"I don't know when we're opening," says proprietor Cizuka Seki, citing issues with gas service that make an exact target date a bit hard to pinpoint at the moment.

Seki is opening the restaurant with her father, Hiroshi Seki, a veteran chef of some 50 years who spent the most recent two decades running his own eatery outside St. Louis. "This is his baby," the younger Seki says, explaining that cooking in D.C., as opposed to the Midwestern suburbs, will allow her dad to "be creative and do whatever he wants rather than having to make food that he has to tweak to American tastes."

Like many astute restaurateurs these days, the father-daughter team bought the building. Public records show the $450,000 sale closed last July.

Seki does divulge a few details about the place: Plans for the first floor include a nine-seat counter looking out on an open kitchen. "Whoever is lucky enough to sit there gets to be served directly by my dad," she says. The second floor will serve as the primary dining room.

The menu hasn't quite been finalized. "But," she says, "it'll be food that he and I love, things we want to eat when we drink." Expect udon and soba noodle dishes (the latter variety will be shipped directly from Japan). But, no sushi (raw sashimi courses certainly, but no nigiri or maki.) No ramen, either (at least not at first, anyway). And, no bartender. "There's no space for a bar," she points out. But there will be drinks, including beer, sake and a curated selection of shōchū, a Japanese spirit that Seki hopes to become a sort of house specialty.

Expect a more modern look than your typical dark wooden izakaya-style joint in Japan, or even New York.

The overall goal, Seki says, is to offer the sort of high-quality cuisine at a mid-range price point that D.C. generally lacks. "I do think we're filling a gap that doesn't exist for casual Japanese dining," she says.

Photo by Chris Shott

It's long been a truism that if you wanted good (or even decent) pho or ramen or soba soups, you had to drive to the 'burbs, whether Falls Church or Rockville, to get your fill. But there's been encouraging news lately for Washingtonians who want to stay closer to home for noodle soups.

First up is Saigon Bistro, an inviting Vietnamese shop that recently opened in the old Fractured Prune spot on P Street NW off Dupont Circle.  According to the restaurant's Web site, it is owned by "Luna Howard, a native Washingtonian and entrepreneur, and her relatives, who recently emigrated to the U.S. after running an exquisite Vietnamese gourmet restaurant in their native homeland." Aside from the usual Vietnamese options, Saigon is serving up not only pho but also hu tieu and mi soups.

Next on the horizon appears to be Pho 14, a Vietnamese noodle shop on Park Road NW in Columbia Heights. But now comes the word, via the Washington Business Journal, that London-based Wagamama will open one of its pan-Asian noodle shops in the former Olsson's Books & Records location on Seventh Street NW in Penn Quarter. Wagamama is aiming for a 2010 opening.

Don't know about you, but I'm ready to start slurpin'.