The Best Sushi Near Chloe, by the Record

Fourteen seats at a counter, up a set of metal stairs past paintings made by pressing inked fish onto rice paper, which is either the best possible preview of dinner or a very specific art movement. This Michelin-starred omakase pulls seasonal seafood from Tokyo's Toyosu market, and the chef trained under Nakazawa before landing here. A Minibar alum walks you through each piece with the care of someone who means it.

1. Michelin Guide 1 Star
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Tucked into the back of the Waldorf Astoria, this Michelin-starred omakase room runs about twenty courses of precisely made nigiri, with the counter stools giving you a close view of the itamae working through an immaculately organized mise en place. Daisuke Nakazawa trained under Jiro Ono, which the room carries quietly and without fuss. The sake list runs long and rewards curiosity. Dress up; the bill will remind you where you are.

1. Michelin Guide 1 Star
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The chef behind this 16-seat omakase counter built his D.C. following at a food hall, which is a slightly unglamorous origin story for something this polished. Kiyomi is a proper sushi counter now, with a weekday lunch omakase that remains the kind of deal that makes regulars feel like insiders, and a Friday dinner omakase for anyone who wants the full, unhurried version.

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Third floor of a building on 14th Street, above a restaurant you probably already know, Raw Omakase fits fewer than ten people around a counter for two seatings a night. Chef John Yi runs an omakase where the progression moves with the season, nigiri arriving in a quiet, considered order. The aged sake list is worth lingering over. It is small, it is deliberate, and the room fills before most people even find the stairs.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

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The omakase counter seats just two parties a night, each with a dedicated chef and a spread of peak-season seafood arranged in lacquered boxes you pick from yourself. It's a full Japanese restaurant in Dupont Circle that runs from handmade udon to grilled black cod, but the nigiri is the point, along with a specials list that turns up geoduck and cod milt when the season cooperates.

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