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Anna Tran

@annatranchef

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🍣 Sushi chef at @sushihoriuchi

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We’re looking for skilled sushi chefs with at least one year of experience to join our team. If you’re great with attention to detail, open to learning and collaboration, and appreciate genuine hospitality, we would love to meet you.

Please send your resume to:
contact@katamihouston.com

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We’ve been doing Southern Smoke Festival for years and each and every time, it continues to be a privilege to serve our community.

This year, knowing how hard it is to get one of our usual reservations, we brought a mini version of @sushihoriuchi’s omakase to the Lexus VIP space for guests who were quick enough to grab seats through @resy. We did our best to share this moment with as many of you as possible, so we hope everyone who joined got to appreciate a special experience that ultimately benefits this incredible cause for our industry.

@southernsmokefoundation is a Houston nonprofit founded by our very good friends, Chef @cshepherd13 and @htownlindseybrown. They work tirelessly with their team around the clock and throughout the entire year, raising funds to provide emergency financial assistance to food and beverage workers facing crises such as medical emergencies, natural disasters, or sudden loss of income.

Taking care of our own is what it’s all about and we know the work doesn’t stop here. It’s about all the moments of care for each other in between and we hope to keep paying it forward.

For more information on how you can help, visit:
www.southernsmoke.org

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Six seats. No official menu. Just a night measured in moments. As a reminder, we’ll be closed November 1-14 as you try for reservations on October 1st. We hope to see you before the year ends!
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#omakase #sushichef #sushibar #houstonrestaurants #houstonfood

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The Sushi Horiuchi team is taking a small break so we will be closed November 1st-14th. Please keep this in mind as you make November reservations on October 1st.

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One of our recent additions to the omakase menu is Unagi Oshizushi, made with sweet, smoky grilled unagi layered over vinegared rice.

Oshizushi originated in Osaka during the Edo period, when fish and rice were pressed together in oshibako (wooden molds) to preserve and season them before quick fermentation techniques made sushi more portable.

Unlike the hand formed nigiri of Tokyo, this style reflects Kansai region traditions, where layered ingredients like mackerel, shrimp, or unagi are compressed into neat rectangular blocks. It remains a signature of Osaka cuisine today, often served at festivals and formal occasions.

Here, you’ll get to enjoy a bit of oshizushi’s meaningful evolution and technique in this little Houston space. And of course, we’ll wrap nori around each piece for every guest to add another touch of umami and texture.

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Wild o-toro is THE richest and fattiest cut of tuna belly. We aged this one in-house for 16 days.

This cut has insanely marbled features that are striking to the eye. Wild tuna builds intramuscular fat gradually and unevenly from varied diets and lots of swimming, giving this nigiri piece a firmer bite with visible, irregular marbling. This east coast catch from Boston has the most sublimely clean oceanic flavors that are unforgettable.

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Six seats, two chefs, one incredibly memorable omakase experience you can only find here in Houston. Just a few more days until October bookings open. We hope to see you inside!

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Kichiji (Japanese rockfish) that’s served here at @sushihoriuchi comes from Hokkaido’s deep, cold waters, where frigid temperatures and high pressure at depth encourage the fish to build dense layers of fat for insulation and energy, giving it that famously rich, buttery texture.

We grill this kichiji over binchōtan, which is premium Japanese charcoal that burns exceptionally hot and clean. This method renders the fish’s fat while caramelizing its skin without adding too much smoky flavor. It’s then brushed with a sweet soy reduction that adds a savory, sticky lacquer to the surface, and served warm over sushi rice with freshly grated wasabi, letting the sharp heat cut through the fattiness of the fish.

The word teriyaki combines teri (luster/shine) and yaki (grill/sear). This Japanese cooking technique is roughly 400 years old, and @chefhorikata is simply bringing his generational heritage right into this bowl.

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Tiny omakase spot, big memories. We don’t like to give most of our secrets away, but here’s a glimpse into what letting us take care of you for the night might look like.
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#omakase #sushichef #sushibar #houstonfood #houstonrestaurants

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Tairagai, Japanese pen shell, is a large fan-shaped bivalve that’s sought after in sushi for its firm and slightly springy texture. It comes primarily from coastal waters around Japan, where it burrows upright in soft sediment.

You’ll notice our sushi chefs will expertly and delicately score its surface with a cross-hatch pattern to curl over the sushi rice, not just for aesthetics, but ultimately to make it easier to bite. We’d describe its flavor as clean and subtly sweet with just a hint of oceanic brininess.

This one’s part of our seasonal selections and available this very moment should you be in the mood to try something less conventional than your usual favorites!

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Ikura is cured salmon roe and we love it in sushi for its bursts of briny, umami-rich contrast against vinegared rice. @chefhorikata marinates our ikura for 40 minutes with a specific ratio of 2 dashi : 1 nikiri : 0.5 sake. The result is a savory-forward, subtly sweet, clean ocean flavor with a light saline cure. It’s less aggressively salty and soy-heavy than a straight shoyu-zuke, more nuanced and dashi-drive. His preferred balance showcases the roe itself rather than burying it.

The practice of marinating ikura aims to season the eggs from within through osmosis while firming the membrane for that satisfying pop. The dashi rounds out the roe’s oceanic notes into savory umami and helps control moisture for cleaner plating.

One of our featured courses of the night for this omakase is simply a bowl that’s layered with a bed of sushi rice, topped with a large spoonful of this house-marinated ikura, and finished with creamy yuri uni. It’s a promise of dynamic and comforting punches of flavor in every bite.

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The ultimate, singular bite of sushi that puts you in another tier of indulgence. Toro (super fatty tuna), topped with Hokkaido uni, and crowned with sparkling jewels of caviar.

Toro melts before it even reaches your tongue. Uni brings that creamy ocean sweetness that lingers just long enough to make you close your eyes. Then caviar arrives with tiny bursts of salt, cutting through all that richness and pulling everything back into focus. Three textures, one bite, zero apologies.

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