Uchiko

Well we are back ladies and gentlemen, and just in time for one of the most anticipated Austin restaurant openings in recent history. Uchi chef Tyson Cole has opened up a second location, called Uchiko, at 42nd and Lamar (right next to the new TacoDeli location... could this be the most delicious corner in all of Austin??)

We had the chance to attend the pre-opening and sample some of the goods at half off. The overall concept of Uchiko is almost exactly the same as the original, just a completely different menu. So needless to say, as big fans of the original Uchi, we were very excited. When it came time to finally order, we really had no idea which way to go, so we decided to push all our chips to the center and order omakase. (Omakase is a Japanese sushi tradition, that translates to "It's up to you," and basically you are challenging the chef to give you his or her best stuff.)

I can definitely say that the two best decisions I have ever made in my life are: #1 Marrying Han, and #2 Ordering Omakase at Uchiko. All in all, we ate fourteen dishes, including two desserts. We will highlight each of our three favorite dishes.

Justin's Favorites

#1. Eggplant Nigiri

So not that everything we had wasn't fantastic, but about 8 dishes in, I thought to myself, "I've really enjoyed everything so far, but I'm still waiting to be blown away. Ev

erything we've had has been an 8 or a 9. I know a 10 is coming, but I don't know when." Well the eggplant nigiri was my 10.

Both incredibly innovative and delicious, this dish is served just like regular fish nigiri, but with a sauteed slice of eggplant served on top of rice. The BBQ sauce is sweet and tasty and the eggplant is grilled slightly crispy, and tastes remarkably somewhat like fis

h only better. This is especially a boon to vegetarians or anyone else who doesn't like raw fish.

#2. Bacon Sen (Pork Belly)

So truth be told, I probably would have considered this my favorite dish, but saying pork belly is your favorite is like saying your favorite band is the Beatles. The pork belly itself was as good as you probably imagine it; crispy on the outside, tender and fatty in the middle. But the real kicker was the garnishes: apple puree and kimchi apples. Eating all three in one bite was a perfect trifecta.

#3. Kai Jiru (Mussel soup)

I put this one because it was the one I was most surprised by. At first glance it looks like a weird amalgamation of vegetables and seafood in a shot glass. Also the description of the ingredients was a little odd as well. "Tomato water?" But don't be fooled, this was as tasty of a soup as I've ever had. The mussels were juicy and tender and the tomato water broth ended up being an amazing compliment.

Han's Favorites

#1. Usagi Yaki (Rabbit Terrine)

(Yeah so that's my impatient fork in that picture above...) One thing you have to know about Han is that she absolutely hates gamey meat, but she not only loved the Usagi Yaki, she thinks she wants to start raising rabbits for meat now. Much like the Bacon Sen, the Usagi Yaki is delectable enough on its own, but the additions to the dish, quail egg and pureed peas, take it to an entirely different level completely.

#2. Lobster Gazpacho

Han was already won over with the huge hearty chunks of lobster, but the gazpacho broth was just as incredible; watermelon-y but savory with the added bite of cilantro.

#3. Jiiro (Locke Du Arte Salmon)

This was probably our favorite true sushi roll of the evening, simple but innovative. Salmon and avocado inside of a soy wrap, but topped with preserved lemon. Dip it inside the swipe of skyr yogurt on the side for maximum experience.

And of course a special shoutout goes to the desserts. Both of which were incredible and unlike anything we had ever had before.

The Sweet Corn Custard

Understand I mean this in the best way possible: this dessert tasted like they had an Iron Chef contest where the ingredient was Captain Crunch. Corn bread crumbles with polenta over vanilla ice cream. Pure amazing.

Fried Milk

If the description of the Sweet Corn Custard sounded odd, I don't even really know where to begin with the Fried Milk. This was by far the most confusing but delicious dessert I have ever had. It was like eating a Picasso painting. Condensed milk deep fried, topped with ice cream and chocolate wafers. A MUST HAVE.

How Do You Roll?: The Chipotle of sushi restaurants

If you're like me, and your wife goes on prolonged craft/crocheting binge, you might find yourself up at JoAnn's Fabric up at the Arbor Walk at 183 and MoPac pretty frequently. There, you may have noticed a funky little sushi joint called How Do You Roll? that looks absolutely nothing like a sushi restaurant typically looks like.

And if you're like me, you're probably pretty skeptical of strip mall sushi (as you probably should be), but if you like your sushi (and if you like it good and fresh and without a whole lot of pretense and/or techno music) then you're not going to want to shy away from this place.

For starters, despite its mod fast-food-like appearance, the folks at HDYR know what they're doing. In fact, one of the owners was the long time sushi chef at Azuma in Houston before deciding to get out of the fine dining industry and start a more approachable way to bring sushi to the masses.

Some of the changes from traditional sushi places that you will see are pretty creative and complex. For instance, they've managed to automate the rice spreading as well as the slicing of the maki into individual sushi pieces.

But other changes really seem like no-brainers. Instead of picking from a set selection of sushi rolls, you create your maki just like at Chipotle. First, you pick your wrap (seaweed or soy paper). Then a machine spreads the sushi rice onto your roll. Then you pick your fillings.

Fish selections include traditional favorites, such as tuna, salmon, and eel. For the more adventurous, I definitely recommend the crawfish tails. (BTW, what is up with Northwest Austin and their Asian/crawfish fusion?? All I gotta say is keep it coming!!) Seasonal specials are also available as well.

For the "veggies," once again, traditional favorites such as cucumber, tamago (aka egg, yeah i guess egg is a vegetable), and cream cheese. But also available are asparagus, jalapeno, and sprouts.

