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There’s an energetic pull—the same kind of magnetic allure that beckons us down darkened paths and into thick forests—drawing the hungry and curious through the Grand Hyatt’s posh, polished lobby and into Makoto Vail. The sexy, shadowy restaurant opened in February with a powerful Japanese aesthetic built around clean geometric lines, natural wood, and a soft soundtrack composed by the rushing Gore Creek linking arms with pulsating beats from the restaurant’s speakers.
It’s that same intentional juxtaposition—bringing the outside inside, mingling hot and cold in a single decadent bite, and threading traditional Edomae sushi techniques into modern presentations—that has put award-winning chef Makoto Okuwa on the culinary map. The master of Edomae-style sushi brings more than 25 years of Japanese cooking experience to this Vail mountainside perch, marking his inaugural Colorado location. Okuwa, who grew up in Japan and worked under celebrity chef Masaharu Morimoto in Philadelphia and New York, owns acclaimed restaurants in Miami, Washington, D.C., Panama City, Mexico City, and São Paulo.
The name “Edomae” means “in front of Tokyo” and refers to the wealth of seafood that is pulled from Tokyo’s Edo Bay. The hyperlocal sushi style has evolved from quick street snacks to Japan’s premier cuisine, spurring Okuwa to keep Edomae principles at the forefront while fine-tuning his latest location’s menu.
“During the Edo period, they did not have a refrigeration system to preserve fish like today, so they had to develop techniques such as curing, marinating, smoking, and poaching that both preserved fish and created an identity that is, to me, the true Edomae sushi,” Okuwa says.
Makoto Vail’s open-kitchen format invites guests to gaze on as Okuwa’s handpicked team constructs pretty starter plates of raw Scottish salmon dressed in fresh truffle shavings and sprinkles of crystallized soy sauce or signature handheld bites of cold spicy tuna purée layered on hot crispy rice planks.
The dance between kitchen and guest continues with tableside wasabi root grating service, producing neon-green dots that top thin discs of live scallops, vibrant cuts of Asian snapper, and oceany yellowtail and sea urchin fresh off the plane from Japan. Buttery bites of fatty tuna are served like royalty on solid blocks of ice flanked by candles and sprigs plucked from pine trees visible from the open-sided, all-season deck.
In terms of hot food, the braised beef yaki noodles arrive still cooking in an elevated black stone dish with tamarind soy and ginger aïoli. The wagyu beef hot stone—delicately sliced beef that you sear yourself, per chef instructions, for four seconds on each side—brings a deliciously interactive element to the meal, especially after a quick dip in Okuwa’s secret sesame soy sauce blend.
An impressive beverage program boasts a selection of more than 60 Japanese whiskys; cocktails infused with splashes of yuzu, agave nectar, and salted plum; and a balanced junmai daiginjo sake made exclusively for Makoto restaurants that’s served in stemmed glassware for full sensory immersion.
“We take the entire sushi process very seriously. And we’ve selected sake and whisky you don’t see in many restaurants,” Okuwa says. “We wanted to do something here that you aren’t finding around Vail [or] anywhere else.”
We’d say that, just like his sweet and salty tamagoyaki omelet rectangles gently branded with the Makoto name, this chef is leaving his indelible mark on the Vail Valley.
Makoto Vail is located inside the Grand Hyatt at 1300 Westhaven Drive, Vail.
