Austin's Uchi finally landed in DC, and the happy hour alone is worth the reservation

Austin's Uchi finally landed in DC, and the happy hour alone is worth the reservation

Three months ago, a restaurant that Austinites have been possessive about for more than twenty years quietly opened its first DC door. No celebrity chef cameo. No velvet-rope theatrics. Just a steady stream of regulars already memorizing the happy hour window. Uchi DC opened on May 12 at 1700 M St. NW, and downtown is still adjusting to it.

Uchi - meaning "home" in Japanese - was founded by James Beard Award-winning chef Tyson Cole, and built its name on a nontraditional approach to Japanese cuisine that pairs refined technique with what the kitchen calls thoughtful hospitality. Cole launched the original in a refurbished South Austin bungalow in 2003. Over two decades, the menu grew to cover hot and cold tastings, sushi, sashimi, makimono, yakimono, tempura, and a seasonal omakase experience - all delivered with a warmth that became as much a part of the brand as the fish.

DC was never an accident. Hai Hospitality, the Austin-based group behind Uchi, Uchiko, and Uchibā, signed a lease at 17xM, an award-winning Class A office building in Washington's Central Business District. Law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher anchors the tower, which sits roughly halfway between the White House and Dupont Circle. The address puts Uchi inside a particular corridor of power-lunch geography that the city takes seriously.

The room

The modern, wood-toned space has two private dining rooms, an 18-seat bar, and a 14-seat sushi counter. That counter is the destination. Can't snag one of its 14 seats? The kitchen will bring the experience to you, coursing nigiri in one- or two-bite servings so the rice stays at the right temperature. It's a small operational detail - but it's the kind of thing that separates a restaurant that actually cares about sushi from one that just sells it.

New York-based Islyn Studio and Hai's own design firm, Hai Design Studio, drew inspiration from Edward Durrell Stone - who designed the nearby National Geographic Society building in the 1960s - and what they describe as "the era of martinis and espionage." The result is meant to feel intimate and transportive, with a cinematic sensibility and deliberate nods to 1960s Washington. On a Tuesday evening, with the light low and a Nikko martini on the table, it works.

The kitchen

Chef de cuisine Rob Drennan came up through DC's Rose's Restaurant Group - Rose's Luxury, Pineapple and Pearls, Little Pearl - and cooked at three-Michelin-starred Maeemo in Oslo before landing back here. He also worked for Uchi's sister restaurant Uchiko in Austin roughly fifteen years ago. That's not a gap on a résumé; it's a full circle. Drennan himself called it "almost a homecoming."

CEO Tony Montero says about 70 percent of the menu is consistent across Uchi's locations. Among the restaurant's most recognized dishes is the hama chili - yellowtail crudo with ponzu sauce, orange segments, and Thai chilies - a preparation that has been on the menu since the first Uchi opened in Austin in 2003. Beyond that, expect crudos, nigiri and rolls, tempura, grilled skewers, and vegetables like the sweet-glazed fried Brussels sprouts. The remaining 30 percent is developed by the local team.

DC-specific dishes include crispy tuna rice and a lobster coconut curry. Drennan has also introduced a plancha-grilled pork belly served with fermented black bean purée, lychee, and coconut. A full sushi list pulls the latest imports from Tokyo's Toyosu seafood market, with some dry-aged fish options available.

The formats - and why the happy hour matters

For a first visit, the clearest path is the tasting. A seven-course "signature tasting" runs $120 per person. Uchi also offers an omakase option - sushi and other small dishes - for around $150 per person. There's a "somakase" as well, a mashup of sommelier and omakase, where a server guides you through a personalized tasting. A vegetarian tasting is also available.

But the format that's already generating word-of-mouth in this city is the happy hour. It runs daily from 4 to 6 PM, with discounted food and drinks and a happy-hour-exclusive nine-course tasting menu for two for $120. The full cocktail menu runs $16 to $21 and includes a sake-infused martini and a Suntory Toki highball. During happy hour, those drop to $10. Wines and sakes come in at $9.

DC's omakase scene is already dense with small, reservation-only spots that punch above their size in hype and price. Uchi's scale and multi-room format will test whether a larger operation can hold the same cachet as the city's tighter jewel-box counters. That's a fair question. Three months in, the answer is trending toward yes - though not for the reasons the cynics would expect. The brand's heft could easily produce a mechanical restaurant. What Drennan's kitchen produces feels personal.

Two private rooms connect to discreet back entrances - described by Axios DC as built for "camera-shy D.C. VIPs." Make of that what you will, but it does say something about who's already eating here.

Uchiko, Hai Hospitality's spinoff concept with a heavier focus on cooked dishes, is planned for Bethesda. DC is just the beginning of their presence in the region.

The details

• Address: 1700 M St. NW, Washington, DC 20036
• Hours: Sunday-Thursday, 4-10 PM; Friday-Saturday, 4-11 PM
• Happy hour: Daily, 4-6 PM
• Reservations: Via Resy; walk-ins welcome
• Price range: Happy hour nine-course tasting for two, $120; signature seven-course dinner tasting, $120/person; omakase approximately $150/person

Sources

• Uchi DC - official site (uchirestaurants.com)
• Washingtonian - "Texas-Based Japanese Restaurant Uchi Is Coming to DC"
• Washingtonian - "Uchi Japanese Restaurant Opens in Downtown DC"
• Axios Washington DC - "Uchi sushi restaurant opens in Dupont Circle"
• PoPville - "Uchi Opens May 12th Downtown"
• WTOP - "Japanese restaurant with nontraditional fare to open DC outpost"
• Hoodline - "Uchi To Open 185-Seat Restaurant At 17xM In D.C."