Chef Johnny Yi at work behind his new Raw fish station. | Deb Lindsey Raw Omakase DC comes from the respected team behind Takara 14 An intimate omakase experience awaits high above 14th Street NW. The new upper-level tasting room comes from chef Johnny Yi, a 16-year sushi vet who runs Takara 14 below. The third floor is now home to Raw Omakase DC, an 8-seat counter with two just reservation times each evening. The first day of service was last Tuesday, October 8 (1326 14th Street NW, 3rd floor). Deb Lindsey A nigiri course at Raw. Standing behind a zen, wood-framed station, Yi works with imported delicacies from Tokyo’s famed Toyosu Market to create a symphony of seafood courses every Tuesday to Saturday night. The first seating (6-7:30 p.m.) consists of 15 courses for $125; the second seating is a little longer (8:15-10 p.m.), featuring 18 courses for $150. Diners can opt in for curated wine and sake pairings. Yi, who honed his knife skills at Michelin-starred Nakazawa in D.C. and Masa Takayama in NYC, debuted Takara 14 in 2021 with Bangkok-born owner Jenistar Ruksirisopha. “We always planned to do an omakase room since the get-go,” says Yi, a Maryland native whose parents are Korean. But polishing up Takara 14 down below was the first priority. Situated a steep walk above Ammathar Thai, the pandemic-era arrival serves superb sushi rolls, nigiri, and hot and cold plates in a cheery, 30-seat space covered in florals. Raw Omakase breathes new life into Takara’s former private events space. “The name ‘Raw’ means uncooked, but for me it’s more just natural and as it is — you’re not trying to fake or fabricate anything,” says Yi. Deb Lindsey Minimalist design details let the omakase menu shine. For his latest act in the same address, he meticulously slices and torches a medley of fresh fish within arm’s reach of each diner. A thick, square-shaped wooden slab is the minimal canvas for courses, which include various cuts and preparations of tuna, mackerel, snapper, salmon, squid, and even wagyu on any given night. “Every day the menu is changing,” he says. The menu is handwritten by design, since he sometimes comes up with the final collection of dishes right before service starts. “It depends on my mood,” he says. Yi frequently shaves fresh mounds of ginger to accommodate each course he passes over the bar. Deb Lindsey Raw’s owner Jenistar Ruksirisopha turned to the Japanese art form of gyotaku. Deb Lindsey Glistening roe and uni balance atop vibrant slices of fish. “It’s ‘home’ fine dining,” he says. “Like when you go to a friend’s house. What you get is good food, spirits, and service.” Despite its third-floor location, the vibe is akin to “coming into our basement,” he says. Leo Lee The sake list showcases Japanese labels like Dassai 23. Takara 14 and Raw are meant to be separate. “We don’t want guests to come and think we are using the same things as Takara,” he says. “It’s in the same building but the ingredients are going to be a lot different.” The omakase room showcases a pricier — and bigger — assortment of fish from Japan. On any given night, that may include hirame (flounder), ika (golden eye snapper), fatty, bright-red kinmedai, tuna (akame, chutoro, otoro), and ikrua (salmon caviar), to name a few. “The flow goes light to heavy, then cutting things off and restarting again. We want to do things so that your taste buds don’t get bored,” he says. Eye candy surrounding the sleek setup ties back to the food. Raw’s walls embrace the Japanese art of gyotaku, in which a fish acts as a printing plate. Rubbed with soot-and-water sumi ink on rice paper, whole fish are immortalized as the 1-D art form. Walking up the stairs, diners will encounter the framed fish imprints that Ruksirisopha made herself. That includes a 2.2-pound Kinmedai that once swam Shizuoka before ending up on its plates. “We knew we wanted to do some kind of art on display,” she says. “I was like, can I paint our own fish here?” The duo tapped Level-1 sommelier Tara Ozdol — who happens to be one of Takara’s diehard regulars from the start — to curate the wine and sake list. The Charlie Palmer and Mastro’s alum, who’s currently Marriott’s food and beverage sales coordinator by day, now moonlights at Raw. At more-affordable Takara below, daily happy hour continues to run from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and noon to 4 p.m. on weekends.