Cuisine: A kaiseki-style parade of tiny courses spotlighting traditional Japanese cooking both familiar (soba noodles and sashimi) and less well known (pickled mountain vegetable).
Mood: Kimono-clad waitresses shout, “Irrashaimase!” in unison when customers walk in, then signal for them to put aside their shoes in favor of a pair of slippers. Diners sit on wooden boxes in the sparely decorated dining room.
Best for: Foodies looking for a break from the usual high-end restaurants; sushi fans.
Best dishes: The eight-to-ten-course menu is the thing to get, and the dishes change often. Recently we’ve liked a pear-and-cranberry salad with miso-sprinkled avocado; an at-the-table grill of sea scallops, shavings of Kobe beef, and shrimp; fried shrimp with lemon; persimmon with tofu; toro sashimi with fresh wasabi.
Insider tips: The $60 set menu seems like a deal, but supplements add up. The boutique sakes are $12 and higher. Tap water isn’t available—you have to pay for a tiny bottle of Perrier. And the sushi embellishments—fatty tuna instead of regular, for example—tack on even more.
Service: ••
Open Tuesday through Saturday for lunch and dinner, Sunday for dinner. Very expensive.
See all of 2009's 100 Best Restaurants
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.
