I decided to go to New Orleans I wanted from a long time ago.

As usual, I went to Baltimore by shuttle bus early in the morning.




This shuttle bus picks me up at home so it's very convenient. I wish I could have such a service in Japan, but I guess it will not be realized by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation and pressure of the taxi organization.

I went to Louis Armstrong Airport from Baltimore by the Spirits Airlines.













It was a fixed chair that could not even recline, but it's o.k. because it's cheap.




Only $50.

And I arrived at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in about a couple of hours.










Americans love to name the famous celebrities at the airport. I understand Reagan and Kennedy and others, but I feel that American people are broad-minded because they put the name of a jazz performer. Speaking in Japan, it is something like Chitose Airport named "Nakajima Miyuki International Airport". I like this idea. I think that it would be good if such a good culture of the United States should be adopted steadily to Japan.

But of course it is annoying to have Shinzo Abe airport in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

From the airport, took the E2 bus to the side of the city center. It took about two hours, two dollars.




The way of transportation is mainly on foot or trolley.




I heard that people had seemed to build a city in the middle of a swamp. But I actually came, modern buildings stood side by side, while at the same time old city streets were also left, and it became a big city. It was about 20 times bigger than I thought.

Whenever I said "I am professional reviewer of ramen in Japan, almost people ask me "Where is the most delicious ramen shop in Washington, D.C.?"

I always answer "Daika-ya".

"How about the Jinya?"
"Have you ever eaten Ren's Ramen?"
"Have you already eaten a newly shop "Hanabi"?"

They ask me.

Of course Daikaya is the final answers after eating them all.

Almost ramen shops in DC is different kind each other. And food preferences vary from person to person. Somebody may say other shop is better than Daikaya. However, from a professional point of view, Daikaya is definitely the best.

Ramen can be roughly divided into 4 types. They are "Hokkaido", "Kyusyu", "Chinese(including "Tokyo"), and "Tokyo-Tonkotsu". Daikaya is Hokkaido type.

Today I ate Shoyu(Soy sauce) and Spicy Miso.

Shoyu



Spicy Miso



The greatest feature of this shop is noodles. Daikaya uses noodles from Nishiyama. Nishiyama is one of the Sapporo's 3 great noodle companies(Nishiyama, Kobayashi, and Morizumi). Even though a ramen shop use good noodles, if they don't cook them very well, they can spoil the precious noodles. But Daikaya seems to handle properly. I could not feel any problems. It is comparable to the noodles in Tokyo or Hokkaido.

About soup. I suppose this shop make broth from pork bone. They put it into Chinese pot. And also put some vegetables, pork, and lard. After all, stir them at once. This method is how to make a traditional and authentic Hokkaido ramen soup. I don't feel that is arranged in the US style.

Spicy Miso, I felt a little salty too much, but I can enjoy it. On the other hand, Shoyu has a few minus points. I felt a bit of bitterness. I don't know it causes either from soy sauce or from burned lard. And the taste is a little blurred because of too much lard. Totally saying, I can't find any major disadvantage.

Chashu(topping, grilled pork) is not impressive. I suppose they are not particular about Chashu. But it is not bad at all.

Score
Shoyu
noodle:A
soup:B
chashu:B
Point:6/10

Spicy Miso
noodle:A
soup:A
chashu:B
Point:9/10










Daikaya
705 6th St NW
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 589-1600

I always go to Capital Grille every "Restaurant Week" in DC, and of course I went to the restaurant today. Although this steak restaurant is in a neat atmosphere, it is not so expensive. I think it can be used easily.

However, we can buy good meat at low price in the US, I used to buy meat at a market and cook myself. That's why I am satisfied if I go to steak restaurant at least once in a few month, and I go to this great restaurant at the "Restaurant Week" only. But on the contrary, I definitely go to there every "Restaurant Week".

During the Restaurant Week, we basically choose order from a dedicated menu.




In addition, I ordered Onion Soup.

























I alway say " From the viewpoint of food culture, Japanese people have few learn from Americans". But meat dishes are the only one exception.Especially they are persnickety about beef. If you want to eat delicious food in the US, you (not only Japanese but everyone except vegetarians) should think about steak first.

The steak at this restaurant was, of course, satisfactory. Fillet Mignon has little seasoning and no
sauce, so we need to use salt and pepper as we like.

Salad, soup, main, dessert are all delicious and staff are also wonderful. The next Restaurant week, I will definitely go to the restaurant. I can recommend when your friend come to visit DC.

Capital Grille
5310 Western Ave
Chevy Chase, MD 20815
(301) 718-7812

We have events called "Restaurant Week" several times in a year in Washington, D.C..

During this period we can enjoy the same price of event menu at the restaurants where entry the event. Some restaurants are worth to visit, but there are restaurants that do not change much as usual. Basically they are thinking that "Once you come to eat, if you like, come on a regular basis.".

Although I came to DC for less than two years, I have never eaten a delicious sushi, but since it is a restaurant weak at the time, I went to "Sushi Taro" which is often said to be the most delicious at DC.




This is a Dinner Menu of Restaurant Week.




Since we went by two people, we tried ordering with variations.

Appetizer
yellowtail carpacio & salmon tartare



Warm Dish
grilled black cod & portabello with miso,served on hot iron cast



wild prawn & vegetable tempura



Sushi
special 4





















Japanese 5 and additional roll "spicy spider"



dessert
mochi ice cream / black sesame



To be honest, I did not expect much, but it was delicious unexpectedly. The appetizer has a strong seasoning of salmon, which is not balanced with yellowtail. The codfish of warm dish did not fit at all with cauliflower. Because the miso taste was very strong, I could not understand the taste of the fish well. Tempura is OK.

