I didn't find much Chinese food in Washington's Chinatown after seeing "Invictus," just a lot of clothing and home furnishing shops with translated signs. What I did find was not worth the hunt. The roasted duck and noodle soup ($5.50) at Full Kee (509 H St., NW) was not nearly hot enough to obscure the fattiness of the duck or the blandness of the broth.A recent attempt at upscale Asian was no more successful. The highly regarded Sushi Taro (1503 17th St. NW) in Dupont Circle, an elegant Japanese joint nestled above a CVS, offers intriguing, but ridiculously expensive, kaiseki (a multi-course, mostly-cooked, chef's choice menu), omakase and poison blow fish adventures. The seaweed salad is an enterprising mix of seaweeds worthy of a petri dish in my wife's ecology lab. However, the nigiri, despite the unique fishes on offer, does not live up to the expectations raised by the price tag. I'd also avoid the "pickled radish roll," which is pleasantly crunchy but unpleasantly bitter.
I hate to be such a downer, particularly in this jolly time of year. Fortunately, I was a big fan of Zed's Ethiopian Cuisine (1201 28th St. NW), and not just because the owner has managed to be photographed with a impressive number of potentates. The restaurant is all windows, offering great Georgetown streetscapes and people-watching, and its unavoidably mushy vegetables are reasonably priced, given the zip code.
