culinary royalty

Chef Marcus Samuelsson's lifestyle website, Food Republic, takes on the AustinFood & Wine festival

Tyson Cole, Phillip Speer and Paul Qui, from Uchi/Uchiko
Photo by Claudia Alarcon
La Condesa’s Laura Sawicki and Rene Ortiz
Photo by Claudia Alarcon
Trace Austin Executive Chef Nadine Thomas, the restaurant’s forager ValerieBroussard, and Springdale Farm co-owner Paula Foore,
Photo by Claudia Alarcon

The Living Room at the W Austin became a temporary studio on Friday for a series of interviews featuring participants in the Austin Food & Wine Festival by the folks at Food Republic.

Food Republic is a New York City-based food and lifestyle website created by Chef Marcus Samuelsson, alongside Richard Martin and Matt Rodbard, aimed at “men who want to eat and drink well, and to live smart.”

Martin explains, “Men are more and more interested in food, whether it is cooking, or eating at restaurants, or finding discovering new ingredients and finding out where they come from. Marcus thought there was a gap on internet content geared specifically for this demographic, so we’ve been developing the website for a year now."

Martin conducted informal interviews throughout the morning with some of our local talent, including Trace Austin Executive Chef Nadine Thomas, the restaurant’s forager Valerie Broussard, and Springdale Farm co-owner Paula Foore, who discussed sustainability in restaurants and Broussard’s role in sourcing local ingredients for the menu at Trace.

Broussard, who acts as the liaison between Trace’s chefs and local farmers, explained how ingredient availability drives their menu. She relies on farmers like Foore to relay information on seasonal ingredients, determining when certain fruits and vegetables will be ready so chef Thomas can plan menu items ahead of time.

“Right now we have an amazing dish,” says Thomas. “Potato gnocchi with a pesto of basil, dandelion greens and lamb’s quarters which we get from Springdale Farms. It’s a popular menu item.”

Foore mentioned that chef’s requests for specific vegetables and fruit has an influence in what they plant at the farm. She also talked about the challenges of farming in Austin’s hot climate and explained how the fall is the best season for the greatest variety of produce.

Martin asked Chef Thomas about the menu for the recent unveiling of Willie Nelson’s statue: “We made brownies,” she said, to which Martin replied, addressing Broussard, “Did you forage any ingredients for that?”

Rodbard got a chance to talk to the Uchi/Uchiko team of Tyson Cole, Phillip Speer and Paul Qui, who explained their philosophy of creating dishes in which every bite is a “perfect bite.”

“The spirit of Uchi is taking individual ideas and evolving them as a team,” said Speer. “We experiment new dishes on our staff during employee meals,” added Cole.

Rodbard gushed on Qui’s recent celebrity status, asking him what it was like to receive the keys to the city. “It was pretty amazing! I thought, maybe I should have run a red light or something,” he said laughing.

He then asked him, rather awkwardly, about the money he won on Top Chef and his plans on what to do with it. Always the gentleman, Qui replied “I don’t know yet. I can neither confirm nor deny anything.”

The last of the homegrown chefs to be featured were La Condesa’s Rene Ortiz and Laura Sawicki, who was recently named Best Pastry Chef Southwest by Food & Wine magazine.

“At La Condesa we try being local while using what we’ve learned globally,” said Ortiz, who has traveled extensively and worked in restaurants from Manhattan to Australia. “But we do it here, and it makes us happy.”

Sawicki admitted that at first she was hired only as a consultant for a two week period, “but by day four I had fallen in love and decided to stay,” she said. "I love it here; I have a great life, a house, a dog. It’s my home now.”

The duo have stayed very busy lately with the opening of La Condesa in St. Helena, and the upcoming opening of another outpost in Los Angeles, as well as the La Condesa-owned Thai concept being built on South First Street. “In Australia I lived very close to one of the best Thai restaurants,” Ortiz said, “so I am very excited to bring that cuisine here.”

