We first met Chef Brian Lewis a decade ago when he was planting the seeds for a new restaurant, The Cottage, that would fast become one of the hottest dining spots on Connecticut’s Gold Coast, garnering an “excellent” review from The New York Times within four months of its debut.
We had enjoyed his cooking before, savoring his farm-to-table, seasonally inspired creations with well-deserved enthusiasm, and truth be told, total abandon. He is after all an extraordinary chef with a passion for tradition – and culinary surprises that elevate every dining experience. I still remember being wooed by the melt-in-your-mouth golden brioche of prized Ossetra caviar he topped with gentle kisses of mandarin and ruby beet juice, and his Crunchy Big Eye Tuna with sunchokes, soy and brown butter caramel. They were two of the most incredible seafood delicacies I had ever tasted and ones that got me hooked on the chef’s penchant for bringing out the true essence of the dish – and the fish – creatively, innovatively and unforgettably.
In the ten years since my first love-at-first-bite of Chef Brian’s cooking, he has opened four acclaimed restaurants in the New York metropolitan area, Michelin-recognized, Japanese-inspired OKO, located in Rye, New York, and Westport, Connecticut, and The Cottage in Westport and Greenwich, Connecticut, which has garnered him his third James Beard nomination.
These are dream wins for any aspiring chef, but Brian Lewis isn’t just any chef. An athlete in and out of the kitchen – sidelined from football during an injury when he was a teen, today he is a star CrossFitter who relishes the high-intensity workouts and stamina required for this extreme strength and conditioning program – he whips up an incredible array of dishes as he whizzes from one restaurant to the next in a single evening. We caught up with him at OKO Westport, before he dashed over to The Cottage to wow his guests there.
We had signed up for his new OKO–KASE dinner, a reimagined omakase parade of sushi sensations that redefines this age-old Japanese culinary art with bursts of farm-fresh flourishes, sustainably sourced, seasonally celebrated and creatively inspired. Quality trumps quantity here in small plates promising big flavors rooted in nature. An innovative culinary guru who instinctively pairs the art of plating with palate-pleasing tastes, Brian is a fan of sustainable everything, from the restaurant’s location in an immaculately repurposed firehouse to the consciously sourced vegetables, herbs and entrees he serves here. Fresh sushi-bound fish is flown in daily from Japan. Restorative ocean crops like kelp and seaweed come from regenerative ocean farmers, inspiring the continued evolution of the chef’s unique flavor profiles. Meat products are procured from humane farms throughout the US animals; Wagyu beef is a menu mainstay. Always fresh seasonal produce is purchased directly from growers and farmers’ markets that prioritize healthy living, a welcome by-product of dining at OKO.
OKO in Westport, CT
OKO, short for Okonomiyaki, a savory pan-fried Japanese pancake typically topped with a variety of vegetables, fish or meat, reflects Brian Lewis’ other love: Japanese cuisine. Before he opened OKO, he surreptitiously added his version of Okonomiyaki as a special choice on his menu at The Cottage, surprising diners with a taste of Japan. Their delighted reactions and raves were all the encouragement Brian needed to launch out in a new direction with OKO, complementing his signature seasonal American cuisine with his inventive take on sushi. His artistry captured the attention of the folks at the Michelin Guide, who included OKO in Rye, New York, in their list for New Plate Establishments. They rated the restaurant on five criteria – the quality of the ingredients used, mastery of flavor and cooking techniques, the personality of the chef in his cuisine, value for the money and consistency between visits. After our dining experience in his Westport location, we checked off each of those boxes too.
OKO specializes in Japanese-curated dishes such as nigiri, sushi and temaki, enhanced with seasonal farm-to-table flavors. Think pickled ramps, chili peppers, kumquat aioli, sweet onions, pink peppercorns, finger limes, rhubarb puree and more, served in toppings, artfully arranged and seductive with the unexpected collaboration of ingredients that are the calling card of this fearless chef. That he has mastered both technique and taste temptations in his cooking is evident from the first to the next bite.
