Uchiko private dining room ready for holiday events!

love,love,love our new Uchiko bar/cafe foodie board

el bulli menu circa 07.

Happy to say that we’re right on schedule with the Uchiko concept. We opened with a perm menu with the idea of getting everyone up to speed to execute consistently, then later we would introduce a “daily” special sheet as an insert into the menu that’s already been prepped from the beginning with a slot for them to go. Daily/weekly specials started last week to a round of applause from staff and diners alike. I’ve taken the liberty to somewhat simplify the perm menu and focus on clean,bright cold and hot tastings; and Paul will put the majority of his and our teams’s creative efforts into the special sheet every day!

Ravenously reading up El bulli history over the past month or two in an attempt to tighten the screws at Uchiko and continue to organize and structure. A fantastic theory in tandem from 2 of my fav creative types: Ferran Adria of El bulli fame and the famous painter Paul Klee…they both had the same theory on creativity: It all starts with structure, and strong foundation and organization. Having a starting point or a focus of intent makes things so much easier than flying blind. It’s my responsibility to my team and my chefs to be the innovator, and with that i need to always focus on keeping them in line with staying organized…pushing them to new challenges….and follow through on constructive critique as the process evolves to fruition.

I saw all of this come together over the last few years at Uchi; and from that today Uchi has a sister resto Uchiko and a cookbook due out early spring!

dummy copy

jacob hashimoto. genius beauty.

A bit obsessive. I love this man’s work. Crafted,detailed,stylized,depth,form,all in tandem to create layered beauty. A working man’s artist. Tactile sensibility, it reminds me a lot of my food and the goals for our cuisine at both Uchi restaurants. I hope one day to purchase one of his pieces; it would be a joy to wake up to every day and gain inspiration from such obvious vision and talent.

In a sense, the tools that got me to where i’m at today in my career as a craftsman: Japanese blades. These are of my prodigy student that now heads the sushi bar at Uchi, Masazumi Saio. He was with me from the beginning and for that i offer thanks and appreciation for all the years of work and loyal dedication.

shining hocho

hashimoto 2.0

i finally broke down and bought an iphone. It’s spectacular. Don’t get me wrong, i still love my blackberry and the ease and usability with the keyboard…..but this iphone is just incredible. Bells. Whistles. Clarity. Beauty. Love it. I think im going to start taking some video with it over the next few week/months, but in the meantime here’s some pics i took over the last week at KO.

Btw, we finally made the leap and started a daily special sheet at Uchiko this week. From the beginning i wanted to make sure we could execute the new menu at KO consistently before we started diving into “play” with new specs and ingredients…but now i think it’s time and we’re ready. Come by and check them out soon!

a forest

now, that's hot.

fresh from Tsukiji

marigold mosaic

edits,changes and tweaks of Ko's first ever special sheet after initial tasting

meat & potatoes

I’m in a funk. Bitter, even. I’ve been fighting this fight since Uchiko’s inception about how to define it. Is it another Uchi? Or, is it something new? A combo of both, or just an updated redux? My answer: all of the above.

Uchiko as judged over the last 95 posts on this blog for the last year has been a ton of work and effort to follow up Uchi with a restaurant we felt would be worthy of holding such claim as having part of the Uchi namesake as it’s own. A new conceived,tested, and trained menu. A well thought out hiring process and training for months before and while we opened. 3 full weeks of half price invite only dinners to get people a sneak peek to what we we’re up to. Now almost 4 months into Uchiko i couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve created…..and yet we’re still no where close to where we want to be in the future. It’s all about a never ending desire for perfection and unmatched hospitality; consistency. Bringing new ideas into fruition, on the menu and with the staff and customers. We continue to push and with that will always continue to improve as we grow and the business matures. The bones are strong, but it takes time and patience for it all to be fleshed out to it’s fullest potential.

Of note, a few weeks back i drew a picture of a very large black board i wanted to hang in our bar/cafe to help define the space for our customers as a food focused and food centric space. The idea took hold and as we tweeked it from an aray of smaller boards into one large one it eventually was finished last week and is now hanging in the space; spectacular! We’ll be using the board to highlight all that is going on and innovative in the restaurant over the coming months. Come by and check it out. We’re also using some of the talented artists we’ve got on our staff to take ideas and composed dish drawings from Paul and transfer them to the board for everyone to see too! I hope soon people will understand that although Uchiko is from Uchi and has a some select Uchi dishes on it’s menu, Uchiko is a restaurant all it’s own and offers a stunning variety of the best food choices in the city, and welcoming spaces inside the restaurant to enjoy them all.

It’s just the beginning…..

an idea

...comes to reality.