Toki Underground Stole This DC Foodies Heart
This past week marked the Grand Opening of Toki Underground, now located at 1234 H Street NE, Washington DC. Yet
a jam-packed weekend kept me from the goodness until Sunday (due to all the other exciting events I hit up – see my posts on the Cherry Blast III and Worn Magazine Issue 3 Launch Event for more fun deets). The quick conclusion - there is NO better way to top off a great weekend than recovering in a big steaming bowl of ramen! For the longer one, read on…
Tucked in a spot right above The Pug, Toki Underground is only noted by their blue logo on the door. If you don’t know what you are looking for it could easily be missed. Walk up the stairs into a space decked with skateboards, graffiti, creative lighting and Japanese pop culture – creating a very impressed vibe. Cute enough for girls to adore, yet cool enough that the guys want to be on the scene make it an all around win. There are 23 seats lined along the wall extending from the bar, but with no family style seating it might not be an ideal spot for extending your conversation beyond those to your left or right. Attention to detail of the layout is impressive, including skateboard decks as the foot rests in the bar style seating. In true Japanese compartmental nature, they’ve also included hooks right under the countertop in front of each seat. Erik Bruner-Yang, Owner and Chef, has clearly put a lot of thought and creativity into both the creation of his food and his restaurant.
On My Menu…
My evening delights began with the Masumi Vegetarian ramen – being a once broke college student the word ramen reminds me of stale salty water noodles, however this is far from it. Actually nothing about it resembles the ramen I know from those days. Served with tofu, a shiitake mushroom and other miscellaneous veggies, the broth was just the right burst of flavor and arrived steaming. Accompanied with a giant spoon I dug right in. Oh. My. Gosh. Just writing about it now makes me want to go at it again. Just a side note though: If you are on a date ladies and gents, please make sure you are comfortable slurping and sniffling because it’s one of those so good your nose runs meals! There’s really no way to eat it gracefully, but when it comes to food, I don’t care about anything else so it didn’t stop me from slurping gleefully!
Up next, the seafood dumplings – other choices include pork, beef, chicken, or vegetarian. Filled with ginger, garlic, scallions, napa cabbage, their secret house spice mixture, you can also choose from steamed or pan-fried. Choosing steamed, it arrived in its bamboo basket topped with just the right amount of sauce drizzled on top, preventing our tendency to over dip and mar his perfect creation!
As if I wasn’t full enough, I couldn’t walk away without having dessert. Baked to order, I chose the Chinese almond cookies which were served alongside an adorable ceramic milk
bottle. I’ve never had fresh-baked Chinese almond cookies before. WOW. It’s one of those “once you… you’ll never go back” moments, because I’m now forever scarred from store-bought cookies!
General Manager Scott Carder was accommodating, attentive and the perfect host. Chef Erik was kind enough to step away from his busy kitchen to greet lucky me! Excited to successfully make it through his grand opening weekend, he shared an overview of things to come. After the kitchen closes you can hang out at the bar, drink sake, mingle and bask in
Owner and Chef Erik Bruner-Yang
the glow of the creative lighting. I can’t wait to go back for after hours! Currently they do not take reservations – so you’ve been warned, if you really want to eat be prepared to wait! Chef Erik certainly doesn’t want to alienate people and feels it’s best to run on a first-come-first-served basis. Toki Underground also offers catering services as well as accepting private events at this venue during the week.
This is definitely my new favorite spot. I can’t wait to go back for the night scene… who’s coming with me??!
Learn more of their eats online and follow tweets @TokiUnderground.
Category: RESTAURANT EVENTS
[...] Toki Underground Grand Opening Weekend [...]
[...] night started at Toki Underground and for those of you that don’t know, I wrote a review of it back in April. This place is so good, it is ALWAYS busy, so I haven’t made my way over [...]