Fish Tale

Austin's famed Uchi restaurant rolls out expansion to California

Uchi is heading to LA.

Photo by Logan Crable

As more Californians move to Austin daily, one famous Austinite is reversing the trend: James Beard Award-winning chef Tyson Cole is expanding his culinary empire to Los Angeles.

Known for bringing the first James Beard Award home to Austin with the opening of Uchi in 2003, Cole’s restaurant group, Hai Hospitality, has since expanded to include additional Uchi locations in Houston, Dallas, Denver, and Miami. Slated to open in 2023, the California outpost will be the group’s sixth Uchi location — the first on the West Coast.

“When we first opened Uchi, there were more than a few raised eyebrows about a Japanese fine-dining concept in Austin, a landlocked city known for tacos and barbecue,” Cole says in a release. “Cut to twenty years later and we are launching in a city known for its dynamic dining scene with no shortage of world-class Japanese concepts. I am really honored to bring Uchi to L.A.”

Situated on Santa Monica Boulevard on the first floor of Nine Thousand One, the new location will nestle into a neighborhood at the intersection of West Hollywood and Beverly Hills. Los Angeles-based Ora design and architectural studios will lead design for the space, with a projected capacity of 180.

Opening in Los Angeles will set the stage for a new season of strategic expansion for the restaurant group, which has already seen great success at its first two out-of-state Uchi locations in Miami and Denver.

“Opening Uchi in Los Angeles signals an incredibly exciting time for Hai, especially after the great reception we received when we opened in Miami in 2021,” says Hai Hospitality CEO Tony Montero in the release. “To have concepts on both coasts represents an incredible moment for our group and our growth.”

In addition to the Uchi expansion, Hai Hospitality has recently opened an outpost of popular Asian smokehouse Loro in Houston. And closer to home, the brand plans to unveil a location of Japanese speakeasy Uchiba in downtown Austin this fall.

chefs news-you-can-eat openings

Peak Plates

7 Austin restaurants make OpenTable's top 100 for 2024

Jeffrey's Restaurant/Instagram

Jeffrey's Restaurant is a great example of the type of fancy, well-established restaurant that made the list.

Restaurant reservation website OpenTable has issued its new list of the top 100 restaurants in America for 2024, and seven Austin restaurants have made the list. That's already impressive at a glance — 7 percent of the entire national list in just one city — but compared to other Texas cities, it's huge. Austin is the only Texas city to have more than one restaurant on the list.

The "2024's Top 100 Restaurants" list is a compilation of the most sought-after and top-ranked restaurants in the U.S. based on 14 million verified reviews on OpenTable from October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024. Restaurants are not ranked, but arranged in alphabetical order by state.

Austin's seven restaurants (including several repeats from OpenTable's 2023 list) are:

Aba: Known for its laid-back, yet fancy patio and being a popular spot for visiting celebrities
J Carver's: Known for a commitment to the classic steakhouse experience and legitimately fancy dining
Jeffrey's Restaurant: Known for fine dining, a connection to Austin before its boom, and a fantastic wine program
Red Ash Italia: Known for approachable, yet high-quality Italian food with rustic touches
Sammie's Italian: Known for its romantic take on the archetype of an East Coast Italian joint
Uchi: Known for bringing Austin into the national sushi conversation and defining the scene
Uchiko: Known for a cool atmosphere and getting creative with sushi and other small plates

Austinites will probably not be surprised by this list, which names some very well-established restaurants that are all upscale. These qualities tend to appeal to similar lists, regardless of who's curating them.

It is interesting, given that the list was democratically based on user ratings, that there were not more beloved food trailers or casual spots. However, other factors that led to high rankings included alerts set and reservations made ahead — things that don't really apply to even the most awesome taco truck.

Mediterranean food was a trend among the Austin picks. Red Ash Italia and Sammie's Italian are, as the names would imply, completely dedicated to Italian food, while Aba covers a wider swath of the Mediterranean. There were also two steakhouses: J Carver's and Jeffrey's Restaurant.

As list-perusers may have guessed, Uchi and Uchiko are in the same family of restaurants, with Uchi being the more formal and Uchiko being a bit more accessible for drop-in meals and cocktails. But are two more incognito duos of sibling restaurants on the list: J Carver's and Red Ash, and Jeffrey's Restaurant and Sammie's Italian.

That could be a coincidence. It could also be a reflection of the utility of money and experience in opening a good restaurant, or a lesson about the effects of good (and expensive) marketing. Whatever it is, it doesn't sound like hospitality groups had any direct sway on how OpenTable made its choices.

This list was different from the inaugural list of OpenTable Icons, which launched in 2024. The "Icons" list chose restaurants that are getting a lot of buzz, which ended up being more subjective. It also seemed to let in — as a side effect of the process, rather than a hard eligibility rule — more new and Mexican restaurants. Two restaurants are on both lists: Red Ash and Jeffrey's.

Restaurants outside of Austin that made the Top 100 list, organized alphabetically, are:

Hudson House — Dallas
Steak 48 — Houston
Signature — San Antonio

awards bests media lists