Cuisine: With so many American chefs spouting the mantra of seasonal and local, procuring high-quality ingredients is too often regarded as a certain route to great food. In sushi, however, where the quality of fish is directly proportional to the quality of the restaurant, sourcing isn’t just desirable; it’s eminently preferable. Flying in fish from Tokyo’s famed Tsukiji market, including a host of varieties never seen in this area, DC’s most ambitious sushi restaurant is turning out fresh (and sometimes shockingly expensive) selections of nigiri and sashimi and setting a new standard.
Mood: A serene, high-toned dining room that channels a spa, right down to the music, and is meant to put the focus on what hits the table.
Best for: Sushi fanatics who know that when it comes to quality and freshness, you have to pay to play.
Best dishes: Marinated whole baby octopus, an excursion in texture and funky depths; a dramatic presentation of rich, fat-striated Kobe beef, sliced thin; nigiri of eel, yellowtail, sweet shrimp, and salmon; sashimi of uni (oceanic, rich, creamy), scallop, and the best o-toro in the area; black-sesame brûlée; house-made mochi.
Insider tips: Raw is the way to go here; the cooked tends to be hit or miss (though the hits are big). But if you order à la carte and forgo the omakase menu—in which a chef will devise a special menu for you—you may have to take charge with your server and self-pace your meal; dishes can pile up at the table.
Service: ••
Open Monday through Friday for lunch and dinner, Saturday for dinner. Very expensive.
See all of 2010'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.
