One serves the mentally ill; one serves sushi. Four letters link these Fresno spots

It’s a good thing that Christina Roup likes sushi.

Because the executive director of NAMI Fresno, a family-based support and advocacy organization for people with mental illness, could be fielding orders for tuna rolls for a Japanese restaurant set to open soon close to her office in north Fresno.

The yet-to-open restaurant – Nami Japanese cuisine – has already led to confusion. People are seeing a sign for the new eatery and think the grass-roots organization is moving into a building at the Park Crossing shopping center at Fresno Street and Friant Road.

Friends have sent pictures of the outside of the brick-colored restaurant, with NAMI painted in bold white lettering. “Even our landlord asked if we were moving offices and hadn’t shared that with him yet,” Roup says.

But Roup has decided to make the best of having a neighbor who shares the same name. She planned to eat lunch at the restaurant Friday and was disappointed when she arrived and found construction underway. "I love sushi."

Calls to find out when the restaurant will open were not returned by deadline, but ABC30 has reported that Little Fat Dumpling, a Chinese food restaurant that opened in March, planned to open Nami Japanese cuisine in a few months.

Roup likely will be one of its first customers. And she intends to throw her organization’s name around to restaurant management. "I plan to let them know who we are and that we exist, and if they get calls by mistake for us, can they forward them?”

And if the restaurant opens before NAMI Fresno’s annual fundraising walk on May 5, she’s going to ask if she can put a poster about the walk in the restaurant window.

This story was originally published April 20, 2018 at 5:30 PM with the headline "One serves the mentally ill; one serves sushi. Four letters link these Fresno spots."