29. Sushi-Ko
Before I go in to my most recent meal at Sushi-Ko, I would like to speak directly to the management: Hey guys, it’s me, Ashley. Spicy Scallop roll and D.C. Roll with a seaweed salad? You remember me. I love you like a fat kid loves cake, but there is one thing that I never get—what’s with no carry out in Glover Park? You are a sushi restaurant after all. And sometimes I really want a rainbow roll, but I really really don’t want to change out of my sweatpants. Ergo, I am forced to eat popcorn and Egg Beaters (if I’m lucky!) for my dinner instead of your delicious concoctions. I hope you’re happy with yourself.
**Many of you are probably already saying this to yourself, but I’m a real idiot (and degenerate blogger). Apparently, the take-out is free flowing from the Sushi-Ko in Glover Park, so go forth and take out!**
Enough griping, lets bring it back to center. Since I already spend some serious time at the Glover Park Sushi-Ko, I decided to head uptown to the new and swanky location in Beverly Hills Chevy Chase. And believe me, it’s swanky. So swanky that there was a serious party happening in the private room. No big deal, there were just like thirty people in there and tons of platters of sushi heading in that direction the whole time. Midway through my meal, I decided that I had to sneak a peek at whatever bold name was dining in private. Reese Witherspoon? Angelina Jolie? The Obamas? No my friends, it was a five-year-old’s birthday party. For my fifth birthday, I had an aerobics party in the cafetorium of my church. (It was the 80s, okay?) Kids today…
We did actually eat while we were there, no fear. I really do always get the D.C. roll and the spicy scallop roll, so for this meal I went pretty much solely on recommendations of the Washingtonian and the Washington Post. We did start with the seaweed salad, which my mom loved even though she claims to hate all seaweed salads. Instead of being oil based like most iterations, it’s more mayonnaise/tahini/something else based and is really delicious. No seaweed salad is worth a trip on it’s own, but if you are there, make sure to give it a whirl. We ordered the soft-shell crab roll, which totally weirded out my mom (“it’s warm on the inside”). It’s good but not great. I wouldn’t put it at the level of grocery store sushi, but I could definitely get a comparable plate of soft-shell crab roll at Matuba or Sushi Sushi. Next we had the vegetable tempura, which was really great. We only got a half order, but wished we got the whole order. It is on the greasy side, but the crust is so light that you don’t even notice. All the veggies were well prepped—the asparagus was even peeled to ensure tenderness—so snaps to that. And extra points to Sushi-Ko for not putting gross eggplant on their tempura plate. I always think it’s a portobello mushroom and have to reset my gag reflex as soon as I bite in to it.
We also ordered the Tuna Five Ways, which gets tons of press for being the end all be all of sushi in the D.C. area. It was very good, but maybe I just don’t have a refined enough palate to really find it as transcendent as a lot of reviewers do. To me, all the tunas tasted about the same, albeit all very fresh and flavorful and silky. The last thing we ordered was the beef tenderloin tataki. I never would have thought to order this had it not been for the recommendations of various food publications, but boy am I glad we did. Per Wikipedia, tataki is a way to prep fish or meat where it is seared briefly, marinated in vinegar, sliced thin and seasoned with ginger. (Learning is fundamental!) Whatever it was, turned out pretty great. The beef was so flavorful and tender, that as someone who hardly orders red meat but goes out of her way to order sushi, I would without a doubt order this again. I go to dinner with guys a lot who say “ugh, why do girls always want to eat sushi for dinner? I’m never full, ughhh”. Apparently I know a lot of whiney guys. Anyways, gents, this is the dish to order when your girlfriend wants to have sushi for dinner. It’s filling and manly and really really tasty.
Sushi-Ko is great for a special dinner when you don’t want to spend a ton of money, but be forewarned that there is no separate lunch menu which means that prices are the same no matter the time of day. That being said, it can get pretty pricey (our lunch for two was well over $50), though we ordered enough food for maybe two and a half people. We should have brought over one of those five-year-olds to finish up for us, they were putting away eel rolls like they were going out of style. I guess that’s just the fishstick of the future.
