You could call Rayza’s a destination restaurant, and you’d be right in more ways than one. Yes, foodies across Lower Alabama have found it’s worth the drive – but that’s nothing compared to the distance its namesake owner covered to find his place there.

Mochamad Rayza was born in Indonesia, to a mother he says took early note of his interest in cooking and predicted he’d become a chef. He started his career at a five-star hotel in Jakarta before landing a job in Dubai, where he continued to work under Japanese chefs for another three years; it was in this period that he began to focus on sushi. A cruise-ship job followed.

“I always had a dream to come and live in America,” he said. He found his first opportunity in Miami, then somehow jumped to New Hampshire, where he learned at some po

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