Umami on Every Shore

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Lucie Monk Carter

Chef Cong Nguyen plates the Tuna Crisp at Umami Japanese Bistro.

“That’s the beauty of a bistro,” said Chef Cong Nguyen during a recent lunch at his Umami Japanese Bistro, just a pigskin’s throw away from Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge. “There’s no tradition, no authenticity.”

That kind of unbounded approach means that Nguyen can serve the top-quality sushi, sashimi, and ramen that customers expect, and still surprise them with chicken wings or a unique tuna crisp inspired by Mexican tacos. What ties it all together is the chef’s preference for clean, fresh food, and his years of experience as a commercial fisherman, chasing yellowfin tuna along the Gulf Coast.

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Lucie Monk Carter

Umami's clean and fresh ethos is seen in the Geisha roll, with a topping of wafer-thin lemon.

At Umami, guests order secure in the knowledge that the ingredients will be the best available, or just toss out the menu and cry, “Omakase”—which translates to “I’ll leave it up to you”—then sit back and receive a sumptuous feast featuring ten to twelve plates representing this chef’s vivid life journey, told through food.

[Read publisher James Fox-Smith's 2016 review of Umami.]

In August a new jolt of inspiration comes to the Umami menu. Nguyen and his wife Thom recently traveled to France and Spain and weeks later he still can’t get Spanish ham, among other delicacies, out of his head. The famed Iberico ham, which the Nguyens devoured alongside the night owls of Barcelona, is sourced from a particular breed of pig which is fattened on grain, then left to gorge on acorns among the oak groves. At Umami, Nguyen aims to evoke the dish using locally sourced tuna, which he cures for twenty-four hours, smokes with Japanese cherrywood, seasons with Vietnamese black pepper, and serves with housemade ricotta on crostini. Look for this and more evidence of the chef’s continental craze this fall at 3930 Burbank Drive. umamibr.com.