The Sushi Showboat

Otto Phan of Kyoten

“I was a very, very vain young man,” Otto Phan says laughingly of his calling out the city for its then-subpar sushi scene and boasting that he would have the first omakase restaurant in Chicago to merit a Michelin star. It was haughty talk for a man whose mother didn’t want him to even become a chef. “I was very much supposed to be a doctor but loved food too much,” says Phan, 38, who grew up in Houston. He trained in some top sushiyas, including New York’s Masa, before returning to Texas to open a food truck in Austin. He served rolls and bowls and became famous for his distinctively tangy rice, which pushed against the sweetness so prevalent in American sushi. From there it was an Austin omakase spot, and then Chicago. Michelin never came calling (and instead gave that particular honor to local rivals Omakase Yume and Mako), but Phan doesn’t care: “I don’t have to bend the knee to do well. I can do it on my own talent and push my craft to the utmost limits.”