It's labeled simply "the stinky stuff" in the kitchen of Daikaya. The fermented rice husk paste pickles cucumbers and daikon to create a traditional Japanese specialty called nukazuke on the restaurant's upstairs izakaya menu. Only one person, sous chef Michael Turner, is allowed to touch the mixture with his bare hands. If anyone else's skin [...]

The upstairs izakaya at Chinatown ramen shop Daikaya is set to open as soon as this weekend. Here are 10 things you should know about it: 1. The space is reminiscent of a Japanese izakaya, but you'd never find an izakaya like it in Japan. For example, co-owner Daisuke Utagawa says he's never seen an [...]

Chef Katsuya Fukushima made a career in cutting-edge cuisine, experimenting with spherification, foams, smoke—even meat-flavored chewing gum. He helped José Andrés open the original six-seat Minibar, where he was chef de cuisine, and he cooked for eight months at El Bulli in Spain, a former Mecca for molecular gastronomy. Fukushima also had a heavy hand [...]

This week's print column breaks down the myths around the poisonous Japanese blowfish known as tora-fugu. The delicacy was arguably made famous by a Simpsons episode in which Homer thinks he has only 24 hours to live after an amateur cook butchers the fish. (If you haven't watched it, do it now.) One refrain I [...]

My first bite of tora-fugu, the Japanese species of blowfish containing deadly poison in its organs, is the skin. The gelatinous delicacy is thinly sliced like noodles, with seaweed, grated daikon, and a ponzu sauce, and is part of Sushi Taro’s 10-course, $138 fugu tasting menu. I’m not dead yet. Next up is sashimi, sliced [...]

It's been two years since we first learned about ramen shop and izakaya Daikaya, which topped our ranking of the year's most anticipated restaurants. The restaurant is now set to open this month, but whether it stays on track or not, you will definitely be able to get a taste. The restaurant will "pop-up" at [...]

This should be a good year for variety in the D.C. dining scene. The most anticipated restaurants scheduled to open in 2013 feature Southeast Asian, Japanese, French, Latin American, Greek, Italian, and American fare, plus some hybrids. Veteran restaurateurs will expand into new cuisines, big names will make their District debuts, and a few longtime [...]

Ramen and izakaya spot Daikaya isn't the only Penn Quarter project that Sushiko co-owner Daisuke Utagawa has in the works. The restaurateur is also planning to open a Japanese cocktail bar in the small basement space beneath Fuel Pizza at 600 F St. NW, about a block away from where Daikaya will be. "The cocktail bar [...]

At first glance, the listing for “pig ramen” seems as alien as SpaghettiOs on a sushi menu. Among the lamb and pork meatballs and Carolina smoked barbecue available at The Pig, Logan Circle’s newest hog-centric Americana eatery, I’m surprised to find a bowl of Asian noodle soup. Perhaps I shouldn’t be. In a time when [...]

Construction has yet to even begin at Daikaya, the planned ramen and izakaya spot by Sushiko's Daisuke Utagawa, located next to Graffiato in Chinatown. Yet, landlord Douglas Development put out a press release today suggesting the place will now "tentatively open in late spring/early summer 2012." This is a revised estimate, mind you, over early [...]