By DCist contributor Alicia Cohn
According to Madonna, as quoted in Chef Nobuyuki “Nobu” Matsuhisa’s cookbook, “You can tell how much fun a city is going to be if Nobu has a restaurant in it.”
By that measure, D.C. just became a lot more fun with the opening of Nobu in the West End at 2525 M St. NW. The latest outpost of the Japanese restaurant began dinner service on Tuesday, and eating there will likely become a point of pride for avid D.C. diners thanks to its famous fans and iconic status on the national food scene. Nobu has locations in Malibu, New York City, Miami, and Las Vegas, among dozens of others.
“D.C.’s ready,” George Lipson, Nobu DC’s general manager, tells DCist.
Lipson, who has worked for Nobu for 16 years, says the “culinary explosion” going on in the District is “really hip” and “not happening in other cities.”
That boom is evidenced in nods from Bon Appetit, Zagat, James Beard and the Michelin guide. Celebrity chefs, international brands, and inventive cuisines have a pretty solid hold on the city’s dining scene at this point. That also means that the District doesn’t need much more in terms of culinary validation these days, and Washingtonian makes the case that Nobu’s arrival doesn’t really matter all that much.
Even so, the pricey restaurant—the average small dish runs in the $20 to $30 range—only started taking reservations at 10 a.m. on Tuesday and it is already flooded for the week. Perhaps that’s to be expected, considering all its celebrity cred. It’s one of the Kardashian family’s favorite restaurants and counts actor Robert De Niro among the owners. And it’s not surprising either that Nobu positions itself as a destination for diners looking for more of an “experience” than just a meal.
Much of Nobu D.C.’s back-of-house leadership, like executive chef Eudy Camilo Cruz and pastry chef Tomy Almanzar, came from other Nobu restaurants in New York City, Miami, and Las Vegas. They quote Nobu sayings by heart —such as “good food, good service”and “do everything the hard way, not the easy way.”
The restaurant features family-style dining, multi-course meals, and unique ingredients, like tofu skin. New dishes have been created around customer requests—squid “pasta,” for example, was inspired by a child’s request. The kitchen is also trained in preparing dishes that only exist on menus in other locations.
Servers are educated on ingredients, pairings, and even how each course makes the consumer feel. Nobu wants diners to walk away feeling gastric delight, not heaviness. Meanwhile, the inventive presentations, which rely on a variety of plateware and elaborate stacking, will certainly inspire photos.
Staff and chefs “design the dining experience for each particular table,” Lipson says.
Each Nobu location has some liberty to be creative and bases dishes on the availability of local ingredients, but Nobu himself is particular about the way ingredients are prepared and combined, and the restaurant’s signature dishes always come first in a new location. That includes the toro truffle tamari with jalapeño salsa, washu skirt steak with anticucho, and fluke sashimi with dry miso and yuzu.
The bar also features exclusive Kikori rice whiskey, barrel aged in-house, and Japanese craft beers that range far outside the usual selection.
Lipson says each individual Nobu location starts by getting “to know the clientele and the market” it’s based in. He has big plans for the future, but “we like to start small to focus on brand consistency,” he says.
There are possible future plans for Sunday and lunch service or brunch at the D.C. location. Reservations are capped for now at 200 per night, and they’ve had more requests than expected.
Nobu is located at 2525 M St. NW. Hours are Monday through Saturday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m
