Yo Yo Momoyama

I have a new found love: sushi.

So brand new that I have only eaten sushi 3 times in my life. Hated it the first time, and in typical 80p fashion, placed raw fish on the back-burner for 5 years. Why eat something I knew I hated?

Well a couple of weeks back, Gansie and I met a friend for happy hour at a pan-Asian, fusiony type place. I took my rightful place at the table by ordering some salmon teriyaki while the others checked off which rolls they liked. But then a funny thing happened, I tried one piece of yellowtail. Then another, and another, until I was asking if I could have the last piece.

This brings me to last week, when Gansie and I were planning for dinner. I happened to be reading JoeHoya’s blog, Capital Spice, and caught his review of a small, unknown sushi place on the Hill, Momoyama. If you think that this post will be a review, you are sorely mistaken. I know nothing about sushi — couldn’t tell you if I was eating a dollar roll, or Japan’s finest. I advise you all to read JoeHoya’s account for accuracy’s sake.

First things first, it took us 10 minutes to find this place, and we have a combined 16 years of DC experience (man, that statistic does NOT make me feel young). It’s on 2nd street, which looks like an alley and is about one block long. Momoyama itself is a row house that backs into an office building and faces a 30 foot high grey concrete wall. Sunset views are lacking here. But it adds to the impression that this is your little secret. Anyways,”review” after the jump.

I will say that some of the rolls were falling apart a little (which I assume is not a good thing). But I will give them the benefit of the doubt since it turns out they were hosting a private party in the main room. So expecting an empty restaurant, Ganisie and I were a little shocked to find 35 people packed upon entering. The staff was nice enough to seat us upstairs. As it turns out, we ended up being the only diners there the whole night. So while usually I am too much of a wuss to bring my camera or take good pics during dinner, this time I had all the time and space I could want:

We started with some edamame (not to mention the free cold sake — available on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights!!), then split 4 rolls. Some spicy tuna, yellowtail with asparagus, eel, and fried shrimp. Guess who chose that last one?

They all tasted great to me, but again, I know more about the velocity of an African swallow than sushi. Overall, if you live on the Hill, or just work there, I’d highly recommend giving Momoyama a chance, if you can find it.