Our Picks

We traveled in 2016 with a pair of 16 year-olds.  A few thoughts about sushi in Tokyo:  

If you go to the Tsukiji fish market area, be prepared for a European experience with hawkers trying to lure you into their stalls for sushi.  It's okay, but you may get the crappy cuts that seem to be reserved for foreigners.  Still a must-do and there are plenty of good items, just make sure you eat where you want to eat and not at one of the nondescript interior stalls.

In Ginza, we found what was supposed to be the ONE rotating sushi bar in all of Ginza, Numazuko Sushi Bar. (https://www.numazuko-bar.com/) It's on the 4th or 5th floor of a building on one of the main drags and we had two outstanding meals there.  We were the only non-Japanese but there was English on the menu and there are plenty of apps to help you with fish names anyhow.   Everything was fresh and with the rotating bar, there is no chance that you are going to get served the apprentice's cuts.  One night the server was a little slow to ask us about alcohol and the 2 adults rolled out stuffed, without booze, for $30.  

We stayed at a Ryokan in Kyoto on one splurge night and they set us up with an insanely good kaiseki restaurant; the kids had shabu shabu with local Ome beef (think Kobe but in the Kyoto locale, it is supposed to be even more marbled than Kobe) while we grazed our way through course after course of little gems consisting of Ome beef or impeccably fresh fish, often with interesting accompaniments.  The advice we'd gotten was to wait for Kyoto or Osaka to go all out on a meal; the value is better there. 

If I was going to Japan without the younger one we took with us, definitely Ryokan experience that was more romantic than what we did.  A higher end sushi than we did and at least a couple more fine dining experiences.  

I respect every point you make, and actually agree with all of your premises.

But I fail to see how they apply to Mr Dylan. Dylan (and I wish he'd chosen another stage name, such as Zimmerman (unlikely) or Jones (if he kept the Dylan forename; it would be very Welsh, don't you see ( like one of his namesakes, the Welsh poet,  inexplicably revered). Dylan remains a vital,  productive performer, unlike the performers you undboubtedly have in mind, although I have no idea why., in spite of the vocal deficits almost everyone observed,  Dylan remains not merely productive but has made himself the richest musician/lyricist in the world if not in human terms then, surpassing even Herbert von Karajan, the aged former Nazi who at the time,of his death was worth a cool zillion. Even in your premises, that should be worth something).

There were pro-77 representatives going door-to-door in our neighborhood on Sunday, and I was willing to hear them out because like many here I don't actually *know* what the good arguments are for this proposal from the service side.  I opened with "We have several friends and acquaintances who are servers are bartenders, and they have all spoken out against this, so we are inclined to vote "No" right now".  She thanked me for my time and walked away.  There wasn't even an attempt to make their case once they knew we were somewhat knowledgeable about this.

A small freeverse to Chinese KFC and Chinese Walmart respectively:

My uncle's wife and her friend were in town for a visit and wanted to meet up with @MichaelBDC and me for dinner. They requested sushi but our #1 place, Sushi Ogawa, was booked and not knowing their budget, we decided not to push our luck with Sushi Taro. I ended up booking Sushi Gakyu after reading Tim Carman's review in the Washington Post. I used to walk by there everyday when I worked in the area, almost willing it to open, so I was very excited to finally be able to check the place out. 

Three of us enjoyed Chloe for an early dinner a couple of weeks ago. Two of us had been before, shortly after the restaurant opened in January, and we'd been waiting for the opportunity for a return visit. If you read no further, I'll simply say the restaurant has only gotten better. The food and service were simply outstanding. This must be one of DC's best spots.