Over the past month, I’ve started to receive invitations to food events. This is a very pleasant and unexpected benefit of being a food blogger in Austin. Our little dorky food blogger community has really formed thanks to Addie Broyles, a food reporter for the Statesman.

Addie has made it a point to connect people with food blogs on Facebook, Twitter, through Addie’s Eat-ups, and through her blog roll on Relish Austin, her statesman.com food blog.

Tonight’s event was a tasting at Uchi, a much-lauded sushi and fine dining destination. When you are invited to a free meal at Uchi, you make certain to show up. This particular tasting was from 5 p.m. – 6 p.m. on a Monday — not exactly ideal timing since my usual workday ends at 6 but in this case, I made an exception.

Many of my favorite foodie friends were there, including FH-Austin colleague and fellow food blogger Lindsay from Apron Adventures.

Click the photo below for a quick slide show that includes sake, big eye tuna and compressed watermelon skewers, me with chef Tyson Cole, Tyson passing out white corn and brown butter sorbet, and me closing out the food and drink tasting hour with a shot of sake, straight from the bottle:

Chef Cole was very friendly and came out to greet the masses of media and food bloggers. He seemed a bit bewildered among the many of us crowded into the back of the small restaurant. I enjoyed my brief conversation with him and found him very open and easy. I even learned a new word: unctuous. Tyson described it of the type of food that makes you want to “grab someone by the hips and thrust” (or something to that effect).

He also shared that they will be opening a second location of Uchi somewhere around 44th Street in the next year or so. He wouldn’t reveal the exact location. I’m sure he’ll have no problem attracting many hungry and willing customers because at 5 p.m. on a Monday, I had a tough time even finding a parking space in the lot.