cafe asia

café asia
1720 i street NW, washington, dc 20006
tel: 202) 659-2696
hours of operation: sun-thu 11:30 am-11 pm; fri-sat noon-midnight
1550 wilson blvd. arlington, va 22209
tel: 703) 741-0870
hours of operation: mon-thu 11:30 am-11 pm; fri 11:30 am-midnight; sat-sun noon-midnight
happy hour: $2 beers on tap, half price sake, $1 nigiri sushi, discounts on other rolls

what was consumed: sushi; beer; happy hour – mon-fri 4:30-7:30pm

i miss the plethora of sushi eating opportunities that befell me while living abroad and on the west coast of the US. there are certainly a number of different places in the dc/metro area, but one that i’ve frequented the most is café asia. for one reason or another, we come to café asia a lot (though there are 2 locations, i’ve only been to the one in dc. the one in arlington is close to where i work (as of 12/27/06), but since i don’t hang out here in clarendon all that much, i’ve never been there. i imagine it’s pretty much the same as the location in dc). some people say that café asia’s sushi isn’t that good, but i happen to be quite fond of the wide variety of rolls and other eats. granted, the nice happy hour special makes it more of an appeal for me. if not anything else, when craving sushi, café asia offers mass quantities at an affordable price. and more often than not, i leave café asia feeling quite good – stomach is full of sushi, beer, and sake. what more could a lovely lovely lady want? ^_~

*an edit of addition*

at cafe asia, i've also found this really great noodle dish (i've had it both at the rosslyn site as well as the dc site. both are delicious). i remember having something similar to it the first time i went to my friend's, jan, house way back in intermediate school. at cafe asia, it's called "bun" and it comes with either friend spring rolls or lemongrass chicken (i usually get both). it's pretty much a cold rice noodle with lots of veggies (carrots, lettuce, mint, etc.) with the rolls/chicken on top. it comes with a bowl of room temperature fish sauce/soup that you pour into the dish, as much (or as little) as you'd like. point is, it's taken me over a decade (omg, i can't believe i can say that!) to find this and now that i have, i eat it every time i go to cafe asia. i can't wait to have it again ... i wonder how it's made. point is, it's totally delicious!

online: http://www.cafeasia.com/