Burger And Sushi House is located at 1012 LaSalle St, Ottawa Il 61350. They are open Tues through Thurs from 4 pm to 9 pm, and Fri/Sat from 11 am to 10 pm. Connect with them on their website, or Facebook page to learn more.

Restaurant Weeks are ongoing from now until March 21st, 2026! We are nearing the end of our series of bite-sized interviews as well. We had the chance to speak with Chef Alec and Sous-Chef Gage from BASH about their curated menu options for Restaurant Weeks.

To start things off, Alec and Gage gave us some insight into their history at BASH. The restaurant has been at its current location for ten years now.

“Believe it or not, My story about how I came to BASH was, there was a chef that I used to work with, who is now our Corporate Executive Chef,” Alec said. “His name is Andre, shout out to Andre. He and I worked together at a few restaurants in the past,” he explained.

“I went to go be the head chef at a wine bar for a little while, I did student teaching for a while at Joliet Junior College, and while I was the head chef at that wine bar, I remember receiving a phone call from Andre, and he was telling me he accepted a job here. And he was like, ‘I have a sous-chef position open. Are you still interested?’

And I was like, ‘Chef, I will see you in two weeks,’ And the rest is history honestly.” 

Next, Gage told us about his history. He finished up culinary school about one year ago.

“In terms of my experience here at the restaurant, I started in 2020. I started as a line cook at the entry level position, making french fries and I really didn’t know anything about cooking,” he said. “About a year or two after Executive Corporate Chef Andre stepped in and Chef Alec stepped in, they pushed me to pursue, and then I put myself all the way through culinary school. Graduated, made my way up through the ranks, and now I’m second in charge,” said Gage.

Alec then explained how he became the chef at BASH.

“Yeah, As for how I ended up in charge, I was working under Chef Andre for a handful of years ago, he went to go open up our Geneva location, and then he put me in charge when he was ready to leave.” 

It’s clear this dynamic duo works well together. They both worked on the selection of items for BASH’s Restaurant Weeks specials. They mentioned how Alec might come up with part of an idea for a dish, and Gage will complete the idea or add an innovative twist. They explained their motivation and creative process for the items.

“Our biggest motivation is our customers. It being a very approachable place for them, it’s for those people. That goes without saying. We find it important to have an outlet for ourselves in a means of which people will enjoy, you know? That’s why they like mac and cheese, because when you find something that’s simple and approachable, you make it in an excellent manner,” Alec said. 

Of course, this motivation for the customers led to the creation of these exciting menu options. Alec and Gage told us more about their takes on the Comfort Food Reimagined theme.

Alec explained that the thought process behind this dish was inspired by another local restaurant. “I want it to be like, you take a bite out of the soup, and it seems like you’re sitting at the New Chalet.” 

“And it just tastes like the breakfast sampler,” Gage added.

The next item is a reimagined tater tot casserole. Would you have guessed that includes switching out tater tots for a hash brown? Alec explains.

“To bring it to life here at the Burger and Sushi House, we turned it into a burger. The burger itself still has the ground beef, but in the form of smash beef patties. And it doesn’t have shredded cheddar, but it has slices of cheddar on each beef patty. We have a small bowl on the side of house-made cream of mushroom soup that you dip the burger into, and you eat it that way.” 

And if that wasn’t enough for you, BASH is also featuring a dessert for Restaurant Weeks, Gage’s Puppy Chow Silk Pie. This dessert is a play on the classic French Silk Pie.

“I never made a French Silk Pie before this…  So the basic flavors of the puppy Chow is peanut butter and chocolate. So I was like, ‘I can take that chocolate layer and then go up.’ I made a peanut butter whipped cream to kind of play with those flavors of chocolate, peanut butter, and then instead of a traditional chocolate shaved garnish, we’re just covering the whole thing in a heaping amount of puppy chow. And then a little chocolate sauce on there,” Gage said.

Alec and Gage later mentioned that BASH’s menu would not be what it was, without Tower Road Microgreens, a supplier of microgreens for a number of restaurants throughout Ottawa and LaSalle County.

It’s clear that a lot of dedication and creativity went into these menu items for Restaurant Weeks! What better way to show off Ottawa’s creative cuisine, than by featuring such an innovative and collaborative special. Guests to BASH can order each item separately or all together. If you purchase all items, the Tour de BASH as Alec put it, you will receive five dollars off your order. BASH will be donating a percentage of the proceeds from the specials to the Ottawa Food Pantry.

Alec also spoke about the significance of fusion cuisine and how that influences what goes on the menu at BASH, especially these handcrafted items for that reimagined Midwest classic vibe.

“Being a Asian fusion restaurant, the ability to fuse those two completely separate parts of the world, kind of lets you fuse everything together…”

“We’re going against the grain, you know? We really embrace the out of the box ideas here. And I think we strive to put something on our menus that people have never seen. I like to surprise people,” Alec said. 

After discussing all of the one-of-a-kind items that will be available for Restaurant Weeks and the stories behind them, we had to ask about Alec and Gage’s overall favorite menu items. We hope that the items above or maybe these ones will help inspire your next order at BASH!

First, Alec told us about his favorite item, the Chicken Teriyaki.

“It’s got great flavor. A little bit of that Garlic flavor coming through with that butter that we make in house. And then the steamed rice, the micro cilantro, all of it. It’s perfect for someone not trying to add a lot of calories to your to your diet, while still being able to provide sustenance, protein for yourself,” Alec said.

Then, Gage told us about his favorite menu item. It’s also another favorite of Alec’s!

“The tried-and-true, safe bet that I always order, and I also think it’s one of the underdog menu items, is the chicken caprese…” Gage said.“Whether I’m just hungry, because it has great flavor. Or, it’s a super hot day, in the kitchens, it’s really hot, and we’re working long hours. It’s a great fuel. It’s always there for me, you know?”  

BASH has a variety of great options to try out. Especially, if you want to try something new and exciting. To round out our interview, we asked Alec and Gage what their favorite parts about being involved in Ottawa’s restaurant scene are.

Alec told us “Here in Ottawa, I love the small-town activities that people get up to, I know, the owners of local businesses, I’ve had owners of local businesses come over to my house for dinner,” he said. “Very intimate relationships that you build with other trusted individuals in your community. I feel like that’s a very important aspect of the restaurant scene in Ottawa specifically.”

Alec mentioned that the sense of camaraderie among the workers at BASH, the owners, and fellow restaurateurs in town is a strong and meaningful bond.

Next, Gage told us what he appreciates about being a part of the local restaurant industry.

“I tell people I work at Bash, and they’re always like, ‘oh my gosh,’ they’ve never had anything bad to say, which is a good feeling. We have a whole staff of hard-working gentlemen and ladies that work for us,” Gage said. “I also like the owners here. They’re very charitable. Whether it’s the way that they run their business, whether it’s the way that they’re charitable with people, whether it’s just understanding, kindness, respect, that they treat with other people when they’re in hard times.”

“You know that working for the owners here, are really good people. Our impact on the community of what we do with some of the grade schools, some of the local food banks, I love it,” he said. 

Many thanks to Alec and Gage for having us! Stay tuned for more information on Restaurant Weeks and be on the lookout for more exciting cuisine creations from BASH. For a closing thought, Alec told us the kitchen motto at BASH.

“This is how we roll, but in the kitchen, our motto I follow is that loves trumps all,” he said, “That love is more powerful than anything else on planet Earth, and we hope you can taste it in the food.”