Much Anticipated Cherry Creek Japanese Spot Announces Opening Date

When Uchi’s parent company, Hai Hospitality, announced in May 2022 that it would be opening a location of Uchiko in Cherry Creek North in 2024, that date seemed very far away.

Turns out, it took far longer for the project to come together. But finally, one of Denver’s most anticipated restaurants has announced that it will welcome its first guests on Monday, February 17. Reservations are open now and available online.

The Japanese eatery will be located in the former Ginny Williams Gallery space at 299 Fillmore Street, where it plans to host rotating art installations as a nod to the late art collector and philanthropist.

Uchiko, which means “child of Uchi” in Japanese, is “the fiery counterpart to Uchi from James Beard Award-winning chef Tyson Cole,” according to an announcement of the upcoming opening. “The concept leans into the glow of the hearth, pairing smoke and char with clean Japanese flavors across hot and cold dishes.”

The menu includes options such as grilled oysters with koji creamed spinach, post-oak grilled sea bass with brown butter dashi, and four-times-seared Denver steak. Fresh fish will be flown in daily for dishes like a soft-shell crab roll and roasted lobster with umeboshi butter, while the beef dishes are made from Australian Westholme wagyu.

There are three outposts of Uchiko in Texas as well as one in Miami Beach; the first opened in 2011. Denver will be its fifth location, with a sixth planned for Bethesda, Maryland. Uchi itself was launched in 2003 in Austin, Texas; today there are eight locations, with three more on the way.

Chef de cuisine Andres Araujo, whose resume includes Pujol in Mexico City, L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon and Aska in Brooklyn, along with a five-year stint with Uchi in RiNo, will lead the Cherry Creek kitchen.

The 7,400 square-foot space includes an intimate bar, a fourteen-person sushi bar and a fourteen-seat private dining room with a stone fireplace, as well as a 2,300 square-foot addition with a sunroom.

As fans of Uchi since it debuted in RiNo in 2018, we’re excited to finally see — and taste — what Uchiko is all about.