A basic course of two different types of tuna and soy sauce contained big and bold flavors at Uchi in Austin, Texas.
Photos by Sgt. Bowden Drake-Deese, III Armored Corps Public Affairs
AUSTIN, Texas — For as long as I can remember I have been obsessed with sushi. I couldn’t tell you the first time I ever had it but if it’s any indication at all, my mother to this day claims my first word was sushi. Birthdays, graduations, dog becoming house trained — all celebrated in my family with a trip to a local sushi joint in New Hampshire. You’d be correct in assuming that when I say “a local sushi joint in New Hampshire,” what I’m really saying is, “THE local sushi joint in New Hampshire.” Variety of food is not at the top of reasons to visit my beloved home state. However, down here in Texas, it’s a very different story. So when my birthday rolled around not too long ago, I knew exactly what I was looking for.
Questions to friends and coworkers landed my wife, Erin Drake-Deese, and I at Uchi in the southern part of Austin. When we made the reservation at the sushi bar we told them we were celebrating my birthday and found a little happy birthday fish card for me. Erin wanted to take it home but I advised against it. We dressed Texas casual for the evening and everyone else was pretty much on par with us. The sushi bar itself was definitely a more relaxed place to be while the seats seemed to be more geared towards the upscale crowd.
My wife Erin and I pose with the happy birthday fish left for us at our spot on the sushi counter at Uchi in Austin, Texas.
I ordered a beer and Erin ordered a cocktail. This is where I knew we were in for a special experience. When they brought my beer, they brought it with a glass alongside the can. I prefer to just drink straight out of the can so after a few sips the glass magically disappeared, I’m all in at this point.
One of the big reasons we chose Uchi was that neither of us ever had an omakase set. Omakase in Japanese means, “I leave it up to you.” The chef makes you what they think is good and adjusts depending on your reaction and feedback to the dishes they serve. An easy thing for me to do as an adventurous eater who put ungodly things in his mouth at restaurants and street carts across the world, but not so settling for Erin. She played along, though.
The final course of amazing sushi was uni and just a touch of caviar on top of our tuna at Uchi in Austin, Texas.
Our dinner began with a dish of oysters. Presented beautifully on a plate of ice and garnished with orange, cilantro and sweet peppers. In a word, sublime. I never had anything with such an amazing taste of the ocean. Then experienced an amazing zesty white tuna crudo with shredded radish, devoured practically before the plate was set down followed up by what we could only describe as the single greatest piece of sushi we’d ever had with the most incredible combination of flavors — a smoked trout nigiri dish. It instantly melted in my mouth. I felt like I was in heaven.
A quick palate cleanser of raspberry shaved ice and white chocolate scraps, which I would’ve thought was too big a change from the bold smokey flavors we had been having but I was so wrong. It wasn’t so much the taste of raspberry but the fact that it just neutralized all the flavors. We then did a down shift into the simplicity section of the dinner. Several pieces of fatty tuna with marinated scallion alongside very lean tuna and radish lay before us during the next course. Then the grand finale, two massive pieces of rice with a huge mound of uni (sea urchin) next to two tuna rolls with just a touch of, you guessed it, caviar.
I genuinely never had an experience like I did throughout the course of that dinner. Not only was the food absolutely out of this world, the service was impeccable with just the right amount of attention paid to each customer. I’ve been to a place where service is by well-dressed waiters and they call you, “Sir” and “Ma’am,” and that’s all well and good, but I never like the stuffiness of that scene. At Uchi it was like if you went over to your friend’s house for beers, who also happens to be the best sushi chef you know.
Now I won’t tell you exactly what we paid for this dinner, but I will say it was worth every penny for a special occasion. I can’t recommend Uchi enough. I highly recommend looking for a reservation way ahead of time if you have a birthday or something coming up. For more information and to look at menus, go to uchi.uchirestaurants.com/location/sushi-austin.