Guest contributor: Josh Kerr

I’m not the kind of person that gives up easily, but after trying to bribe my way to a faster table at Uchi four times and getting rejected each time, I’ve come to the realization that it can’t be done.   I’ve tried increasing the amount up to a whopping $100.  I’ve tried the manager, hosts, waiters, parking guy, everyone.   The manager always comes over to deliver the shame and humiliation that my attempts have failed because they want to remain fair to the other guests and that I’ll just have to wait my turn.  {ed. note: maggie here.  I applaud Uchi for not giving in to bribing, it’s a very annoying thing that goes on at other places in town}  The problem is, the wait can be up to an hour and a half during the week and over two hours on the weekends.     Why are all of these people waiting so long for a table in this tiny restaurant on South Lamar?  Why am I being such a loser and trying to bribe my way in?   Read on…

The great Shag Roll.  Americanized sushi at its best.  Deep fried with salmon, avocado and squid ink.

To see Uchi:

Tonight is my first review of Uchi.  I decided to bring my friend Milan who is always fun to go out with, but is a vegetarian and doesn’t consume alcohol.  I’m easy, I eat and drink everything, but Milan because of his restrictions is more complicated and a perfect challenge for what is arguably the best Austin restaurant.    I met Milan at Uchi shortly after finishing the Annie’s Cafe opening party and we put our name down for the 1  hour wait.  I don’t really mind waiting and Uchi is pretty good about making sure our wait isn’t too terrible.  They serve free appetizers to everyone waiting outside and at the bar and there is plenty of wine, sake and beer for purchase.  There are always interesting people to look at whether you are indoors at the bar or outside on one of the nice garden tables.  After about 40 minutes, our table is ready.

We’ve got a great table smack in the middle of the restaurant near a window which means my photos will look much better because this restaurant is fairly dark.   The server comes by and we order.  Milan is letting Uchi pick his meal.  The server says they will have no problem giving him a wonderful selection of veggie entrees.  I’ve heard that before at other restaurants and usually the most boring dishes will come out, but at Uchi, you know that you are going to get something special.   For me, I usually order the Omakase which is the chef’s tasting menu.  It changes every day and has wonderful fresh items on it that I’ve usually never had before.  I can’t stress how wonderful this experience is, but it is expensive (~$200) and you have to do it with two people.  Since Milan is a vegetarian, I’m going with my Uchi comfort meal experience.  Although this won’t necessarily highlight what is a great culinary experience and one of the reasons that I think Uchi is a great restaurant, it will allow me to focus on other equally important aspects of the restaurant.

The great thing about Uchi is that a lot of their fish is flown in from Japan.  You might think this isn’t a big deal, but knowing a bit about Japanese culture might help to understand the complexity in this.  The Japanese love their fish.  Seriously.   They import the best fishes in from around the world to their markets where they auction them off to the top bidders.   Tokyo’s Tsukiji Market is the largest and most important where a blue fin tuna can catch as much as $30,000.    The fish are then transported to the Tokyo Narita airport where they are flown around the world.  Just think about that for a second, fish bought from Japan is imported from the best places around the world, auctioned, and then flown to their final destination where they are consumed.

Fish ready to be purchased at Tokyo’s Tsukiji Market in Japan.  Image copyright Zach Wasserman.

This is a complicated process that is based on so many different logistical issues that most US based sushi chefs can’t even begin to think about doing it.  But Tyson Cole the head Chef at Uchi isn’t like most US sushi chefs .  He spent a good deal of time in Japan where he trained to become a sushi chef.  It was his time here that exposed him to the process of buying fish and then exporting it.  He developed the contacts and the know how to do what I’d say most restaurants cannot do.   All of this translates into Uchi using the best tasting fish which Tyson can then shape into his wonderful creations.  Take any normal sushi restaurant and they are already at a disadvantage.   Their fish will never be as good no matter what they do to it.   This is probably why American’s feel the need to douse this delicate and wonderful fish into soy sauce and wasabi, something the Japanese do not do and neither should you.

So now we’ve got the gist of why Uchi has great tasting fish, but there is much more going on here than the quality of the fish.  I’d go so far to say that Uchi serves very daring dishes.  I’ve had an entire Sea Bass with the head, body and tail still attached.  After consuming the meat in the middle, I was told to eat the tail, scales and all, and then dig out the stuff in the head.  Basically the entire fish was edible.  In a million years I would never consume the entire fish, but at Uchi they make it not only appealing, but delicious.  This is why you need to do Omakase.   Let the chef show you food creations that you’d never in a million years order yourself.  They really do expand your culinary pallet and in a very adventurous way.

