A couple of Tweets and a phone call in confirms it: Tamura Sushi Kappo is now dishing drool-worthy Japanese cuisine to the Eastlake Ave crowd.

When I last spoke with Steve Tamura about his new venture with Taichi Kitamura, he was hoping it would be opening July 2. He didn’t hit that goal—this past Sunday, July 18, was the restaurant’s first day.

If the name Taichi Kitamura sounds familiar, it’s because he’s the James Beard semi-finalist who cheffed former Fremont favorite Kappo, which was situated above his Chiso and featured an omakase-only menu. Seattle Met restaurant critic Kathryn Robinson said of the spendy, toque’s choice dinner: “Placing yourself in the hands of a chef like this is a dream.”

The open-kitchen Eastlake eatery is located in the Ruby condo complex and serves dinner daily 5-10pm.

On the other side of I-5, two other sushi restaurants, just blocks from each other, have made their debut on Capitol Hill: Broadway’s Genki Sushi and Octo Sushi, which takes over former home of Robin Leventhal’s Crave. This is the second Seattle storefront for conveyor-belt connoisseurs Genki (a third is located in Renton at Renton Village Shopping Center), which is reported to operate 150 outlets throughout Hawaii and Japan.

Finally, according to Capitol Hill Seattle, Pinto Thai Bistro and Sushi Bar, where Thai meets Japanese cuisine (yeah, I’m curious too), is expected to open sometime this month at 408 Broadway.