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Uni Boston: Tony Messina, Ken Oringer and the Cheeseburger Sushi Roll

Who runs the Back Bay sushi izakaya today, where its James Beard-winning former chef went, and the true story of its White Castle burger maki.

By AlexPublished

Hand-painted door of Uni Boston, the sushi izakaya of chefs Ken Oringer and Tony Messina in The Eliot Hotel, Back Bay

Uni Boston is a sushi and sashimi izakaya at 370A Commonwealth Avenue in Back Bay, inside The Eliot Hotel. Ken Oringer founded it in 2002 and still owns it. David Bazirgan has run the kitchen since the June 1, 2021 reopening, and the official site lists both men as chefs (checked October 9, 2026). Tony Messina, the name many listings still show, cooked at Uni from 2012 to 2021, rose from sashimi chef to executive chef and partner, won a James Beard award in 2019, then left for Los Angeles. Uni is not a burger restaurant. Its one documented burger link is the White Castle roll, a cheeseburger maki that Oringer and Messina served on occasion in 2016 and 2017.

How I checked this Uni Boston profile

This is a researched profile, not a review of a meal: I have not eaten at Uni for this piece, so you will find no rating below. Every fact comes from Uni’s official site, Wikipedia, Boston Magazine, Boston.com, The Boston Globe, Time Out, LAist and other local press, all checked on October 9, 2026. I ignored booking and review aggregators for chef names and hours. Several of them still credit Tony Messina, five years after he left. Where sources disagree, I say so. Where I could not confirm a fact, it is not here.

Uni Boston at a glance: address, hours and menus

Uni sits at 370A Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, inside The Eliot Hotel in Back Bay, and it serves dinner only. These are the details from the official site, uni-boston.com, as of October 9, 2026.

Detail Uni Boston
Address 370A Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215 (The Eliot Hotel, Back Bay)
Phone +1 (617) 536-7200
Hours Sunday–Thursday 5:30–9:30 PM; Friday–Saturday 5:30–10:00 PM
Menus Tasting menu and à la carte every night, weeknight prix fixe in the UNI Lounge, room service menu
Chefs listed Ken Oringer and David Bazirgan
Style Sushi, sashimi and izakaya dishes

Some aggregator sites show later closing times and a late-night ramen menu. The official hours say otherwise, so call or check uni-boston.com before you plan a late visit.

Map of Uni Boston at The Eliot Hotel, 370A Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, on the corner of Massachusetts Avenue in Back Bay. It is about a 5-minute walk from the Hynes Convention Center Green Line stop. (Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0 (iframe embed, 800x450; marker from Nominatim geocode of The Eliot Hotel))

The Uni Boston timeline: from Clio’s lounge to a full izakaya

Uni grew out of Clio, Ken Oringer’s fine-dining restaurant in The Eliot Hotel, and became a standalone izakaya in 2016. No single listing tells the whole story, so here it is in dates.

Year What happened Source
1997 Ken Oringer opens Clio in The Eliot Hotel Wikipedia, BostonChefs
2001 Oringer wins James Beard Best Chef: Northeast Wikipedia
2002 Uni opens as an intimate sashimi bar in Clio’s lounge BostonChefs, OpenTable
2012 Tony Messina joins Uni as a sashimi chef Wikipedia, Boston.com
2015 Clio closes Wikipedia, BostonChefs
Early 2016 Uni expands into the former Clio space as a full izakaya, Messina as executive chef and partner Boston Magazine, Boston.com
May 6, 2019 Messina wins James Beard Best Chef: Northeast Wikipedia, Boston.com
March 2020 Uni closes during the pandemic The Town Common
November 2020 Uni explores turning Eliot Hotel rooms into dining spaces The Boston Globe
Spring 2021 Messina leaves for Los Angeles The Town Common
June 1, 2021 Uni reopens with David Bazirgan as executive chef The Town Common

Uni Boston timeline, 1997–2021: Clio opens (1997), Oringer’s James Beard award (2001), Uni sashimi bar (2002), Messina arrives (2012), Clio closes (2015), full izakaya (2016), Messina’s James Beard award (May 6, 2019), pandemic closure (March 2020), reopening under David Bazirgan (June 1, 2021). (Chart: Burger Breton, horizontal timeline built from Wikipedia, BostonChefs, Boston Magazine, Boston.com and The Town Common (original graphic, to be generated as SVG))

Ken Oringer: the founder and owner behind Uni

Ken Oringer is Uni’s founder and chef-owner, and he has been there since the first sashimi bar opened in 2002. Clio came first: he opened it in The Eliot Hotel in 1997, was nominated for James Beard Best Chef: Northeast in 1998 and 1999, and won it in 2001. Uni started as a side project in Clio’s lounge. Then the side project outlived the main act. Clio closed in 2015, and Uni moved into its space the following year.

