Leave it to Kat Odell to point us in the direction of Uchu NYC, a tiny 10-seat sushi restaurant with fresh seasonal fare and a lot of style. The professional foodie and author of Unicorn Food is one of our go-to girls for unearthing the best buried treasures on New York’s vibrant restaurant scene. Check out our full NYC Bite of the Month series and discover her delicious, caviar loaded recommendation…

What I ate: Uchu’s caviar hand roll.

Why I ate it: Because when chef Sam Clonts hands you a Golden Osetra caviar hand roll, under no circumstance do you turn that down.

Why you need it: One of my favorite New York additions in the last year-ish is Uchu, a hybrid kaiseki, sushi and Japanese cocktail concept on the Lower East Side. Former Ichimura at Brushstroke chef Eiji Ichimura helms the 10-seat sushi omakase counter and prior Brooklyn Fare chef Sam Clonts is responsible for the separate eight-seat kaiseki-inspired dining bar. It’s ingredient-driven, stunning and offers seasonal Japanese cuisine (which includes this bling bling hand roll).

I love Japanese cuisine for its quiet elegance and effortless healthiness — Japanese food is naturally great for you since it’s a style of cookery hinged on hyper seasonal and local ingredients bent with fermentation (like soy and miso). My pro tip? When considering Uchu, you’ll want to note that the bar has more Japanese whiskey than most venues in Japan even (around 100 bottles), and super excellent Japanese cocktails served in hand-carve vessels flossing crystal clear hand-carved ice diamonds. You can thank barman Frank Cisneros for that.

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