Sushi Taro

I'm very disappointed in Sushi Taro. I've lost a friend and now begins my period of mourning... This used to be one of my favorite sushi places in DC. It was big and noisy and crowded but it had quality sushi at moderate prices. Now, Sushi Taro's beautiful but snobby stepsister has come in and taken over. Goodbye old friend.

Despite being one of the most popular eateries in DC, Sushi Taro recently closed up shop and gave the restaurant and the menu a swanky new makeover. Something happened when they ripped out that old sushi bar and removed the tatami mats from the floor; they sucked the life out of the place. Sushi Taro 2.0 is pretty and quieter and has cleaner bathrooms. For my taste, I'd prefer the uglier, louder place with dirty bathrooms if I can get back my beloved sushi rolls, tempura, and udon.

In an effort to present more authentic Japanese cuisine, many of the popular "Americanized" dishes are gone. The menu now consists of three tasting menus and a small a la carte offering. We tried the nigiri tasting menu for $75 per person. For that price it seems reasonable to expect high quality sushi that is also interesting. Instead, we got 2.5 hours of very ordinary sushi. The fish was fresh and there was a lot of it, but there was nothing that blew us away. For the most part, it could be said that in the taste and texture department that there wasn't a single bite that was notably unique, memorable, or better than what we've had before at less expensive prices. Moreover, some of the nigiri had so much wasabi on it that I couldn't taste the fish.

What's more, it was served by a waitress that struggled mightily with the English pronunciations of the sushi dishes. To her credit, she tried very hard but much of the dining experience was lost when we did not know what we were eating (which is critical when you order a meal that is not pre-determined on the menu). It could be argued that our palettes are simply not sophisticated enough to pick up the intricacies and genius of our meal. On the other hand, we are far from sushi virgins and would both list Japanese food among our favorite types of cuisine. Regardless, if the primary motivator behind the renovation was to allow the talent of Sushi Taro's chefs to shine, we were left in the dark and it is our guess that we aren't the only ones.

Here is a photo play-by-play of the dishes we had (at least as best as we could determine from our waitress).

Course 1: homemade tofu with uni and sesame sauce

Course 2: Japanese rice with tofu skin sauce

Course 3: salted shrimp with daikon sauce

Course 4 (left to right): mackerel, crab, snapper

Course 5 (left to right to front): yellowtail, grouper, marinated tuna

Course 6: Soup with a shrimp ball, oyster, and Japanese noodles in shrimp broth

Course 7 (left to right): butterfish, roe, bonito

Course 8 (left to right to front): sardine, uni, fatty tuna

For the final course you can choose your own 3 pieces of sushi. I was stuffed at this point and falling asleep at the table (because of the time it took between dishes) but I chose toro and the marinated tuna. Both were above average. B chose toro, salmon, and shrimp.

If you're planning on trying out the new Sushi Taro, be aware of their reservation policy. They only answer the phone to take reservations Monday thru Friday, between 10:30am - 11:30am and 4:30pm - 6:00pm.

When we walked up on a Wednesday night we were told it would be a 1 hour wait. They took my cell phone number and explained, "we will only call you once, if you do not answer, then we give your table away. If you do not come within 10 minutes, then we give your table away." Somewhat militant for a restaurant that was half full at the time, but it gave us a chance to go next door to our beloved Mr. Yogato to "wait" (eat yogurt). We got a phone call within 20 minutes. When we arrived back at Sushi Taro our table wasn't ready (we had to wait another 15 minutes). While we waited for the table, a couple came in and asked how long the wait was. "10 - 15 minutes," said the hostess. What happened to the hour wait?

Why they couldn't keep the old Sushi Taro and open a separate upscale restaurant is beyond me. My advice? Don't waste your money on sexy Sushi Taro 2.0. Instead, if you are looking for top-notch, thoughtful sushi, go to the bar at Kaz Sushi Bistro and let Chef Kaz dazzle your taste buds with his unique creations. Sushi Taro 2.0, I don't have the energy to deal with you and your snooty new ways. Sayonara.

