Interview: Tyson Cole of Uchi [Food & Wine Fest]

What can you tell us about the dishes you're preparing for your events?

They'll be the best ones there! We are serving the best, freshest ingredients we can procure. One night is fish, and the next pork belly.

You opened Uchi before there was really an upscale sushi restaurant in town; what were the challenges in doing so? What made you want to open your restaurant in Austin?

I saw an opportunity. After 10 years of training in traditional Japanese cuisine and as a sushi chef, I got direct feedback from my customers everyday, and I based the idea of Uchi mainly off of those requests and responses. "Let's open a sushi place that's Austin. Let's make it as accessible as possible on the dining side and the menu. Small plates so there's always something new hitting the table. Let's have great service, hospitality, music, decor, and match it with my food in an informal setting for people to enjoy." That was the original idea, and it seems to have worked so far. I could not have done it without my partner and my staff.

How has Uchi helped to shape the Austin restaurant scene?

By focusing on accountability and consistency. That has brought Uchi its success every bit as much as the cuisine. Local Austin restaurants, for so many years, were scathingly inconsistent. Now, with the influx of people and talent moving here, and new restaurants opening every other day, the competition is fierce, and the beauty of that is it makes restaurants and restaurateurs accountable to make sure they are trying as hard as they can to serve the best possible product each and every day.

You change Uchi's menu regularly, how do you decide what to serve?

Half of our menu are seasonal specials that change daily. My chef de cuisine and sous chefs make orders based on availability and requests. We sit down three times a week and discuss ideas and compositions. When the specials change, they are tested; we taste them, then our entire staff tastes them, gives feedback, and then we print for the diner. The first few years everything was my ideas, but now I'm more of the filter and decide how to refine dishes, simplify and make them better.

What is your favorite dish to serve?

Madai carpaccio. I love raw bream and snapper.

How do you react when Uchi is declared by many as THE best restaurant in town?

Graciously. I opened Uchi to have autonomy to make the food I wanted to create. I never imagined it would grow into what it is today. I'm very fortunate, and feel like we live like kings here in Austin. We enjoy what we do at Uchi so much. I think it's contagious to the food and the diner as well. Uchi has become the best restaurant in town, but it took years of determination and commitment.

I hear your knife-wielding skills are legendary. What kinds of tricks can you do?

I can make flesh into flowers, fruit into birds and vegetables into paper. Blades [turned] me into a craftsman. I'm still learning.... My last sensei, Takehiko "Smokey" Fuse, is the real master.

What are some of your favorite restaurants in town?

Fino, Enoteca, Houston's, Chipolte, Buenos Aires Cafe, Tomo for nigiri, Taste, Mulberry.

What do you recommend for diners trying to miss the infamous two-hour waits at Uchi?

Easy! come early or late. 5 or 6 p.m....or 9:30 p.m....most of the time the wait is minimal then. But busy restaurants will always have the best product.