Kabuki Restaurant and Lounge is a new restaurant on Old Tower Hill Road in Wakefield that opened in March. At left, sushi chefs work their magic.

The Providence Journal / Sandor Bodo

For all the challenges of the locally depressed economy, many more restaurants have opened than closed this year. Chefs, business men and women and even a nonprofit group decided to have a go at it. Over the next few weeks, we’ll look at about a dozen them.

Today we start with four. They include an upscale Japanese fusion restaurant in Wakefield, a breakfast and lunch spot in Warren replacing the beloved Three Rivers, an American Grill on Federal Hill, and a no-name Downcity bistro with bargain prices costing $8 or less.

Kabuki Restaurant and Lounge

How unexpected is the luxurious dining room at Kabuki, an upscale Japanese restaurant on a busy stretch of Old Tower Hill Road in Wakefield. Guests enter another dimension just beyond the front door.

Look straight ahead and three or four sushi chefs work their magic at stations. To the left, a crystal-appointed bar offers TV screens, an extensive drink menu including cold sakes and a DJ playing after 10 p.m. on weekends. To the right, a comfortable dining room serving such elegant seafood entrees as miso Chilean sea bass, black cod in a special sauce served with seasoned vegetables, shrimp and lobster risotto, and wasabi tuna tempura served over lump crab and avocado roll.

Owners Benjamin Qian (the host and manager) and Steven Lee (the classically trained chef who learned his trade in Japan and Manhattan) have created a modern fusion restaurant that reflects the style of Nobu in New York City, a restaurant they admire.

Both Qian and Lee moved to Rhode Island from New York after they became familiar with South County during fishing trips they took here. They were drawn by the ease of parking, joked Qian.

They’ve been open since March and do a brisk lunch business with Qian busy greeting guests to give them a personal experience. He wants to be part of the community and puts himself out there to meet and mingle and even sit with his diners. He’s also out to educate.

“People have an opinion of sushi and think it means an all raw kitchen,” said Qian. “But modern Japanese restaurants have two parts.”

And that includes the appetizers of Kobe beef, edamame soup and the best-selling Five Spiced Chicken which takes two days to prepare in a marinade.

As for the sushi, Qian’s notables include the Angry Dragon (shrimp tempura, spicy tuna and papaya topped with spicy Alaskan crab and sweet citrus sauce); Tuna Amazing (white tuna tempura, spicy tuna and avocado topped with peppered tuna with mango and eel sauce); and Six Flags (tempura roll with king crab, avocado, asparagus and shrimp topped with spicy scallop and crispy sweet potato stripes and a spicy lime sauce).

The restaurant is in a new building at 91 Old Tower Hill Rd. on the space that was home to Canton Island.

The Sunnyside Daytime Dining

When last we visited with Joe Simone, Barrington native and classical chef, he was at the helm of the fine dining restaurant Redlefsen’s in Bristol. When last we were at 267 Water St. in Warren, it was Three Rivers breakfast spot.

Everything has changed.

Simone is now the chef/owner of The Sunnyside Daytime Dining, serving an elegant breakfast and lunch in a casual setting with 50 seats and another 40 seats outdoors. (I know that’s a tease in November.)

Here his signature Baked French Toast becomes Bread Pudding for lunch. But for the most part, he serves a breakfast and a lunch menu of what he calls “simple food” but with classic sensibilities. On Saturday and Sunday, his brunch is a healthy mix of breakfast and lunch entrees served all day.

He opened in May, and last week he served 720 meals. You’ll find him cooking and visiting, because the kitchen is smack dab in the middle of the dining room. Anyone expecting the place to look the same as it did will be surprised. He’s also added a wood-burning grill to the kitchen.

This is very much Simone’s home. He grew up in Barrington and his first restaurant job was working at TaVino when he was in high school.

“It’s so awesome,” he said of running his own neighborhood spot, admitting there’s also the pressure to live up to everyone’s expectations. But he revels in it and is enjoying the journey to see where this new endeavor takes him. The prices are not the cheapest in East Bay, but he said they reflect the dishes.

He is committed to local artisans including a fish monger from Bristol, breads from Bristol Bakery and Farm Fresh Rhode Island, to whom he writes the biggest check each week for its local food and produce.

He’s closed Monday and Tuesday and does not serve dinner.

Thornton’s Grille

Martin Thornton is the owner of the building at 145 Spruce St. on Federal Hill where Casa Christine and the Calise family served for many years before closing about a year ago. Thornton was also the owner of a restaurant bearing his name in the Fenway neighborhood of Boston. But in January, a fire destroyed a block of six restaurants, including Thornton’s.

While he will rebuild there, he also decided to expand and brought Thornton’s Grille to Federal Hill late last month. This American bar and grill has an extensive menu of meat, seafood and pasta. It includes sandwiches as well, including 15 different chicken varieties and burgers. There are appetizers including hot Buffalo wings served with blue cheese, celery and carrot sticks and pot stickers filled with ground pork and served with a dipping sauce. Seven chicken sauté dishes should be very popular.

Many dishes are $9.95 and all but a grilled rib-eye one are under $15.

That’s just the lunch and dinner menu. Thornton’s also serves breakfast seven days a week with eggs, omelets, waffles and more, all under $10.

Thornton hopes it becomes a “Cheers” kind of neighborhood spot. During the World Series, he had a nice crowd come in to eat and gather around the television in the bar, he said.

He now makes his home on Federal Hill and did extensive structural work on the building. The restaurant dining room remains in place, but with a new paint job, and the bar in the rear is new.

The Restaurant at AS220

Last Friday, the newest of this group opened in Providence at 115 Empire St., on the first level of AS220, the community arts space that provides an unjuried forum for local arts.

It will be known as the Restaurant at AS220 and replaces tenant Taqueria Pacifica. It features dishes that are all priced between $1 and $8, an extensive offering of vegetarian dishes, local artisan and farm food and daily specials.

Guy Michaud, formerly of Napa Valley Grille, is the manager, and Justin Earsing is the new chef. He comes from the Local 121 kitchen on Washington Street. The kitchen has been updated to offer more stove-top cooking. The walls have been spruced up and there is a new hand-painted sign signaling the spot.

“We’re not naming it, as we believe it is part of our programming,” said Cheryl Kaminsky, communications director. She likened it to the group’s mission to support local artists. New England farms will be looked to as a source for seasonal ingredients. Daily specials will reflect what is in season.

“We hope a foodie culture will grow up around it,” she said. As for the prices, she said AS220 wanted to make it as affordable as possible so “anyone can come in and have a bite.”

For every chicken or pork dish, there is a vegetarian option. For example, there is a roasted chicken sandwich as well as a grilled-cheese and ham one. There is also a grilled seitan with spicy tomato chutney sandwich and tandori tofu with mango spread.

There will be a grand opening “Hail Seitan” celebration, Friday, Nov. 13, starting at 6 p.m. with buffet for $6.66.

The restaurant will serve a second purpose: to provide three six-month positions at a time for youth involved in the Broad Street Studio program or the R.I. Training School’s culinary arts program.

It is open every day but Sunday starting at 11 a.m.

gciampa@projo.com