U-Chi-Walla-Walla

I was told by my friend Brittany that eating at Uchi is an "experience". She was so right. It wasn't your typical break-the-bank sushi dinner. Yes, it was expensive.... but anything other than ordinary. Firas and I ate dinner at Uchi to celebrate our first year together, and we picked the perfect spot for this special occasion. We both love sushi and we've been dying to try Austin's best. We're definitely not packing enough heat in our wallets to go to Uchi for a casual dinner, so this was quite the treat for us. We settled in at the bar with a nice glass of Viognier and were pleasantly surprised when the hostess called our name after waiting only five minutes. The restaurant was classy but comfortable. Some ladies were decked out in a dress and heels while others were in a t-shirt and blue jeans. Another perk to living in Austin... anyone can fit in anywhere. The selection on the menu paired with my not-so-subtle glances at the food on the neighboring tables enough to make my mouth water. The waiter explained that it was best to order a few things at a time and he would course the meal out for us. One thing he told us that took me by surprise was that Uchi was not famous for their selection of sushi and sashimi, but instead their hot and cool "tastings". We were all over the menu. He was very helpful as we chose which items we wanted, and they did an excellent job of spreading them out throughout our dinner so that we always had food on our table, but were never overwhelmed by the amount.

Let me just give you an idea of how incredible our dinner at Uchi really was. For starters, we seared our own scallops on a hot rock... a Japanese river rock to be specific. That's right, we picked up raw scallops with our chopsticks and placed them on a hot rock, flipped them, popped them in our mouthes... and savored every freaking second of it. It was a very unique experience. And so, so good. We enjoyed... salmon roe, oysters, sushi rolls (including the mustang: fresh­water eel, avocado, yellow­tail, and golden flying fish roe -- YUM), and I can't remember what else because I was too entranced by the taste to recall the names. I do remember the salmon roe quite vividly. I'm usually down for fish eggs to be on the top of my sushi, when there are other tastes and textures masking them. But I was quite daring this time around by eating the fish eggs on their own.... for a texture-oriented person, it was a little unnerving. Once I could focus on the taste and not so much the texture, I was good to go. They were delicious. But as for the texture, remember those Orbitz drinks? It was like eating a cup full of those little slimy balls from one of those. Mmmm.... no thanks.

There's not a single negative thing I could say about Uchi, with the exception of wishing that it was a tad less expensive. But talk about bang for your buck. It was such a fun dining experience, and unlike any sushi dinner I've ever enjoyed.
Now I'm not gonna lie... we were satisfied, but I can't say we were full. We definitely made a trip to Central Market and filled our basket with wine, brie, crackers, fruit, and maybe even a little ice cream. We made ourselves feel better after reading another Yelp review where the girl wrote, "The only, slightly minor, downside to eating at Uchi is that you're bound to get hungry again very soon after. Upon leaving the restaurant, our party immediately descended down the scale of good dining experiences... to Gourdough's and then onto Taco Cabana."

See.... we weren't the only ones.

It was an excellent night to celebrate my best year yet.