• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Kanpai

Find us on Facebook Find us on Twitter Find us on Instagram
  • Shochu
    • What is Shochu?
    • How to Drink Shochu
    • The Shochu Diet
    • Shochu Tasting Notes
      • Awamori
      • sweet potato shochu reviews
      • mugi (barley)
      • rice shochu reviews
      • Aromatic Shochu Reviews
  • Izakaya
    • What is an Izakaya?
    • Izakaya Cuisine
  • How to Izakaya
  • Events
  • About Us

Daikaya: A Japanese Izakaya in DC

February 20, 2014 by Stephen 3 Comments

daikaya

 

Name: Daikaya Izakaya

Style: fusion-izakaya

Address: 705 6th St NW, Washington, DC 20001

Phone: (202) 589-1600

Website: http://www.daikaya.com/

Reservations: OpenTable

Price:$$$

 

The Place

In 2002 I left Washington, DC for the foodie heaven that is NYC. Upon discovering izakayas in NYC (2005, Go on St. Mark’s) I remember thinking “this kind of place would never work in DC”. Well, it took more than a decade, but I am finally wrong. I travel to DC 2-3 times per year for work and on those occasions I resign myself to chain restaurants and brew pubs, but on a recent visit for a family wedding, I made extra time to check out their izakaya scene (there are 2-5 depending on your definition). With only one free dinner in town, I settled on Daikaya based on yelp reviews, Open Table booking options (I hate calling for reservations), and a hunch.

In the most unlikely of places, Daikaya sits atop an eponymous ramen shop, across the street from the city’s basketball-hockey arena. Through the door marked simply “izakaya” (in English with no accompanying aki-chochin lantern) you climb a narrow staircase to a large open space.

Warm, comfortable, stylish, with hidden odes to anime fans, you’re immediately struck by how Japanese and how Brooklyn this space manages to be simultaneously. The requisite hand drawn “specials” lists dot the large bar, but aren’t really specials, as you’ll often find in izakayas with a bent toward western customers. Izakaya Ten, where my obsession began, does the same thing with wooden specials placards that don’t actually represent what’s on special.

The large bar dominates the center of the space, with tables and booths clustered fore and aft. Without some custom configuration you’re not likely to fit more than 8 people at a table or booth, but that should accommodate the vast majority of parties. Unlike most traditional izakayas where the bar is where it’s at, I’d recommend grabbing a table at Daikaya since the bar is only for serving drinks – no food prep occurs there.

 

The Booze

This is the one area where I had to readjust my NYC izakaya expectations and understand that DC doesn’t have nearly the distribution network for Japanese alcohol that is available in the Big Apple. It may also be a case of “know your audience” as the draft beer menu was completely American craft beers – not a Japanese brand or even a Japanese style American craft beer in sight. I was hoping for at least one tap dedicated to Sapporo (best selling Japanese beer in the US) or Asahi (best selling beer in Japan). [note: their online menu shows Sapporo draft, but it was not on the in-house menu].

The shochu list is decent, but the pricing is confusing. Towari, which is a higher end (albeit not premium) all-soba shochu, is nearly half the price of some of the other everyday shochus available (pricing on their website does not reflect the pricing we saw in-house). Satsuma Shiranami was the only sweet potato shochu available, which is a shame, because the menu cries “imojochu okudasai!”

There’s also an extensive sake list, a number of Japanese whiskeys, and a full bar of American and European spirits (again, know your audience).

 

The Food

This is where Daikaya gets a completely unreserved “highly recommended” and means that I’ll be back whenever I’m able. While most of the menu is not traditional izakaya fare, it is all creative and virtually everything we tried (we ate more than half the menu thanks to being a party of 5). From the otsumami (small bites) menu I’d highly recommend the edamame (when do I EVER do that?), the baked oysters, the house pickles, and the fried garlic.

fried garlicThis is not just any fried garlic. This is garlic prepped for hours down in the ramen shop’s pork fat heaven before being grilled and served with pickled garlic. We ordered this twice and only concern over our collective breath for the next day’s wedding festivities kept us from going for a 3rd or 4th round.