Sushi, in particular, the lean of tuna was a reasonable level.

Salmon is not good. Salmon is originally a fish with a strong smell. Because it is caught a lot in the United States, they can easily it as sushi material. But it is very difficult fish as a sushi. It needs a lot of techniques to eat comfortably.

If we eat salmon as raw, it will be a luxury shop, a public sushi, or in the United States, wherever we eat,
it is not good very much. We had better bake salmon and eat it.

The sweet shrimp was pretty good. Sea urchin was also better than I thought. Of course, there was no blue-skin fish (such as whitebait, anchovies, sardines) which is very familiar to Japanese. I felt quite unsatisfactory but they are Japanese specific and I have to understand.

The wasabi was too hot because it was not a Japanese original Hon-Wasabi but an artificial wasabi past, and it was not useful. Shari (rice) was a vinegared rice with little sweetness. The taste is no problem, but I felt that there was a slight unevenness in the hand grip.

Totally saying, the level is higher than at least Conveyor belt sushi in Japan.

We added one additional roll. The payment was about 50 dollars per person (w chip).

It is around 5500 yen in Japanese yen. However, considering that the ramen is about 15 dollars (about 1650 yen) in Washington, D.C., in Japan, Sushi Taro's payment is just under 3000 yen. Well, it is such a level, so when we want to eat sushi at DC, coming here is going to be one of the options.

This is my best among sushi restaurants that I have eaten in the US. However, it is normal if we are in Ja
pan.

Sushi Taro
1503 17th St NW
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 462-8999

I went to ZAYTINYA near Gallery Place station after a long absence. This was my second visiting. We can enjoy Greek, Turkish and Lebanese cuisine at this restaurant.

Since we went for lunch at two people, we ordered two lunch courses. Choose one from four different dishes for each of the three categories, and choose one dessert out of the two. Price is $ 25 (w/o chip).


































Every dish was quite an enough quantity, at the second dish I almost full. It is hard for Japanese to adjust to the size of an American stomach. I tried hard and got to dessert.

Although this is the first time I ate, I felt every dishes were very familiar to me. I could eat without any resistance. They were all very delicious.

When I came before I felt it was pretty delicious, but this time I was overwriting my memory. This is a restaurant I want to come once every one or two months.

The atmosphere in the restaurant is very fashionable and we can enjoy our lunch or dinner comfortably. It is one of the restaurant that I can recommend safely to acquaintances.

ZAYTINYA
701 9th St NW
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 638-0800

I came again to NGA's "VERMEER and the MASTERS of GENRE PAINTING" that I came yesterday. I came for the first time yesterday, and today was the last day, so I watched it for two days.

Today I decided to come from the morning. I came in the evening yesterday, I did not find a line at all, so I came just before NGA opened.

Although about 10 enthusiastic people were already lined up. But in Japan, it is not thinkable. I suppose that about thousands people will be lined up in Japan and we have to wait 4,5 hours.

Well, this uncrowded situation may be good. This is welcome for art fan in the US.




I was waiting for a while because I came around 9:50 at the opening at 10 o'clock but it does not open even a little waiting. I checked my watch and found it is at 10:02.

Ummmm?

No matter how much Americans loose on time, this is absolutely strange.Everyone was chatting without complaining.

I thought it was strange. I examined the NGA's web site, I noticed today it will open at 11:00. It seems that today is Sunday and an opening one hour later than usual.

Because I was dirty, I have to wait an hour with enthusiastic art fans.

About 10:40, NGA was kind enough to let us enter.

However, just checking the baggage and inviting us inside the museum, the exhibition room is to be opened properly at 11 o'clock. We waited about 15 minutes, and after that it was opened.

Since I was previewing the exhibition yesterday, the situation is perfectly understood. I went in quickly and photographed the works to take a picture quickly.

















































I returned to the start after taking pictures all the way, I found it was quite a lot of people, but it was a common sense range. I looked around slowly and enjoyed Vermeer enough. Paints can be understood well when shot with a macro lens, they hurt seriously. I supposed it will be hard to bring them out overseas.

The following is not a paint by Vermeer, but "Man Writing a Letter" by Gabriel Metsu. I thought it seemed better to have the title "Woman Writing a Letter".




When I finished to look at the exhibition slowly and went out of the room, I found a very very long line. Probably over 1,000 people were waiting. I was lucky enough to mistake the time.

I went to OKI bowl on the north side of Georgetown. I knew this shop from before, but the lineup of the menu is quite strange for Japanese, that why I have not eat.










First I tried eating CURRY RAMEN.




Noodles are medium sized, square type with cuts. It is very weakly wavy. I will not say it is very soft, but I can not say that there is "Koshi". The feeling of eating is bad, and the evaluation is low as ramen noodles.

Soup is a spicy type with green curry flavor. Thai curry-like taste is good, but the base soup is not good, so it has a taste like thinning with coconut milk. It may be delicious if I drink it as a soup, but it is not strong enough to make us enjoy noodles.

It don't have chashu pork,I don't evaluate it. Somehow fried noodles were topped, but this one was not delicious.

Next I tried eating TOM YUM RAMEN. Very big fried shrimp is topped. It looks great.




Noodle is the same as CURRY RAMEN and not very good quality.

The soup is thinner than the CURRY RAMEN, and it don't have power to eat noodle. Sour taste appeared and I can not feel charm as ramen.

For both CURRY and TOM YUM, the evaluation are 1 / CC-.

Among the low evaluations there are clearly upper and lower, clearly the CURRY RAMEN is better. It may be able to be evaluated as a version of Thai cuisine, perhaps it may be good for Thai people, but I can not recommend it for Japanese people at all.




OKI bowl
1608 Wisconsin Ave NW
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 944-8660