Sushi Damo

A few months ago, the Sous Chef and I attended a silent auction hosted by my school.  We bid on a few items (all food-related, go figure), and came out as the winning bidders on a couple of gift cards to local restaurants.  One of them, Sushi Damo, was in Rockville - a bit of a hike from where we live.  We'd never heard of it, but we love sushi, so we were happy to have won the gift certificate.

Lo and behold, I found a reason to go to Rockville this weekend:

Oh who am I kidding - I will do anything to make up a reason to go here!  Have you ever been to a Container Store?  If you're lucky enough to have one near where you live, you know how awesome it is.  I imagine that the first Container Store must have been started by a couple of OCD, Type A ADDers - you can find anything you might need to organize any space in any room of your house.  Of course this time of year it's bombarded by college students and teachers looking for the perfect storage systems for their rooms.  I, on the other hand, was looking for these:

Perfectly child-sized, perfectly easy to operate, perfectly color-coordinated bottles, to be used in my classroom as smelling bottles (two sets of bottles [one black, one white] with different scents in them - the children have to match the bottles by their smell).  I can't wait to use them this year!  I'd traveled to Container Store two different times and had found odd numbers - one black here, three whites there (which is ironic, since they are meant to be used as salt and pepper shakers - perhaps there are some other Montessori teachers with the same idea?).  I finally called the store and made sure they had the right types of bottles that I needed, and I convinced the Sous Chef that it would make for a great day trip - drop by the Container Store in the morning and then have a nice lunch at Sushi Damo with our gift certificate.

The restaurant is located on Maryland Avenue in Rockville, in Rockville Town Center - home to executive offices, judicial buildings, a courthouse, and a library, not to mention lots of restaurants, boutiques, and even a Color Me Mine pottery store.  I made a mental note to travel here again to check it out more thoroughly.

When we came upon the restaurant, we noticed that several tables outside were occupied - couples drinking wine, business people overgesticulating with their chopsticks to try to get their point across.  I was a little worried that the inside would be as busy as the outside, but it turned out I was completely wrong.  The inside was totally empty.  Big plus for me and the Sous Chef, since we hate crowds.  We were definitely on the tail end of the lunch hour, so maybe that's why it was so vacant.  The decor was nice - modern, clean, and inviting, with just a touch of pretense (we were in Rockville, after all):

We took a seat by the window and perused the menu.  Since we had a gift certificate to burn through, we both ordered cocktails.  I got a ginger-pear martini, and the Sous Chef ordered a mango martini.  They were both excellent - probably the best martinis I've ever had.  We sipped and we drooled - the menu was amazing!  We ordered from the Specials list, with one exception - the Negimaki:

This appetizer was fantastic!  Beef rolled around scallions in a pool of teriyaki sauce.  The beef was nicely caramelized, as were the scallions, and the teriyaki had a sweetness to it that complimented the savory components well.

Our next appetizer was one of the specials - the Mango Crab Tower:

Don't you love this presentation?!  The asparagus stalks were surrounding a mound of succulent crab salad with - wait for it - bacon bits in it.  So good!  Topping the tower were some slices of fresh mango and some yummy roe.  Usually I avoid roe but this was actually really good, and providing a nice burst of salty freshness that cut nicely through the crab.  The sauce was spectacular - we guessed it was a combination of pureed mango, mayonnaise, and Sriracha hot sauce.

After the two fabulous appetizers, we couldn't wait to see how the sushi rolls turned out.  Try to imagine what our faces looked like when we were presented with this:

The roll on the left was called the "Twilight" - possibly to hook teenaged vampire fans?  I'm not sure where the name came from, but it was delicious!  Shitaki mushrooms and tempura shrimp with - get this - potato chips infused with seaweed on top!  The mushrooms were nice and smoky, and the potato chips gave it a nice crunch.  The roll on the right was called "Breakfast at Tiffany's".  With one bite, I could see why - it was like a breakfast buffet in your mouth!  Smoked salmon, scrambled egg, cream cheese and bacon dressing, and corn flakes and chives on top.  Not your everyday sushi roll, but that's what I liked about it - the chef thought outside the (cereal) box with this one.

We finished our meal with one more martini - the lychee martini, to be exact (don't judge me - who cares if it was 2 o'clock on a Friday?  I've only got one more week of summer vacation and I'm going to enjoy it!).  I love lychees, but I have to admit that the cocktail was a bit weird.  I have an aversion to chunks of material floating around in my drinks, and because this was made with real lychees, the chunks were abundant.  The overall taste was nice, though.

This turned out to be a truly excellent trip - I discovered a new place to explore, and I found a yummy new restaurant.  What more could you ask for from a school auction?

Have you accidentally come across a restaurant that subsequently became a favorite?  How far are you willing to travel for a good meal?