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DC, anonymous:

Overall:

• Quality:

  5/5

• Vibe:

  5/5

• Service:

  5/5

• Value:

  4/5

I hate Cowboy Cab. I hate Yellow Cab. I hate all their ilk. As you know, taking in a few drinks is all part of the night. We're shooting for 8 at Teppo. Call the cab 7:15 "Be there in 5 to 10." Liars. Hell, even when they do come the assorted rip off fees (also known as 'I'm lost') are enough to trigger the violent rage. We've got some history in that my partner was almost killed by a drunk driver a few years ago and have lived while accustomed to decent cab service. Dallas: you lose in this category.

7:40, 7:50, 8. Screw it. We get in the car and 10 minutes later we're looking for parking in lower Greenville. We slide into a stall behind Teppo and the attendant tells us we can leave the car for the night should need be.

We're meeting another couple of the interesting variety. She apparently turned her back on total nerd fame after voicing some character in World of Warcraft. This I think sounds more like it.

They don't take reservations after 7, so we're waiting about 10 minutes before we're seated inside. Our server is a cute, some would say bubbly young asian woman without cringing. Those of you familiar with my work will say this introduces a significant bias into the review. However, considering the pseudoscientific stuff that gets thrown around here (hello, twin studies guy!) at least I can recognize this systematic error at the beginning of the study and try to control for it. We hear the owner is opening a soba shop at One Arts Plaza. I hope I'm not wrong in feeling a little nervous as the subtle flavors of soba may be a little understated for that scene. Well, that's for another time.

We start out with sake - yes, sake of the month. I order up a glass of minowa-mon. Shortly therafter we see sake served right: a large wooden masa packed with crushed ice cradling a decent sized cup of a good 6oz slice of delicious rice wine. It's good with extra os. It's moderately acidic, fruity and aromatic.

We see another table with whole shrimp on skewers, so we start there along with duck breast and beef yakitori. What can I say, it was a little cool outside.

We have a variety of plates as well as a container for the skewers. They're served with a spiced salt as well as a small serving of mustard. This is totally what I'm talking about. The whole shrimp are lightly salted and if you notice, they are all arranged identically. Head first it's a crunchy if mild delight. The middle sections are sweet and have a short juicy punch from the meat. The flukes on the end finish again with some salty crunch.

The beef is fantastic. It's not necessarily the best slice of beef I've ever seen, but it's sliced thinly and cooked perfectly so that the meat is enhanced by the smoke and garlic.

The duck breast has a small slab of skin on each piece. The skin is a fantastic counter to the moderately chewy meat.

So far, what I'm saying is: did anyone see that? That's yakitori - small dishes I can eat without straining to shove them past my teeth. I can pick up the piece, bite it, and even wave it around as a prop for a humorous anecdote about a door I once found in a dumpster.

Next: octopus carpaccio. It's not too bad. Pretty much standard carpaccio: thinly sliced meat and ponzu. I mean, it's nice that they actually cut out the suckers so you can pop them into your mouth for a little zing, but I was kind of hoping it was still going to be moving. Maybe there is some kind of code against that sort of thing here.

We decide to move further into sushi with a rainbow roll and some red tuna sashimi. Both are excellent. The sashimi order is perhaps 6 pieces. Not much volume, but it is presented well in a deep dish on a single green and crushed ice.

By this time we've been through a bottle of Kurosawa, so we get to hear the story of our dining parter ending up as some gamer's ringtone before she left the industry.

After that, we order up a chicken leg. Why the hell not? It's basically a medium sized chicken wing. It's fine if not particularly interesting.

Back to the menu and this round we go for snapper head. The consensus is that we go for sake steamed instead of fried.

Now then, despite the amount of asian food I eat, I do have a social phobia about shared plates. I just can't handle seeing people using the business ends of their chopsticks to separate out the shumai while eating dim sum.

So, before starting on this dish, we make a four way death pact denying any history of clinical symptoms of herpes simplex virus 1 (and 2 as a side note).

As soon as the dish arrives, I use my utterly fast chopstick skills to score the eye. It's like an extremely small egg with a very hard yolk. Really, it's a treat when it's nicely prepared. There are soft, almost melting treasures of meat all over the head, making it one of the foods I can actually say is fun to eat. I turn over the jaw for one final morsel.

For some reason we decide to order a miso rice ball. We see the cook turn it on the grill very slightly and for some reason this strikes us all as rather hilarious. It's a nice snack with a crunchy outer shell and a sticky innard. The miso almost leaves it dry, perfect to wash down with the rest of the sake.

By now, it's almost time to wrap up shop and move on. We're too full to order dessert, so we start concluding.

Oh, hey, did anyone notice I wasn't complaining about the plates and utensils? That's right, I wasn't while we were there, either. When we ordered sushi, we got sushi plates and soy plates. Yakitori came with slender flatware perfect for the skewers.

I'll admit our server asked us if everything was ok about 9000 times, but who could complain? It wasn't obtrusive nor forced despite the fact that the restaurant was basically packed.

Damages? For 4 with drinks, about 60 - 70 a person. Admittedly about half of that was sake, so it wouldn't be necessary to go that far every time. Even so, there are other good, less expensive sake on the menu, too. Some of the skewers are a little expensive considering what you could buy the ingredients for.

However, as we started to move on I didn't feel like I got totally ripped off, nor did I feel like I was a burden to the server or chef.

So, with that, I declare a new favorite.

Nobu, I served you with notice after that omakase disappointment at your book signing.

Blue Fish, you had your chance with that Ahi Tower thing you insist on smashing into pulp.

Reikyu, I just don't see it happening.

Zen Sushi, I'm trying to give you every benefit of the doubt, but it was exactly one week to the day between these meals and I'm hoping you can get into training to become a contender because this round was a KO.

Oishii: you've got a good thing going there and I love you, but we're really better off as friends.

Sushi Zushi: sorry, but volume doesn't cover up your ingredients and service.

Sushi Japan: you're great for a cheap night, but we're not quite on the same level here.

Sure, there are others to be seen, but for now:

Teppo, you've got the belt. Go forth as an example for us all.

In the end, we found the car later in the weekend and as far as I can tell noone urinated on it, had their dog defecate on it, nor did anyone use it as a video tripod. Hell, it wasn't a bad night overall. Maybe one day we can get a decent ramen shop in this town.

Allen28, anonymous:

I loved Moosh back in the day. I miss Joshua...very cool bartender.