Austin Must-Try: Uchiko

If you're a fan of food living in Austin, by now you've heard of Tyson Cole's new restaurant - Uchiko. Whether or not you've been is another story. I've been lucky enough to attend their soft opening, a private food blogger event and sit at the sushi bar with a friend thanks to a generous $100 gift card from their awesome PR team. Life is good.

As a result of my good fortune, I've tried numerous things on the menu, and yes, it IS that good. Are some of the menu items pricey? Yes, but they're worth it. There are also several affordable dishes that you can walk away feeling satisfied and with your wallet not fully depleted. The bottom line? You need to check Uchiko out - whether it's for a romantic dinner, a fun night out at the sushi bar or for their saki social happy hour where you get some great steals.

Here are a few of my favorites captured from my various trips there - I can't wait to go back!

My favorite bargain purchase: tempura eggplant. $4 for a bowl of these beauties - the texture is to die for!

You can't have an Uchi or Uchiko experience without having the pork belly - Tyson Cole makes the best! He's got two pork belly options at Uchiko - obviously I tried both. This is the bacon sen.
Just make sure you finish your trip with the fried milk. You'll thank me :)

Uchi

Uchi threw a complimentary food blogger tasting this evening- it was a blast! I was so excited to be invited, thanks to being on Addie Broyles's blogroll. I finally met some fellow Austin food bloggers that I'd been twittering with for a while like Teddy from Fun with Your Food and hang out with old friends like Jodi from Food Touring.

I got to enjoy some tasty fair including:

• yellow beet terrine with charred orange & tarragon
• big eye tuna & compressed watermelon skewers
• nantucket bay scallop crudo with mint and almond
• braised pork belly with fennel and apple
• madai nigiri with spanish olive oil and meyer lemon
• grilled satsumaimo with ginger and sake
• white corn and brown butter with maldon tuile

The food was of course delicious. My favorites were, well, everything! I've had the pork belly before and it just melts in your mouth. Pictured above is the scallops, which had so many flavors going on every bite was a new surprise- delightful!

The best part was getting to meet head chef Tyson Cole. He said he liked my sweater :) One interesting thing he told me was he didn't like to make seafood that tasted like fish, which is brought out with you cook the fish. By pairing high quality fish with delicious ingredients and tasty spices, you get a whole new flavor.

Thanks for getting me the invite Addie!