Billy Dec Returns as Sunda New Asian Opens a Fulton Market Location

Three years after Billy Dec’s announcement, the second Chicago outpost of Sunda Fulton Market, the former nightlife magnate’s Southeast Asian restaurant, will open tonight — Monday, February 26 — on the ground floor inside the headquarters of prolific developer Sterling Bay.

It’s been 15 years since Sunda New Asian debuted in River North. Dec and his crew have been quiet about the opening, quietly sinking significant resources into the design, trying to keep pace with other area restaurants, a collection including newcomers like Cocina Tulum and Fioretta. The restaurant presents a return to home turf for Dec, a Chicago native and co-founder of downtown nightlife pioneer Rockit Bar & Grill. With co-owner Brad Young, Dec opened Sunda River North in 2009, where a continent-traversing menu from late Chicago chef Rodelio Aglibot and a lively see-and-be-seen atmosphere made it one of the city’s hottest spots, attracting luminaries like Michelle Obama, Barbara Streisand, and Vanilla Ice.

After splitting with Rockit’s co-owner and hanging onto Sunda, Dec and his team have opened Sunda outposts in Nashville and Tampa, Florida, but deep down, “you can’t take [Chicago] out of me,” he says. “To me, [Sunda] is a Chicago-born concept — we’re based in Chicago, it’s a Chicago company and creation… I want to keep reinvesting in the city and being a contributor in some fashion.”

Sunda fans will recognize much of the Fulton Market menu from executive chef Mike Morales, which touches on dishes from a wide swath of countries including China, Thailand, Japan, Vietnam, and the Philippines, including longtime hits like spicy tuna crispy rice (masago, chives, sriracha, serrano) and truffled chicken siu mai (shiitake, hon-shimeji, hot mustard). It follows the same format as its predecessors, with one-third devoted to Japanese dishes, one-third to Chinese, and the remaining third set aside for options from the Philippines and other nearby countries.

Sunda New Asian

Sunda New Asian

Dim sum and sushi feature prominently, and through a series of unlikely encounters, Dec managed to track down chef Ise Matsunobu, formerly of longtime Chicago favorite Sushi Wabi, to helm the sushi bar. “When we opened Sunda [in 2009], Sushi Wabi was closed so I looked all over for [Matsunobu] but couldn’t find him,” says Dec, who heard through the grapevine that the Japanese chef had returned to Tokyo. In the meantime, Dec moved to Nashville and was struggling to find the right staff members for his restaurant. “In walks [Matsunobu] on a random Nashville street on a random day — we had a slo-mo run-hug. Now, here we are, he’s back in Fulton Market and we’re so happy to be back where we started.”

Sunda Fulton Market was initially pegged to launch in spring 2022, but the delay may ultimately prove fortuitous as that exact timeframe saw a surge of Filipino restaurants in Chicago, including Michelin-starred Kasama in West Town and smash-hit Boonie’s Filipino Restaurant in Lincoln Square. Dec, who is Filipino American, is quick to point out that Sunda has always served Filipino cuisine but a heightened spotlight on the country’s food has welcomed more fans into the fold. “I knew once [more people] gave Filipino food a chance, they’d be incredibly excited and mesmerized,” he says.

John Stoffer/Sunda New Asian

Well-regarded Chicago design firm Studio K Creative has woven Dec’s heritage into the design at Sunda Fulton Market, installing a jaw-dropping sculpture made with thousands of pearlescent Filipino capiz shells above the 26-seat island bar where customers can find new cocktails like an ube espresso martini (1800 reposado, coffee liqueur, ube milk) and Low Thai’d (Tanduay Silver, strega, hopped pineapple, Thai basil, white peppercorn). The design team has also layered the walls with traditional woven pamaypay hand fans — a preferred accessory for Dec’s lola, or grandmother — to create a distinctive organic texture. Bamboo wall treatments juxtapose neatly with sleek, contemporary furniture seen throughout the 146-seat main dining room and 18-seat sushi bar.

Those details contain great meaning for Dec, who recently starred in Food Roots, a documentary film that followed him on a trip through the Philippines in pursuit of his family’s stories and recipes. The film is now making its way through the festival circuit.

Sunda New Asian Fulton Market, 333 N. Green Street, Open 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday; 5 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday.