Thursday, June 19, 2008

Sushi deficiency

Torsten and I went out for sushi last night with some friends of ours that we don't see often enough. We tried a new sushi place downtown, because I am still on a quest for the perfect DC sushi restaurant. Unfortunately, even though we had a great time with our friends, last time's restaurant did not fit the bill. The quest continues.

I've lived in DC for more than two years, and I have yet to find a great sushi restaurant here. The weirdest part is that I don't even think I'm that picky about sushi. I like basic sushi from pretty much any restaurant, and I will even eat the sushi that comes in the little plastic box at the grocery store. I love sushi THAT MUCH.

But I do like GREAT sushi the best, obviously. And I've been to some great sushi restaurants--one near my parents' house in North Carolina, one in Chicago, one in the Massachusetts town where I went to college, several in New York. The things that separate the great from the merely fine are very fresh fish, a good fish-to-rice ratio, and interesting rolls that you can't find anywhere else. These things are not THAT complicated, right?

So why is it that DC, the capital of the country, a renowned and very international city, is totally lacking in excellent sushi? I have tried so many places, including all the places that are recommended as the best in the city, and every one has been a disappointment. There are a couple that come close, but only until I go back to one of the legitimately great sushi places I mentioned earlier, and then I realize that the DC places pale in comparison.

I find this to be an enormous defect of this city. And it's not just sushi restaurants. It's restaurants in general. There are plenty of restaurants here, and a lot of them are decent. Some of them are even downright good, but none of them is GREAT. None of them totally blows you away. That's part of why we struggled to figure out where to hold our rehearsal dinner--there just isn't that standout spot, that automatic place.

New York, obviously, is full of amazing restaurants on every block. San Francisco, LA, and Chicago have similarly excellent places to eat. When we went to Chicago for one weekend in March, we went to more great restaurants than we have visited in DC over the entire course of our time living here. It just doesn't make sense. This place is supposed to be cosmopolitan and diverse, and it has lots of people with plenty of discretionary income. It seems like a target market for a plethora of great restaurants. And it's just totally lacking.

Plus, don't even get me started on the shopping, or lack thereof, in this city. I am not a huge shopper, and I don't spend tons of money. But when I do need to buy something, such as near the holidays, or when I've lost more weight and need new clothes, I wish there were somewhere I could go other than one of the suburban malls. It's the same with restaurants, though. We don't eat out that often, but that's all the more reason why there should be great places for us to go when we do.

I mean, maybe it's us. Maybe we just don't know the right places to go, and everyone else in this city is off glorying in fun little boutiques between courses of mind-blowing sushi. But somehow I doubt it.

So tell me, even if you love the town where you live, what is the one thing you find lacking about it? What's the one thing you miss about somewhere you've lived in the past?

55 comments:

  1. I know exactly what you mean - I fell in love with sushi, and the kind I first tasted was from the little plastic containers in the grocery store. But when I went to an actual sushi restaurant and ate fresh, amazing sushi? Whole different ballgame.

    Maybe this is the universe's way of saying you need to move?
    ;)

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  2. One of the only things I hate about living in NC is our ridiculous alcohol laws. Bah! There are no good bars around here!

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  3. I feel the same way about being in Argentina now. There are some wonderful things but I miss spicy food like Thai and Indian and I really miss sushi. I think there is a sushi restaurant on P St. near Dupont that I have gone to a couple of times with friends that was good. Although it's pretty small so there can be a wait. I can't remember the name of it though but it is no more than 2 blocks away on the side of P St with the CVS.

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  4. the one thing i don't like about cleveland is some of the clevelanders them selves.

    they have such a defeated attitude. thinking cleveland sucks, we'll never win a championship, our lake was once on fire... blah blah blah.

    but cleveland is friggin awesome and if some of the daddy downers would just look around and embrace our blue collar roots and dwindling economy it would be great.

    xoxo

    ps i love sushi. yum.

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  5. One thing that is lacking about the town where I live is a great take out place. Most of the year, your only choices are Asian or a pizza/sub shop. In the summer, lots of other options come up (fish/fried clam shacks and similar tourist traps), but nothing that satisfies me quite as much as the take out places around where we went to school :)

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  6. Not much is lacking for me in Chicago. It's 1000x better than anywhere I've lived, NOT including Rome. I guess I wish I knew the roads better. That is it :)

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  7. Funny that this is what what I'm delurking for...but I have to give a shout out to Kaz Sushi in Farragut North. Try it...I loved it when I lived in DC!

