Food Review of Daikaya in Chinatown

A triumvirate of prominent DC restaurateurs has joined forces to create a Japanese restaurant unlikeany other in our area. Sushiko’s Daisuke Utagawa,

Marvin’s Yama Jewayni and Head Chef Katsuya Fukushima (who was one of the chefs who opened Minibar and served 15 years with Jose Andres’ Think Food Group) have partnered to bring you Daikaya. On the first floor is a thriving Sapporo-style ramen joint that has been packed full with diners on all three of my visits. Stacked on top of that is an izakaya restaurant serving unique and innovative dishes with a hot-spot bar scene.

I am quickly approaching “regular status” at Daikaya’s ramen kitchen. What they serve is light years away from the freeze dried ramen you ate as a poor college student. They take great care in creating a perfectly balance bowl for each customer. The end result is a delicious and satisfying meal all in itself. The noodles are specially made in Sapporo, Japan to the chef’s specifications and aged before they are shipped to the restaurant. There are four types of soup stock to choose from, including a vegan option. I usually go for Shoyu stock which uses a “dark rich soy sauce”. My favorite part is the nitamago, which is a soft boiled egg that they have marinated in soy and ramen stock. It melts in your mouth when you eat it. You can also order add-ons like braised pork belly. Be warned. This soup is very, very addictive.

On my most recent visit I went upstairs and tried the newly opened izakaya restaurant. The lighting was dim and the décor was exotic and luxurious. The bar dominated the room and the bottles of sake and liquor seemed to glow in the background. Me and a buddy of mine were greeted by friendly and exceedingly skilled bartenders and were offered Japanese magazines. I was a bit confused at first as I don’t read a lick of Japanese, but I quickly came to find that menu was stapled a few pages deep into the magazine. It was broken into categories such as grilled dishes and fried dishes… but I was very intrigued by a section dedicated to “Unique Dishes”. Knowing Chef Fukushima background with Minibar I quickly gravitated to this section.

I started off with a cocktail and my buddy Mark Bryan, who is our resident beer expert, dove into some unique Japanese beers. You can read his review of Daikaya’s beer selection here. The cocktail I tried was “Of Hearth and Home”. It’s a concoction of Redemption Rye, and several other components – one of them being Zucca (which is a bitter sweet liqueur made from rhubarb). The bartender set an ashtray on the bar and lit a star anise seed ablaze before dropping it in the drink. The drink was well balanced and delicious. I tried a few cocktails through the course of the meal and was impressed with what they created.

Of Hearth and Home drink

We started the meal off with the Cucumber Salad. It was well seasoned with a layer of garlic chips, ground sesame seeds and chili threads. The crunchy cucumber slices rest in thin puddle of rayu (hot chili infused sesame oil) and soy vinaigrette. It is a light and refreshing dish.

Cucumber Salad

Next the server produced an earthenware bowl with pungent cloves of Fried Garlic. The outside had a crispy texture while the inside was soft, almost molten. There is an interesting cooking process behind this dish. The cloves are first confit with scallions and then removed from the oil and frozen. The next step is to take the frozen cloves, dust them with potato starch and then deep fry them. Finally they are garnished with thin slices of pickled garlic and accompanied by a smaller bowl of bright and salty kimchee-miso. It is listed under the “Unique Dishes” section on the menu. It was so good we ordered a second helping of it.

Fried Garlic

The blistered Shishito peppers came out with a nice char on them and a thin coating of gouda cheese. I was skeptical at first but the combination made sense because roughly one in every eight Shishito pepper packs a load of heat. The protein in the cheese bonds to the pepper’s oil and cools your tongue. It was served with a lemon wedge coated with Togarashi, which is a Japanese condiment often served with izakaya dishes.

Shishito peppers

I’m a huge oyster fan and I loved Daikaya’s take on Grilled Oysters. The oysters were basically served raw, but they were grilled just enough to warm them and make the shell pop open – just like they do in low country oyster roasts. The kitchen introduces some sake as well as “oyster salt” into the shell to mix with the oyster’s natural liquor. When it is served you simply pop off the top shell and slurp down the warm, velvety, briny oyster. Absolutely delicious!

Ramen

Grilled Oysters

Daikaya is great spot to have a satisfying bowl of ramen, sample some innovative izakaya or knock back some tasty beers and drinks. It is located at 705 6th Street NW directly behind the Verizon Center.

Ramen

Happy eating!