Pictures courtesy Uchi.
Uchi. 1150 seventeenth St., NW.
Uchi—the Austin-founded chain with seven places spanning from West Hollywood to Miami—is ready to make its DC debut downtown this fall. The restaurant, based by James Beard award-winning chef Tyson Cole greater than 20 years in the past, will supply a non-traditional tackle Japanese fare and add to town’s omakase scene.
CEO Tony Montero says about 70 % of the menu is similar throughout Uchi’s places. Among the many restaurant’s best-known dishes is hama chili, a yellowtail crudo with ponzu sauce, orange segments, and Thai chilies. Montero says it’s been on the menu since Uchi first opened in Austin in 2003. You can even count on quite a lot of crudos, nigiri and rolls, tempura, grilled skewers, and vegetable dishes equivalent to the favored sweet-glazed fried brussels sprouts. The remaining 30 % of the menu shall be developed by the native group.
Montero says what differentiates the restaurant is that it tries to deliver the sushi counter expertise to visitors even when they’re eating at a desk. “Let’s say your desk orders 10 items of nigiri. Lots of sushi eating places, you’ll then get this large board. We do it one chew at a time, possibly two bites sooner or later,” he explains.
Uchi will supply an omakase choice with each sushi and different small dishes for round $150 per particular person. There may also be a “somakase”—a mashup of the phrases sommelier and omakase—the place a server helps information you thru your personal personalised tasting. A vegetarian tasting may also out there.
The restaurant may also have month-to-month specials, although they gained’t all come from the cooks. “It could possibly be a dishwasher. It could possibly be a number. It could possibly be a bartender. Principally each place in our firm has gotten a dish on the menu sooner or later,” Montero says.
The trendy, wood-toned, 185-seat area, situated in a brand new workplace constructing, could have two non-public eating rooms plus an 18-seat bar and 14-seat sushi counter. For drinks, count on loads of sake and wine, plus cocktails equivalent to a hibiscus mezcal margarita or varied highballs.
DC is a component of a bigger enlargement push for Hai Hospitality, which can be opening places in Philadelphia and Charlotte this 12 months.
Meals Editor
Jessica Sidman covers the folks and traits behind D.C.’s food and drinks scene. Earlier than becoming a member of Washingtonian in July 2016, she was Meals Editor and Younger & Hungry columnist at Washington Metropolis Paper. She is a Colorado native and College of Pennsylvania grad.
