Austin Food + Wine Festival Kick-Off Event - 4.27.12

Last Friday I had the chance to attend the kick-off event for the inaugural Austin Food and Wine Festival. The event was held at Republic Square Park in downtown Austin. It served as one last chance for me to say goodbye to the Austin food scene that I have been a part of for so many years. I sure will miss it...a lot!!!

Chef Paul Qui's Strawberries and Lardo

Top Chef Runner-Up Sarah Grueneberg explains her dish to Travel Channel's Andrew Zimmern as her mentor Beard Award Winner Chef Tony Mantuano watches on.

Barley Swine owner and 2011 Food and Wine Best New Chef, Bryce Gilmore

Chatting up Top Chef and 2012 James Beard Award winner Paul Qui

Grammy Award Winning Artist Lucinda Williams

How Bizarre

Smoke

Marcus Samuelsson

 

Top Chef Mini-Reunion

Now in my time at ko, I have seen quite a few celebrities dine at our resto. But last night two very special "celebs" graced us with their presence. Top Chef cheftestant Grayson Schmitz and Top Chef Winner, uchiko's own Paul Qui had dinner with us and I for one, thought they might have been two of the biggest VIPs we have ever had join us. Every week we all tuned in and watched these two battle for the title of Top Chef Texas (I'm glad our guy won, sorry Grayson). To have them together, enjoying a good time over amazing food and drinks, was something truly special to see. Gosh, I am going to miss this place...

uchiko soul

When I went to work, a little over a year ago at ko, there was something talked about but was never clearly defined. Now, a year later, I decided to define what "uchiko soul" means to me. Behold the ko kicks, courtesy of nikeID.com.

Paul Qui wins Top Chef-Season 9!!!

Congrats to our executive chef at Uchiko, Chef Paul Qui, on his amazing win on Top Chef Texas!! He has made us all so proud and we all share in his victory!!

My Office

As most of you know, I started working at Uchiko here in Austin a little over two months ago. In all honesty, for someone who has worked in the resto biz for most of my working life, it has been a dream come true for me to get the opportunity to work in an award-winning establishment and alongside some of the industry's finest contributors. I recently have started to work with our social-media director and had the chance to take my good camera in to grab some pictures she may be able to use. I hope you like them!!
Ko after dark

Our amazing ChalkboardThe BarMasa hard at workA view from 62Shift Drink

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

Well as some of you may have heard, I recently landed a new job. After working in the Marketing/PR industry for the last 3 1/2 years, I decided that my heart was still in the restaurant industry, where I had previously worked for 14 years. In some ways being away from this type of work made me realize how much I missed it, as well as increase my desire to expand my knowledge of different cuisines and cooking techniques. After working for a little while at one of my old haunts, I finally landed a pretty high-profile gig at one of Austin's finest dining establishments. Uchiko is the second restaurant from highly-acclaimed chef and restaurateur Tyson Cole. A James Beard Semi-Finalist, Cole opened his first restaurant Uchi (Japanese for "house") in a small bungalow on S. Lamar in 2003. Since then, it has dominated the burgeoning Austin dining scene, receiving countless awards and recognition for it's non-traditional take on Japanese cuisine. This success led to the opening of Uchiko (Japanese for "child of Uchi") in July of 2010. In just seven months Uchiko has been just as successful as it's predecessor garnering such accolades as being named by GQ Magazine as one of the 10 best restaurants in the country and named by Texas Monthly as the best new restaurant in the state for 2010. These types of recognition have put more pressure on me to succeed at this new establishment. Having no training whatsoever in Japanese cuisine has made the learning process even more daunting. So now my off time will be filled with lots and lots and lots of studying. I have a feeling my photo taking will be drastically reduced. Sigh. But don't worry, I will still work in time to cook wonderful dinners for Laura and I (as you can see above). I am determined to master this new and exciting cuisine and can't wait to start guiding our guests through the wonderful world of Chef Tyson's and Chef Paul's culinary creations. I highly encourage everyone to get down to Austin, Texas as soon as possible and see what the Uchi family is preparing for you. Cheers!!