Tony Messina, chef: from East Boston to a James Beard award

Tony Messina is an East Boston-born chef who cooked at Uni from 2012 to 2021, rising from sashimi chef to executive chef and partner, and won the James Beard Best Chef: Northeast award in 2019. He is Italian-American and a graduate of the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts. When he arrived, Uni was still the sashimi bar in Clio’s lounge, 23 seats according to Wikipedia. He learned Japanese fish-cutting there under chef Chris Chung.

His rise at Uni, 2012 to 2021

Messina became executive chef and partner and led the 2016 expansion into a full izakaya. The awards came fast:

  • 2017: James Beard semifinalist
  • 2018: James Beard nominee, and Boston Magazine’s Best of Boston Outstanding Chef
  • May 6, 2019: James Beard Best Chef: Northeast

Boston Magazine singled out dishes like lubina sashimi with gremolata and chermoula, and spaghetti with nori. That Italian-meets-Japanese streak runs through his whole career. To me it also explains the cheeseburger roll better than any gimmick theory: this is a cook who has always mixed the food he grew up on with the food he trained in.

Where Tony Messina cooks now

In 2026, Tony Messina is executive chef and partner of Pawn Shop, a sports bar at 5901 Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles that opened at the end of June 2026. LAist lists pickle-brined fried chicken ($68 for an 8-piece bucket), pan con tomate ($18) and an Italian sandwich ($22). Before that, he co-opened Magari, a Japanese-Italian restaurant in Hollywood, in early 2022 with Yoshiyuki Okuno and Enrico Merendino.

He never fully left home. In October 2024, Time Out reported that he had become consulting chef and partner at Cunard Tavern in Jeffries Point, East Boston, a gastropub Philip Frattaroli opened in 2017. His January 2025 menu there added 20 dishes, among them lobster poutine with Singapore-style black pepper gravy and an ‘Homage to Jeveli’s Chicken Parm’. I found no source after January 2025 confirming the role, so read it as recent history, not a current fact.

Chef Tony Messina’s career: Uni sashimi chef, then executive chef and partner (2012–2021), James Beard semifinalist (2017), nominee (2018) and winner (2019), Magari in Hollywood (2022), Cunard Tavern in East Boston (2024), and Pawn Shop on Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles (June 2026). (Table: Burger Breton, data from Wikipedia, Boston Magazine, What Now, Time Out Boston and LAist (original table))

David Bazirgan: Uni’s chef since the 2021 reopening

David Bazirgan became Uni’s executive chef when the restaurant reopened on June 1, 2021, and the official site still lists him as chef as of October 9, 2026. He grew up in Newbury, Massachusetts, and went to the same culinary school as Messina, the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts. His résumé runs from No. 9 Park in Boston to running Fifth Floor in San Francisco. He kept Uni’s house staples, including the Uni Spoon and the Spicy Tuna and Foie Gras Tataki.

Uni (sea urchin) gunkan-maki sushi, the ingredient that gives Uni Boston its name Uni (sea urchin) gunkan-maki, the ingredient that gives Uni Boston its name and its signature Uni Spoon. This illustrative photo was taken at a conveyor-belt sushi bar in Kameido, Tokyo, not at the Boston restaurant. (Photo: Schellack (Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29198743), CC BY 3.0. 1936x2592)

The White Castle roll: Uni Boston’s cheeseburger sushi

The White Castle roll is a cheeseburger maki created by Ken Oringer and Tony Messina, and it is the only real burger link in Uni’s history. Boston Magazine described it in September 2016 in a feature called ‘Five New Riffs on the Burger in Boston’.

