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 :)

SXSW Food & Wine Blogger Bash

This week Austin is aflutter with music fans for South by Southwest. Before all the music fun began, however, the interactive portion of the festival occured. I was lucky enough to get on the invite list for the Food & Wine Blogger Bash hosted by Austin 360 and Go Texan at Whole Foods Market.

There was a fun selection of Texas wines and beers. I try to support local wineries and breweries so I'd tried most of them. I was pleasantly surprised by a viognier from McPherson vineyards in Lubbock, TX. It was light and sweet, without being TOO sweet. i'll definitely be picking up a bottle.

The best part was getting to see all of my local food blogger pals and meeting a few new ones! Here's me and Rachel from The Friendly Kitchen. Also, my friend and coworker Emily recently started a blog, Cooking Inside the Lines, and got to meet my blogger buddies as well. There's always great food and conversation to be had when we all get together- certainly looking forward to our next event!

Here's Emily enjoying Herb Stuffed Flounder, which chef Jesse Griffiths of Dai Due demonstrated for us. We were also lucky enough to see a demo from Tyson Cole of Uchi.

Be sure to check out Addie Broyles' recap of the event which has a great 2 minute video as well.

We got a pretty nifty swag bag as we left the event. My favorite thing from the bag has to be these Whole Foods Cinnamon Coated Pecans. I swear these things are addictive! Sweet and salty- half the can is gone now :)

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!