OTA
Hoppen Hierarchy: ★★★★
District: Benson
Omakase Sushi Bar
Perfect For: Upscale Dining; Date Night
Standout Dishes: Omakase
An experience at Ota is a night you’ll never forget.
For all the fantastic dining experiences in Omaha, there is nothing quite like Ota, the omakase room at Yoshitomo. In fact, considering the nearest dedicated omakase restaurant is more than 800 miles away, there’s really nothing like Ota in the Midwest. You need to go halfway across the country to America’s dining hubs like New York City or San Francisco to find something like this.
Think this is hyperbole? Keep reading.
What is Omakase?
In Japanese, “omakase” roughly translates to “I leave it up to you.” There is no menu to order from; you simply eat whatever the chef puts in front of you, entrusting your meal to their talent and expertise. Diners sit across the bar from the sushi chef, who creates plate after plate right before their eyes. These small plates can range from several courses to more than 30 depending on the style of restaurant and how much you’re willing to pay.
Where is Ota?
Ota is located in a side room at Yoshitomo, Omaha’s premier sushi/sashimi restaurant. Reservations are made on Yoshitomo’s website, but due to their popularity, limited availability, and smaller parties (more on this soon), you’ll want to book some time in advance. Ota usually hosts between 6-8 omakase seatings per month, typically on weekend nights.
So what exactly makes this experience so special? The following three elements ensure it’ll be a night you’ll not soon forget.
The Food
Anyone who’s eaten at Yoshitomo knows the level of food the restaurant is capable of, and Ota takes those flavors to the nth degree. Over the course of 3-4 hours, you’ll be served 15-20 dishes, mostly sushi, each of which you’ll swear is your new favorite plate of the night.
This is not your typical fish. That night’s menu, which constantly changes based on seasonality and fish availability, may feature Japanese tuna so rare it had to be purchased at an auction. You could be served morsels of savory, briny uni or a delicate masaba (Japanese mackerel). Each piece of fish, expertly sliced across the table, is delicately wrapped around a small lump of sticky sushi rice.
The flavors and textures of each fish/cut vary, but you’ll find yourself savoring each one, chewing slowly to allow the flavor to linger on your palate as long as possible. The flesh of the fish in raw courses is downright buttery; you barely have to chew it’s so tender. Several of the courses will likely feature smoked fish as well, resulting in a meatier texture.
In addition to the sushi and a few dessert bites, there are two delicious courses you’ll likely find on any Ota menu:
- Aburi Wagyu: Traditional sushi may not include cow, but what constitutes as sushi is actually defined by the area it’s served in—and in Nebraska, that means beef. So Ota brings in Wagyu beef from Japan, blowtorches it in front of you, and adds a pat of unctuous uni butter. The rich flavor that bursts forth is impossible to explain. One of the single best bites in Omaha, it’s something that simply must be experienced.
- Foie Gras Sushi Rice: The sticky, slightly sweet rice enhances the rich, delicate foie gras, which could be described as “meat-flavored butter.” Chef David Utterback says any time he’s tried to take it off the omakase menu, diners nearly riot.
Speaking of chef Utterback…
The Chef
Extremely knowledgeable and technically proficient, Utterback is as good of a chef as you’ll find in Omaha. A James Beard-nominated chef, Utterback is creative and daring—not only did he introduce Omaha to the concept of omakase, but he also owns Koji, one of the few restaurants in the Midwest that offers yakitori. Once Utterback finds a food he’s interested in, he deep dives and finds the best possible way to serve it, and the end result is never anything short of extraordinary.
Any diner at Yoshitomo can taste Utterback’s brilliance, but a dinner at Ota allows you to tap into his precision and mind. You’ll watch him carefully cut each delicate fish, grind real wasabi root (not the ground mustard passed as “wasabi” at most sushi restaurants), and take a blowtorch to specific courses. It’s mesmerizing to watch him carefully slice, and the knife skills he displays are awe-inspiring.
Best yet, what other chance do you have to pick the brain of an award-winning chef? Utterback thoroughly explains each course, detailing the type of fish, where it comes from, and what makes it special. He answers any questions, giving you unfiltered access to the mind of an award-winning chef.
But he’s far from simply an encyclopedia of culinary knowledge. Quick-witted, Utterback is always ready with a joke (such as referring to the beef in the Aburi Wagyu as “prairie tuna”), and his stories range from humorous notes of losing to his son at Minecraft to tearjerkers from his omakase experiences in Japan (just ask him about his meal at the Japanese restaurant nakaji-san and you’ll see what I mean).
Even if the food were awful, this would be an incredible experience simply because Utterback is knowledgeable, witty, and fun. His command of the room defines the night.
The Atmosphere
Dining inside Ota at first feels like being a part of a secret society—you’re at first moved to a side waiting room with your fellow diners (there’s a max of eight for each meal), before being ushered into a curtained room where the sushi bar awaits.
With Utterback a few feet away and just a few dining companions, the setting feels incredibly intimate, as if you’re eating inside chef’s home kitchen. You’re completely separated from the conversations and hustle and bustle of the restaurant. This is a sushi sanctuary where, for a few hours, at least, nothing exists but this meal. Ota even has its own private bathroom and bartender. Though the rest of the restaurant is 15 feet away, it may as well be 1,500 miles.
Hard as I’ve tried to describe a night at Ota, I could use a swimming pool’s worth of ink and still fall short of explaining just how special this is. This is not a meal; it’s an experience, and one that will change the way you view not only fish, but food in general moving forward.