Pear "let's pork it out" M.'s Profile

I read about Kushi on a blog in early of 2009 and had been anticipating it's opening.  After it did open in April, I wanted to wait maybe a month so that if it turned out poorly, I wouldn't  be able to blame it on the fact that it just opened.  So then came along the ever so infamous livingsocial deal.  I got mine for free since 3+ people signed up from my link.  This then gave me 50 free dollars to spend on anything at a restaurant i'd been dying to eat at for so long.  After pushing back the date, I finally made reservations to go yesterday.

Service: Our waitress was stupendous (I never use that word, but I really want to right now).  The menu was a bit overwhelming at first, but she very thoroughly explained it in a quite concise manner.  I was impressed already.  She made awesome suggestions (Ex. We got 1 order of fatty tuna sashimi for $10 with 2 pieces, but she told us there was a special going on for that fatty tuna for $18 with 5 pieces. Score!)  She made sure to refill our water even though a glass bottle of water was left on the table for you to refill yourself.  I could go on, but we made sure to leave her a healthy tip! (Note: If the service hadn't been this good, I probably would give this place a 4 instead).

Food:  Since we had $50 to spend for free, we decided to spend another $50 and just eat everything we wanted.  We started off with hamachi, salmon, and fatty tuna (chutoro) sashimi.  Can you say MELT-IN-YOUR-MOUTH?  I had to savor every single bite and I almost didn't want to swallow it down.  This has got to be the way fish is meant to be eaten.  

We then got some miso soup and a salmon rice ball, both were standard - nothing exciting.  Then came our braised pork belly, which was pretty good and well made, but I don't think i'd get it again.  Lastly, our kushiyaki plate came - we got 4 skewers: chicken breast with plum and shiso, buta bara (pork belly), kalbi (short rib), and liver.  The two notables were the buta bara and the liver.  The former was so... UMAMI!  The liver was actually too salty, but after getting past the saltiness, it was actually really good.  Next, we got the duck thigh from the robata menu (charcoal grill).  It was pretty good, the skin was nice and crispy and the meat, tasty.  Lastly, after finishing all of this off, we went back and ordered some more salmon sashimi and nigiri.  It was such a gluttonous night, but oh so worth it.  

I'd also recommend getting a bottle of asahi beer.  Good stuff and hard to find elsewhere.

Thank you Kushi for coming to DC!

::UPDATE:: 11/27/10
I went back with a Groupon deal!  There was a bit of a wait, so we went to the bar area to grab a couple of Japanese beers.  When the bartender checked my ID, she asked me if I was Filipino.  I told her I was Thai and she suddenly busted out in Thai in response.  She then gave me awesome suggestions and let me taste the Echigo Red Ale on tap before I ordered it.  We were also about to get Sapporo, but she advised against it because "you can get that anywhere, you should try our other ones.  My favorite is the Coedo White Ale."  So we went with her suggestion and LOVED it.  If you're a beer person, I highly recommend it.  Did I mention that I love the service here?!

New things I tried this time:  
- Shigoku oysters  - super fresh served with a slice of lime (not lemon!) and a special sauce, I really couldn't make out what it was, but it sure was tasty.
- Wagyu Beef Skirt Steak kushiyaki - YUM
- Liver kushiyaki- much better and less salty when ordered Tare style.  

This is officially my favorite restaurant in DC.  I will go back with or without coupon.

A disappointing experience.

We made reservations for 2 on a Tuesday night (8:30pm). It's amazing how packed this place gets on an ordinary weeknight, so we didn't actually get seated until 9pm.

Apps: Chicken Wings -- pretty good, not bad. flavorful, going a little bit for a burnt taste? Classic Deviled Eggs -- $4 for 4 eggs. Nothing special, but I bet the one with crab meat, etc for $14 is good. Wasn't going to pay that much for it.

Entrees: I kindly asked our waitress what her favorite entree was and she got so excited about the planked salmon ("out of this world"). So alright! I'll get that while the bf ordered the surf and turf. Minutes later, the waitress returned saying they were out of the salmon... whomp whomp. I then asked her what she thought of the prime rib and she said it was good, so I went with that and got it done medium rare.

My bf's surf and turf with (8oz cut, crab cakes, asparagus, and zucchini) came out pretty good. The best part of the plate was the steak, cooked perfectly and tasted great. The crab cakes were good, but a little salty. He didn't touch his asparagus because they were chewy and hard to eat. The zucchini was surprisingly very spicy... not sure what happened there.

The Downfall:
My 10oz prime rib with mac n cheese and cauliflower came to me half pink and half cooked well (so dry, it was white). So I decided that maybe the waitress misheard me and thought i said medium-well. If that were the case, then i'd finish my plate quietly. i asked her if i had ordered medium well or medium rare, and she confirmed that i said medium rare and took the plate back. By the time I got it back, my bf was already done with his meal and it was nearly 10:30pm. I had a feeling this was going to happen, but the prime rib came back dripping red juices and raw. I wasn't going to complain again so I told her it was fine. I ate 2 pieces, wrapped it up in a box and took it home to broil. The sides were great though, i'd recommend them.

$80 meal and I didn't even get to eat my dinner... I think i'd give this place another try, but I definitely will not be ordering a prime rib. My bf also noted that in most cases, restaurants would at least give a discount for mistakes.. sadness. I guess they really don't care if they lose 1 customer.

Story Time --
I was so incredibly stoked when I heard DC was FINALLY getting its first Ramen focused shop. All the hype around this one little restaurant was driving me crazy and trying it for myself one week after it's grand opening felt like an eternity for some reason.

WAITING TIME: I was not going to wait 3 hours for a bowl of ramen that may or may not live up to its hype so I made sure to go EARLY. We got there around 5:15 and put our names down for a seating for 5. When we asked how long it might be, the host said, "sorry, I have no idea." Err.. ok. So then we asked how long it'd be for 3 people (since 2 of our party hadn't arrived yet) and he said up to 1.5hours. Ok, I can deal with that. So we hippity hopped on over to Granville Moores to pass the time and wait for a phone call back. Surprisingly enough we received one just 45 minutes later.

I have to note that we still only had 3 in our party as the other 2 were running late. Despite this, they still sat us and let us hold the other 2 seats. We felt bad putting them in that position, but it was great service and I don't think it was too, too busy just yet.

DRINK: All cocktails are $10 each and Toki Monster is.. not for the little leagues. They spray the glass with Scotch, toss in some ice, Bourbon, and I don't know what else, BUT here's the kicker: they put a skewer of pork belly to garnish. Its' really interesting because you can smell the goodness of the pork belly seep up your nose while you're sippin on some hard liquor. it's was quite an intriguing drink and I recommend it for those of you who like it hard.

FOOD: I got the classic and all I can say is that it was not bad. I have had pretty damn good ramen in Japantown in SF (Tanpopo) and so that's the only thing I can compare it to. The pork was damn tasty, but not enough! 2-3 pieces for the large bowl. The broth and noodles were pretty good, but not out-of-this-world amazing. Compared to the other ramen place I've been to, this was a notch below it, but I don't have much to complain about. For DC, I'm very happy this place opened up.

DESSERT: I don't normally get dessert, but my friend ordered a plate of cookies and milk. Best MF-ing Cookies ever! They were warm, goo-ey, and yummy. I would consider going there just for the cookies, haha.

ok end story. Sorry for the long review.