It’s no secret.  I love sushi.  I’m always on a mission to find and eat good raw fish in the District.  Lucky for me, I live near Teak Wood and Tsunami: two sushi restaurants on 14^th Street right across from each other that happen to frequently turn up on Groupon and Living Social.  I’ll admit, I’ve got a stockpile of “spend $20 on $40 worth of food” for each of these spots.

Last week, K-Hon (who also collects these deals) took me out to Teak Wood for my birthday.  I come to this place fairly often because the food is solid and I like the atmosphere.  The large, dimly lit dining room feels almost like being in a Thai temple, and it feels a little bit fancy, even though it’s casual dining.

I usually go for the Thai food here.  I’m a fan of the Pad Thai (I know, I know…it’s such a safe order) and all of their curries (Panang or Red Curry, yum!).  But this time, K-Hon introduced me to a wonderful sushi dish, the Chirashi ($35).  It’s a bowl of sushi rice (with a bit more rice vinegar than in sushi rolls) topped with all kinds of fish:  eel, tuna, salmon, shrimp, octopus…there was more, but I don’t even know what it all was.  Each piece of fish was fresh and flavorful and I enjoyed every bite (well, almost every bite….I will admit, I was not a fan of the octopus, which was too chewy for my taste).

We opted to split the Chirashi and each ordered an appetizer to round out the meal.  I got the Papaya Salad ($7.95), which was a very filling, fresh, tangy, spicy accompaniment to the fish.  Warning, though—this dish is super garlicy!

Thanks K-Hon for introducing me to the wonderful world of Chirashi.  I will indeed have to order this again!