The Dojo Sake Bar and Izakaya Grand Opening Matsuri Festival!

Food and drink is mostly good — we like the chicken kara-​age here quite a bit. There used to be a waiter here with a really deep, husky voice and amazing service. Unfortunately, he seems to have been replaced with some really young, inexperienced waitstaff. Why would you do such a thing, Dojo?!
Just kidding. Not really.
This is our go-​to central-​Austin late-​night drinking spot for when we want to hear each other talk.

So I am writing this review while I am still eating here. This place has ok décor but the food, service and prices are amazing. When I first saw the prices on the menu I didn’t expect much from the food. I was shocked, they could charge at least 1.5 times more and I would still pay that. The Brussels sprouts are amazing and the avocado tuna tartar are bomb. The monk fish liver could use a carb base but it still taste fresh. I will update when I finish!

The Good: Loved pretty much everything we order. Started off with the Tuna Tatar, fish was fresh and the taste was spot on. They also have a different type of spice edamame. I wanted to add that sauce into all of my other plates. Also they have an amazing apple fused sake that I totally recommend!
The Bad: Our whitefish konbu mushi was a little salty and our buta kimchi was lacking a bit of salt. Still very tasty though. I recommend you to try the buta kimchi.
The Ugly: Dont have much to say other than our waiter took a while to take our order. Other than that he was on the ball.

What a phenomenal way to bring the community together! And all for a good cause.
I’m still giddy with excitement at winning one of four spots as judge for the Dojo cook-​off. Manager, Ken, mentioned hopes of coordinating cook-​off competitions regularly. I, for one, will be there in a heartbeat the second I catch wind of another cook-​off.
Most of my time with cable was spent watching the next big cooking show: Iron Chef, Chopped, Hell’s Kitchen, Top Chef, you name it. Saturday night, Dojo piloted the Austin local edition of these popular cooking reality shows. Six local sous chefs, former cooks, and home cooks entered the cook-​off at Dojo. They were allotted 20 minutes to prep, 20 minutes to cook, and 5 minutes to plate. Participants were permitted to cook in pairs or solo and to bring a secret ingredient from home (Oh! The suspense!).
Being in the room with the participants as they julienned, diced, minced, pureed… You feel their intensity. As a home cook, I thoroughly enjoyed watching each participants technique in prepping their ingredients. The 45 minute timeline flew by as though it were 10.
Finally. The Taste. Ever had 50 people stare in anticipation as you take a bite of food? Nope, me neither. Not until Saturday that is. One of the lucky four presented with that individuals vision of the perfect dish to be prepared in 45 minutes, I had the pleasure (or terror) of being in the spotlight as watchers-​by awaited the reaction of my taste buds. An eyes-​closed smile of enjoyment. A grimace (No, not really.). A gag (Again, not really.). Repeated shoveling of heaping forkfuls because it tastes so good I have to eat it all NOW.
As Errol M. mentioned, the reel that played through my head with each bite asked «Would you pay for this in a restaurant?» All in all, it was a great night. Ken, I sure hope Dojo looks into planning more of these events in the future. It truly is the perfect way for a restaurant to connect with the community.

