If Poway's latest sushi restaurant, the Poway Sushi Lounge, looks, feels and tastes a bit like the highly successful Sushi on the Rock in La Jolla, it's no wonder. Owners Frank Interlandi, Katie Rooney and Eric Wong all met there, where the men worked as sushi chefs and Rooney was general manager before opening the restaurant's catering operations in Carlsbad.

"We knew we were good at sushi, and we got to talking," explained Rooney. "Soon we were asking, 'Why are we not doing this for ourselves?'"

The thirtysomething threesome had already begun scouting locations when Interlandi saw an ad for a sushi bar for sale in Poway. "We thought it was a diamond in the rough," said Rooney. "It was a good location, and we knew there was a Japanese palate here, but nothing similar in terms of restaurants."

They purchased the former Sushi Poway location on Poway Road in the Library Plaza just east of Pomerado Road and spent the first three months remodeling. "It was a labor of love," said Rooney, who helped tear up the original carpet herself. Replacing the floor with artisan tile, Interlandi built in niches and a kitchen pass-through on the wall behind the bar and installed bamboo and quartz with the help of a construction team. "Eric's wife is an interior designer and she helped with the colors," Interlandi added.

The result is a fresh, modern setting that seats 70. Booths and chairs upholstered in a black print fabric surround the central sushi bar; contemporary lighting and black dishware complement the attractively presented Asian fusion food. "We don't really like the word 'fusion'," Rooney said, "but we do cater more to the American palate, blending traditional and nontraditional flavors to make new ones."

Regional traditional is how Wong describes the cuisine. "We have the patience and take the care to educate customers and take their tastes and palate into account," he said. "Some sushi chefs just throw what they think the customer should eat at them. They tell you what they want you to eat."

Interlandi, a surfer originally from Laguna Beach, came to San Diego to study civil engineering at San Diego State. But at Sushi on the Rock, he found that cooking, and preparing sushi in particular, was his passion.

"I'm not classically trained, but I was a bartender who loved to eat. They took a leap of faith when they offered to train me without knife skills," he said, adding that he developed a number of new dishes and sauces while at Sushi on the Rock, many of which he renamed and brought to Poway. "I'm always experimenting, always learning."

He said that when the restaurant first opened in April 2006, they sometimes had difficulty predicting exactly how much fresh fish to order daily. "When were slow, I took over a couple of platters to a friend of mine who has a business nearby and gave it away," he said. "It turned out to be great marketing."

"Sushi is a matter of trust," said Rooney bluntly.

The Poway Sushi Lounge is open daily for lunch and dinner. All lunches come with miso soup (except the udon -- a Japanese noodle) and include salads. Dishes include cajun albacore burger ($7.95) and ginger shrimp and/or scallop saute ($8.95-$9.95). The sushi lunch special with California roll and five pieces of sushi (tuna, yellowtail, salmon, albacore and shrimp) is $8.95. The shrimp, beef, chicken or tofu teriyaki bowl runs from $4.95 to $7.95. Bento boxes with rice, salad, edamame (edible soybeans), and four pieces of California roll cost from $5.95 to $7.95.

Larger bento boxes are available on the dinner menu, which also has an extensive list of traditional starters such as tempura ($5 to $7) and gyoza (potstickers) ($4-$5). Original dishes include blackened ahi tacos (two crispy won ton shells, shredded cabbage, pepper-seared tuna, salsa fresca, lemon wasabi (Japanese horseradish) for $7, and vegetarian rolls called the Lounge Lizard with tempura yellow chiles, sprouts, cucumber, avocado and chopped cilantro salsa fresca on the side for $8.

Their efforts are paying off. The restaurant turned profitable in October, Interlandi said, and it's seeing a monthly revenue increase of 10 percent to 15 percent. He attributes the slow and steady growth to customer satisfaction and word of mouth. "If you had a big spike and then it leveled off, it might mean they didn't come back after trying it," he said.

Rooney said that they have their sights on opening a second location in the future as well as selling some of their most popular sauces in a Sushi Lounge line.

They are also thinking about offering sushi cooking classes.

"Sunday lunch is our slowest," said Interlandi with a smile, "so maybe then?"

- Contact staff writer Ruth Marvin Webster at (760) 740-3527 or rwebster@nctimes.com.

WHAT: Poway Sushi Lounge

WHERE: 13132 Poway Road, Poway

CALL: (858) 748-0070

HOURS: Lunch, 11:30 a.m to 2:30 p.m. daily; dinner, 5-9:30 p.m. Sun-Thurs; 5-10 p.m. Fri-Sat. Happy hour 5-6:30 p.m. Tues-Sun.