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More sushi, more seats

Famous Austin omakase restaurant moves into bigger space with new bar

Photo courtesy of Sushi | Bar Hospitality

Sushi | Bar is moving into a new spot. (Photo from a Sushi | Bar location in another city)

Another day, another update from a sushi restaurant in Austin. This is a big one: Sushi | Bar Austin, a prestigious omakase spot with other well-known locations in Dallas, Chicago, and three other U.S. cities, is shaking things up with a move into the center of downtown. It'll also debut a new cocktail lounge concept in January of 2025, with help from some celebrated mixologists.

Sushi | Bar is currently located at 2600 E. Cesar Chavez St., and it's moving about two miles to 419 West 2nd St. The move places it across from Local Foods, Numero28, and the Violet Crown Cinema. A press release says it "represents an evolution for the Sushi | Bar experience," which includes more seatings.

This sushi counter has a very upscale reputation thanks to its exclusive accommodations — originally only 10 seats — as well as the intrinsic formality of omakase, which is a service style where the chef chooses what a diner will taste. In the new space, there will be two rooms that each seat 12 guests, more than doubling the chance to snag a reservation.

There, they'll enjoy 17 courses featuring imports from Japan, New Zealand, and California, among other markets. Nigiri options (sliced fish on top of rice) will change with the seasons.

$\u200bSushi | Bar$ This nigiri gets some texture sprinkled on top.Photo courtesy of Sushi | Bar Hospitality

Most notably, the new location will be connected to the cocktail lounge Golden Ace. According to the release, the idea to extend the experience past the omakase portion came from customer feedback. It'll be bigger than Sushi | Bar — about 1,400 square feet compared to 1,100 — and seats 35-40 guests.

The cocktail program will be led by Christian “Suzu” Suzuki-Orellana, who competed on the Netflix show Drink Masters and also draws in partners from Middlehouse, the group behind luxe local cocktail bars Here Nor There and In Plain Sight. He'll have the help of lead bartender Brett Esler, who co-founded Murray’s Tavern and was a nominee for Best Bartender in CultureMap's 2019 Tastemaker Awards.

They'll focus on "elevated yet approachable cocktails" with Japanese influences that "seamlessly blend tradition with modern mixology," the release says. Although Golden Ace is connected to Sushi | Bar, it will have its own unique atmosphere.

“This was a location that we came across moments after it became available on the market,” said Ryan Stock, co-founder of Adept Hospitality, the group behind Sushi | Bar, in the release. “We knew it was the perfect fit for the next iteration of Sushi | Bar in its hometown. It’s a premium experience, and this is a premium location, right at the center of Austin’s exciting downtown development. We’re thrilled to bring our elevated omakase experience to such a vibrant area."

$\u200bSushi | Bar$ With 17 courses, there will be lots to try.Photo courtesy of Sushi | Bar Hospitality

The release traces this Austin history back to 2020, in a collaboration between Ryan Stock, Josh Tohl, and Jonathan Husby of Adept Hospitality and Steve Michaels of Asylum Entertainment Group. Phillip Frankland Lee was also part of the business as a chef and minority stakeholder, it says, until leaving in 2021.

Sushi | Bar also highlights some of its current team members: lead sushi chef Bryan Williams, director of culinary strategy at Sushi Bar Hospitality Anthony Martin, hospitality group vice president Justin Sanford, and the new general manager, John Sizemore.

Now business relations extend to the family behind Terry Black’s BBQ, which Stock explains came out of a mutual culinary admiration with Mark Black and his family. So far, the release does not detail what the collaboration will entail.

“An organic love for each other’s operations turned into a friendship, which ultimately led to this collaboration," he said. "Sushi | Bar’s DNA certainly begins in Austin, and Terry Black’s is the staple and standard when it comes to Austin BBQ. A new project in downtown Austin was the perfect opportunity for the two great Austin names to finally collaborate together.”

Reservations for Sushi | Bar open on the first of every month.

omakase sushi openings closings