Why Uchi circa 2015 makes Nic Yanes' ideal meal

As part of our continuing Desert Island Dish series, we caught up with Nic Yanes, co-owner of Excelsior Hospitality, which operates the Austin restaurants Juniper , Uncle Nicky's and Murray's Tavern .

The backstory: Yanes, who grew up in greater Houston, moved to Austin about 15 years ago, working his way up the chef ranks at Uchi.

State of play: The Austin restaurant scene is now "pretty saturated," Yanes tells Axios.

• "Getting a regular is like a diamond in the rough."

Of note: Yanes and his wife just moved to Chicago, after the biotech company she works for wound down remote work — but he still visits Austin every couple weeks.

You're headed to a desert island. What's your ideal meal?

Yanes: "For me the perfect meal would be Uchi circa 2015, because the amount of love and ability in that building at that time was really amazing. The machi cure, the yokai berry, the wagyu. Before, there had been a lack of attention to what service should really be."

What about for dessert?

Yanes: "I tend to pan away from dessert."

You can take a drink to your desert island.

Yanes: "The Cadillac Negroni at Juniper. It was a $20 cocktail trendsetter, but it's well taken care of and velvety the way a Negroni should be."