Uchiko: 7 months old and finding it’s legs, looking in the mirror to make necessary changes, and taking strides to improve upon systems,training,hiring and refinements. Fantastic awards over the last month for KO including top ten in America in GQ, and #1 best new resto in TX Monthly have injected new energy and passion into our incredible staff and guests; finally our new place is staring to finds it’s own self and it’s becoming clearer every day what the face is all about. A bright future indeed, this is only the beginning.

Uchi: Stronger than it’s ever been, the older sibling maintains it’s dominance and endearing love by everyone within it’s doors. Sales up over last year and the cross marketing we were hoping would come from the opening of KO is finally upon us. Simultaneously, the Uchi cookbook is released! I cannot being to say how surreal it is to have the book in hand , sign copies and see it on shelves of bookstores.  I guess all the years we worked in putting the book together i never really thought about what it was going to be like once it was actually here. Absolutely incredible, i feel like a proud parent who’s child just got accepted to college. I want to run the streets and tell everyone about it! With that: i’ll be touring Texas the next 6 months doing demos,signing and cooking classes promoting the book, and i’m really looking forward to it. The last time i did the cooking class tour so many of the students wanted to know why i didn’t have a cookbook! This time the tour is FOR our book. Good times.

Menus at Uchiko taking shape. We’ve been bringing in “mystery” boxes from Tsukiji market in Tokyo a few times a week; so cool to mix all the new and unique types of sushi selections, with all of the incredible composed dishes Paul has been working on and cooking in the kitchen. I don’t know of any other restaurant that serves food similar than KO. The very best sushi/sashimi selections on the planet, matched with incredibly creative and delicious special seasonal dishes from the kitchen…it’s a recipe for an incredible dining experience.

Grabbed the picture of my 3 lead guys in the KO kitchen off the net. They’re the engine that makes everything run, and their food is what’s helping push Uchiko upwards towards the next level and beyond. Kudos all around. I keep making analogies with people at work trying to pin down all of their personalities and how to “top grade” everyone into positions where they’ll be most likely to succeed. Reminds me of war movies like Saving Private Ryan, where at the beginning i always try to guess which character is which. Who’s the sniper? Who’s the medic? Who bites it first? The picture could easily be viewed hundreds of years from now as men in attire for battle. America at it’s finest, a line cook is most assuredly a craftsman.

Coming next: updates on Uchi Houston, the James Beard Awards in NYC,and new staff profiles.