Wasabi Wa-opens
I have been searching for a good cafeteria-style Japanese place for a while. Since I’d be happy to go to Kotobuki every single day for lunch if it weren’t in Outer Mongolia, the opening of Wasabi gives me great joy. Conveniently located at 17th and I Streets, NW, for you downtowners, it’s a welcome addition to a scene dominated by places like the Park Place Gourmet. While my lunchtime map is roughly bordered by the Galileo Grill, Naan & Beyond, Breadline, and Couscous Café, I reckon I can walk an extra block or so to try this place where your waiter is a conveyer belt—just like all the waiters in the future.
Headed by Chef Miguel Choy, most recently of London’s Yuzu and K10, Wasabi promises a casual dining experience with quality sushi. What’s more, the concept provides a little less opportunity for public shame. Even though I love it, I can get a little intimidated ordering sushi. Are you supposed to try to say it in Japanese? Are you supposed to order at all, or just have the chef do whatever he wants? Why is Alton Brown’s advice for eating sushi the complete opposite of what Tom says? By pulling your food off a belt, you take care of this problem. It doesn’t care if you can’t use chopsticks; it just wants to deliver you your uni efficiently.
The restaurant offers dine-in seating, bar-seating for the rushed and/or lonely, and a take out line for you folks who need to rush back to your computers to play Sudoku Combat. For the slightly more social, we recommend you take advantage of the nice weather, grab some sushi to go, settle in to Farragut Park and its free wireless, and check the latest posts on DCist. Hotties will flock to you, I promise.
Cathal Armstrong Holds Cooking Demonstration. Gridlock Likely, Consider Using Metro
Restaurant Eve chef-owner and recent Food and Wine honoree Cathal Armstrong will hold a free cooking demonstration this Saturday (July 8), from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Alexandria Balducci’s.
Free? How could you pass this up? I haven’t heard what he plans on cooking, but I hope it involves something we can all afford to make on a regular basis. For instance, I’d like to see Armstrong’s best Ramen noodles or his most inventive and tasty Spam. What about pancakes for dinner? How about a dinner composed completely of microwave popcorn and the remains of a Natty Light keg? C’mon Armstrong, it’s intern season! Most of them are poor-ass and could use some ideas that don’t include “dress sluttier for free dinner and drinks.” For more information, contact Balducci’s at 703-549-6611.
