These days in Austin, you can’t light a butane torch without burning the sushi chef’s coat. It seems like every few months a new joint opens, featuring a chef who melts bone marrow and adds foam to raw fish.
It’s a phenomenon that has spread inward from the coastal food capitals of Los Angeles and New York, home to many sushi restaurants and the sushi brothers that fuel them.
The cooking show, which takes place at several locations around Austin, combines Abracadabra presentations with lively sake. It’s the atmosphere. unfortunately. It’s not that I don’t like sushi. It’s one of my favorite dishes. It’s just that it’s happening more and more recently. I prefer a more direct, less self-centered experience.
The recent proliferation of intimate omakase (chef’s choice) restaurants in Austin can perhaps be tied to a shift toward a desire for upscale, experiential dining experiences. Cool isn’t what it once was, aloofness and individualism replaced by searing, icy heat.
As you continue to draw the line, it becomes purer, cutting through the heart of the stylish and evocative 2011 documentary “Jiro Dreams of Sushi,” then on to Los Angeles and New York City in the late 1980s, and eventually Of course I will go back to Japan.
But halfway through, it seems like the story is less about sushi and more about the knowledgeable people who talk about the show and everything about it. That’s not the case at Craft Omakase, the best new restaurant I’ve eaten at in Austin this year and the best sushi restaurant in town that’s guaranteed to get you a reservation.
(Side note: My favorite sushi restaurant in Texas is Tsuke Edomae on Mueller. However, like many sushi places in Tokyo, your best chance of reserving the eight-seat sushi restaurant is to find a long-time regular customer. or know it, or incredibly quick fingering and extraordinary luck when bookings drop).
Uchiko’s long-time veteran brings pedigree
Craft Omakase is tucked away in the back of a shopping center near 45th and Lamar (home to the cult-famous Chili’s) in the space that once housed The Steeping Room. The restaurant is ironically located just a chopsticks’ walk away from Uchiko. Most of Kraft’s staff and all three partners worked at the restaurant for years before going independent in late 2023.
Early on in your craft experience, you’ll meet managing partner Tim Boyer, one of the trio, and upon arrival, in a small lounge area, he’ll bring you a welcome cocktail, perhaps a light lemony one to awaken your taste buds.
Mr. Boyer’s careful and pleasant demeanor is a testament to his extensive experience working front desk at the Uchiha Empire, which set the standard for service excellence in Austin. Mr. Boyer and general manager Juliana Fry, former bar manager at Kemuri Tatsuya, will also be on hand throughout the dinner, offering a list of excellent sake selections and a more modest but effective list of sake options, if you forgo pairings starting at $75. They will guide you through the wine offerings.
A series of doors reminiscent of Japanese shoji screens slide open to reveal a compartmentalized dining space painted primarily in muted tones, with pops of brightness from amber lighting and modern art. Masu. There’s no grand introduction to what’s going to happen on the night, and there’s no sushi bar flavoring to overstate the atmosphere of the event. Instead, we are introduced to owner-chef Charlie Wang and chef-partner Nguyen Nguyen, who will cook most of the evening’s 22 courses, while two other chefs will emerge from a hidden kitchen and occasionally show off their creations. To do.
The first three dishes from the kitchen are a feast for the senses. Large oysters, a floral tart with raspberry rose mignonette one night, prosecco mignonette the other, followed by the aesthetic beauty and textural contrast of bluefin tuna chops atop a seaweed tart. Then, on an early spring visit, get more cream, crunch and snap from cucumber gazpacho dotted with crispy prosciutto, and for a winter dinner, indulgent chawanmushi (egg custard) with shitake duxelles and truffles eat.
Afterwards, Mr. Wang and Mr. Nguyen start making nigiri. (I was seated closest to Mr. Wan on each visit, so I’ll discuss the dining experience through that. The calm Mr. Nguyen was just a few steps away, but we didn’t engage in conversation.) )
Small shreds of yukari and a splash of honey-yuzu vinegar lend a sweet-salt flavor to the purity of the translucent red sea bream, while a team of ponzu sauce and Meyer lemon lend a citrusy note to the incredibly tender octopus. I am. .
The sushi chef uses subtle embellishments to accentuate the natural elegance and flavor of each topping, such as the bold flounder with soy and lime zest or the punchy red pepper cut with Hokkaido scallops. Showing classical inhibition.
Textural touches are also used sparingly but to great effect, with crunchy sprinkles on top of buttery trout one night and crumbling fish skin the next. The fish are all perfectly sized, making for an easy bite, but not so small that it makes you question the restaurant’s value proposition.
Advantages of being small
Given the scale of the operation (Craft Omakase serves fewer guests in a week than a restaurant like Uchiko’s, which serves meals in a matter of hours), the restaurant offers There is space and time for preparations such as aging. Craft Omakase also benefits from being a small, independent business, giving us the flexibility to be nimble. When Wang decided that the flavor profile of the vinegar mixture he used for Sensual Rice tended to be too sweet and might suit mass-market sensibilities, he adjusted the amount of red vinegar to achieve his desired taste. I found balance.
About half of the sushi served is dry aged, and you can see the aging racks behind the chef. So they let the tuna sit for two weeks before giving it a long soy sauce pickle. This brings out the natural essence of the sublime tuna to the point where you wonder if the precious bluefin red meat is actually your favorite part.
And yes, there are some extravagant ones too, like trout cooked sous vide in A5 Wagyu beef fat and flecks of caviar piled high on the otoro (belly) of bluefin tuna. But those flourishes feel more like studied flavor construction than superfluous showmanship.
Eighty percent of Craft’s fish comes from Japan, but there are a few exceptions, including tuna from Baja and the pink shrimp used in the electric aguachile with Japanese sweet potatoes and leche de tigre. International flavors and ingredients are also kept to a minimum, but usually used with purpose.
Galan (Chinese broccoli) with a hint of brown butter and green tea tannins, and a bonito flavor bomb with a jolt of chili oil, evokes Wang’s Shanghai-born heritage. In Nguyen’s home country of Vietnam, black sea bream and Spanish mackerel are included in fish sauce.
Discerning diners will likely feel those influences, but your experience at Craft is partially up to you. If you want to learn at Craft, the more curiosity leads to questions, the better. As with almost all new omakase, there’s not much explanation and it’s fast-paced, so it can sometimes feel like you’re dining in a business model rather than a restaurant. But if you slow down and savor what’s going on, you’ll be rewarded.
The folks at Craft aren’t interested in putting on a big show. It is a style that brings out the intelligence of the guests. You don’t need to reinforce or burn into your brain the idea that you’re eating a good meal. You can taste it.
information
4400 N. Lamar Blvd. Suite 102. 512-887-8889, craftomakase.com.
Rating: 9 out of 10
Seating: Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday at 5:45 and 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday 7:15pm and 9:30pm.
Price: $175 + $35 service charge and tax. Payment is due at the time of online booking.
Highlight: Sea bream with soybean and lime fluke with honey yuzu vinegar. Bluefin Tuna Akami. Scallops. ocean trout. Tuna belly.
Expect to pay: $230 (price per person before drinks)
Note: Free parking available.
Bottom line: Craft Omakase is the best of the city’s new omakase sushi restaurants thanks to its sophistication, restraint, and craftsmanship.
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