Description
Capitol Hill's Boom Noodle looks like your college cafeteria as styled by Benetton, with viper-green walls, bare lights, and long brown tables. As its decor suggests, the Japanese restaurant, which is owned by the same people who run Blue C Sushi, takes a deliberately fickle approach to authenticity. Whether floated in a beet broth, stir-fried with beef and chiles, or served as an ultra-traditional ramen, the noodles are often pleasant but not compelling. What's great are the small plates, which reference Western creativity even as they pay homage to Eastern tradition: prawns coated in fine layers of philo dough, panko-coated potato croquettes doused heavily with curry; meltingly tender salmon tataki with a tart ponzu sauce, and über-classic thin-skinned pork gyoza. The bar area is spacious and airy, and the happy hour here goes from a generous 3-7pm everyday. The appetizer items go nicely with your standard sake, Sapporo, or one of Boom's specialty cocktails. Most of the offerings are refreshing and pretty basic; the classics with an "Asian" twist—the cranberry-kazi is just a cosmo with ginger vodka, the shiso mojito is just that—a mojito with some shiso leaf crushed in.
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