In Logan Circle, the French/Japanese restaurant Bar Japonais has a new look, a new name, and a new vibe. Katsumi, with its plum velvet couches, pink neon, and weekend DJs, made its entrance in mid-February.
And while the place looks like it’s more of a destination for Bumble dates over strawberry-matcha cocktails (on weekends, it’s open till midnight and there’s a DJ), the owners have wisely held onto one important element from its past: Masaaki “Uchi” Uchino—the talented chef who once ran the omakase counter at Sushi Nakazawa.
There’s no sushi counter at all at Katsumi, which has been packed on recent weeknights, and Uchino is freed up to play around. One of my favorite rolls, with caviar, black porgy, and crispy potato bits, nods to sour-cream-and-onion chips. Another winner pairs escolar and avocado with scallion tempura and scallion oil. Skip the salmon sashimi, which arrived in a befuddlingly bland sauce of passionfruit and ají amarillo, and instead go for Uchino’s quail-egg-crowned take on tuna tartare, a standout rendition in a very crowded field.
On the more traditional side, there’s well-crafted nigiri with the usual suspects (king salmon, hamachi, spot prawn), plus luxe ingredients like toro, uni, and A5 Wagyu. As at Nakazawa, the rice was perfectly vinegared.
Another chef, Kappo alum Jhony Bautista, oversees the menu of bar snacks, noodles, and skewers. I loved the oblong gyoza stuffed with minced beef and cabbage, the ultra-crunchy pork katsu, and the tempura-fried rock shrimp with honey-miso mayo. I didn’t love the soggy heap of yuzu-scented shishitos—or the fact that a bunch of those plates showed up all at once for a round of the least fun game in the world: table Tetris.
Katsumi
location_on1520 14th St., NW
languageWebsite
Open Tuesday through Sunday for dinner
Neighborhood: Logan Circle.
Dress: It’s a casual crowd but a trend-conscious one (especially later at night).
Best dishes: Sour-cream-and-onion roll; escolar-and-scallion roll; tuna tartare; rock-shrimp tempura; gyoza; pork katsu.
Price range: Maki $11 to $19, sashimi plates $21 to $65, share plates $13 to $44.
Bottom line: A serious destination for sushi and Japanese snacks, even if it doesn’t look the part.
This article appears in the April 2026 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.