Lightly adorned and hand-rolled in full view from the restaurant’s open kitchen, the small plate sushi we enjoyed reflected the chef’s dedication to exacting perfection in every way that matters, right down to the unfiltered sake, our choice, and the bowl of popcorn dashi lion’s mane (mushroom) we snacked on to get our taste buds going before our OKO-KASE courses, chef’s choice, arrived.
As the evening unfolded with a pageantry of culinary gems, Chef Brian and his sushi-star Chef Fermin Osorio would tag team, sharing insights about their creations, while sharing our delight in every one of their dishes.
Truth be told, I was a novice in the sushi world, enjoying an occasional dip into an avocado-layered California roll or an even more daring Spicy Tuna roll if I felt brave enough. But Brian Lewis had disrupted my preconceived feelings about eating raw fish a decade ago, only to convert me once again with ocean-raised delicacies imprudent to resist.
His opening line up – Hokkaido uni osetra caviar bread & butter topped with spicy shisho, a buttery taste of goodness in one bountiful bite; a technicolor dish called Lobster passion fruit Stracciatella, pretty as a summer garden; and sweet and savory black truffle chawanmushi, a silky steamed egg custard delicately flavored – was exquisitely plated and thoughtfully prepared, revving up our curiosity for more. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and Johnson & Wales, Chef Brian studied the culinary art of sushi, hands-on, in Japan, learning centuries-old techniques in the land where it was perfected. Full of nuances and depth, mastering the art of sushi can take a lifetime. Relentless in his desire to exceed expectations and bring his “A” game to every endeavor he undertakes, Brian has taken his lifelong repertoire of international and American cooking and masterfully packed it into each meticulous morsel.
Veering away from traditional Western-style maki seaweed-wrapped rolls, nigiri is the specialty of the house at OKO. Think premium slices of raw fish, including salmon, tuna, sea bream, snapper and more, bedded on small beds of rice, and delicately enhanced with flavor bombs of spices, seasoning and vegetables, Chef Lewis style.
Chopsticks at the ready, we savored a pairing of hirame (wild-caught fluke) and branzino, topped with minty shisho and a tangy, well-balanced brush of chimichurri sauce. We enjoyed the buttery blend of medai (Golden Eye Snapper) with the slightly sweeter taste of kin medai (Red Sea Bream). We dove into a dual dish of king and Sakura salmon, delighted in two Japanese tunas, savory akame a blue fin tuna topped with ginger, sesame and scallions, and a melt-in-your-mouth fatty otoro kissed with caviar, and discovered a new appreciation for striped jack mackeral as we tasted OKO’s shima aji and tsuri aji, one dressed with a citrus aioli made from preserved kumquats, the other sporting a sliver of a fresno pepper. Sweet bites of Scallops and peony shrimp came next, fearless with the tart flavor of yuzu and sea salt. But it was the arrival of the black cod beet horseradish, a rich, buttery fish paired with the earthiness of beets and the spicy kick of horseradish – and an OKO crowd favorite – that wowed me at first bite.
What followed was another testament to the versatility of the chef, a mélange of foie gras with a rhubarb purée, a chili-lime king crab hand roll, a Cockle clam miso soup and a special pork belly dish marinated for three days with star anise and smoked paprika for me, served with a rhubarb purée, baby white asparagus with sabayon sauce and grilled ramps from the Pacific Northwest, and a red miso marinade madeira salmon, with baby bok choy, shitake mushrooms and brown butter for Tracey, appetizing all and deservedly devoured.
Even our desserts, a dream kiss of heaven that combined yuzu, white chocolate and blueberries, and a matcha kitkatt confection they really should bring to market – picture biting into decadent layers of matcha and white chocolate, hazelnuts, peanuts and chocolate much to the delight of your candy-craving sweet tooth – championed a collaboration of ingredients and passion not found anywhere but here.
As Chef Fermin explained, “dining at OKO is all about socializing, from the open kitchen that invites personal interaction with the chef to its unique food culture that stimulates conversation and camaraderie.” Not to mention the feeling of culinary contentment that makes all the difference in an award-winning chef-owned restaurant where every dish is a wish come true. ☐
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