Brooklyn Fare Alum Starts Japanese Tasting Menu in LES Next Week

The tiny LES Japanese restaurant that was previously planned for sushi chef David Bouhadana will instead soon open as a Japanese whiskey bar with a chef who’s an alum of Brooklyn Fare.

The eight-seat Bar at Uchu, at 217 Eldridge Street, debuts next Tuesday, June 13th with a kaiseki tasting menu from chef Samuel Clonts, who previously worked at the three Michelin-starred Brooklyn Fare. Here, the kaiseki — the name for the traditional Japanese seasonal tasting menus that have existed for centuries — will use at least some produce from the restaurant’s rooftop garden.

Each night, eight seats for the tasting menu will be available twice, starting at $200 per person. It’s accompanied by an extensive selection of Japanese whiskeys, part of the beverages manned by Prime Meats alum Frank Cisneros.

The restaurant — which owners are calling “ultra-exclusive” and aimed at “affluent” diners — will grow later this year with another tasting menu. That portion of the restaurant will be a 12-seat bar called just Uchu, and it will only serve a sushi omakase. No word yet on who will be the chef here.

Reservations can be made for Bar at Uchu by emailing the restaurant.

Owner Derek Feldman also owns pocket-sized omakase bar Sushi on Jones in the Bowery Market. He had previously teamed up with Bouhadana for that restaurant, and originally, the Eldridge Street space was supposed to be a venue for a Bouhadana comeback as well. The two suddenly parted ways earlier this year.