Just one more exquisite sushi place

“Just what dc needs, another Sushi Restaurant.”

You may recognize this as the mating call of the DC Pretentious Urbanite as he tries to be suave at a prospective mate. This species can be spotted blocks away by their distinctively boring plumage, arrogant squawk, and, above all, unwillingness to admit that there’s no such thing as too many sushi restaurants.

Evolve, Pretentious Urbanite! The ability to experiment with new types of raw fish is a hallmark of civilization. Also, if you don’t cut it out, I swear I’m willing to substitute in for natural selection. If you had your way, we would not have DC’s newest, and most awesomest sushi place, Wasabi.

When it opened about 2 weeks ago, a decent number of DC-ers had never heard of conveyer belt sushi. You know, you sit at a counter, the sushi comes around, you choose what you want, the plates get counted at the end, dim-sum style. It’s a mainstay of most civilized cities, but bizarrely not here.

But this is not the usual conveyor belt sushi with large rubbery chunks of fish protein and rolls that look like the chef is being paid by the pound. When I was finally able to get a seat at lunch last Thursday, what met my waiting chopsticks were absolutely lovely, fresh tuna and salmon sashimi, freakishly perfect and unusual rolls, and then a whole bunch of stuff I’d never seen before at a sushi restaurant. Like melting yellowtail and flounder sashimi that had been marinated in soy sauce and herbs, cerviche-style. And spinach in a sesame seed sauce, tightly packed like a sushi roll. And what looked for all the world like kobe beef tartar, but probably wasn’t.

Don’t like it in the raw? Some of the sushi was cooked, like a duck and herb roll that looked delectable, but for those who despise anything with rice, there were a number of ‘Peruvian inspired’ fish and chicken dishes…and was that calamari tempura I just saw go by? The end result is, take your sushi-hating friend and invite her out for “Japanese Tapas” instead. This place is happy to cater to it. Also of note, The edamame- I know that sounds silly, but it was fresh, perfectly cooked, and had the biggest, tastiest salt crystals I’ve ever had the pleasure to crunch down on. Order it from the additional menu.

There are a couple teething troubles to work out- the waiters seemed ill at ease, and getting the check took a serious bite out of my afternoon nap. Conveyer belt sushi was created so that Japanese salarymen could cram and go, a paradigm that Wasabi will never duplicate unless their Hostess stops taking names by working forward from the last person in line . But that notwithstanding, this is my new favorite sushi place for three reasons:

1. They have take away. And I don’t mean that aweful, dry supermarket fluff either. If you ate it in the restaurant, there’s a decent chance it will be in the takeaway case, along with surprising complete bento boxes, seaweed salads, and traditional deserts. There’s also the same hot fish and chicken dishes, but they remain untried.

2. They are open for both Lunch and Dinner. A rarity in the Farragut North area

3. It’s right next to my office. That’s right, one block’s swagger and I can be in fishy heaven every day.

So here’s a standing offer for the next month: If this sounds like the place for you, drop a note to dcfud.writers@gmail.com to munch some ocean byproduct with me and feel happy with the world. Totally serious, I take my lunch at around 1:00, except Wednesdays. No Pretentious Urbanites allowed.

Wasabi
908, 17th St