Second Thoughts from B

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Don't get us wrong, the new Sushi Taro is not a terrible place to eat. Expensive, yes. Uninspired, yes. But terrible? No, I wouldn't go that far. The problem is that for those of us that know and love what it used to be, the gap in quality and value is tremendous because the realization of their current vision is severely lacking. Our disappointment is more about what we lost than what remains. Unfortunately, I don't know that the damage can be undone, nor do I get the impression that management would want to go back. Bottom line: it looks like we're now in the market for a new favorite sushi place in DC.

The Great DC Cupcake Taste Test

Last year, the Washington Post capitalized on the DC cupcake craze and did a "Cupcake Wars" taste comparison. In a showing of true dedication and sacrifice to our loyal readers, B and I decided to perform our own scientific analysis of four of the area's most popular cupcake joints. The shops we chose are all located within the District, were high on our list from previous visits, and have received high marks on the Washington Post and other DC cupcake reviews. Three of them have opened in the last year (Hello Cupcake, Georgetown Cupcake, and Red Velvet Cupcakery) and only serve cupcakes. The fourth, Baked and Wired, has been serving up an assortment of baked treats since 2001.

On a sunny Saturday morning, B drove me around town so I could collect our cupcake samples. Rather than having our own personal preferences bias our review, we decided to call each store ahead of time and ask them to name their "best" cupcake, and thereby, decide their own fate.

Left to right: Red Velvet's Southern Belle, Hello's Peanut Butter Blossom, Georgetown's Chocolate Ganache, Baked and Wired's Fresh Strawberry

Red Velvet Cupcakery

This tiny Penn Quarter shop serves up eight different flavors of cupcakes for $3.25 each. The price is fairly steep considering that the cupcakes aren't all that large. There is no seating in the store but a sign on the counter lets you know that you're welcome to sit at TangySweet, the yogurt shop next door owned by the brother of Red Velvet's owner. Red Velvet also loses a couple of points for service. The guy getting my cupcake was less than enthusiastic and placed the cupcake on a napkin for me to take to go. When I asked for a bag, he set a plain paper bag down on the counter and stuck out his hand for my money. As I attempted to put the cupcake in the bag I ended up getting frosting on my hand and accidentally scraped some of the frosting off of the cupcake and onto the side of the bag. Not a good beginning for Red Velvet.

Luckily, the cupcake was better than the person serving it. We tried the Southern Belle, which is a red velvet cupcake (dyed red chocolate cake) with cream cheese frosting. The cake was moist but had little flavor. The frosting was excellent and had a sharp cream cheese tang. The consistency of the frosting was unlike any I've tasted before. It was perfectly smooth without the gritty taste that is common in many frostings.

Second Thoughts from B

As J said, the consistency of the frosting was like nothing I've ever tasted. I've spent the last couple of minutes trying to compare it to something and I'm drawing a blank. It was extremely light and smooth, almost fluffy. It was so unique, it was almost disorienting and I'm still not quite sure if I liked it more than the traditional texture of frosting. As for the flavor, the frosting was true to it's cream cheese base and again, absolutely unique. Did I like it? Again, I'm undecided but I certainly appreciated it. Unfortunately, the cake itself served no other purpose other than to shuttle the frosting into my mouth...

Hello Cupcake

If this was a store naming or interior design competition, Hello would win hands down. I love the cheeky name and the beautifully designed Dupont Circle shop. The aroma of baking cupcakes surrounds you as you enter and the cupcakes are displayed on labeled shelves behind glass. I've been to Hello a couple of times and the service has never been particularly notable. It's a bit annoying that they won't give you a box unless you order three cupcakes. Two or less? You're stuck with a plain white paper bag.

Hello's staff recommended the Peanut Butter Blossom: chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting topped with a chocolate kiss.

This one was a winner. The cake was moist and a bit denser than the others. The frosting was outstanding. It was like eating the creamiest peanut butter straight from the jar. Hello Cupcake also gets high marks for making the cupcake so pretty to look at. The cupcake was priced at $3.

Second Thoughts from B

This was probably my favorite cupcake of the bunch. I don't think I would have ordered it because I'm not a huge fan of chocolate cake, but as far as execution, this was top notch. I don't think there's a thing I can criticize. It was a decent size, the frosting was rich and flavorful with a smooth texture, and the cake was moist and tasty. Well done!

