100 Very Best 2014To veteran Washington diners, the East-meets-West menu at Kaz
Okochi’s 13-year-old sushi restaurant is as familiar as the metal
lettering atop its entrance. There’s the foie gras nigiri, with its chubby
hunks of liver and dollops of plum-wine gelée, and the
lemon-and-salt-topped seared scallop with fissures of char cracking the
mollusk’s surface. Italian truffle slivers decorate thick slices of fresh
tuna; a nori-wrapped lobster salad gets a kick from wasabi mayo—a playful
riff on a lobster roll.
That these well-known dishes still have the power to dazzle
shows the restaurateur’s commitment to quality—a fact not lost on the
downtown lunch crowd, which shows up in droves to feast on value-driven
bento boxes. Don’t miss: Seared salmon belly with
soy-lemon sauce; yellowtail crudo with crushed wasabi peas;
Bird’s Nest (thinly sliced baby calamari with uni, quail egg, and
truffle-soy sauce); sushi-and-sashimi bento box. Open:
Monday through Friday for lunch and dinner, Saturday for dinner.
Moderate.
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.
