For Becky’s birthday last Thursday we went to dinner at Uchi with Connie Britton …well, we had dinner near Connie Britton. Becky claims she sees her in South Austin all the time and I guess since she’s here so often (filming “Friday Night Lights”) she’s decided it is so awesome she has to live here. (Sidebar: she’s not the first/only/latest actor who’s fallen in love with the best city in America.) We went to Uchi when they first opened and it was tasty and challenging sushi but the execution was for shite, so we decided not to return. After repeated pressing from various friends we have given Uchi another chance and it is now one of the most innovative sushi spots I’ve ever been to. Check out what we ate:

• Sushi
  • Bond maki – avocado and sundried tomato in a soybean paper that comes with a pear and bell pepper salad. place a couple pieces of the salad on the maki and yummo!
  • Endo maki – sea bass, snow crab and gold tobiko in rice paper that comes with a frozen red grapes and japanese cucumber salad on one side and a citrus fish oil on the other. dip the maki in the oil for a tangy smooth flavor, then chase it with some cucumber and sliced frozen grapes. delish!
  • Hotate – spicy scallop with avocado wrapped in fresh seawead. it sounds challenging, but the textures melt in your mouth.
• The desserts here are simply stunning.
  • Becky had the valrhona chocolate and wasabi fondant with pistachio ice cream & orange tuile; the wasabi is so masked that it takes a full minute for the rich chocolate to melt away and leave the hint of japanese green horseradish, and the pistachio ice cream is a subtly tasteful pairing — even my lactose-intolerance couldn’t keep me away…although I regretted it later
  • I had the black pepper sorbet with fresh strawberries; the deep sweetness of the sorbet is heavily lined with fresh black pepper making a flavor matrix that is hard to forget, then the strawberry cleanses your palate between bites

Uchi has definitely become the Austin sushi restaurant for non-traditional gourmet sushi, and I’m sure we will return often.