Paulimoto's, Tyson's Corner

I'm not quite sure how long it's been open, but Amelie and I decided to check it out this past Friday. The decor is reminiscent of Morimoto's in Philadelphia insofar as the wave theme has carried over into Paulimoto's. We were expecting a bit more, I suppose, because the Morimoto's in Philly is really something else in terms of appointment and furnishings. Paulimoto's is more spartan and industrial- open ducts, naked woods and solid brown bakelite-like tables.

Paulimoto's advertises that it serves Chinese and Japanese food. The menu reads a lot like PF Chang's except the Japanese (Morimoto-inspired supposedly) dishes are a bit more fusion-ey. We decided to skip the Chinese and go for the Japanese and that was a wise decision. We looked around at the other tables' orders and the Chinese looked less-than-exciting.

We started with an agedashi tofu which was very good, and we also decided to order lettuce wraps (just like PF Chang's), because we just can't get enough of them. The lettuce wraps are identical to the ones at the other Asian bistro to include the "special sauce" that they put together for you.

We ordered three robatayaki just to see how they were here and they weren't very good. I should say the Kobe beef one we got was very good, the asparagus was ok, and the scallops were down right awful. I honestly thought they served us dried scallops on sticks.

For the main course, I got the miso black cod and Amelie got the tempura halibut with spicy miso. Luckily, both the entrees were well above the quality of appetizers. The miso cod had enough miso to flavor the entire cod steaks and the halibut was lightly fried in cubes and served with a spicy miso sauce on the plate. Both were served (as are all entrees) with brown rice (you can get white rice if you want). We did also order a side of wasabi mashed potatoes because Amelie had never had them before, but neither of us liked it so we didn't eat it. Too buttery, and for my palette, butter plus wasabi equals not good.

So all in all, the Japanese entrees were very good, particularly considering they were about $16 and you're in a shopping mall. The appetizers, ehh... not so good. The Kobe beef robatayaki was good though. The Chinese choices were nothing extraordinary from what I could tell and I wouldn't go there to eat Chinese anyway. If you've been to the Morimoto's in Philly, you'll recognize the inspiration of a couple of the entrees, but aside from that and the Morimoto sake, there is no clear influence of the Iron Chef here. Total bill for two appetizers, three robatayaki, two entrees, one side dish, and three Pellegrinos was $80. Not too shabby.

Definitely make a reservation if you want to go, otherwise you will wait a long time for a table. Also, as of the time of this writing, they didn't have their liquor license yet so we couldn't have any Morimoto sake.

Pauli Moto's Asian Bistro
Tyson's Corner Center
703-556-7777