Does Kushi Fulfill My Izakaya-Nostalgia?

I love the traditional Japanese izakaya with its the loud, raucous and casual atmosphere that's easy on the wallet. It's a drinking establishment with a wide variety of small plates and the smell of grilled yakitori in the air. It's not a fancy place, but one where you head with a group of friends to drink cold nama-biru or shochu and unwind. I spent countless nights in izakakyas in Japan, and my nostalgia runs deep.
The old Sushi Taro was a passable replacement, but after its renovation and reincarnation, DC has truly lacked a casual Japanese restaurant that fully embraces the izakaya-feel.

Along comes Kushi. http://eatkushi.tumblr.com/

Kobachi - Small Plates

Kimchee. The spicy pickled cabbage is a nice foil to any of the grilled items found under the Robata or Kushiyaki sections.

Japanese potato salad. Carrots, celery, ham, potato and a creamier texture than its American counterpart. The Japanese mayonnaise is tangier and sweeter too.

Robata - charcoal grill

Grilled Hamaguri clam. Placed on the robata (the charcoal grill), the fresh bivalve's shell is grilled, which imparts a smokiness to the clam. Delicious with a spritz of fresh lemon juice. Grilled oysters are also excellent.

Grilled asparagus. Ok, but I prefer the more traditional izakaya staple: aspara-bacon. Aspara-bacon yakitori is grilled skewers of bacon-wrapped green asparagus spears.

Grilled Japanese eggplant. Japanese eggplant is thinner in shape, has a thinner skin, and a more sweet and delicate flavor than other eggplant varieties. The skin has been scored and there was a heavy hand with the salt. Slightly smokey and delicious.

Kushiyaki

Chicken breast with ume (plum) sauce and shiso (perilla). This is reminiscent of sasame yakitori, where chicken breast tenders are skewered and grilled, then topped with a sour ume sauce and shiso leaf chiffonade. This version's meat was too dry and the ume-shiso topping lacked the sour-herbal punch.

Kashiwa, Negima (breast with scallion) and liver. You're asked if you'd like shio or tare (salt or dipping sauce) with these grilled skewers. If the quality of the meat is good, opt for shio. They were out of the more interesting option, nankotsu (soft bone). These were good, but at $4-5 per skewer, they were a little pricier than at my favorite izakayas in Japan.

Sushi

Sushi really depends on the flavoring of the rice with seasoned rice vinegar. Too often, the rice is too hard or underseasoned. Another problem is when the slice of fish on a piece of nigiri sushi is mammoth. If it's a two-bit nigiri, it's too big. Kushi's sushi is much more authentic, in size and flavor to me, than many other places in DC.

Engawa (fluke fin) and inari (fried tofu skin stuffed with rice).

Ume-shiso maki, salmon maki and unagi nigiri. Delicious.
***

Kushi is a fun place to go when I'm craving Japanese food. It has enough options to satisfy most sushi, yakitori and sake fans. The restaurant has some nice touches, like the noren you walk through to enter the restaurant, the chefs in hapi coats, and the oshibori (hot towels) they bring to you at the start to wash your hands with. However, it's very easy to run up a very large bill here, which doesn't gel with my izakaya memories from Japan. Despite the higher prices, the atmosphere is energetic and there are a lot of lovely items on the menu that keep me coming back...and it's definitely less expensive than the airfare back to Japan.