The Bond roll.   Sun dried tomato, avocado with soybean paper outside.

Tonight I’m having several pieces of Nigiri and a single roll.   This is my Uchi comfort experience which includes my favorite fishes and one very savory, very non-Japanese roll.   For the pieces, I’ve got Blue Fin Super Toro, Aji (Horse Mackerel) and fresh water Unagi.  One of the most important concepts in eating Sushi is that the pieces are prepared exactly as they are meant to be eaten.  The temperature of the fish, the rice and the seasonings are all created specifically for the fish you are eating and bring out the subtle flavors.  This is why its a no no to drop your fish in soy sauce or wasabi.   My first bite is the Unagi which has been warmed and falls apart as it hits my tongue.   The flavor is sweet and delicious.  Next up is the super toro which is room temperature and after dropping it into my mouth melts like butter.  It is smooth as silk with an oily texture.  Lastly I try the Aji which is my favorite fish.  This one has a bit of the buttery texture of the Toro, but has a sweeter flavor similar to the Unagi.   Aji has a lower mercury level to Tuna and the fish populations are very large so there is no worry of over fishing or extinction.   This is a good reason to eat it over Toro and one of the ways which a sushi restaurant can remain sustainable.

Blue fin super toro.  Also known as fatty tuna its fairly expensive, but equally delicious.

Aji, or horse mackerel.  Notice the precision at which they put the seeds at the end of the fish?

Unagi – fresh water eel.

For the roll, I got the Shag roll.  This is an American roll through and through.  It is a deep fried roll with avocado, salmon and served with squid ink sauce.  This roll is so delicious that it could be a desert.   While this is the most popular roll at Uchi, I don’t think it showcases any of the wonderful qualities that make Uchi stand out from the other restaurants.  There are good fried rolls anywhere in Austin and the whole process of frying the roll takes away from the flavors of the salmon.  Its almost as if its a filling for texture than flavor.  Still, its delicious and I like it when I’m in the mood for some comfort food.

Milan digs into a bowl of Aged Dofu.

For my buddy Milan his experience was completely different.   He started with fried green tomatoes which were fantastic and moved on to a Bond roll which has sun dried tomato and avocado wrapped in rice paper with a fantastic sauce.    He followed the Bond roll with Age Dofu which is a lightly fried tofu with dried bonito shavings and a dashi broth.  It was a very interesting dish which required that we pour the broth into the bowl before consuming the tofu.  The flavors for a tofu dish were wonderful and unique.   Milan was very pleased with his meal as was I.  But there was still desert to tend to.

Fried green tomatoes.

The Peanut Butter Semi Freddo is my favortite desert dish at Uchi.  It is a basically a peanut butter gelato with the texture of a frozen mousse served with an apple-miso sorbet and some ringo crisps which look like dried apples and taste like chips.  We clear through this desert in a few minutes without any discussion or break.  It’s almost as if its a contest to see who can east the most, with me winning because I’m a pig with no manners.

Peanut butter semi freddo.   Absolutely delicious.

I’ve spent most of this article praising Uchi for having great quality fish, creative dishes and very delicious food, but the real hidden treasure at Uchi is not so much the food as it is the people who work there.   I don’t know that I’ve seen a tighter ship in terms of service.  It is almost like all of the servers are your servers and they all communicate to each other telepathically.  It is true that you get one person who comes over to the table at the beginning of the meal, but as the entrees are ready, they are served by whomever is the closest.  So you can have any number of servers coming over to your table to describe your dish.  And when I say describe your dish, there is some serious amount of knowledge that these people need to know in order to tell you what you are eating.  And they all have it down as if they were culinary masters themselves.    Everyone is friendly and I see a lot of the same faces each time I go indicating that turnover is fairly low.  Service is often overlooked at fine restaurants because the enjoyment of the food overshadows the effort to get it to you.  Uchi is clearly in that category.

I’ve only had Tyson once as my sushi chef, but I’d argue that any of the sushi chef’s will take you on a fantastic culinary experience.   As per Tyson’s rules on eating sushi and not looking like an ass.   Sit at the sushi bar.  Never ask a sushi chef what is fresh today.  The chef would never serve a fish that isn’t fresh and it is insulting.   Order one or two pieces at a time, don’t order your entire meal at once.   Savor the experience with each bite and ask the chef to help tailor the meal to your tastes.   Don’t even bother with soy sauce or wasabi, the fish is prepared exactly as its meant to be eaten.    I’d recommend the Omakasa if you can afford it and your brought along another hungry mouth.  Uchi does take reservations, but only if you make one before 5:30pm.   If you go on a weekend be prepared to wait because Uchi doesn’t accept bribes.