Uchi

For the past 2 1/2 months every single week or weekend we have either been out of town, had visitors staying with us or had at least one person sick in our house.

That's exhausting.

Somehow, miraculously, on Saturday night the stars aligned and we had no plans and our babysitter was available! Well, Louis and I jumped on the chance, hopped in the car and drove off before we really had settled on where we were going. After driving for a while he looked at me and said

"Want to go to Uchi?"

Ummmm......hell yes I do! There was no hesitation.

Uchi is, by far, one of my favorite places to eat EVER and it is totally not kid friendly so it's rare that we make it over there.

So we headed to South Lamar and put our name on the list. Because it was last minute for us, and they don't take reservations, the wait was 2 hours long. We stood in the bar area, and then we scored one chair (I sat and Louis stood while I felt guilty), then we got 2 stools in the corner and finally moved to the bar to sit for the remainder of our wait. The walls of the small bar area we waited in is covered in framed awards, foodie articles and accolades from al over, and once you're finally seated and start eating you totally realize why. Their food is mind blowing!  

While waiting I had a few of their special cocktail for the night- a Blueberry Green Tea Champagne Cocktail. I love anything bubbly so this was right up my alley, and the "blueberry" floating in the glass is actually a gummy bubble filled with the delicious Blueberry Green Tea syrup

While you're waiting for your table there are hosts that bring around little snacks every 30 minutes or so. While waiting, we tried Persian cucumber sticks dusted with togradashi, apple slices sautéed in ginger and thai basil, a sushi roll with avocado, cucumber and thai basil and sautéed apple slices in a yuzu chili pepper marmalade (these were by far my favorite)

Not knowing how long I would last on 2 apple slices and a cucumber stick, when we finally got seats at the bar we ordered the blistered shishito peppers. I love these little things! If you haven't tried them before I highly recommend them!

I was so excited when we finally got a spot at the sushi bar and we sat there mesmerize while watching them work!

 

 We started with something I insist on getting every visit to Uchi. The hama chili- baby yellow­tail, ponzu, thai chili, orange supreme. It's so light and fresh, the citrus and heat from the thai chili are amazing with the delicate fish. I could probably eat five plates of this and be perfectly happy.

Crispy Brussels sprouts with lemon and chili. I don't' know what it is about this sauce, but these fried Brussels sprouts soak it up and they become so freaking delicious you will want to order another bowl before you're done with these!

 

akami (tuna)

If Louis could live off one thing for the rest of his life, this would be it. I let him have it all and he loved every second of it!

 avobake-  krab, avocado, bonito, shrimp
I had never tried this before, but I'm so glad we did! It comes to your table and the bonito flakes are moving and curling up from the heat of the broiler so it looks wild.
Then you dig your spoon in and scoop out the creamy, molten hot seafood and fresh avocado. It's really rich, really decadent and totally worth every calorie!

 brie ringo tempura-fried brie, apple chutney, sweet potato crisp
Do I really need to say much more than tempura fried brie?!

foie nigiri - foie gras٠quinoa

Now, I know I had 2 hours of cocktails before dinner, but I also know that didn't change the fact that there was no quinoa on this dish like it claimed. This was one of the nightly specials and if there is foie gras on a menu, Louis has to get it, but I'm a little disappointed they didn't tell us there had been a change to the dish when we ordered it. The foie gras was perfectly seared and seasoned but since it's so silky and rich it could have used the texture that quinoa has to offer. 

For dessert we had the
jizake crème caramel with brown butter sorbet and ginger
The sorbet needs to be sold in stores, the ginger syrup on the plate totally made the dish and the crème caramel was dreamy creamy perfection.
If you ever have a chance to go, you must try Uchi!
A few dishes I highly recommend that we were too full to get are the Bond Roll, the Biendo Roll and the peanut butter semifreddo with apple-miso sorbet