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  8. We have struggled to find GOOD chinese around us ... still looking. The one place that is OK is not TECHNICALLY chinese, but a mix of that, plus Thai and Ethopian (don't ask). Plus, it's hella expensive.

    Frustrating!

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  9. i hate the parking in minneapolis. since i live so close to downtown and there are about 10,000 people living in my tiny little neighborhood, there's nowhere to park on the street! in my hometown, you can pretty much park wherever, whenever.

    just one downfall of living in a large metropolis.

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  10. I was introduced to this one sushi restaurant by a friend of mine. I absolutely love the sushi there and basically don't go anywhere else. It's not technically in DC (it's in Alexandria) but if you feel like at some point you should try it: http://www.yamazato.net/

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  11. I find SEVERAL THINGS lacking about Texas, but surprisingly food is not one of them. I've even had good SUSHI here! I think people are surprised that Texas has good food. Other than steak, or whatever.

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  12. sounds like your restaurant experience was better than mine last night -- i blogged about it today.

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  13. Sushi is my life. Must have at least once a week but I could handle it 3-6. LOVE!

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  14. I remember the first time I tried sushi in high school I was so freaked out about it being raw fish that I couldn't eat it. Now I love it.

    Atlanta has some pretty amazing restaurants...there are so many that I want to try but I have favorites so I always end up going back to them. Traffic here is awful along with our public transit...sucky!

    I miss living in Germany where you can walk or ride a bike everywhere. If I tried that in Atlanta, I'd either get run over or die from all the summer smog. Sigh...

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  15. I didn't discover sushi until I met Bart and we went with his parents for sushi up in Park City, Utah where his step-brother is a sushi chef. It was a hard place to start, because I've never had such good sushi again. I'm ruined! :)

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  16. There is no sushi and no Thai, hence the sad attempt at pad thai back in the day.

    Oh and good Chinese. Oh God, I miss EVERYTHING. I live in VERMONT. THERE IS NO GOOD FOOD OR SHOPPING.

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  17. I have no idea if it's still there, but when I lived in Baltimore we used to drive down to DC to go to a restaurant called Chef Geoff's that was *fantastic*... I have no idea where it was, but I know that we got lost leaving and somehow ended up in the parking lot of the Pentagon, if that helps...

    Hmmm... something lacking in NYC? I'll have to get back to you on that. Oh, wait, Summers here are HELL... does that count?

    And I miss the smallness of England, the laid-backness of Baltimore, and the open farm country and roadside vegetable stands of Hometown.

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  18. And now you know why Chicago's hometown girl, Stephanie, won Top Chef. This city ROCKS when it comes to great restaurants!

    But, the problem with Chicago? For such an ethnically diverse city, it very segregated. The cool thing is there are all these ethnic pockets ... but, the downside is most people stick to their own. Kinda sucks for such a big city.

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  19. I miss the improv connections I have in Toronto.

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  20. I can't get the authentic Cuban pastelitos here in NYC. It makes me very sad.

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  21. i LOVE sushi. We should do a DC sushi crawl... you know like a cupcake crawl. LOL

    We actually have a decent sushi place here in WV-- it's a hibachi restaurant and I love their eel sushi. It's so delish.

    Apples and Bananas did a review of a sushi place in January and listed a few others in it:
    http://applesbananas.blogspot.com/2008/01/review-asahi-japanese-restaurant.html

    Maybe check out the sushi food blog or zagats for more recommendations.

    And definitely blog about it when you find some awesome sushi!

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  22. There is an awesome sushi place directly across the street from work. I have 3 coworkers (one Korean, one Chinese and one Japanese) who all agree this place is the best. I think you would approve. If you ever come visit, that's where I'd take you.

    The thing I miss the most around here is Hardee's. I had one in my teeny hometown, but in the Cities, there's like TWO of them. And they're not convenient to get to at all. I need my Hot Ham n' Cheese!

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  23. I really like where we live in that it is close to everything, we live in a suburb that is very centralized.

    I'd like an HOV lane though. Or less snow.

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  24. Actually, the only thing about New York that drives me crazy is how if you want to buy clothes, you have to go all over the place to find stores. Sometimes, those suburban malls are sorely underrated.

