Tachibana - McLean

Located in the middle of NoVa strip mall hell, Tachibana looks like your typical suburban Japanese restaurant. The clientele is a mix of McLean locals and Japanese expats. A highlight is the broiled salmon collarbone, embedded with succulent pockets of crispy salmon flesh. The raw fish dishes were also consistent and fresh. The various maki rolls we ordered were all well made and filling. But, for me, the standout dish was the $11 Chirashi bowl, filled with several generous slices of sashimi. An absolute steal of a deal (and only available during lunch).

A great place to get sushi, especially for those in the McLean area. That its menu also has several off-beat Japanese dishes only makes it that much more appealing.

Temari Japanese Cafe - Rockville 4/30/2011

Temari Japanese Cafe is located in a small storefront in a strip mall on Rockville Pike, typically jam packed with Japanese people. Although it serves sushi, this place seems to cater to those looking for home cooked, Japanese comfort food, like ramen, curry, miso soup, and various broiled fish dishes. Generally, I found the food to be well made...food that is probably as well prepared as you can find in your typical Japanese household. The stars, for me, were the broiled fish dishes. The broiled mackeral was fantastic...a slightly charred and crispy skin covering moist, mildly salted flesh. The broiled salmon looked great as well. The ramen was solid, if nothing to feel rapture about, but the fish was truly memorable.