New Denver restaurant is 18 courses at a 12-seat bar

Ukiyo serves 18 omakase courses, including A5 Japanese wagyu on inventive clear bread. (Provided by Parker Rice and Rob Nickles for Ukiyo)

Sitting around an intimate bar with 11 strangers through 18 courses sounds like a lot.

But by the end of an omakase experience at Ukiyo, you’ll be shaking hands and clinking glasses with both your neighbors and the man behind the counter, chef Phaseuth “Paul” Sananikone.

Ukiyo, which means “to be in the moment” in Japanese, is tucked into the basement of Denver’s Bao Brewhouse, at 1317 14th St. When it officially opens on Feb. 7, guests will enter through the alley and down a separate basement entrance. Hidden behind a shoji door, the tiny room has just enough space for a 12-seat sushi bar. The pre-set menu costs $175 per person (not including alcoholic beverages), and there are two seatings per night (reservations required).

Through the 18 courses — ranging from small plates of sushi and nigiri to jerk chicken, scallops fresh from Japan, lobster and truffle potato ravioli, and a show-stopping dessert — Sananikone tells the story of his life as a second-generation chef whose parents taught the art of hibachi cooking, as well as techniques for Laotian and Thai (from his mother’s heritage).

One of the courses, jerk chicken on a skewer with sweet potato puree, is served to each guest on a mini homemade charcoal grill, while another, a humble Laotian meal with sticky rice, papaya salad, lemongrass-marinated grilled chicken and other fixings, comes in a woven basket.

Sananikone also introduces flavors from his travels through Asia and South America and walks guests through the leanest to fattiest cuts of high-quality Japanese tuna. And he showcases the skills he’s picked up from his previous six years as head sushi chef at Jing Aspen through small bites like Ume Jiso Maki (a simple sushi roll with umeboshi pickled plums and shiso leaves) and negitoro handrolls.

The omakase chef is playful with his flavors and presentation. One dish is reminiscent of his childhood camping with friends. “We’d put food inside aluminum foil, throw it on the campfire, eat and have fun,” he said. Guests have to untie the aluminum foil to unveil the steamy aromas of three Japanese mushrooms (shiitake, enoki and maitake), garlic butter, thyme and salt. Another dish, escolar fish smoked in a glass directly in front of each guest with barbecue sauce, is a nod to Sananikone’s hometown of Corpus Christi, Tex.

Each dish is prepped in a downstairs kitchen, which Sananikone grabs through a small window behind the bar and prepares with his sous chef Chris Hanson directly in front of guests. Every detail is on display as he readies each plate, for instance, his use of charcoal wood to sear a fresh scallop or his excitement behind the final course: a cotton candy tree with a chocolate pretzel trunk planted in a matcha tiramisu cake.

The drink program features modern Japanese cocktails with Japanese whiskey, sake and shochu bases, and plenty of Japanese beer.