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Contents
The third downtown sushi venue (after Kenichi and Uchi) in the short pantheon of recent high-budget sushi bar openings, Maiko brings its own style and spin to the enlightened activity of seafood manipulation.
Designed by Michael Hsu, under the auspices of Dick Clark Architecture (Hsu's solo projects include Oslo and Uchi), Maiko will have both a contemporary Japanese sushi bar on one side, and a full booze bar on the other side (separated by a wall) with the potential for late-nite DJ action on the bar side. We've got the artist rendering of the sushi side here and the bar side here.
The food offerings will lean heavily toward contemporary Japanese cooking as opposed to fusion, according to Maiko's sushi consultant Seiju Onami. The main difference being that the vast majority of ingredients in contemporary Japanese cooking are, well, Japanese ingredients. As an example, Onami notes that a fusion-style risotto would typically use cream and arboreal rice while a contemporary Japanese version would use soy milk and koshi hikari (a sweet short-grained rice).
The sushi menu will have typical American sushi bar sushi, but Onami will try to introduce more edomae sushi (Tokyo style sushi) which involves more curing and marinating of the fish. At most American sushi bars, you can only get tuna served raw, and possibly seared, notes Onami. Tokyo style tuna is offered raw, zuke (marinated in sake and tamari soy sauce for two hours), tataki (seared), and aburi (lightly cooked).
The expected opening is the weekend of February 19th (but it could be a bit later).
Maiko
311 W. 6th Street
Austin, Texas 78701
(512) 236-9888
$40
tickets are still available (takai desu ne?) for the Alamo
Drafthouse Cinema blowout
on Wednesday, March 9th, at 7pm. This is
the gig of the century for lovers of fine Japanese food and
cinema.
Whilst enjoying the brand new Alamo South Lamar Theatre (yappari!),
with 
its
stadium seating and state-of-the-art sound and visuals, you'll
feast your eyes and ears on a restored
35mm print of Rashomon, the landmark film
by Akira Kurosawa that won the 1950 Academy
Award for
Best Foreign Film. Meanwhile, at certain times during the
movie, you'll be treated to a novel banquet course courtesy
of Austin's uber sushi bar, Uchi.
Are you going? Mochiron!
Proceeds from the event benefit the Capital Area Food Bank
MENU
Hydroponic english cucumber "noodles" with radish sprouts
and a yuzu vinaigrette
Deep fried brie discs with fuji apples
Japanese lobster canapes with blueberries and roasted macadamias
White tuna and organic watermelon sashimi
Ume boshi meshi stuffed quail
Broiled chilean sea bass kasuzuke
Apple jacks - smoked freshwater eel with green tea ice cream
and a balsamic reduction
Alamo South Lamar
1120 S. Lamar Blvd
Austin, Texas 78704
(512) 476-1320