Daikaya

Daikaya is first and foremost about ramen. The bar scene may be secondary, but it’s a fantastic accompaniment to the giant bowls of steaming noodles, plates of seaweed-wrapped rice balls and crunchy crab croquettes. The restaurant has created its own brand of D.C.-cool with its spare, wooden room and lofty upstairs izakaya den decorated with Japanese manga wallpaper. Drinks include the requisite—and excellent—sake and shochu list, but also a solid selection of Japanese whisky and beers and a handful of quirky cocktails infused with ingredients like fermented walnut syrup and palo cortado sherry.