Chef Michael Lewis can’t seem to quit South Florida, even after searing his stamp on it. Four years after selling his acclaimed hotspot KYU in Miami to take a sabbatical in North Carolina, he’s in Fort Lauderdale with a new Asian-inspired, wood-fired eatery: Ukiah Japanese Smokehouse.
An American barbecue shack simmering in mostly Japanese influences, Ukiah is expected to debut this spring, replacing the former Matchbox space on Fort Lauderdale’s Riverwalk. But don’t picture slivers of beef sizzling on the hibachi at Benihana. This will be low-and-slow Texas barbecue, and the 150-seat dining room’s centerpiece will be a Texas-built Backwoods Smoker turning out 12-hour brisket, pastrami short rib, half-chickens and sausage crowned with flame-roasted kimchi and yuzu pickles.
Ukiah, the first Florida location of Smith’s flagship BBQ house in Asheville, North Carolina, will also specialize in yakiniku-style baby back ribs garnished with sesame and chopped scallions, along with oysters with sake mignonette, pork belly tonkotsu ramen and crispy rock shrimp with chili butter and gorgonzola.
If all this sounds similar to his old Wynwood restaurant KYU — also an Asian-inspired, wood-fired eatery — Lewis admits they are kin. He dubs Ukiah (which is “haiku” spelled backwards) a spiritual “sister” to KYU, if not an improvement over that James Beard-nominated restaurant, which earned Time Magazine’s “Best Restaurant in Florida” designation a year after opening in 2017.
“[Ukiah is about] all of the dishes I could just never get onto the menu at KYU, because KYU so quickly became such a thing that its dishes became classics,” Smith tells the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “People were like, ‘Oh no, don’t take the roasted cauliflower and the duck breast burnt ends off!’ But I always wanted to experiment with the yakitori and ramen and street-food side of Japanese cuisine, which is soothing and neighborhood-y.”
So why return to South Florida now? Lewis says he’s in expansion mode after opening Asheville’s Ukiah in 2021, and Fort Lauderdale seemed ideal for its “small-town-to-midtown America feel.” (Lewis is also plotting a second Asian-inspired, wood-fired restaurant not named Ukiah to open in Wynwood later this year.)
“Fort Lauderdale hasn’t gotten jaded like some of the bigger cities yet,” Lewis adds. “Which makes it perfect for a restaurant offering barbecue plus the greatest hits of Japanese street food.”
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A beech mushroom tempura with “Tokyo ranch” and onion skin ash at Ukiah Japanese Smokehouse, coming soon to Fort Lauderdale. (Ukiah Japanese Smokehouse/Courtesy)
And Lewis knows some things about big cities. He cut his teeth staging for New York master chefs Eric Ripert (Le Bernardin), Daniel Boulud (Daniel) and Jean-Georges Vongerichten (Jean-Georges), and from opening restaurants for the latter all over Japan, China, Thailand and Miami.
And he admires Texas barbecue pitmaster Aaron Franklin, whose eponymous Austin restaurant is a “mecca,” which gave him the idea to marry brisket with Japanese seasonings and marinades.
So Smith cofounded KYU in Wynwood in February 2016, but nearly five years later sold his partnership stake, citing a “toxic relationship” with KYU’s silent investors. “We had some disagreements with how it should be run and it was starting to affect me personally,” he recalls. “It was very painful.”
After some soul-searching, Lewis decamped to Asheville, a mountain town that preferred hyperlocal eateries and initially resisted out-of-towners like him, he says. That perception began to turn last fall, when Hurricane Helene deluged Asheville, knocking out water and electricity for months.
“It was just this awful thousand-year hurricane that caught everyone off-guard,” Smith says. “We gave free hot meals to first-responders, melted our ice for potable water. World Central Kitchen showed up and we became a staging area for donations. And I think, eventually, we gave folks a place to feel normal and get them out of the funk of living at home without water and power.”
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The menu at Ukiah Japanese Smokehouse in Fort Lauderdale will feature dishes such as pork belly tonkotsu ramen with black garlic oil, shitake mushroom and soft-boiled egg. (Ukiah Japanese Smokehouse/Courtesy)
Smith is hoping locals won’t mind an out-of-towner at Fort Lauderdale’s Ukiah, whose menu will mirror that of Asheville’s. He intends to helm the kitchen “for a while” alongside chef Francisco Lopez, cooking shareable plates, which Lewis affectionately calls “snacky-snacks.” These include beech mushroom tempura with “Tokyo ranch” and onion skin ash, karaage chicken with kewpie mayo and “Kyoto-Carolina BBQ” sauce, and pork belly smothered in a Fuji apple glaze.
There are also seafood-leaning dishes such as citrus-zested salmon crispy rice, salmon sashimi in a wasabi soy broth, and red snapper with brown butter-white ponzu, grilled lemon and sea salt.
Ukiah’s central bar — and 150-seat, Riverwalk-facing patio — will also offer serve cocktails, sake, shōchū and Japanese whisky. Brunch, featuring bottomless sake cocktails and bubbles, would launch later this year.
“It’s the kind of place where you can pull up in a Rolls-Royce or a skateboard,” Lewis says. “Grab a beer and a bowl of ramen and snacky-snacks, and call it a social hour, or pull the stroller in and have some salads and entrees. These are the notes I wanted to hit.”
Ukiah Japanese Smokehouse, at 221 SW First Ave., Fort Lauderdale, is expected to open in spring 2025. Go to UkiahRestaurant.com.
Ukiah Japanese Smokehouse / Courtesy
Crispy rock shrimp with chili butter and gorgonzola cheese at Ukiah Japanese Smokehouse. (Ukiah Japanese Smokehouse/Courtesy)