Sushiko

Posted by Edmund in Japanese, Restaurants, Washington, DC | 2 comments

Cuisine: Japanese.
Location: 2309 Wisconsin Avenue Northwest, Washington, DC 20007-1844.
Price: Small Dishes from $4.50-$14.50, Entrees $14.50-$20, Sushi/Sashimi from $3.50-$7.

Is there any doubt that, with so many businessmen and politicians running around DC, the city would be full of sushi restaurants? Sushi’s been a trend for quite some time in cosmopolitan areas, and the wealth in DC just takes that trend to another level. Of course, that trendiness also means that these restaurants tend to be overpriced.

It’s always surprising, then, whenever a cheap but high-quality sushi place comes along. DC’s never been a cheap place, and for sushi to get on the cheap eats list is even more impressive. Yet, according to several reviews, there is one sushi restaurant that happens to be one of the best values in the whole city: Sushiko.

Sushiko, translating roughly as “Sushi Happiness,” doesn’t look like much of a happy scene on first sight. It’s right in the middle of Glover Park, somewhat of a dead neighborhood that few would go to looking for a fun night. It also has the appearance of a tiny two-story shack, easily eclipsed by the larger gentleman’s club located right next door (is that where Sushiko gets the “happiness” from?).

Once you enter inside, I can’t say it gets much better either. Nothing really stands out, and the restaurant just feels cramped, not because there isn’t enough seating room, but because the ceiling is so low that you feel wrong standing up in the dining room. On the positive side, the bright colors and especially the lighting—semi-traditional, spherical Japanese paper lamps run across the ceiling— help to cheer up the place a bit, especially in contrast to the dreary dark of Glover Park. Still, the walls are covered in simple, plain colors, with only a few small framed pictures to serve as decorations, so there really isn’t much to draw the eye. In fact, this is as simple as any traditional Japanese restaurant.

To be fair, it’s hard to fault a restaurant for keeping with the traditional. After all, there’s a clientele that comes here expecting a bland interior. Still, if the restaurant is going to attempt to modernize Asian cuisine and add such untraditional dishes to the menu as panna cotta, then it can afford to liven the place up just a bit!

Nor did the service really impress, though it wasn’t bad by any means. The waiters were attentive enough, constantly refilling water, treating us respectfully, etc. They were, however, quite slow, or, more accurately, sluggish. It would have been fine if one or two dishes had taken a while, but even the desserts (and a lot of the orders were just ice cream) took quite a while to get out. Even worse, it seemed as though the restaurant was confused about when to serve dishes. I was sitting at an eight-person table, where, for practicality’s sake, people ordered their dishes in pairs or separately. The result was that dishes came out sporadically, with people getting their appetizers and entrees at different times while others continued to wait. It didn’t seem like much of a unified meal, but rather a separate meal for each person or pair.

That all said, the experience did get immediately better once we began to enjoy the sumptuous dishes. While the name would seem to imply that Sushiko is just another sushi house, it in reality prepares much more than sushi. Of special note is the assortment of Japanese-inspired small plates, reminiscent of tapas. It is both a throwback to the classics and an attempt to innovate with creative combinations of the traditional Japanese flavors. Dishes include seared lobster in ponzu, rock shrimp and asparagus tempura with yuzu remoulade, and beef tenderloin with a seven spice powder. That creativity continues with the desserts, too. You won’t just get panna cotta, but also sake sorbet, ginger ice cream, and banana tempura! The selection elevates what you’d expect from a “traditional” Japanese joint, and the change is welcome.

As for the actual execution, though, I’d say it’s somewhat middle-of-the-road. The quality of most of the dishes is undeniable—the meats are tender, the sauces are well-balanced, the flavors are complex, etc. The preparation, though, can be inconsistent. For example, my banana tempura dessert was served on the lukewarm side, and the bananas tended to be overly mushy, yet the others at the table attested that theirs were just fine. The sushi wasn’t very inspiring, either, though I only tried one variety, the crunchy spicy tuna. It had just a bit too much rice, too little crunch, too little meat, and too little spice, though it was an average-quality roll. The small plates and entrees fared much better in general, with everything prepared excellently.

Overall, then, Sushiko has its positives—great food, large variety, nice value, and, best of all, creativity. Some of the dishes, in fact, are dishes that any Japanese restaurant would be proud to serve (the Beef Tenderloin Tataki stands out especially). At the end of the day, though, it doesn’t really have the charm of an amazing ambience or service, nor does it have the consistency to attain the excellence to which it aspires. As a result, it remains a great, but not a fantastic, go-to sushi fix.

