100 Very Best Restaurants 2013: Sushi Sono

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At Columbia’s Sushi Sono, a whole aji (horse mackerel) is deep-fried with salt and served as sushi or sashimi. Photograph by Andrew Propp.

About Sushi Sono

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cuisines
Japanese, Sushi

Among the rules many food lovers live by, one of the most common is never to expect good food at a place with a great view.

Unless that place is Sushi Sono, where the raw fish might make you forget that Lake Kittamaqundi is framed majestically by tall windows. Chef/owner King Lin sends out dishes of such beauty that patrons reach for their smartphones before digging in.

Lin is a serious shopper, and he works with a craftsman’s care for the materials—qualities that are on display in his conversation-stopper: a mackerel fashioned into a riverboat flanked by sashimi on one side, nigiri on the other.

Don’t miss: Sunomono (shellfish and cucumber in a sweet vinegar sauce); oshinko (Japanese pickles); soft-shell crab with ponzu; daily sashimi; Bridal Veil Roll, with spicy lobster salad; Dragon Roll, with shrimp tempura and lobster; yellowtail, mackerel, and salmon nigiri.

Open: Monday through Saturday for lunch and dinner.

Expensive.

100 Very Best Restaurants 2013


Ann Limpert
Executive Food Editor/Critic

Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.