What really goes on behind the swinging doors of a restaurant kitchen remains a mystery to the average diner. There are no walls separating the dining room from the kitchen of Uchi Houston, the Austin import that has been unrelentingly mobbed since it opened in February. The sushi bar and open kitchen are a foodie voyeur's delight with expansive sightlines into the realms of culinary greatness. Uchi's owner, Tyson Cole nabbed Best Chef Southwest at the James Beard Foundation Awards last year; his prot�g�, Paul Qui of sister restaurant Uchiko, took that same honor this year. [...] when Philip Speer, director of culinary operations for Uchi restaurants, offered a colleague and me a rare opportunity to go even deeper into the proprietary regions of Uchi operations, I didn't hesitate. Some specials arrive on the chalkboard by way of abundance (gotta get rid of all those tomatoes), habit (let's run a fish special because it's Friday), or chef whim or folly. In order to be put before Speer each dish must be accompanied by a written recipe, a menu title with wording, plate cost estimation, menu cost suggestion and a plan for how it will emerge from the kitchen (the areas of sushi bar, cold station, hot station have to try to be equally weighted so as not to throw off the choreography). Speer has a baby face and boyish demeanor that belie a highly evolved palate and sharpshooter's aim for a dish's umami-winged highs and plunging vulnerabilities. With Edwards overseeing the construction of his chefs' dishes in the kitchen and Speer with his chopsticks poised to taste in the dining room, the process begins. Neither does a topography in tofu or a duck dish with roasted yellow pepper and Asian pear. Today Speer gives thumb's up to a dish of baby artichoke, peekytoe crab, golden plum, agretto (like a sea bean) and lemon charcoal powder. [...] getting the nod is a dish of green lip mussels, manila clams, broccoli blossoms, green tomato and green curry. Ditto for the seared snapper, tomato, shrimp and crispy fish skin chips. Page Pressley, a sous chef, put out a handsome dish of sous vide short rib, seared foie gras, shaved black truffle, pickled porcini mushrooms and charred lemon gel. A dessert of toasted Japanese cheesecake with marcona-almond brittle and rosemary gelato looked like a winner but Speer quickly found error.
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