Yumi To Go expands to Addison, offers sit-down dining, too

It comes from the originators of Lovers Egg Roll and Rice Boxx.

Yumi To Go

ADDISON — Yumi To Go, a gourmet Asian to-go restaurant that opened on Lemmon Avenue three years ago, opened a second branch in Addison this week that also offers sit-down dining.

Yumi To Go comes from Tony and Cathy Molavi, whose previous concepts have included Lovers Egg Roll and Rice Boxx, both of which they subsequently sold. Yumi came from a more personal need, Tony says.

"We got tired of ordering pizza -- I wanted to be able to get good food delivered that I could do more than once a month without feeling guilty about it," he says. "We wanted to create something we could feed to our children."

That meant no preservatives, no MSG, no corn syrup. Their larder includes honey, two types of sea salt, brown rice, and all-organic ingredients in their dressings. Sesame chicken is their No. 1 seller but they also have a cute spinoff of the Chinese noodle dish Chow Fun which they call "How Fun noodle."

"It has Japanese noodles, Mexican jalapenos, Italian basil, and Chinese black beans," Molavi says. "We also have sashimi-grade tuna, a vegetarian stir-fry, and a vegetarian skewer with tofu and vegetables. Another interesting dish is our yaki soba made with green tea buckwheat soba noodles; it has complex flavors. And for gluten-free customers, we have Yumi chicken, battered in potato flour, no soy sauce, that's gluten-free."

When they opened the Lemmon Avenue branch, their web-based conception -- in which customers could place their order online and have it delivered -- was and remains ahead of its time. For people who still want to go to a restaurant and sit, they made sure their Addison outlet had an in-house dining area. Meanwhile, Molavi employs a fleet of company cars whose identifiable appearance offers reassurance to customers when the order arrives.

"You've maybe seen our little green cars riding around the Highland Park area," Molavi says. "Our drivers do not use their own cars. When our food is brought to your home, if you don't see our car, don't open the door. We take great pride in the environment in which our food is both cooked and delivered."