Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Astranti.
Alex, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’m originally from the small town Pietra de’ Giorgi, located outside of Milan; I credit my Italian my mom as the first and most profound culinary inspiration. I moved from Italy to London and started working in various front of house positions, and that is how I met my future wife, a Dallas, TX native studying abroad.
After moving to Texas in 2007, I have received my culinary degree from El Centro College, and I started working in Fort Worth at acclaimed restaurants Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine and Grace. I grew and better my skills as a chef under Chef Stephan Pyles I was promoted to Executive Sous Chef at Stampede, eventually ascending the ranks to Executive Chef at Salvaje.
After almost four years with Chef Pyles, I took a step down in career to accept a sous chef position with the Hai Hospitality team at Uchi Dallas in 2015. After opening Uchi Dallas I helped develop the menu for Top Knot which later became Uchiba. I was later on named Chef de Cuisine of both Uchi Dallas and Uchiba in 2017.
I now oversee all culinary aspects of both restaurants. When I’m not working, I love of course spend all my time with my wife Courtney and my son Luca. We also have baby girl Mila on the way, and she is due in November. I love to go for early morning runs around White Rock Lake, and that’s what gets me ready for the busy day.
Has it been a smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road for sure. The first biggest challenge I encountered was to learn a second language when I first moved to London in my early twenties. Adapting to a new culture and working without speaking the language nor understanding it fluently was hard.
As in many other things in my career perseverance always helped to get through the obstacles. The other hard thing was when I moved to Texas. Moving from a big city like London to Fort Worth was a huge culture shock and an adjustment period.
However, for my wife, I would have moved to the crappiest place on earth, and I would have been happy. The entire visa process and naturalization wasn’t easy either and especially not having money to spend on a lawyer to help and guide us through it.
Again, we had a few bumps on the road but nothing we could never overcome. Those have been for sure the biggest obstacles to get to where I’m today, but I can’t complain about because they all helped become who I’m and build the amazing family I have.
We’d love to hear more about what you do.
Located in the Arts District, the third location of Uchi made its debut in 2015. Melding the best offerings of Chef Tyson Cole’s first three restaurants (Uchi Austin, Uchiko, and Uchi Houston), the menu includes hot and cold tastings, makimono, yakimono, tempura, sushi, and sashimi.
In addition, as Chef de cuisine I create along with my team a seasonal menu that rotates four times a year just for Dallas diners. We specialize in modern Japanese and sushi. We are serving the freshest and best seafood you can get in Dallas. We bring in fish six days a week from all over the World. We are definitely well known for pushing the culinary boundaries and our creativity.
I’m most proud of the culture we have, and the overall family feels at all our restaurants. We have a very unique way of doing things, and that’s what sets us apart from all the other restaurants…
Also, the specials menu development is something that sets us apart. We feature a variety of raw and cook specials at any given day of the week which some are created by our line cooks. We R&D throughout the month, and the dishes we think are winners we present them at our monthly tasting.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I think there is a big shift and movement toward the more casual dining where amazing and creative food is served in a comfortable environment.
In all honesty, it has been hard in the past couple of years to find talented and dedicated cooks. I hope the big shift in the next 5-10 years is toward more dedication to the craft.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2817 Maple Avenue Dallas, Texas 75201
- Website: www.uchidallas.com www.uchiba.com
- Phone: 2148555454
- Email: aastranti@uchirestaurants.com
- Instagram: uchidallas uchiba alex_astranti
- Facebook: Uchi Dallas Uchiba
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