Georgetown Cupcake

According to the Post, this is the crown jewel of the DC cupcake scene. Based on this one visit, I'd have to disagree. The shop, tucked on a side street in Georgetown, is so tiny that a line is almost always formed outside. They had a variety of very interesting looking flavors beautifully presented on tiered stands. The cupcake was the least expensive at $2.75 but it was pretty tiny as you can see from the first picture.

Georgetown Cupcake reminded me a lot of Sprinkles in Beverly Hills. It has the same sort of People Magazine-style buzz and similar clientele. As far as ambiance, this isn't a good thing in my book.

The person who answered the phone at Georgetown Cupcake said that the Red Velvet flavor was the most popular but the Chocolate Ganache was the one that won the Washington Post's top honors. I have a feeling that I would have ranked Georgetown Cupcake higher if I had been able to sample one of the more unique flavors such as Cherry Blossom or Lemon Berry. The Chocolate Ganache was just ok. The cake was pretty bland, tasted very cake mix-like, and while the ganache was rich, it was a very thin layer. I did like the cute sugar flower that topped the cupcake. It receives high marks for looks but low marks for overall taste.

Second Thoughts from B

Like I said, chocolate cake isn't my first choice but I feel like I still can tell good chocolate cake from not as good. Maybe I'm fooling myself because I can't tell what the Washington Post was so excited about. To be honest, aside from the beautiful presentation, you could have told me that you got this at Safeway and I might have believed you.

Baked and Wired

Baked and Wired is the only store in our taste test that does more than just cupcakes. If their cupcakes are any indication of the quality of the rest of their baked goodies, I can't wait to go back and try other things. This is also the only place that has ample seating in a cafe-like atmosphere. The staff were very friendly and they gave me a box for my lonely cupcake. The price ($3.50) was the steepest of the group but this cupcake was HUGE compared to the others (see first picture). We lovingly dubbed it "Monster Cupcake."

The Baked and Wired staff recommended the Fresh Strawberry cupcake: vanilla cake with chunks of fresh strawberry topped with strawberry frosting and little pink sugar sprinkles. This was my favorite cupcake. I thought the cake was incredibly moist and loved the fresh strawberry taste. Baked and Wired may have had a bit of an unfair advantage because I like vanilla cupcakes better than chocolate.

Second Thoughts from B

So this would be a cupcake I would order. I really enjoyed both the cake, especially the mixed in pieces of strawberry, and the frosting. I also couldn't help but be impressed by the size (I think that the cupcake from Georgetown Cupcake may have been intimidated when they were side by side). However, something seemed off and I can't put my finger on it. Maybe I was just thrown off by the natural favoring, which is such a sad statement that I would be so used to artificial flavoring that it would seem to be the norm. This is something that I look forward to figuring out on future visits.



Two Conclude

While this review may indicate some clear cut winners, these four shops were carefully chosen to be among the best of DC, so you really can't go wrong with any of them. Obviously your favorite will be determined by your own personal tastes, but it is fair to say that the DC cupcake craze is as "healthy" as anywhere. Also, in our experience, Washington's best certainly matches up well with those around the country, including the ever popular Magnolia (NYC) and Sprinkles (LA).

Adam Express

As we continue to train for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, we have been killing two birds with one stone by taking "training" walks in the evenings while also exploring new neighborhoods. On this particular evening, we walked up 14th Street to Columbia Heights to meet a friend for dinner. B had heard rumors of a Korean BBQ restaurant in the area, which we eventually stumbled across in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood.

Since we didn't have a restaurant name or address, we weren't sure we were in the right place at first. The "Korean Japanese Food" and "Sushi" signs in the window weren't promising as we've often found that places that try to capture all of Asia in one menu end up serving mediocre cuisine. Once we entered, we saw "Best of DC" newspaper articles plastered on the walls and figured we had found the place we were seeking (we later realized that it was actually one newspaper article that had been photocopied and placed all over the place...).

