Shibuya. 4461 Willard Ave., Chevy Chase.
Shibuya Eatery, the Japanese restaurant in Adams Morgan serving sushi and hot pot, closed last fall. But starting this week, it’s been reinvented in Chevy Chase, Maryland as a fast-casual restaurant focused on customizable ramen, rice bowls, and salads.
Chef Darren Norris says he and his wife/co-owner Candice Wise-Norris decided to shut down the DC restaurant amid rising labor costs, soaring fish prices, and pushback over service fees. “It all just became tiring. It wasn’t profitable at all anymore for us,” he says. Ultimately, he felt a fast-casual model made more sense for the times: “No servers, no service fees, and no Initiative 82 in Maryland.”
While the model has changed, a lot of the ingredients and recipes are the same at the new Shibuya. “It’s all my stuff that I’ve always done,” says Norris, who opened DC’s pioneering izakaya Kusshi back in 2010. “Everything is done from scratch. There’s nothing processed, nothing coming out of a frozen box.”
For example, Norris says he still simmers his creamy tonkotsu pork soup base overnight. It’s one of several ramen broth options, including chicken shio or spicy miso, paired with wavy or straight noodles, proteins (like a shabu shabu shaved beef or pork belly chashu), and up to five toppings (white sesame green beans, soy-simmered mushrooms, miso corn).
Donburi with Japanese white rice or salads with organic greens can be topped with the same proteins—or opt for salmon or yellowfin tuna poke for a small upcharge. All the bowls can be finished with your choice of crunchies (crispy garlic, rice crackers), flavored oils (roasted sesame, black garlic), and other garnishes (pickled red ginger, nori sheets).
In addition to the build-your-own options, there are also some signature bowls, including a curry katsu don with panko-breaded chicken or pork cutlet or a steakhouse salad with seven-spice grilled steak and a chili garlic vinaigrette. Almost everything is priced around $19, with a couple premium options (like the steak) for up to $23.
On the side: housemade kimchi, koji-cured carrots with chili garlic sauce, and a Japanese potato salad Norris has been making for years with Kewpie mayo, carrots, cucumber, and specks of ham. To drink, look for Japanese sodas and juices. There’s no alcohol, which Norris is reserving for his two DC bars, Death Punch and Black Whiskey. Although everything is made to-go, the space—previously a Roti near the Friendship Heights Metro—seats about 50 for dine-in.
“The key here is that we’re trying to just do an elevated version of fast-casual,” Norris says. “When I see Michelin star restaurants closing, you have to recognize that it doesn’t matter what the accolades are. And I think that the customer base has just changed so much in the last five years. We want to change with the times.”
Jessica Sidman covers the people and trends behind D.C.’s food and drink scene. Before joining Washingtonian in July 2016, she was Food Editor and Young & Hungry columnist at Washington City Paper. She is a Colorado native and University of Pennsylvania grad.
