photo by: Eric Ayres

Putu and Alysa Astana pose outside of their De Adi Hibachi Grill food truck, which has become a wildly popular stop along National Road near Locust Avenue in Wheeling for its growing base of regulars.

WHEELING — A grassroots buzz about Putu and Alysa Astana’s De Adi Hibachi Grill truly got the word out about the now wildly popular dining option in Wheeling, and the community has stepped up to support them in more ways than one.

“We’re coming up on our five-year anniversary,” Alysa Astana said. “We opened in August 2021.”

De Adi Hibachi is a food truck offering wildly popular hibachi cuisine that is carefully crafted with culinary expertise and a touch of authentic Asian/Indonesian flair. The grill on wheels has spent the vast majority of its time set up in a stationary location that is easy for its regular patrons to find.

“When we first opened, we just parked right in front of the Wheeling Coffee Shop on the street in front of Allstate,” Alysa Astana said, noting that patrons could get their lunch or dinner from the food truck and get drinks at the coffee shop. “The owner there was really kind to us.”

From there, De Adi Hibachi Grill relocated to a busier section of Woodsdale, setting up in the area of the CVS parking lot along National Road.

“We were there for a good bit, too,” Astana said. “I would say we were there for about two years.”

Because of the construction of the new Unified Bank branch in Wheeling, the truck had to leave that parking lot and find a new home.

“We put the word out that we were going to have to be moving from there soon,” Astana explained, noting that regular patrons helped them find a new home base. “There was a customer – I called them our angel, because we were really nervous, we didn’t know where we were going to go. They said, ‘hey, you know what? My cousin owns the church over here. He’s a good guy. Let me reach out to him. Maybe you guys can work something out and he’ll let you park there.”

That’s when De Adi Hibachi Grill found its current home along National Road near Locust Avenue just down from the bend at Chicken Neck Hill. It is set up in the parking lot of the former Edgwood Lutheran Church building.

“That was a blessing,” Astana said of being able to settle into the current location. “We don’t travel much because of the situation with our son.”

The Astanas’ son, Gede Adi, endured a traumatic brain injury at birth, losing oxygen to his brain from complications experienced during delivery. He was flown by emergency helicopter to Pittsburgh following an emergency C-section. He suffered what is called hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, and as a result, will experience lifelong health challenges.

“He really wasn’t expected to survive it,” Astana said. “But thank God, he’s still here. We have our challenges with him, and we do the best we can. He has a lot of medical issues and things like that, but overall, he’s really happy. He’s a joy. He’s going to be 11 in August.”

Because of Gede’s health issues, the Astana family has to keep a very flexible schedule. That’s what the food truck allows them to do.

“It’s about the flexible schedule for sure,” Astana said. “We had to think of something out of the box. How can we still make a living but also be able to still be there for him as much as he needs us?”

The concept has worked, and people in the community – particularly those in the neighborhood and the regular patrols who love the food – have shown nothing but understanding and support.

“We park here, and if we can’t open for the day, we just don’t open for the day if he’s sick or if we’re in the hospital with him,” Astana said, explaining why they typically don’t take the food truck around to different locations. “If we had to take it from place to place to place, it would put us kind of in a bad spot. We just wouldn’t be able to handle that.”

The business was born as a way to accommodate Gede’s needs, and his spirit is a part of what fuels its success. In fact, it’s named after him.

“We call him ‘De’ for short. So it’s De Adi Hibachi,” Astana noted. “When we were thinking of names, we were going round and round, but nothing really stuck. And then it was just like a light bulb. We’re doing this for him in order for us to be able to care for him and be on his schedule. It really has a ring to it — De Adi Hibachi. It just sounds good, and it all worked out. It was like it was all just meant to be.”

Two years ago, they had to shut down the food truck for about a month because Gede was in the hospital for a month with pneumonia.

“That was a scary time, as well,” Astana said. “We almost lost him then. The whole community — just the outpouring of love from everybody is just at times overwhelming. It’s so beautiful. They know his story, and they watched him grow up.”

The family resides in Valley Grove. Alysa Astana is originally from the Ohio Valley. As a youth, she moved around from Ritchie Elementary to Wheeling Middle School, St. Clairsville High School and then back to Wheeling. Putu Astana is originally from Bali, Indonesia.

“But he’s been in this area, Wheeling, since 2012,” she said of her husband. “He has a culinary background. Before he came to America, he was a head chef in five-star resorts over there, teaching cooking classes. He would take the guests out to the village to pick up the different groceries and ingredients, and then he’d bring them back and show them how to cook and everything. So he had a lot of experience there.”

When Putu came to America, he started from the ground up working in the back of the kitchen. But then he made his way up to being a head chef at a Japanese steakhouse.

“And that’s where we met — at Fusion at The Highlands,” Astana said, noting that she was the reason he stayed in the valley. She was a server and bartender at Fusion, and he was the hibachi chef. “So we’ve been working together ever since we met each other.”

Alysa focuses on customer service for the business, which Putu also does.

“But he’s the guy behind the scenes — he’s the talent behind the food itself,” she said. “All of our meals are fresh, made-to-order. When you order it, we put it on the grill and cook it fresh and hot. If you like hibachi — definitely try ours.”

De Adi Hibachi has won numerous Best of the Ohio Valley awards over the past few years since opening, and they have built a loyal fanbase. Social media has helped, but word-of-mouth has been the best promotion.

“I would say it’s because of my husband’s passion for cooking,” Astana said. “You can just taste the difference, and that’s what we’re told by everybody. Out of all the hibachi they’ve tried, they just love ours. We make our own yum-yum sauce, we make our own teriyaki sauce, and the quality is always the same.”

The crew, which consists of the Astanas and one other assistant, still do some of the bigger events in the area, such as Oglebayfest and the Fall Food Truck Festival at Oglebay. But for the most part, they prefer to stay at their neighborhood location.

“When you start moving around a lot, people have a harder time finding you,” Astana said. “We’re connected to the community now, and we want to be there for them.”

In the winter, the business relies on takeout with patrons picking up orders and going home. But during more suitable weather in the spring, summer and fall, customers can dine right there in the neighborhood on picnic benches, there are cornhole boards set up, a neighboring food truck — Two Flamingos coffee — is there, and people enjoy socializing outdoors.

“The coffee shop has been awesome,” Astana said. “It’s fun, especially in the spring, summer and fall. It’s a perfect spot to come and hang out. We’re definitely way busier then.”

Regulars always ask if the Astanas are looking to establish a De Adi Hibachi at a permanent physical location in the future.

“We get asked that a lot,” she said. “With our situation, I don’t see us getting into a brick and mortar. It would just be too much. This is a lot already. You can’t just shut down a restaurant with a bunch of employees. We’d like to keep it small like this. And we need the flexibility.”

Medical bills and related equipment for Gede get very expensive, and those who support the food truck also help the family with these challenges.

“All of the tips we collect go toward our son’s medical needs and his future,” Astana said. “If you’re supporting us, you’re helping support our son, as well. You’re supporting a family that is local — your neighbors and friends.”