Adam Express is a "hole-in-the-wall" in every sense. It's a tiny place with the seating area consisting of a small counter with four stools. It's not very clean and you wouldn't notice it if you were driving down the street. We knew we were either in for: A) an amazing authentic Korean food experience or B) a case of indigestion. Luckily, Option A won out.

The restaurant is run by a sweet older Korean couple who are eager to please. They giggled as B took photos of his food and even sang Korean hymns for us after other diners said that they had just come from choir practice. Amazing Grace in Korean and Bi Bim Bap? It was, as Barnabus Stinson would say, Legen ....wait for it....dary.

I ordered the Bi Bim Bap, which is rice, veggies, beef, and a fried egg served in a ceramic pot. The rice continues to cook as you eat it, leaving crispy grains to scrape off the side of the pot. Despite my unappetizing description, it's actually really good. I added a generous amount of Adam Express' hot sauce and I was in Bi Bim Bap heaven.

B ordered the Bulgogi which is thinly sliced and marinated beef, served with steamed rice and veggies. As is often the case with very thin cuts of meat, it was a bit dry. Next time we'll stick to the Bi Bim Bap or try one of the other signature Korean dishes that offers a bit more spice.

When B finished his Bulgogi he noticed this lovely Christmas scene on his plate. Even in April Adam Express is showing the holiday spirit.

The Bi Bim Bap is enough reason to walk several miles to Adam Express. I also love the homey atmosphere and the fact that they take credit cards (a rare occurrence for places like this). This is a neighborhood that is still "in transition," so I wouldn't recommended walking there alone at night.

Second Thoughts from B

Quirky, charming, and cheap. Finding places like Adam Express is what makes exploring a new city so much fun. Sure, most people know the expensive, Top 10 list, places to be seen with the celebrity chefs but knowledge of hidden neighborhood gems is what makes you a local. Well, that and building a healthy resentment for tourists who stand on the left side of the Metro's escalators.

My bulgogi was good, albeit not the big hit of the evening (that would belong to J's bi bim bap), but the whole experience was what will keep bringing us back. Smiling hosts and a good, solid meal... sometimes getting it right can be so simple.

Sticky Fingers Bakery

Sticky Fingers Bakery is a unique find in DC. It is a vegan bakery that serves up fresh vegan cupcakes, pastries, and cakes in its Columbia Heights storefront. I'm not a vegan or a vegetarian, but I do appreciate places that strive to use natural ingredients and look for ways to cut down the saturated fat.

The interior of Sticky Fingers is overwhelmingly pink. There is a small seating area with wi-fi and a few tables scattered outside for the warmer days. In addition to the pastry case featuring cupcakes and sticky buns, there is a refrigerated section that has vegan snacks and meals. Sticky Fingers takes its vegan-ness (veganosity?) seriously and displays a small sign near the cash register asking patrons not to wear fur in the store.

I had to try the signature item: the Sticky Fingers Sticky Bun. The website advertises the buns as sticky sweet cinnamon buns that are cholesterol-free and low in saturated fat.

The sticky bun was deliciously light and non-greasy. It was like a Cinnabon without the 8.423 million pounds of butter and mystery grease. I loved the tiny chopped nuts on top and the light dusting of frosting. Yum!

B got an Everything Bagel that was so flavorful and interesting. I think it even had garlic on it. Sticky Fingers is a bare bones operation so you have to do the toasting yourself using the toaster on the counter near the silverware. I'm fine with that because you get to control the toastiness level.

Second Thoughts from B

I had heard rave reviews from some of my vegetarian friends about Sticky Fingers, but to be honest, how good could a bakery be without the use of butter, milk, or eggs? The answer to that question can be found here.

OK, so I cheated and got a bagel, which is inherently vegan. That being said, it might have been the best bagel I've ever had. When they say it is an everything bagel, they mean everything, especially the fresh garlic. For some it would be too strong but I loved it.

However, the true measure of this bakery's skills was through their sticky bun. Like I said, I was initially skeptical but after the first bite, I was sold. It was extremely light and doughy (maybe too doughy for some) with just enough flavor. It was the perfect sweet treat without the guilt.