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  25. I am the SAME way with sushi. I often eat the grocery store ones just because i want it that badly.

    I guess the only thing that really sucks about NYC is the fact that I can't drive, the subways are disgusting and totally overpriced and the cost of everything is way too high. Ahem, i guess thats a list, not quite the only thing....

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  26. have you tried sushi taro? that's the best sushi i think i've had here so far: http://www.sushitaro.com/. i also hear good things about kaz sushi, but i can't remember if i've been there :-o

    for boutiquey shopping, i like to go to the barracks row neighborhood (near eastern market) around xmas time to pick up gifts.. or of course there's georgetown, although it's often out of my price range :-)

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  27. I miss the Chinese restaurants I used to go to in law school, but there are good Chinese restaurants here.

    I think we are missing good college sports teams, but hopefully ours will get better soon.

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  28. That's easy about Salt Lake City - the weird liquor laws.

    Each mixed drink can only contain 1 oz of liquor. You can, however, order a "sidecar", which is a shot of liquor on the side, but you then have to pour it into the drink yourself.

    This actually changed recently, and drinks can now contain 1.5 oz of liquor, but now you can no longer order a "sidecar", I think.

    Also, bars that serve liquor (as opposed to just beer) are "private clubs" and you have to buy a membership to drink there. (I hear they are working on this one.)

    You can't order a beer at a place that isn't a private club or a beer bar unless you also order food.

    Private clubs can't serve anything but 3.2% beer until noon on Sundays. Which makes a bloody mary during football not a possibility.

    Dude, getting drunk here is exhausting. I'm sure there are more that I'm forgetting.

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  29. Our town is kind of lacking in the nightlife, not that I ever get to go out, so I really don't care that much I guess.

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  30. I love LA, but wish I didn't have a near-death experience every time I drove.

    LA does have great sushi, though. I'm five minutes away from Little Tokyo.

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  31. Seattle has a lot of good restaurants but there are very few that I can deem "great" so far. But I am on a quest to find them! I have a similar gripe about sushi here but have managed to find one or two that are good enough. I'm still looking to be bowled over.

    Back in Santa Cruz, CA I miss this one particular restaurant called The Malabar Cafe. It's Sri Lankan food and it is DELISH. I crave it. Every time I go back for a visit I make sure I can eat there. I love it that much.

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  32. I love living in our small city but there really aren't any GREAT restaurants. It's disappointing to me that I don't have a favorite place to eat around here. We don't eat out much, what with the 5 and 2-year olds, but I'm always kinda meh-take-it-or-leave-it when we do eat out. My most favorite place is about 2 hours north of where I live -- a Greek restaurant with hummus that I will actually drive 2 hours just to eat! As for shopping, there's an okay mall here but I enjoy going to the outlet places on the coast.

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  33. Do you guys have "go-rounds" in DC? We have them here in Portland. The sushi is on colored plates (that indicate price) and they are on a track that winds around the restaurant. I'm not a huge sushi fan (I don't like cold rice), but my husband does. Go-rounds are a great compromise for us, and the entertainment of the sushi going by is great!

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  34. Sadly enough, the best sushi I have ever had is right across the border from where I live in - of all places - (North) Myrtle Beach, SC. Un-frickin'-believable! If you are ever in Myrtle Beach (for a Bike Week, mayhaps?), you should check out Paradise Sushi and Grill. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

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  35. Mmm.... sushi.

    My biggest frustration about NYC is the annoyingness of grocery shopping. One Trader Joe's in the whole city! Prices are insane! Produce is icky! You have to lug it all home!

    That is one thing I am thrilled about in my move to Chicago!

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  36. Living in Chicago one of the sorst things is the radio stations. I lived in NYC and they ahd some really awesome morning shows.

    But the food, the city, the lake and the fests make up for the lack of good morning radio.

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  37. Dallas has NO TREES. No trees at all. It's downright depressing and one of the things I miss most about Austin and it's greenbelts. But Dallas, as Tessie said, has great food.

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  38. My town that I live in is maybe 20 minutes from downtown Fort Worth, I can even see the downtown buildings from my neighborhood. But my town lacks everything. We need a grocery store and a decent gas station first and foremost. After we can those I'd like nice parks for my kids to play in, a rec center and a larger library.

