thrillist

It's great to see a cameo-level actor step into the spotlight, like when Clint Howard landed his career-making role as a dessert-peddling killer in Ice Cream Man. You screamed, I screamed, we all screamed... because we were so proud of him! Presenting a menu of onetime cameos: Uchiko.

Fathered by venerable South Austin sushi bungalow Uchi, Uchiko (translating to "daughter of home") boasts a menu pulled exclusively from the best of her parent restaurant's daily specials, served in a larger but still cozily zenned out space accented by six types of local reclaimed wood and custom steampunky copper lighting fixtures by a Stag guy, who enjoys his low lighting at a table for one. The tongue-bending Japanese starts with signature makimono rolls like the "Avofry"(coconut fried onisan roll, lemon-miso, soy paper), the "Jiiro" (smoked loch duart salmon, avocado, preserved lemon, skyr yogurt), and the big eye tuna, bitter greens, chorizo, avocado, almond, & grilled garlic "Toledo" (what, no mudhen?). Hot grilled selections run from Saba Shio (Norwegian mackerel w/ bluefoot mushroom, onion, juniper, huckleberry) to the NY strip Wagyu Momo (w/ peach and Thai chimichurri); they're also pushing fried options (agemono) like Bacon Onigiri (crisp fried-pork-belly rice, banh mi pickles), tempura onion rings, and fried Cornish game hen, but not Kornish, because those must come fresh from the Fieldy.

Complimenting the taste explosions is one of the most impressive sake lists in town, ranging from the nutty unfiltered Takara Nigori with hints of pineapple and cream soda, to the bolder white peppery Wakatake Onikoroshi, meaning "demon slayer", a role that despite his brother's influence, Clint lost out on to that goddamn Tom Hanks.

Add this to My Thrillist

Don't forget dessert: peep our video of the grapefruit sorbet with avocado. Uchiko officially opens July 6th, but until then they're doing limited half-price walk-ins; check out the menu here.