Usually when I come home to MD I have a few key staple restaurants I go to. One of my favorite experiences is getting sushi at Tachibana. I almost never miss out on going to lunch there when I come back to MD. But this time I came home, my mom suggested trying out a new place that actually isn't too far from Tachibana. I'm always game to try new things so I said "Let's go!" My mom said that she had to make a reservation which I thought was a bit extreme since it was lunch on Wednesday afternoon. But I'm glad that she did because when we got there, they were basically pretty full and those who came without a reservation were left waiting for a bit.
The place is pretty tiny, about 9-10 tables total and about 6 seats at the sushi bar. The menu is on the border of traditional and one of those Americanized places that has freakin cream cheese in their special rolls. I usually hate places that have weird ingredients like mango or cream cheese but they did have a very good line-up of traditional, more pure rolls. My mom got the chirashi ($12.95) and I got the sashimi lunch ($13.95) and then I also ordered a spicy crunchy scallop roll with avocado ($5.30). I know I always say this when I leave NYC, but my god, the prices here are so freaking reasonable, I almost wanted to cry. The lunch specials came with soup and salad (love that you get both and don't have to choose between the two). The soup and salad are your basic sushi miso soup and green salad with carrot ginger dressing. It's hard to get them wrong and they were perfectly fine here. They served the scallop roll first which was great because I was starving and couldn't wait for all the food to come out at once. I get that that a spicy crunchy roll isn't the most "pure" of rolls but I do need a little something with my rolls and I usually stick to simple ingredients like an avocado or cucumber. This type of spicy roll is the kind with whole chunks of scallop with a small amount of crunch and heat. It was amazing. The scallop was super fresh and it came with the perfect amount of rice (I hate rolls that have too much rice - there should be just enough to hold the roll together but I shouldn't feel like I'm eating a rice dish instead). The roll almost made me wished that I had ordered more rolls, but as soon as my sashimi came out, I was glad I didn't order anymore food. For $13.95, there was 12 pieces of all kinds of different fish (salmon, tuna, yellowtail, white tuna, squid, seared tuna and seared salmon). It was so incredibly fresh and everything was melt in your mouth. I usually don't like squid sashimi but even this one was pretty damn good (crunchy but still tender). But the surprising dish of the afternoon was the chirashi. Usually this dish is just sashimi served on a bed of seasoned rice. But here, they actually serve the raw fish on the side and the star of the dish is the HUGE bed of rice served with tons of "toppings" (as my mom calls it). It's covered with the sweet egg, cooked pieces of tuna, lotus root, seaweed, and other vegetables. It was quite a lovely dish to look at and I was shocked that all that food was $12.95 and a lunch size portion.
I left lunch thoroughly full and ready for a nap. I was thrilled to have tried a new place but now my hometown sushi love is split between this place and Tachibana. Oh well, there are worst struggles in life, right? But the best part of this meal? The total bill with tax was $34 for two people, which is such a crazy deal for all the amazing fresh fish. I am definitely putting this on my home restaurant visit rotation.
Photo Credit: Yelp
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