Uchi's Next Restaurant, Loro, Will Focus on Smoking and Grilling

Hai Hospitality, the restaurant group behind Austin Japanese favorites Uchi and Uchiko, revealed details on its anticipated new restaurant on South Lamar. Loro will become an Asian smokehouse, focus on smoked and grilled fare, when it debuts in the fall.

“Uchi food leans very clean, bright, acidic, and healthy,” explained chef and owner Tyson Cole in a release. He wants to extend to other different cooking methods, and food with Loro’s menu.

Not much else is known about the menu, aside that there will be a full bar serving up beer, wine, and cocktails. As seen through various plywood photos, expect a massive restaurant, with a lot of patio space, centered around an ancient oak tree.

The name Loro doesn’t necessarily come from anything in particular. Cole liked it because he saw the word pop up through the years. He added that he “love[d] the look of it and how it looks like a race car or motorcycle. And that it’s a stunningly colorful wild parrot.” He is referring to the Loro Macho. The word is also Spanish for parrot.

Hai oversees Uchi restaurants in Austin, Houston, and Dallas, Uchiko in Austin, and Top Knot in Dallas. There was the pizzeria and bakeshop St. Philip, but that shuttered in 2015. The rebranding to Hai happened last year.

It’s also worth noting that Kemuri Tatsu-ya, Ramen Tatsu-ya’s new restaurant which opened earlier this year, also focuses on smoked meats with a Japanese flair.

• Uchi Spins Off New South Lamar Restaurant [EATX]
• All Coverage of Uchi [EATX]