The rest of the menu is full of slightly larger dishes sorted as green things, fish things, skewers, meat things, and rice and noodles. From these menus I’d recommend the grilled avocado, roasted eggplant, chilled cucumber, crab croquettes, miso saba, beef tenderloin, quail, pork and brussels sprouts skewer, “hambagu”, chicken kara-age, abura-miso onigiri (pork and miso rice ball), and the mentaiko spaghetti. As I said, the food is the star. We tried any number of dishes beyond this including most of the daily specials, which I won’t even tempt you with because you’ll salivate over things that aren’t even available.

grilled avocado

The Verdict: Highly Recommended

Make a reservation. Now. This place is great and needs both attention and customers. They aren’t hurting by the crowd that was there on a Saturday night (and the line out the door of the ramen shop downstairs), but it’s really a special experience. If you’re in DC, there’s no longer any reason to end up at Applebees.

 

Kampai!

 

Filed Under: Izakaya Reviews, Izakayas Tagged With: Daikaya, fried garlic, grilled avocado, izakaya, Washington DC

« Serendipity Shochu Style
French Quarter Izakaya? »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Comradde PhysioProffe

    February 20, 2014 at 7:34 pm

    Have you tried Hitachino Nest beer from Japan? Sushi bars in NYC like Sushi Dojo and Ichimura at Brushstroke are starting to carry it, and it’s awesome. They have a few different types; all are excellent!

    Reply
  2. Stephen

    March 17, 2014 at 2:20 pm

    Yes, I’ve tried that beer. Echigo, the rice beer, is my current favorite of the Japanese craft beers, but I’m still partial to Asahi Super Dry.

    Reply
  3. Friz

    February 27, 2021 at 3:28 pm

    You went to Izakaya. Daikaya is the name of the ramen bar. The spaces use different names, however you can order a drink at Izakaya and send it downstairs to Daikaya to enjoy with ramen.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Twitter feed is not available at the moment.

Shochu Reviews

iichiko Saiten

After winning some awards on the international spirits circuit (including double-gold at the 2020 San Francisco World Spirits Competition), there's ample evidence that iichiko Saiten deserves serious consideration by bartenders everywhere.

Shochu Reviews

iichiko silhouette

This iichiko silhouette is probably the most common Japanese shochu currently available in the United States. In NYC I’ve seen it in random mom & pop liquor stores as the only shochu among a shelf of sake options. It’s most commonly available in 750ml bottles, though I’ve seen other sizes in other countries. This is a great starter shochu, which is why I’ve chosen it for my first tasting note. It was my introduction to shochu back in 2008. I’d had Korean soju before, but Japanese shochu is a strikingly different (and better) experience.

Tasting Notes: Nankai

Nankai Shochu
At first whiff, Nankai smells faintly grassy, which is common in kokuto shochu owing to how kokuto sugar is made from fresh cut cane and that fresh grassiness is a sign of well made kokuto sugar. Sugar cane is, after all, a tall perennial grass. It is still pretty wild that they can capture that after fermentation and distillation.

Tasting Notes: The SG Shochu IMO

The SG Shochu IMO is a clear invitation to create the classic imo cocktail. If you get it right, it will resonate and cascade around the world until you can't not have sweet potato shochu on your menu if you consider yourself a proper drinking establishment.

Shochu Reviews

Tasting Notes: Lento Shochu

Lento is the top selling kokuto shochu in Japan, and it is available internationally as well. Try it on the rocks or with sparkling water for a refreshing taste of the Amami Islands. Kanpai!

Tasting Notes: The SG Shochu MUGI

The SG Shochu MUGI Label
The SG Shochu MUGI wraps several barley shochu identities into one. It's lightly barrel-aged and carries the associated sweet notes. But there's also a graininess that is revealed when the temperature of the drink drops. It's a versatile barley shochu that can be enjoyed a variety of ways.

Tasting Notes: The SG Shochu KOME

Putting your nose in a glass of The SG Shochu Kome shows you just how complex a vacuum distilled rice shochu can be. Ginjo sake aromas from the yeast, pineapple, melon, and a faint hint of dairy-like lactic acidity are all present.

Copyright © 2025 · Foodie Pro & The Genesis Framework