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Samuel & Jose Tcherassi • Ura
WORK • Thursday Routine
Samuel & Jose Tcherassi • co-founders • Ura
Neighborhood you work in: Allapattah
Neighborhood you live in: Coconut Grove
It’s Thursday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
We’ll spend most of the day at the construction site in Allapattah for Ura, a new members-only sushi-ya helmed by Tokyo sushi legend Namba Hidefumi that we’re prepping for opening this fall. Ura will feature a 10-seat sushi counter complemented by a state-of-the-art jazz kissa-inspired listening room for guests to enjoy curated records. The sushi room and listening rooms are separated by a beautiful Japanese courtyard garden designed by Swiss designer Enzo Enea, where members will enjoy traditional tea ceremonies and more.
Later today, our master mixologist Shunta Yamakawa-san will host a special cocktail-omakase event for our Ura members, showcasing his distinctive fruit cocktails. (If you’re interested in membership, email us at contact@uramiami.com.)
Any bar or restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
Given it’s Yamakawa-san's first time in Miami, we'll be taking him to our favorite spots this week, like The Surf Club, so he can try the beef Wellington. We’ll also visit our friend Aitor’s Edan Bistro. He trained at Asador Etxebarri and is serving the best steak in town (not to mention his signature Basque cheesecake).
How about a little leisure or culture?
We had a great time at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Coconut Grove recently; we’re so happy to see how it’s enriched the Miami music scene.
Music is a central piece of what we’re building with Ura. We were mesmerized by the trance we experienced from long listening sessions in jazz kissas around Tokyo; it’s a very specific set of conditions that creates that. While the soundsystem is a crucial piece of the puzzle, format and music selection are just as important. In that sense, Ura's listening room will be a completely orthodox kissa, Miami's first.
Any weekend getaways?
Our getaway of choice is taking the two hour flight to Barranquilla, Colombia, where we were born, and spend the weekend with our Labrador retriever, Cai. Not too far from Barranquilla, though, is Cartagena, also a short two-hour flight from Miami. There’s lots of fun to be had exploring the walled city, the second oldest city in South America. The dining scene has experienced a huge boom lately, and our favorite bar there, Alquimico, is currently ranked eighth by the World’s Best list.
What was your last great vacation?
Our last trip to Japan was very special. We got to choose the hinoki tree from which Ura's 26-foot single-piece omakase counter would be fashioned. For recommendations in Tokyo, we should probably write a book, but we'll confine ourselves to three bookable must-gos (excluding Ura’s masters' Sushi Namba and Cocktailante Oboro, which are members-only):
Jazz kissa Eagle in Yotsuya. One of the longest in operation and most quintessential, Eagle’s the best place to get the orthodox jazz kissa experience. It’s a huge inspiration for our listening room and we’ve spent hours there enjoying Masahiro Goto-san's jazz selections.
Pizza studio Tamaki. Our favorite pizza spot in the world — period. Tamaki-san developed his "Tokyo-Napoli style" pizza without ever visiting Italy. The pizza itself is life-changing, but the appetizers and other small plates, like the lasagna and tiramisu, are equally delicious.
Breakfast omakase at Kaiseki Kurogi. It’s not an easy reservation, but if you land one you’re in for a paradigm-shifting experience. Jose and I have always been in love with the idea of fine dining breakfast, but we’ve always been disappointed — except at Kurogi. The omakase is ultra-seasonal, but expect staples like milk bread toast topped with thinly sliced wagyu and egg omelette, the rice course highlighting two or three different rice varieties, and the kuromitsu kakigori to finish things off.