I think I had my 15 minutes of fame. I was glad to share that moment with Errol M, Ali B, and Stu R. Great company for a meal.
Before the event started, the judges and I got to meet the Front of House Manager, Ken. He was a great host. Constantly moving to make sure everything was running well, but he was also personal enough to sit down with me to discuss where each of the major players of this restaurant came from. The story behind the building and food always make the experience richer.
*As a disclosure this review is based on the food and events that happened to me. This was the first cook off competition, and there will be more with different contestants and different meals. But isn’t that what makes a meal creative when the menu constantly changes?
So six teams were cooking in 2 different 45-​min shifts. They had gotten a list of the food available to them at 6pm the night before the event. They were allowed to bring one «secret» item from home. The proteins available included lobster tails, snapper, flounder, chicken, beef butt, and shrimp. The contestants ranged from experience at various quality restaurants around Austin to home chefs.
We were free to walk around and watch the chefs do their prep work. I wasn’t sure if I was getting in the way, but I got to see each team’s technique and style as they prepared the dishes. Props to all the participants. A run down of the dishes:
#1 — a play on a Japanese pancake with a wasabi aioli
#2 — buttery fried chicken with pink lady apples (apple cut into small pieces on top for the heart)
#3 — snapper on a bed of ginger sweet potatoes, topped with fried beets
#4 — a Japanese homemade dish of chicken with a Japanese sour plum, kewpie and onions
#5 — medium rare beef butt, asparagus, and shrimp
#6 — flounder with a hatch chile guacamole on top of a potato pancake
Some restaurants have an open kitchen, but in this competition you can truly see all the prep work — not just the line where an expo is taking finished product out. I appreciate the fact that this event benefitted Dell Children’s Medical Center.
I loved how Errol wanted to be like Graham Elliot and smell the food. With intense furrowed brows, Ali B showed her entire array of emotions that you would find on those refrigerator magnets. It was fun seeing all these people taking pictures of the judges as we tasted each plate. Errol and discussed how each dish rated in our worlds and where we would expect to find this dish at other restaurants that we’ve been too. Overall, a wonderful job by all the participants and a great place to see the originality of what a variety of chefs can do with similar resources.
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While the competition was going on, people had come to taste a sample of several different small bites. Onigiri, Seappacio with Shrimp Chips, Veggie Tempura, Chicken Karage, Miso Ramen, Crunchy Almond Shrimp, etc. There were some other activities around — a DJ, cotton candy machine, origami, etc.
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Ken mentioned that they plan on having more chef competitions and that people can reserve the room for private parties. This would be a cool place for people to «cook» for their friends and do the entertaining without having to do the clean up.
I’ll be back to see the rest of the menu. Everyone needs a place for late night bites.

The best part of being a Unilocal judge at The Dojo’s Grand Opening cooking competition was taking two bites of my third dish, throwing my hands in the air, and shouting, «THE FLAVOR PROFILE, MAN! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THE FLAVOR PROFILE?» This made the packed house audibly gasp, and as they kept taking picture after picture of us, I slowly slouched down and resumed eating, with a pained look on my face. It just doesn’t get much better than that.
Okay, what really happened was me, Brian L, Ali B, and Stu R — all of whom I had just seen at the Brass House event Monday — were seated together in a crowded restaurant with lots of forks & knives, a whole bunch of sake, and judging six contestant dishes for taste, presentation, and creativity. Right out of every Food Network show. The winning dish would be awarded prizes and featured on the Dojo’s menu. I was sitting next to Brian, who was meticulous about listing specific components within a dish, and noting their delicate interplay of taste and texture. I’m pretty much just taking bites and asking myself would I pay for this in a restaurant. I’m also wondering why people go nuts cooking with ginger and wasabi — hey, we get it, and sometimes less is more. Our Unilocal team of judges was actually pretty thorough, and we wound up with a tie for the winning dish: It came down to who had the better presentation, and that’s what got the edge. It does make a difference what plate you use.
The Dojo Sake Bar and Izakaya has been in «soft-​open» for a while, this was their official Grand Opening weekend, and Ken Macias and his staff did a clever job of combining a fund raiser with a street festival environment. The Dojo is showcasing the Izakaya concept — pretty much late night Japanese booze with small street food plates, and bonus bowls of ramen too. They have veggie/​vegan options, and they’re working on gluten-​free items. I don’t know how people hear about these type of events, but the place was frigging packed with a line going out the door.
I was familiar with this Crossroads complex location on Burnet & 183 when it was a Benihana, I didn’t think much of it then, but they’ve done a nice job renovating the interior with a cool bar and long communal tables throughout the place. The teppanyaki tables have been moved to a back party room, and they’re coming up with different ideas on how to feature them, like this cooking competition. I’m pretty sure if The Dojo Sake Bar and Izakaya was somewhere downtown on West 6^th, it would be another Hipster Central, let’s see how it fares up on this side of town. I kind of think there’s always a little room for late-​night ramen.