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  39. The one thing lacking in San Francisco: Fenway Park
    The one thing I miss about Boston (where I use to live): Fenway Park

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  40. Have you tried Sushi Taro in on 17th and P. I really like that place. Not the best Sushi ever but the best for the area.

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  41. Mmmmm, sushi. Yum!

    Oh, sorry, you asked a question. I don't love the fact that I live in a Big Little City, because the best shopping we have is Nordstrom and Macys...and no great outlets. The closest "great" shopping is Las Vegas, and that is a 6-hour road-trip. Each way. Ah, what a girl will do for discount designer shoes! ;o)

    xox

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  42. I live in Ottawa, Canada, which is the capital city. There's tons to do here but one thing we are sorely lacking is a decent public transportation system. It's only buses here -- no subway -- and the service to the suburbs is terrible, to the point where a car is an absolute necessity. Ottawa prides itself on being a "green" community in many respects -- they need to get their act together on this one!

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  43. Original restaurants. We have a plethora of chain restaurants, but the independent places are being pushed out by the big boys.

    Of the few we have, most are good, and I guess Seattle has a bunch more, but finding them (the good ones) is a royal pain.

    We "make due" but I'm kind of tired of having to do that.

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  44. Oi. What DON'T I miss? A decent restaurant, bakery, grocery store that sells international foods.....public transit....and friendly people.

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  45. I've got my favorite Japanese restaurant on speed dial and I have a request to have some sushi delivered as soon as this baby's born. Mmmm. you just made the waiting even worse. Even the grocery store sushi out here in Seattle rocks. Freshness factor, I think.

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  46. The ONE thing? More like the ONE MILLION things..I lived in London for two years, then moved to Vancouver for a year. Both very different places, but both equally amazing, and now I'm back in New Zealand. Boring old Christchurch. I miss the restaurants, the pubs, the variety, the nightlife, the sights. Gah. The shopping!

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  47. Maybe go check out dcfoodies.com? It looks like they have some decent reviews, and if I remember correctly, Amy's (amalah.com) works/worked for them? I do NOT know why this brain farkle has now decided to shake loose, but so be it.

    I used to live in Tacoma, WA and we lived about two miles from some of the best Chicken Teriyaki that existed. The place was a little whole in the wall, but dang, that was some good (and inexpensive) food.

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  48. Honestly, some of the best sushi I've eaten has come from Whole Foods. I don't know why, I just like it a LOT.

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  49. Can't say there's much lacking in my area with nyc 15 miles from me...however, there's nothing like the small town in greece where i've lived with all the shops within walking distance, including the BEST greek food lol

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  50. Do you read Yelp reviews? They've helped Chris and I find some of our favorite restaurants, even sushi!

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  51. So why is it that DC, the capital of the country, a renowned and very international city, is totally lacking in [fill-in-the-blank]?

    Because this town isn't about the simple pleasures. It's about deal-making complexity. Restaurants are meant to be relaxing, social events (except maybe in Georgetown, Penn Quarter, and Adams Morgan, and then the selection is laughable at best), but rather networking, chit-for-chit exchanges.

    Having said that, there are one or two restaurants in this town I think are a cut above in terms of creativity and atmosphere. Rice on 14th and R Streets NW and.... Yeah, that's about all I can think of right now.

    And speaking of Asian food, this town sucks for good Asian food. However, Sushi Ko in Georgetown serves up good sushi. If you haven't tried them out yet, go there. Bee and I go there and we're from the West Coast, as you know, where--outside of Japan--the sushi is unsurpassed and wonderful!

    As for all the rest of your shopping woes, I hear you, but have zero solutions!

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  52. I know you didn't ask, but if you're ever in Ocean City, MD, go to Konami's at the Gold Coast Mall. Best sushi I have ever had. They use fresh, truly fresh (never frozen) fish and they have very creative rolls. Mmmm...

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  53. It is really difficult to find a GOOD sushi place. Where do you recommend in Chicago? I'm still trying to find one here myself. I like this little hole-in-the-wall, only seats 11 people. That's a solid place :)

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  54. I'm one of those wierdo people who don't like sushi. Boyfriend loves it though!

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  55. I would say the 5 best sushi restaurants in the city are: Sushi-Ko, Kaz Sushi Bistro, Makoto, Kotobuki, and Sushi Taro.

    You won't be disappointed in any of those.

    And beyond sushi, there's plenty of great food in this city. I just think most of it is relatively inaccessible to most people.

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