Uchiko - aka "Good Sushi"
Eating a meal with someone is always romantic no matter how long it's been.
It had been a while. I was actually putting on some lipstick and fussing with my hair. I hadn’t looked this put together in ages. As we prepared to walk out the door I couldn’t remember what it felt like to leave the house without wondering if I had packed enough diapers.
Said diapers would be for my two-year-old daughter, who we typically love carting around with us when we go out to dinner. She is a great kid, but any dinner with a two-year-old is an effort, no matter how well-behaved. Well, this particular night, she was to stay with Grandma while hubby, and I took a genuine night off to celebrate his birthday.
For his birthday, my husband wanted to eat “Good Sushi.” That was the only request. So I looked around and saw that there was a new Uchiko in nearby Plano, TX. Uchiko is part of the Uchi family of restaurants from Tyson Cole. They are untraditional Japanese food and definitely have “Good Sushi.” I made the reservation, and the date was booked.
There is something sweet about the perpetual romance of eating a meal with someone. Even in a public place, dining is intimate. The food we consume and the people we choose to consume it with are deeply personal experiences. Eating gives us life, and by sharing it with those we love, we also build a life.
My husband and I have been together for over ten years, but having a fancy night out left us giggling like one of our first dates. We got to try something new in the glow of each other's company.
While we probably would have had fun no matter what, I can’t ignore that the quality of the meal facilitated our elation. Zack and I wanted to try a lot of different stuff, so we ordered an omakase-tasting menu and added a few additional dishes along the way.
Tasting menus can be super pretentious, but this felt fun. As each plate came, we chatted about what we liked best. Nothing was too heavy, so even by the end of the evening, we could walk around feeling satisfied, not stuffed. I enjoyed the consistent theme of citrus and crunchy salt. Each plate communicated a thoughtfulness one can expect from the Uchi brand restaurants.
East coast oyster ‡
gochujang orange granita, candied garlic
The granita of citrus, spicy and sweet against the oyster added an extra punch.
Hama chili ‡
yellowtail, ponzu, thai chili, orange suprême
This is a really classic Uchi flavor profile of fish, citrus, salt, and spice. I’ve been to enough Uchi concepts to recognize this theme of combining citrus, salt, and heat with fish. To be fair, it’s a great combo. This felt quintessential in a good way.
Gem lettuce ‡
sunchoke nori dressing, chili oil, shiso, puffed rice
A really fun salad moment. I’m going to steal this idea. The lettuce was small, three bite heads drowning in a wonderful dressing. The crunch of the rice was unexpected. Ours was served with an aggressive amount of dill that added a necessary flavor punch. There was also a crunch of salt on top of it all.
Salmon handroll ‡
A surprising hit for the simplicity of the dish. It was a salmon handroll with a pickled radish, prefect rice, and a spicy aoili.
When you eat not good sushi too long, you forget how important the rice is. The rice in this dish was warm and sweet and perfectly tender, yet not mushy. Each grain had definition.
I could talk about the freshness of the fish, the punch of the pickled radish and the wonderful heat of the sauce. But what I remember most is thinking “God, this rice is good.”
Avocado ‡
yuzu kosho, tamari
Yuzu kosho is a ferment citrus chili salt condiment. In the kosho you could taste a pithy bitterness that countered the sweetnedd of the avocaco and the fruit flavor.
Grilled scallop
strawberry xo, vermouth butter, thai basil
Obviously, the scallop was perfectly cooked. There wasn’t much strawberry flavor, but the vermouth butter was excellent.
Bluefin otoro tartare ‡
Warm rice against cold tuna was a great contrast. There was a clear crunch of salt, served on a creamy sauce that mellowed it all together.
Boquerones ‡
spanish white anchovy
The unexpected star of the night. I love boquerones, as previously confessed. Despite my efforts, Zack has never liked them, but he figured, if he would eve like them, it would be at Uchiko. Well, Zack loved it. They were mildly pickled, and fresher than most anchoivies, both I think helped mellow the traditional boquerones flavor profile to make something Zack truly appreciated.
Unagi
freshwater eel
Similar to what you know but better.
Rosewood center cut top sirloin, domestic
with foi gra sauce and Duck fat french fries
The steak was locally sources from Texas. From a town about 4 hours away by drive. The sirloin was so tender I almost mistook it for a filet, but unlike a mushy filet it has just enough texture and flavor. Served with a fois gras pepper sauce, the dish was like a Steak Au’poivre on crack. The Fois sauce had a subtle anise flavor that was a good counter point to all the rich flavors. Then accompanied with potatoes fried in duck fat, the whole dish was unctious. The best was to take a bite of all three elements at once. The sweetness of sauce, with the deep savory beef, and the salty starch of the fry was a trascendent experience.
It was so good I just started laughing uncontrollably.
Ychee coconut sundae
pickled blueberry, mochi
Light and refreshing. I probably would have liked it more if I liked Ychee better or if it was a lemon sorbet.
Milk and cereal
fried milk, chocolate mousse, toasted milk ice cream
This was just a fun dessert. The fried milk is in a cereal-coated mochi. There is a crispy charred marshmallow wafer. The chocolate mouse was chocolate, like the chocolate milk you had as a kid, and there was a smattering of Captain Crunch cereal. I enjoyed all the different textures and how they somehow avoided being too sweet despite all the saccharine elements.
The whole evening was a tour de force. I left inspired and satiated. I know that restaurants are businesses and that we paid for the privilege to dine so well, but I also felt cared for. The staff chatted with us. The meals felt wholesome even though they were luxurious. They didn’t know this was a rare night out for new-ish parents, but it didn’t matter. Food, even fancy food, is a way to take care of people.
I am extraordinarily lucky to have experienced such a meal. It is really unfathomable in the context of human history that this kind of luxury is available to regular folk. But the best part was getting to do it with my guy.