic treatment at Rayza’s. It’s a smash burger made with a blend of certified Angus brisket, strip loin and short rib topped with homemade pork belly jam, melted cheese and Asian barbecue sauce. They use a King’s Hawaiian Sweet Roll, which complements all that savoriness. “I’m a burger person,” Rayza says, “and I love the Rayza burger. … We tried to create something different.”
Naturally, sushi is a big deal here, and Rayza’s is quickly becoming a new Gulf Coast hot spot for fresh sushi made with specialty fish like uni, Japanese red snapper, golden eye snapper, Isaki threeline grunt, Shime-Aji striped jack and Japanese flounder all flown in regularly. You can find sashimi, nigiri and creative sushi rolls.
The Rayza Roll features tuna, crab, cream cheese, avocado, spicy sauce and green onions fried and topped with baked seafood, Japanese mayo, eel sauce and masago. Laura says she loves the TNT Roll with tuna, green onions and spicy sauce topped with more tuna, avocado, sweet soy and sambal.
Then there are the sushi specials.
Aburi sets by chef Shane Birdsell vary according to what’s in season, but might feature Japanese sweet shrimp with miso butter, eel with foie gras, Hokkaido scallop with Kewpie mayo and yuzu salt, and A5 wagyu with cured egg yolk. Aburi means “torched,” and these flame-seared items are offered a la carte or by the set.
The bar at Rayza’s has a variety of sakes as well as wines from around the world, imported and regional beers and inventive craft cocktails. The Rayza Rita features Lunazul blanco tequila, yuzu juice, Bols Triple Sec, blue agave syrup and a togarashi salt rim. An Indonesian Old Fashioned has Woodford reserve, crème de cacao and cocoa bitters. The cucumber Collins features a house-made cucumber cordial. The espresso frappini is dessert in a glass.
Rayza’s is a place where they can turn customers into friends, staff into partners. It’s a place of teamwork. People here have a heart for service. That’s one thing that makes this restaurant stand out.
“We strive for really good service. We expect a lot from our servers,” Laura says. That includes warmly welcoming people, helping them navigate the menu if necessary and thanking them by name when returning the credit card at the end of the meal. They employ around 28 people. “We have very passionate employees. We feel we have a very good culture and morale,” Laura says. “We all have different gifts and talents.” Everyone is connected – from the hostess to the servers to the people in the kitchen – and one job depends directly on another. “It’s a cool bond that there’s so much teamwork.”
Laura says she hopes their customers experience “something different, something unique. … We’ve had people tell us that they come in here and they experience a ‘peace’ or ‘calmness.’ And I think some of that is our work culture. This building’s been prayed for. We’re very faithful people.” She says she hopes people can see what they are doing beyond the beautiful food and friendly service.
Having helped numerous other people open and establish restaurants, Rayza and Laura say they are “beyond grateful” each day to have their own place. It is, they say, the “next chapter” on a shared journey of culinary success.
It is, perhaps, the beginning of another chapter, too.
While traditional ministry work was the initial dream – and Rayza trained for it – he says it still feels like he and Laura are serving their world in worthwhile ways. “We cannot shake it off … the vision and the calling,” Rayza says. “God told me to stay and do and love on people where I am right now, which is the restaurant. … I never thought I would have (my own) restaurant where He is entrusting me. Even now, it just feels unreal, but feeling the gratitude and the gratefulness that we have … knowing it is not for us. It is so we can do something for others.”
Laura adds, “We kind of took a leap of faith, and we thought if we’re going to do this together, let’s still try to do some sort of mission” – hence the global Bible translation. She says they hope that one day she and Rayza can enter the mission field themselves, but “for now, we’re helping other people who are out there doing it.”
Rayza is sure that his restaurant is not just a business but “a way to add value and make a difference in the lives of others.”
He says, “I’ve had the privilege of being a chef for over 20 years. What a gift! I’ll never take it for granted, the journey. But I’m a believer, and I believe that each of us, we have a gift already that we received, to serve one another.” His and Laura’s vision, even the restaurant’s location, was the result of prayer, he says. “I know that my gift is being with people. One thing that I’m passionate about is just leading, first of all, my team and in this place, just being out there with my clients and building relationships with my community.”
Chef Rayza says theirs is a purposeful business.
“We are not going to forget what God has done in our life through this place and through the ministry we are part of supporting, the Bible translation. … God called us. God put a purpose on us. This is just another platform where we can make an impact, make a difference and love on others so that they can see the love of God through this process.”
Rayza’s Sushi, Steak and Seafood
Rayza’s brings a world of flavor to Daphne. (Susan Swagler / Alabama News Center)
9475 U.S. Highway 90, Suite 210, Daphne, Alabama
251-383-2060
https://www.rayzasrestaurant.com/
Hours:
Lunch served Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Dinner served Monday through Thursday from 4:30 to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday until 9:30 p.m.
Happy hour Monday through Wednesday, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Closed on Sunday.
Susan Swagler has written about food and restaurants for more than three decades, much of that time as a trusted restaurant critic. She shares food, books, travel and more at www.savor.blog. Susan is a founding member and past president of the Birmingham chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier International, a philanthropic organization of women leaders in food, wine and hospitality whose members are among Birmingham’s top women in food.
