The Humble Gourmand

Situated amid kitschy dive bars and fried chicken joints on DC’s H Street corridor, Sticky Rice is a Japanese-inspired food destination that fits right into what some call an up-and-coming scene. It’s an area of DC that I hope won’t lose its neighborhood flavor to chi-chi wine bars and martini joints.

While the staff is a bit of an ensemble cast of hipsters, and a bit contrived — mohawks, black eyeliner, and fake eyelashes — they are mostly friendly and keep the sushi and sake coming to the table with sass.

The music, a mix of just about everything from ‘60s rock to 50 Cent, is loud. What did you say? Loud. Huh?

The decor is funky, with black, white, and red walls as theme. Downstairs offers a black bar with sake bombs and PBR flowing, though it’s certainly harder to hear the bartenders and service isn’t what I’d call swift. Maybe I’m just getting old and square.

A sushi bar with seating for a few greets you in the upstairs, which is a tad quieter and much more comfortable. If you make a reservation for dinner, ask for upstairs.

Campy this place is, and Tuesdays bring you karaoke, quite fittingly, with “everything from A-Ha to White Zombie. We got it, you sing it. Our pain is your gain.” So says the Web site. This goes down from 10:00pm to 2:00am and includes $2 Tecate beer. There’s speed bingo, or Blingo, on Thursdays, and trivia on Saturdays. Specials do abound on other evenings, as well.

But the food — sushi and all its Asian variations — is what’s best at Sticky Rice.

A few of the menu items stand out, a few have names I wouldn’t dub politically correct, and a few will make you keep coming back, regardless of the PBR crowd and its aversion to mid-level audio.

So now, a Sticky Rice menu tour.

Start with sticky scallops, pan-seared in “house brown sauce” and garnished with cashews. These decent-sized sea creatures were cooked perfectly to about medium and at $8 for five, you cannot go wrong.

Sticky balls are a must. It’s somewhat hard to describe these tuna and crab-filled rice balls other than to say they are pretty amazing. Sriracha and scallions join the dish with a wasabi dressing, and eel sauce garnish. It has a lot going on, but the combination is fantastic. Eight bucks again make this a true winner.

Bucket of tots. That about says it all. For $6, a massive bucket of tater tots is served with Sticky Rice’s “world famous secret tater tots sauce.”

As per rolls, the spicy tuna roll is standard and good, and only sets you back $4.75. But it’s the more interesting takes on the sushi roll that get the taste buds intrigued. Try G.I. Joe, a yellowtail, cream cheese, and scallion combo rolled in sesame seeds and crushed wasabi peas. Whoa.

The Fantabulous Amazing Roll, a spicy inside-out roll with lump crab meat, cream cheese, and cucumbers topped with tuna sashimi, is relatively decadent for a $9.50 price tag.

The Rainbow Roll, another inside-out one with lump crab meat, avocado, cucumbers and tobiko topped with tuna, yellowtail, salmon, and red snapper sashimi spells yum. There’s Snap, Crackle, Pop — a spicy roll of fresh salmon, cucumbers, jalapenos, tobiko and tempura “crunchies.” And how could you pass up the Godzirra roll, with large crunchy tempura shrimp, avocado, cream cheese, spicy sauce, and cucumbers, with more of these so-called tempura crunchies and tobiko.

Other specialties to try include poki, tender cuts of tuna seasoned with sesame oil, ginger, garlic, scallions, tohgarashi, and soy sauce, all finished with toasted coconut. It’s served with wonton chips. Must. Be. Fond. Of. Garlic.

Sticky Rice has plenty of vegetarian and vegan options, including the Garden of Eden, a tempura carrot, cucumber, and avocado roll with wasabi mayo and umeboshi paste. But go for its evil twin, The Garden’s on Fire. Same ingredients listed above but quite the spicy one.

Not everything at Sticky Rice is tantalizing. Apparently wildly popular — so says the server on a recent visit — the Tuna Bites, pan-seared tuna chunks with ginger and wasabi, were far too well done and lacked the pizazz of many other options.

But it’s certainly a breath of different (not so much fresh) air. Sticky Rice is a haven for funky Japanese cuisine that will not burden a budget. It could tone down the scene-y-ness, but the food and the ‘hood it’s served in can stay just as quirky as they are.