White Castle cheeseburger slider, the fast-food burger behind Uni Boston’s cheeseburger sushi roll A White Castle slider, the small square fast-food burger that inspired Uni Boston’s cheeseburger sushi roll by Ken Oringer and Tony Messina. Photographed at a White Castle in Clifton, New Jersey (2021). (Photo: Famartin (Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=107825479), CC BY-SA 4.0. 4032x3024)

What goes into the cheeseburger sushi roll

The roll packs a slider into maki form. According to Boston Magazine, it combined:

  • a slider-style beef patty
  • clothbound cheddar
  • lettuce and tomato
  • quick-pickled cucumbers, standing in for burger pickles
  • sesame seeds, a nod to the bun
  • sushi rice wrapped around the whole thing
  • a drizzle of sauce
  • crispy fried potato sticks on top, the fries

I like how literal it is. Every part of a fast-food cheeseburger and fries has a stand-in, and the rice takes the bun’s job. Is it a burger? By our standards, no: there is no bun, and a slider patty wrapped in rice will not show off a hard sear. As a joke that takes both sides seriously, though, it is cleverer than most sushi-burger mashups.

Anatomy of Uni Boston’s White Castle cheeseburger maki: each burger part and its sushi stand-in. Slider patty, clothbound cheddar, lettuce and tomato stay as they are; quick-pickled cucumber replaces the pickles, sesame seeds and sushi rice play the bun, and crispy potato sticks play the fries (Boston Magazine, September 2016). (Table: Burger Breton, data from Boston Magazine, ‘Five New Riffs on the Burger in Boston’ (2016). No licensed photo of the dish exists, so a labeled cross-section diagram still needs an original illustration or an image-generation prompt)

Can you still order it?

No current source confirms that the White Castle roll is on Uni’s menu. Boston Magazine’s Best of Boston 2017 Best Sushi entry called it ‘available on occasion’, next to spicy tuna with ají amarillo and charred pineapple, and fatty tuna with uni powder and a nori reduction. Its price is not documented, and neither are the dates it started and stopped. Ask when you book if you are curious, but plan on a sushi dinner, not a burger.

Does Uni have a place in Boston’s burger scene?

Uni belongs on a Boston burger map as a curiosity, not as a burger stop. The cheeseburger roll was an occasional, witty special from a kitchen that liked mixing high and low. For a real burger, our Boston burger city page covers what to look for in the city’s pub burgers, from Fenway to the Back Bay and the South End. If you are touring New England, New Haven, where Louis’ Lunch has served burgers on toast since 1895, is the older pilgrimage. Every other city is on the Burger Breton restaurants hub.

Is Uni Boston worth it?

Uni is worth booking if you want a serious sushi and izakaya dinner in Back Bay from a kitchen with real pedigree: two of its chefs have won James Beard Best Chef: Northeast, Oringer in 2001 and Messina in 2019. My take, from the record rather than a meal: start with the nightly tasting menu, because it shows the kitchen best, or try the weeknight prix fixe in the UNI Lounge for something lighter. Go for the fish. The burger roll is a good story, not a promise.

Uni Boston FAQ

Who is the chef at Uni Boston now?

Uni’s official site lists Ken Oringer and David Bazirgan as its chefs (checked October 9, 2026). Bazirgan has been executive chef since the June 1, 2021 reopening.

Does Tony Messina still cook at Uni?

No. Tony Messina left Uni in spring 2021 and moved to Los Angeles.

Where is Tony Messina cooking in 2026?

He is executive chef and partner of Pawn Shop, a sports bar at 5901 Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles that opened in late June 2026, according to LAist.

What is the White Castle roll at Uni Boston?

It is a cheeseburger maki roll by Ken Oringer and Tony Messina: slider patty, clothbound cheddar, lettuce, tomato, pickled cucumber and sesame in sushi rice, with sauce and crispy potato sticks. Boston Magazine documented it in 2016 and 2017 as an occasional special.

Does Uni Boston serve burgers?

No source confirms that Uni serves any burger today. It is a sushi and sashimi izakaya, and its burger roll was an occasional special documented in 2016 and 2017.

When did Uni Boston open and who owns it?

Uni opened in 2002 as a sashimi bar in the lounge of Clio. Ken Oringer is its founder and chef-owner. It became a full izakaya in early 2016.

Where is Uni located in Boston, and is it in a hotel?

Yes. Uni is inside The Eliot Hotel at 370A Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, in Back Bay.

What James Beard awards have Uni’s chefs won?

Ken Oringer won Best Chef: Northeast in 2001. Tony Messina won the same award on May 6, 2019, while executive chef at Uni.

Does Uni Boston have a tasting menu?

Yes. The official site lists a tasting menu and an à la carte menu every night, a weeknight prix fixe in the UNI Lounge, and a room service menu.

Sources