Finally, you can opt to add some masago or tempura crumbles. Then, they put it through the automated maki slicer (I deliberated asking them not to cut mine so I could eat it as a sushi-rito), add a side of miso soup or seaweed salad, and you're good to go.

The end result? A pretty good set of sushi, with taste and presentation that do not suffer because of the new format one bit.

Oh did I mention, its about 10 pieces of sushi for under $10? Well enough for most sushi eaters looking to eat well for not a lot of money.

Even better, their happy hour specials make eating here an even bigger steal. Beer and cold sake are available, but I would have to say that I definitely miss having hot sake with my sushi. Hopefully, they'll make it available in the future.

So in closing, strict purists may still scoff, but if you're still saving up for that Uchi dinner, and Sushi Sake's happy hour already ended, you might want to give this place a try. Once you go low-cost, low-hassle sushi, you may never want to go back.

KG Sushi Train

Hello KAT fans! Sorry it's been so long. Han and I have both been preparing special investigative pieces (mine looking into the best cup of coffee in Austin, Han desperately trying to find good crawfish in this city), but above all that, we just bought a house! Hopefully as things settle down, and once we're able to complete our "research" (HA!) we'll have more posts up shortly.

Anyways, let's get back to the food. The KG Sushi Train is actually the latest in-house addition to one of our favorite restaurants, Korea Garden. It's based on a restaurant idea that is very popular over in Asia and parts of California.

The concept is pretty simple. Have you ever been at an airport carousel waiting for your luggage and thought to yourself, "Man, I'd like to take that home too?" Then the Sushi Train is just for you. They seat you at a high bar with a moving conveyor belt that brings by dishes of sushi. Whenever you see something you like, just pull it off the belt and enjoy!

The prices of the dish vary, but are easily decodeable with the color of the dish and the handy-dandy chart on the wall behind you. When you are finished you server will tally up your dishes. Pretty simple, and it's a fun and unique dining experience, although admittedly the gimmick is largely the main appeal.

Now a few things to keep in mind. And maybe this won't apply to you, if you eat with your stomach instead of your eyes, like Han and I do. First off, I would definitely recommend going in with a budget, as it is very easy to rack up a huge bill. Second of all, if you're going on, say, a first date, it is important to pace yourself in order to last for an entire meal. When Han and I went, we went through 13 dishes totalling over $50 in just under 15 minutes (pictured). Our drink orders weren't even back in time before we were finished!

The sushi itself is no different than how we previously reviewed it, and it can be hit or miss. I thought the escolar was excellent, and we went through about 3 dishes of the fried scallops, as they were not only one of the best dishes but one of the cheapest. Also, normally I'm somewhat snobby about California rolls, but the ones they have at KG Sushi Train have made me a believer. For everything else, just use your eyeballs. Everything we tried that looked good, was good.

KG Sushi Train
6519 N. Lamar
http://www.kgsushitrain.com/

Korea Garden: The Eternal Quest for Good Austin Sushi

Before I go any further...

ACL Music Winners: Beck, Manu Chao, CSS, Gogol Bordello, Vampire Weekend
ACL Food Winners: Hudson's cones (of course), anything from Salt Lick (of course), nICE CONEz ice cream-stuffed sno cones, P. Terry's veggie burger (courtesy of Erika, our resident veggie burger connoisseur)

Great time as always. Looking forward to next year. Now onto business.

One of our biggest complaints since moving to Austin is that we really miss Houston's abundance of cheap quality sushi. You know, places like Oishii and Hokkaido. We just haven't been able to find any place like that here in Austin.

Our most notable sushi experience came during 4th of July weekend, when we met up with Pam and CJ and went to Kenichi on 5th St. We ended up dropping over $100 there and we still had to go to Best Wurst afterward because we were still hungry. Han ordered a sashimi plate and it was literally six slivers of fish drizzled with lemon saffron. Don't get me wrong, the piece I tried was delicious, but most of the money we paid definitely went toward the pretense.

We had been to Korea Garden before for their Korean food, but post-ACL we were looking something relatively healthy like sushi to aid in our detox process. We got a salmon roll and a spicy scallop roll, and we ended up getting a few Korean dishes as well, because I couldn't resist.

Probably the best part about this restaurant is the service. The food comes out quick and the waitstaff is very courteous and responsive and also hilariously FOB-by. If you ask for a refill of your water, you may be greeted with a huge smile and a "Sure!! Why not?"

The sushi itself was passable but did the job. Basically neither roll was as fresh as I would have liked, but it was still very good sushi. If only the price of the sushi was reasonable, it would have been a home run. But $6-7 per roll and $3-4 per nigiri (!!!) makes this sushi a little less easy to swallow.

The Korean food on the other hand is very delicious and worth the money. The bibimbop is pretty amazing, although the jury is still out on whether it's worth it to pay the extra money to have it served in a stone pot. The japchae is probably among the best I've ever had, mixing in both bugolgi beef and soy medallions into the sticky noodles. Han got the the sashimi bibimbop (which, to me, was more chirashi than bibimbop) which was really good as well.

Overall the restaurant is definitely worth it. We're still looking for that little niche sushi hole-in-the-wall to call our own, but for now we will take the occasional salmon roll from here alongside our bugolgi and galbi bbq plates.

Korea Garden
6519 N. Lamar

P.S. If anyone wants to know our best bet for sushi so far, it's to make it yourself using fish from D.K.'s Sushi Mart at the corner of Koenig and Lamar.