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Magical Mondays

At Wren in Tysons, executive souschef Hobin Kim presents a roll of toro tartare topped with pearls of Beluga caviar to start an 18-course omakase (chef’s tasting menu) and beverage pairing. I pop it into my mouth and swoon over the combination of fatty tuna belly and the bursts of sea saltiness imparted by the roe. Crisp Hakkaisan Awa sparkling sake proves a perfect foil to this lush first course.

Executive chef Yo Matsuzaki introduced the omakase—available on Monday nights for six guests ($250 per person, plus tax and 20% gratuity)—in January, asking Kim to helm the special dinners. The two previously worked together at San Francisco’s Ozumo restaurant, where Kim honed his expertise in sushi making. Matsuzaki lured him to Wren in December 2021.

Wren in Tysons puts the art of sushi making on display during an 18-course omakase dinner with wine and sake pairings.

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Kim ages top-quality fish sourced from around the globe to intensify its flavor. He divides his menu into snacks, nigiri, yakimono (torched nigiri) and dessert, preparing each course before his audience and serving diners personally at a cordoned-off portion of the bar, while beverage director Masha Yelnikova explains each of her clever (mostly sake) pairings.

On the occasion of our visit, the omakase features cucumber salad with snow crab; Japanese flounder with fish liver; eight nigiri (including turbot, fluke, uni and snapper); assorted yakimono (tilefish, eel, Wagyu beef); tamago (sweet Japanese omelet); and cheesecake with peach and apricot soft serve. Yelnikova’s pairings, which range from Wakatake Demon Slayer ginjo sake to Bodegas Fillaboa Albariño Rias Baixas 2021, are thoughtful and provocative. wrentysons.com

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At Fava Pot in Falls Church, chefowner Dina Daniel serves Egyptian coffee ($4.90) with a side of theater. In a copper and brass kanaka—a small, lipped pot with a long handle—she stirs organic Yemeni or Ethiopian arabica coffee powder, water and a sprinkle of ground cardamom, then slowly drags the pot through 180-degree sand inside a warmer, stirring the coffee intermittently. Unlike Turkish coffee, Egyptian coffee is cooked slowly, she explains. “Once the coffee starts to rise and foam, it’s ready. This process gives [it] a creamy surface.” For the finale, the beverage is served on a small tray with a cookie. “We Egyptians don’t put sugar in coffee,” Daniel says. “We eat something sweet on the side.” favapot.com

Scenic views at Ovoka Farm in Paris, Virginia

Wagyu Country

The sunset’s gold and magenta haze hovers on the horizon at Ovoka Farm in Paris, Virginia. Karen Way, an attorney who bought the Fauquier County property with her husband, Guy Morgan, in 2010, is showing off her herd of 389 beef cattle—many the progeny of 100% Black Wagyu embryos she imported from Japan that same year.

“We raise mostly F1 Wagyu—a 50/50 Angus and Wagyu cross— by breeding Wagyu bulls with Angus heifers,” she says. That mix provides the best of both worlds: bold beefy flavor from the Angus and interstitial fat marbling from the Wagyu.

Way originally intended to raise Angus cattle, until a 2009 meal at a San Antonio restaurant changed her mind. “The taste [of Wagyu] blew me away,” she says. Today, the 700-acre farm sells F1 Wagyu to about 30 restaurants in the DMV, including The Pinemoor and Copperwood Tavern in Arlington, as well as The Inn at Little Washington in Washington, Virginia.

Ovoka’s F1 Wagyu livestock

Ovoka also sells its beef at area farmers markets, including the FreshFarm market at Mosaic (Sundays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.), and from its own picturesque property on Paris Mountain.

The premium product comes at a premium price, from $10 (per pound) for ground beef to $69 for New York strip and $100 for tomahawk steak. Way says the lavish marbling means that even braising cuts, such as chuck roast ($19 per pound), can be prepared as steaks.

The farm offers tours, as well as a charming three-bedroom, 1 ½-bath log cabin with a full kitchen that can be booked for $685 a night. ovokafarm.com