HOUSTON’S NEXT GREAT SUSHI BAR IS IN … KATY
What if I told you the next great Houston sushi bar is in Katy?
It’s true. Tobiuo Sushi & Bar in Cinco Ranch’s flossy LaCenterra shopping center has only been open for about a month, but that’s long enough to conclude that sushi chef Mike Lim is the real deal. His skills rival Houston’s best, and an omakase meal at his sushi bar is a prime experience.
Lim’s background lies in seaside Korea, and his sushi credentials run from Morimoto Napa to Roka Akor San Francisco, where he opened the restaurant as lead sushi chef. He opened Roka Akor in Houston last year, too — this time, as the company’s corporate chef. Now he’s in business with partners for himself, with this glossy location in underserved Katy.
To appreciate his talents, reserve a spot at the bar for omakase, or a chef’s choice tasting of sashimi, nigiri and composed dishes. It will be pricy, but the ingredients and technique at a recent meal were stellar, and the thrills were many.
Consider: wonderfully supple threadfin bream nigiri, cut so its pale, blanched, gold-ribboned skin shone along one side; then delicately crosshatched so a Jiro-style glaze of soy, sake and kombu could sink in. The final touch? A tiny squeeze of juice from a freshly halved blood orange.
Then there was the nigiri of immaculate maguro tuna, aged for five days so the flavor and texture intensified. And the crudo of subtle, nutty Hokkaido scallop in a brothy sauce of lemon, cognac, vinegar and onion that was pure genius. And the ocean trout belly cured for four hours with four parts salt and one part brown sugar, so that it emerged unthinkably rich and tasting of the sea.
Lim’s style leans toward a fondness for bling (tiny flowers, shards of gold leaf) that occasionally gets in the way, but dishes like a pointillist composition of amberjack crudo can have a lovely visual appeal. He’s a major, exciting talent on Houston’s sushi scene. If you’re not ready to spring three figures for omakase, get a sense of the landscape here by sitting at the zoomy, glass-muraled sushi counter and ordering your own selection.
Tobiuo is pronounced “tow-BEE-oh,” by the way, and it means flying fish. It’s not only a boon for the far west side, it’s a new destination for Houston sushi aficionados.