Darren Norris, foreground, shows where the kushiyaki grills will be. Y&H plans to write more about Kushi later, when your attention is focused on food blogs not a long holiday weekend, because I think this upcoming sushi and kushiyaki operation at CityVista will be one of the most talked-about restaurants of early 2010. I will say [...]
One of the recurring complaints about Ren's Ramen in Bethesda, which I reviewed this week in Young & Hungry, is that its soups, starting at $10 per bowl, are way too expensive. A sample quote from Ren's Yelp page: Bowls start at $10 (!) with just one slice of pork, some bean sprouts, and one leaf of [...]
In doing research yesterday on my next Young & Hungry column, this one on ramen, two people asked if I had ever seen Tampopo. I had to confess that I had not. Until last night, that is, when I sat transfixed for nearly two hours by writer-director Juzo Itami's free-association comedy about one noodle-maker's search for the [...]
Y&H has been enjoying bowls of Japanese ramen soup lately, in an effort to better understand this quintessential five-for-$1 college dorm-room staple. There is a surprising amount of work that goes into a genuine bowl of Japanese ramen, even when the noodles aren't homemade. Don't believe me? Just check out this vid on how to make [...]
The miso ramen at Ren's Ramen in Bethesda Ramen may be a Chinese import, but Japan has made the noodle all its own. The pleasures of eating true ramen soup are almost too many to catalog: the salty savory broth, the richness of the partially cooked yolk (should you add the seasoned, soft-boiled nugget), the [...]
This is embarrassing — for Y&H and for many other sources that have consistently equated the dishes served at Makoto to the more formal kaiseki dining found in Japan. I spoke with Michiko Lecuyer, a manager at Makoto, who assured me that the tiny Palisades restaurant does not specialize in kaiseki. Rather, Lecuyer says after [...]
I obviously have nothing against Makoto, the meditative Japanese bento box of a restaurant in the Palisades, which specializes in kaiseki cuisine. I mean, I included the place among my 50 favorite restaurants in the D.C. area. What does bother me about Makoto, however, is its stranglehold on the top spot in the annual D.C./Baltimore [...]
One by one, we’re running through the 50 restaurants that made the cut on this year’s Young & Hungry Dining Guide. If you have visited the day’s featured restaurant, let us know what you think. If you’re planning to visit for the first time, tell us about your meal when you return. The first time [...]
Tucked into a secluded corner just north of the Capitol, Washington’s best sushi joint boasts an appropriately monumental view. Momoyama’s chopstick-wielders look out upon a huge concrete slab supporting I-395. Crane your head to the right, and you can just make out the huge concrete slab supporting an off-ramp, too. In order to reach the [...]
