Chef Tatsuya Sekiguchi to Open Tatsu Dallas This Winter

Renowned sushi chef Tatsuya Sekiguchi is opening a restaurant in the recently renovated Continental Gin Building in Deep Ellum this winter. The eight-seat restaurant will serve omakase-style sushi, a style of dining with no set menu. Rather, dishes are influenced by the chef's interactions with guests.

Tatsu Dallas will serve edomae sushi, a type of sushi in which fish is cured for several days rather than being served fresh (a style born of necessity prior to refrigeration). Originally from the Saitama Prefecture of Japan, chef Tatsuya is a fourth-generation sushi master specializing in edomae.

At his previous restaurant, Omakase Room by Tatsu in New York, which has since changed names to Omakase Room by "Mitsu,” diners received a custom 18-course meal at $160 per person. A 2018 Michelin Guide post about the 10-seat spot reported that chef Tatsuya decided each guests’ pieces in the moment, “thoughtfully observing their eating pace, facial expressions and verbal clues.”

Tatsu Dallas is expected to open this "winter,” according to a press release. So, depending on their interpretation of what winter means (when it's cold or based on the calendar), it could open any time from October through February.

The bones of this restaurant and building go back 133 years. The Continental Gin Building was built in 1888 and at one time was the largest cotton processing operation in the U.S. It’s now a co-working office space, The Common Space, and houses Fiction Coffee. Tatsu Dallas is the first restaurant to sign a lease in the building.