Fukumoto Sushi & Yakitori Izakaya
Chicken thighs, hearts and meatballs go over binchotan, and the nigiri comes cut large over rice the reviewer singles out for its seasoning.1
Why go
Two things run at once here and The Infatuation's 8.3 rests on both. The grill works the full yakitori list, thighs, hearts, gizzards, meatballs and tails plus pork belly, eel and salmon, and everything we've had comes out expertly grilled, with little crispy bits on the edges.
1 The counter cuts nigiri large over well-seasoned rice, from fish most of which were hanging out in a Japanese seafood market just a few days ago.
1 The rice discipline has a lineage behind it: the same publication credits Musashino, the city's Edomae room since the early 1990s, with alumni who went on to start Uchi and Fukumoto, though it does not say which chef here came from there and no other source names one.2 Order off both halves.
Order this / avoid
- Chicken thighs, hearts and meatballs. The reviewer's own picks off the grill.1
- The freshwater eel skewer.
Just as satisfying
as the chicken.1 - Nigiri. The reviewer on the fish:
it has that texture that still feels just a little firm, but very tender,
cut large and draped over well-seasoned rice.1 - Spicy raw octopus in wasabi, to round out a grill-heavy order.1
- Tempura. The Chronicle's Japanese guide put Fukumoto alongside Kome for traditional plates, naming tempura pumpkin, squash, Brussels sprouts and okra.3
What locals & experts say
- The Infatuation Austin rates it 8.3, bylined Nicolai McCrary, 21 January 2022, and files it in both its Best Sushi Restaurants In Austin and its Best Sushi Omakases In Austin guides.1
- On the room, verbatim: the restaurant will
make you feel like you're at a tiny izakaya on a busy street in Japan, complete with bidets in the bathrooms, sake barrels lining the dining room, and an open kitchen where you can watch skewers smoke and sizzle over binchotan coals.
1 - The lineage, stated at its actual strength: Musashino
alumni have gone on to start great places like Uchi, Fukumoto, and other spots around town.
No source found names the chef.2
Good to know
- Dinner, and worth booking. The review frames it as a date-night room.1
- The review is from January 2022. Take the dish list as indicative rather than current.
- Hygiene: no finding, on a record that stops in 2023. Austin Public Health scored the kitchen 90 on 6 November 2023 and 87 in June 2023 (514 Medina St). Nothing below 70, and nothing published since, so read that gap as a gap rather than a clean current result.4
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: "Casual yet high end food." From his own saved row, and it fits: counter service and skewers, at prices the reviewer thinks the fish justifies.
Verdict
should-visit — An East Austin izakaya where the yakitori over binchotan and the nigiri are equally the argument, rated 8.3, with fish that the reviewer says was in a Japanese market days earlier and rice he singles out for seasoning. It sits in the Musashino lineage that produced much of this city's sushi. The register has not inspected it since November 2023.