Un nuevo restaurante omakase de estilo kappo abre sus puertas en el norte de Austin

An Austin omakase pop-up and at-home service morphed into a full-on restaurant this month. Tare is now open at 12414 Alderbrook Drive in the North Austin neighborhood of North Star starting on Thursday, January 18.

The high-end omakase is run by co-owners executive chef Michael Carranza and pastry chef Danielle Martinez, who are using their South Texas roots to fashion the 15-course meal. This means Japanese, Mexican, and South Texas ingredients and techniques served kappo-style, which means nigiri along with hot and cold composed dishes. Look out for dishes such as Japanese shrimp sushi tamale, akami (bluefin tuna with shaved foie gras), aguachile (dry-aged ocean trout with serrano peppers and strawberries), and the matcha tres leches cake. Then there are drinks, such as the A5 wagyu-washed Old Fashioned, as well as beer, wines, sakes, and liquors.

Before Tare, Carranza worked at Austin Japanese/Asian restaurants such as Uchi, Musashino, the now-closed She’s Not Here, seafood wholesaler Minamoto, and, then down in Corpus Christi, he helped open Rock and Rolls Sushi Lounge. He had opened popular Hawaiian-Asian restaurant Salty Cargo and Mexican seafood truck Que Carranzo in 2020 with chef John Gocong, but both closed in 2022.

The duo then started at-home omakase service Osome also in 2020, but they split with Gocong keeping the business and Carranza opened his version with Tare in 2021. Carranzo and Martinez also run hand roll food truck Texas Sushiko in 2022, which is parked at East Congress tasting room Texas Sake.

The Alderbrook Drive owner, Jeff Abel, had asked Carranza if he wanted to open a restaurant in the space, Abel knew of the chef because he had invested in She’s Not Here.

Tare is open Thursday through Sunday, with seatings at 5:30 and 8 p.m. with indoor dine-in service. Reservations are $135 per person. The physical restaurant has room for 12 seats. And a fun fact: the team actually designed and created the plates.