D.C.’S NEWEST JAMES BEARD NOMINEE WOWS WITH THIS UNIQUE JAPANESE DISH

To satisfy demand for her hit rice bowls, Perry’s Restaurant’s executive chef Masako Morishita bought two more donabes — traditional Japanese clay pots — to have three in rotation at the Adams Morgan stalwart she’s been leading since fall 2022.

The 2024 James Beard Award finalist’s $68 special features rice cooked in dashi and sake, mirin, and grilled Japanese eel. She seasons the rice in front of customers with nori, scallion and kinshi tamago, known as sweet, sliced egg strings. Guests can further spice it up with sansho pepper, freshly grated wasabi, and hot dashi broth.

A single pot feeds between two and six people, and the availability of the dish varies day to day. That’s due to the limited ingredients and the level of preparation that’s required to make the meal that she can make it up to five times a day. Customers can preorder the dish by messaging Perry’s on Instagram with the time of their reservation.

Growing up in Kobe, Japan, one of Morishita’s favorite dishes was her late grandmother’s takikomi gohan — which translates into “cooked with rice.” Her grandmother used seasonal ingredients to make that dish and mix them into the rice, much like Morishita does at Perry’s with her own new version.

“The base seasoning of this dish was always sake, mirin and soy sauce, and dashi broth, which I use for my donabe rice,” she tells Eater. “My grandma’s house smell was always sweet, like a dashi smell, so that’s actually one of my favorite combinations of the flavors, because that brings me back to great memories I had with my grandma.”

Morishita always wanted to do something with the clay pot, but it’s been difficult because she’s the only one in the restaurant who can execute the dish. Until recently, the kitchen was short staffed, but now, on certain nights, she can free up enough time to make the dish and present it to guests. Two more donabe pots will help her serve it one or two more times a day.

The special had taken off on its own merit since its March debut, but Morishita said demands for the dish — and reservations at Perry’s in general — really picked up earlier this month after the James Beard Foundation named her a finalist in its nationwide Emerging Chef category. Her umami-forward Japanese breakfast service, which is offered every other Saturday, is still going strong since its debut last fall.

In her experience, other Japanese cuisine like sushi, or kaiseki — traditional multi-course dinners — overshadowed Japanese home cooking like hers. She’s also hoping the nomination inspires other immigrant women to follow their goals and dreams.

“The food I cook, it’s been cooked by Japanese mothers for centuries, but you know, nobody really knew about Japanese home cooking, so I’m just really happy that I hope I’m making Japanese moms really proud of what I do,” says Eater DC’s 2023 Chef of the Year.

The blessings have continued to flow her way. Last Monday, Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington (RAMW) named her a finalist in its Rising Culinary Star of the Year category.

Three days later, Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosted Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and other notables at the State Department for a state luncheon, where Morishita prepared three hors d’oeuvres and the first course.

Perry’s regulars were excited but couldn’t understand why she didn’t tell them in advance.

“It was classified, I really can’t tell everybody,” Morishita laughed.

Those who either weren’t invited — or lost their invitation — can order three of the four dishes from the exclusive lunch. The asparagus, zucchini pickles and whipped ricotta dish appear on Perry’s specials menu, while the garlic edamame dumplings and shrimp katsu burger live on the main menu.

Looking ahead, Morishita hopes to make the unagi donabe rice dish a long-term menu item that evolves with the seasons.

“We’re going to change the ingredients,” she says. “So that’s definitely something I grew up eating and I just really loved.”

Disclosures: The author works in the U.S. government. Some Vox Media staff members are part of the voting body for the James Beard Awards. Eater is partnering with the James Beard Foundation to livestream the awards in 2024. All editorial content is produced independently of the James Beard Foundation.

2024-04-16T13:09:25Z dg43tfdfdgfd