What I Tasted

1. Beef Tenderloin Tataki (With Red Wine Daikon Butter. Served with Green Beans, Cherry Tomatoes in Onion Sauce, and Crisped Potatoes): This dish was the one home run of the night, easily overshadowing everything else I ate. The beef was perfectly—and I mean perfectly—tender. I do have to say that it was a bit red for something that I ordered medium, but I really didn’t mind because it was cooked extremely well regardless. The beef itself had a fantastic texture reminiscent of a chewy, juicy piece of raw meat—like it was a steak sashimi of sorts. In fact, the texture is indescribable, approaching the rubbery (in a good way), but so soft and smooth that the meat practically melts in your mouth. The beef was extremely flavorful as well, both oozing with its own juices and covered with a delicious red-wine sauce that added a slight, semi-fruity, bitter kick, in addition to softening the meat even more. The sauce was, however, light enough that it didn’t overshadow the savoriness of the meat. Finally, the sides were fantastic, except for the very bland, almost frigid green beans. The cherry tomatoes in the onion sauce added a burst of sweetness with just a subtle touch of herbs (a bit like garlic), and they really blend well with the meat. The potatoes, too, were very enjoyable and actually quite unique. Unlike most diced potatoes, these were rather hard, retaining the texture of a cold uncooked potato, but the top was lightly crisped to give them a slight crunch. The result: cold and starchy, yet crisp and light. Overall, then, just about everything on this plate was phenomenal. 4.6+/5.0
2. Crunchy Spicy Tuna Maki (Sushi): Again, this was my only taste of the sushi, and it was a disappointing one at that. As a full disclosure, I’ve never been a fan of spicy tuna, and this one set me back a couple notches in my quest to develop a liking for this ever-popular combo. The main problem here is in the balance. The rice comes off as too dominant, while the tuna seems to be downplayed. Nor is the spice consistent—I remember getting a lot in one bite, just a bit in another. Overall, though, the spice tended to be very downplayed, so it tasted like normal tuna . Finally, the crunch wasn’t very pronounced. The dish was a bit bland for my taste, though it did feature quality ingredients. 2.0/5.0.
3. Chicken Yakitori (Grilled Skewered Chicken with Grilled Asparagus, Covered with Teriyaki Sauce): A very simple dish of skewered chicken and asparagus, yet it was delicious. The chicken itself was flawlessly grilled—endlessly tender on the inside, but with a bit of toughness on the outside that gave it a really nice chew. It was just a tad bit too tough at times, but I prefer that to it being overly chewy/rubbery. The chicken also had just a slight blackening/char on the outside. I can’t say I’m a big fan of it, but it did add some smokiness to the combo. Finally, the teriyaki glaze was proportioned nicely, giving the chicken a slight sweetness without overpowering its natural flavor, though I would have preferred if just a bit more were put on the chicken.  Oddly enough, though, as good as the chicken was, I found myself enjoying the asparagus even more. The slight blackening really worked here, giving a great, heavy smokiness to the fresh greens. The sweetness also stood out more (since the asparagus was thinner, there was relatively more teriyaki sauce on the asparagus than on the chicken). Regardless, both the chicken and the asparagus were delicious and very nicely cooked. 4.2/5.0
4. Honey-Soy Roasted Duck Breast (With Mustard Miso): This dish was mixed. On the one hand, I found the duck to be just a bit tough, though I do think the dish was going for that type of texture. On the other, the duck had a nice chewiness to it, mostly from the fact that about half of it was a layer of pure fat, which also provided a nice contrast with the other, much tougher section. As for the sauce, it didn’t feel as though it contributed quite so much. The mustard was definitely downplayed, while the miso’s saltiness at times overshadowed the duck itself, though in moderation the sauce would have served as a nice complement to the duck’s heavy savoriness. In the end, though, the duck was extremely flavorful, particularly because the honey-soy glaze was fantastic, adding just the right amount of a very natural-tasting sweetness as well as an extra, subtle touch of an oddly refreshing soy kick that really caught me off guard.  3.5/5.0
5. Banana Tempura (A la mode w/ Chocolate Sauce and Cinnamon): I got this dessert with green tea ice cream—I know that’s somewhat of a culinary disaster waiting to happen, but I just had to try the green tea ice cream because it’s probably the most traditional Japanese flavor of the bunch. In retrospect, this should really be eaten with the vanilla, since the green tea flavor will tend to clash with the rest of the dish. To be fair, I’m going to analyze the components separately.
   1. Green Tea Ice Cream: I was actually impressed by the ice cream  more than by the tempura. The ice cream had a very heavy tea flavor, with a marked green tea bitterness, similar to that of a tea leaf. It had a refreshing herbiness as well. Moreover, the ice cream was smooth and creamy, while retaining a nice lightness. More negatively, the flavor was rather short, not really lasting on the palate, nor having much of an aftertaste at all. Moreover, this ice cream will undoubtedly be overpowering for someone who really doesn’t enjoy a heavily bitter taste. 3.0/5.0
   2. Banana Tempura: Here was probably the biggest disaster of the night. I have no problems with the concept of the dish itself. In fact, I tend to go bananas for any take on a banana dessert. Here, though, the fundamentals were just off. First, the dish was served lukewarm, really the worst possible temperature for a dish that is supposed to be emphasizing the contrast between the cold ice cream and the hot, fried banana. Second, and much worse, the bananas had the texture and taste of mush. It seems as though they were just poorly cooked, so that they didn’t feel like a tempura but rather just fell apart. On the positive side, the tempura batter was very good—light, slightly crispy, and with a bit of fluffiness. It was easily the highlight of the dish, adding a slight muffin-like taste to the bananas. As for the chocolate sauce, I didn’t feel like it was a key component—it was as though it had been gratuitously drizzled on to put another ingredient on the plate. I do think it was meant more for the ice cream, however, and given that I chose green tea, it wasn’t exactly the best complement, although that was completely my own fault. 1.0/5.0. A great concept, but poorly executed.

Scores

Ambience: 2.0/5.0
Service: 2.5/5.0
Taste: 3.2+/5.0
Value: 3.5/5.0
Overall Score: 3.0/5.0