100 Very Best 2015It doesn’t look like a top-tier sushi restaurant—it looks, in fact, like the kind of place you drop by for takeout: seven tables, little in the way of decor. Many who patronize the place don’t choose to stick around, but here’s why you should. The service is warm and inviting, the soundtrack will remind you why you need more Thelonious Monk in your life, and the fish sparkles— quite literally: The cut surface of the chu-toro and salmon were almost gleaming. Load up on rolls if you must, but this is a place to come and appreciate the subtlety and delicacy of the various white fishes that the Japanese—including chef Minoru Ogawa—prize. The $50 omakase remains one of the most underrated dining values out there.
Don’t miss: Young crabs; uni; nigiri or sashimi of yellowtail, madai, flounder, and o-toro; Florida Roll; yellowtail-and-scallion roll.
See what other restaurants made our 100 Very Best Restaurants list. This article appears in our February 2016 issue of Washingtonian.
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.
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
