| Ariake
Japanese: |
| Soo
Park’s Japanese Oasis is Reston’s Best Kept Secret |
| Ariake Japanese Restaurant at Glade and Colt’s Neck roads,
formerly a McDonald’s, is a beautiful restaurant, though hard
to find. Soo Park opened the restaurant in April and has been
slowly increasing her customer base as more people have gotten
to know the location and the quality of the food. |
| The building was completely redone, kitchen to outside garden,
and reflects the Japanese sensibility of beauty being an integral
part of life. They cook traditional cuisine, and this month
they will be adding to their menu to offer a greater variety
of sushi, |
| foods from the fryer and grill and noodles. |
| The appetizers at Ariake are notable, and two or three could
be chosen in lieu of an entrée. They are large portions and
cost around $5. |
| The edamame is addictive. The Japanese pull the bean from
the shell with their teeth, like an artichoke leaf. |
| I was surprised to note that I liked the age dashi tofufried
with soy sauce and scallionsas I have not cared for tofu
in the past. Enoki maki are beef rolls with enoki mushrooms
and asparagus inside, with a teriyaki sauce. Ebisu is almost
raw shrimp seasoned with lemon sauce, accompanied by greens.
The goyza, boiled beef and vegetable dumplings, are delicious. |
| Entrees are priced from $10 to $18 each. From the fryer,
they offer tempura (shrimp or vegetable), ton katsua deep
fried, breaded pork cutlet, tori katsudeep friend chicken
breast and sakana katsudeep fried fishall served with special
sauces. |
| From the grill they offer chicken, beef, salmon, tofu and
an incredible Chilean sea bass. The bass is so delicately
seasoned and cooked that it is a wonder of texture and taste.
|
| They offer four noodle dishes, which include two udons (tempura
and nabeyaki) and two soba (zaru and yaki). The noodle dishes
are less expensive than the meat and fish entrees. |
| Then there is the sushi, the star of the restaurant. Ariake
employs three sushi chefs who reign over a beautiful display
of raw fish. Their technique is brilliant, and the fish are
the freshest, most expensive owner Park can buy. Sushi and
sashimi are both offered. The sushi dinners are priced at
$18 for the regular 10-piece tuna roll and $21 for the 12-piece
deluxe. |
| They also offer combinations of sushi and sashimi for one
or two people. Sashimi dinners include eel, tuna, yellow tail
and other fish standard to a sushi bar. The deluxe options
are priced at $19 to $27. Two-piece roll orders start at $4
and include nigiri sushi, roll rise outside, maki and temaki.
|
| The best buy is a bento box, priced at lunch at $10 and
$11 and at dinner $21 for combination A and $27 for combination
B. |
| My guests and I shared a combination B, which included a
separate severing of fish or meat. The bento box included
shrimp (2), and vegetable (6) tempura, negimaki (beef), hijiki
(sea kelp), shumai (shrimp dumplings), California rolls and
sashimi. |
| Bento boxes are preceded by miso soup and salad, and will
easily feed two at dinner. Bento boxes are a great introduction
to Japanese cuisine if you are a novice, and a good way to
get a variety if you know the cuisine. |
| Hot or cold sake is offered starting at $4.50, and a number
of traditional Japanese as well as American beers and wines
are also served. |
| Whether you are already a fan or Japanese cuisine or curious
about it, I suggest you take yourself and friends and family
to Ariake for a very pleasant experience. |
| If the weather is nice, by all means eat in the garden,
which is sheltered from the roads and nicely lit with torches,
candles and mini lights in the trees. |
| While there is no special menu for children, if you can
talk them into a noodle dish or an order of shrimp dumplings,
they would enjoy the restaurant’s beauty and casualness and
particularly the outside eating area. |
| It is an experience you will enjoy. |
