Sushi Kozy.

Sushi Kozy

Paul Ko left Uchi Dallas to open Sushi Kozy, where a seventeen-course omakase opens on a Japanese-curry fritter and a scallop tartlet in a candied kiwi shell.1

Why go

Paula Forbes: I felt deeply weary of omakase restaurants, and this is the room that reminded me how enjoyable they can be.1 What changed her mind was the shape of the meal here, which opens playful and ends serious, and she put the room on Texas Monthly's ten best new restaurants in the state for 2026.1 Brian Reinhart moved it to number 1 on D Magazine's ranked 50 Best in September 2026, a year and change after it opened, calling it an unlikely standard-bearer for the city.2 Ko cooked at Uchi Dallas before this, and his chef de cuisine is RJ Yoakum, who came out of the French Laundry, Angler and the Clove Club, was nominated for the James Beard Foundation's Emerging Chef award at Georgie in 2025, and moved here in January 2026.14 The Dallas Observer describes the format as kaiseki and sushi run together.3

Order this / avoid

• Order: the full omakase, seventeen courses on Paula Forbes's visit.1
• Let the opening courses land before you judge it. They come before the nigiri and they are not the point.1
• Sit at the counter. Ko works it, and Forbes was greeted from behind it.1

What locals & experts say

• Texas Monthly, Paula Forbes, 2026: The contrast there, puckish opening volleys followed by intensely traditional, expertly executed nigiri, is the magic of Sushi Kozy.1
• Brian Reinhart, D Magazine, September 2026, on a room that opened the year before: it is the 2025 restaurant that has pole-vaulted to the top spot on this list, and may be an unlikely standard-bearer for Dallas.2
• Dallas Observer, Lauren Drewes Daniels: A contemporary omakase with a blend of kaiseki (a multi-course Japanese dinner) and sushi in a stylish setting.3
• The MICHELIN Guide carries it in the 2025 Dallas selection at Recommended, with no star or Bib on it.3

Good to know

• It opened on 21 June 2025, which is what makes the number 1 placing a fast one.1
• Two chefs work this counter, Ko and Yoakum, and Yoakum arrived in January 2026 after the Beard nomination he earned across town.4
• Yoakum eats at Meridian, Mamani and Một Hai Ba on his own nights off.4

Verdict

should-visit — An omakase counter where the playful courses come first and the nigiri is played straight, which is the right way round, and it is what brought Paula Forbes back to the format. Take the full seventeen courses, sit at the counter, and judge it on the rice.