Chilling out to the trancey vibe of Thievery Corporation’s “Samba Tranquille” while grazing on tuna tartare and sipping gin on the rocks is a fine way to ease into an evening at Yume Sushi, which chef and co-owner Saran “Peter” Kannasute opened in East Falls Church in late December.
The tartare—barely seared cubes of tuna tossed with avocado, soy sauce and garlic-laced ponzu—is a good rendition of that dish, made great by the Japanese wasabi-seaweed crackers that accompany it. The Roku gin is Japanese, too. Yume means “dream” in Japanese, and if I go on first impressions, this might be a heavenly experience.
A seat at the sushi counter offers a close-up view of the stunning mural by D.C. artist Nicolette Capuano that serves as the restaurant’s backdrop. Titled “Grit and Grace,” it depicts white origami birds and streaks of graffiti circling the haunting face of a geisha with cherry-red lips. She’s glancing down with an over-the-shoulder look that’s part allure and part side-eye. Moody lighting underneath the bar is the same color as her lips, while the rest of the space has a minimalist palette—black pendant lamps; blond wood; white leather barstools and white molded-plastic bucket chairs.
The 13-seat sushi bar is also a prime spot for spectators. There, you can watch Kannasute in action as he prepares a seven-course omakase (chef’s choice) meal for four diners at the end of the counter. There are two omakase seatings nightly.
Kannasute grew up in Bangkok, where his parents were in the restaurant business. Setting a goal to one day open his own restaurant, he came to the United States at 19 and landed in Florida, learning about sushi while working for RA Sushi, a chain owned by Benihana. Now, at 39, his résumé also includes stints at Sushi Rock in
Arlington and as the opening chef at the
Sushi Bar in Del Ray.
At Yume, Kannasute’s menu begins with a list of some 20 tastes and starters. A simple salad of pickled cucumbers sprinkled with sesame seeds is a lovely, crunchy snack that preps the taste buds. So does a clear bowl of avocado salad, lightly coated with miso dressing and topped with bright orange roe and a tangle of glass noodles.
Moving on to the main attraction—raw seafood—one begins to notice themes. Kannasute likes to roll pieces of fish, often sliced too thick, into rosettes. He is partial to dotting his creations with truffle oil and caviarlike pearls of balsamic vinegar. His palate errs on the side of sweetness, and he tends to recycle the same sauces. His garlic-ponzu and spicy yuzu sauces make frequent appearances. The presentations are pretty, but after a while there’s a sameness to the flavors. A rosette of lavender-smoked salmon proves too big and too oily to down gracefully, and it certainly doesn’t need both jalapeño and garlic-ponzu sauce. Another rosette—this time yellowtail tuna—also suffers from size issues, especially when you include its ring of raw jalapeño.
A concoction called The Winner (it earned Kannasute an award in 2006) finds a tower of rice, foie gras and eel, topped with a rosette of seared tuna and caviar. It’s as much of an unwieldy mishmash as it sounds.
The same issues afflict the two signature rolls I tried—the Yu-Me roll (spicy tuna, avocado, seared tuna) and the creamy raw scallop roll with spicy tuna and asparagus. Both are exercises in overkill, with conglomerations of sauces that mask the freshness of the fish.
If cream cheese, flavored mayonnaises and sweet eel sauce are your thing, have at it. Otherwise, turn to the sashimi and nigiri options, which are available either à la carte or as platters.
A colorful array of sashimi on an elegant slate delivers the restraint I yearn for. The offerings include buttery slices of fatty tuna and salmon belly; Kona kampachi (Hawaiian amberjack); monkfish paté topped with salmon roe; a quail egg shooter; hiramasa (yellowtail amberjack); madai (red sea bream) with Japanese plum; kinmedai (golden eye snapper); seared tuna; poached octopus; lavender-smoked salmon; and two kinds of uni (sea urchin roe) nestled in a lemon cup. Through a local distributor, the restaurant gets much of its fish from Japan.
That Kannasute is engaging and amiable is a selling point for the omakase experience, but I found myself wishing the seven courses included more pristine pieces of sashimi and nigiri instead of everything coming with sauces, drizzles and gimmicky garnishes. If only those shimmering slices of yellowtail had been minimally dressed with vinegar and then left alone, sans the addition of wasabi truffle oil, chili paste and balsamic pearls.
The chef’s artfully torched slices of raw, vaguely sweet Hokkaido scallops taste as if they have just been plucked from the sea. They aren’t hurt by the addition of miso garlic, white-truffle-oil-sake sauce, red tobiko and pepper powder, but why not remove four of those things and approach nirvana?
I don’t mind a course of angel hair pasta topped with uni and garlic miso. The plate that comes next—seared slices of duck breast in black pepper sauce with Japanese garlic, sesame vinegar and foie gras—is certainly tasty but almost too rich. The ice cream sandwich that arrives for dessert, a choice of green-tea or ginger ice cream between two cakey sweet buns, is light by comparison.
If you order discerningly at Yume—meaning sashimi or nigiri—the place can be the stuff of sushi dreams. Veer from that advice and you’re in for a bumpy night.
Yume Sushi
2121 N. Westmoreland St., Arlington | 703-269-5064 | yumesushiva.com
HOURS
Tuesday and Wednesday: 4 to 10 p.m.
Thursday: 4 to 11 p.m.
Friday: 4 p.m. to midnight
Saturday: Noon to midnight
Sunday: Noon to 10 p.m.
PARKING
Parking garage next door
PRICES
Starters: $4 to $15
Signature rolls: $8 to $9
Nigiri/sashimi: $3 to $7 apiece
Sashimi dinner: $45
Nigiri dinner: $35
Seven-course omakase: $85 per person
Dessert: $7
What to Drink
Sake is the way to go here. There are 42 offerings, mostly from California and Oregon, ranging in price from $12 to $30 for 300 ml bottles and $17 to $42 for 720 ml. If you want to splurge, try the Shirakabe Gura Junmai Daiginjo ($70 for 640 ml) or the Murai Junmai Daiginjo ($99 for 720 ml), both from Japan.
If you’re into sweet cocktails, by all means try a Blueberry Saketini or a Green Warrior (sake, vodka, Midori, yuzu). But in my opinion the Skinny Gin (gin, lime juice, sugar syrup, cucumber) is a more refreshing option, particularly for summer.
On the wine front, there are two bottles each of red and white offered and one rosé. California’s Josh Cellars provides three of them: a cabernet, a chardonnay and the rosé. The chardonnay ($7 glass/$24 bottle) is crispy, oaky and buttery and perfectly serviceable for sushi, as is a Ferrari-Carano sauvignon blanc ($9/$29) if you’re looking for something a little subtler.