When it comes to food trends, DC has them all. The sushi-burrito (which I’ll call a sushi-rito) is one of these trendy dishes that has popped up around the city in establishments like Buredo, Seoulspice, Rolls By U, and Sushinado & Teriyaki. In fact, three of these local chains will be coming to Tenleytown later this year: Buredo, Yobi, and Seoulspice.
A sushi-rito is a burrito-sized sushi roll filled with anything from fish to pork to kimchi to jalapeño. The first ever sushi-rito restaurant, called Sushirrito, opened in California in 2011, according to Sushirrito’s website. Since then, the dish has gained popularity around the U.S., including DC. The District is home to many sushi-burrito chains, the most popular one being Buredo.
The first Buredo opened in June 2015 in downtown DC. Since then, Buredo has expanded their business to Dupont and Bethesda, and will soon be opening new locations in NoMa on H Street, as well as Tenleytown. The Tenley Buredo will be located next to Cava and Nando’s Peri-Peri. The company has not yet announced their opening date, but eager customers should expect them to open later this year.
Unlike many other popular restaurant chains, Buredo does not give customers the option to customize their sushi-ritos. Instead, they have a menu with 11 unique sushi-ritos for customers to choose from.
Yobi, currently called Rolls By U, is another popular sushi-rito eatery. It first opened in Arlington, Virginia and has since expanded to Foggy Bottom. In Tenley, the chain will be located near PrepMatters and Tenley Bar & Grill. The company chose this location because they noticed that there weren’t many businesses on that side of Tenleytown and wanted to give it some love. They planed to open on August 9th, 2017.
In addition to sushi-ritos, Yobi also serves regular-sized sushi rolls and poke (pronounced POH-keh), which is a dish that consists of a bowl of rice and raw fish, topped with a variety of vegetables and flavorful sauces. Unlike Buredo, Rolls By U lets customers choose which ingredients they’d like in their poke bowl, roll, or sushi-rito.
Seoulspice is a Korean chain which offers rice bowls, street tacos, salads, and of course, sushi-ritos. However, Seoulspice calls the dish a “Korrito” since it’s Korean-inspired instead of Japanese. The chain is similar to both Yobi and Buredo in that it allows customers to select which ingredients they’d like in their dish, but they also have a menu with six signature combinations. The fast-casual chain is expected to open in late 2017. In the meantime, you can grab a Korrito at their other location in NoMa.
PHOTO COURTESY OF EATBUREDO.COM
