ANNOUNCER: And now, "Signature Dish," a WETA original series.

SETH: Today on "Signature Dish," we're heading out on a Japanese journey.

After a warm and comforting start... MASAKO: In Japan, you have to slurp the udon noodle.

SETH: Boy, that is phenomenal.

We'll get educated on old and new-school sushi.

MAKOTO: Everything on top is not just make it prettier.

It's very important flavor profile.

SETH: You are a chef and an artist.

And smash our way to a delicious bowl of ramen.

PAYESONE: By hammering all these bones, we can get every flavor out of it.

SETH: Wow, beautiful.

I'm Seth Tillman, WETA producer and DC native, and I love good food.

CHEF: How are you?

SETH: Good to see you.

That's why I'm traveling to restaurants across the DMV, at each stop looking for the one thing you just got to try, that "Signature Dish."

First up is a trip to the heart of Adams Morgan, where I'm paying a visit to Perry's, a restaurant that's helped anchor the neighborhood for going on four decades.

While Perry's is famous for its sushi, as well as its weekly Sunday drag brunch, it has experienced a rebirth under Chef Masako Morishita.

MASAKO: I grew up in Kobe, Japan.

My family has a little bar and restaurant in Kobe for close to 100 years now.

My mom and my dad's still running it.

So I actually moved to Washington, DC, because I became a Commander's cheerleader.

My final fifth year, I actually became a captain, the first person to be a captain from overseas.

My teammate used to have a lot of potluck parties, and I brought some of the dishes I always eat at home.

And then they were like, "What is this?

I never seen this before.

This is so good."

So that gave me idea, "Okay, this could be my career."

When I got here, my friends, they were like, "Oh yeah, I know Perry's, but I haven't been there for 10 years."

So, okay, let me, let me change to my dishes so I can start inviting my friends.

SETH: Masako's redesign of Perry's menu began with an overlooked part of Japanese cuisine.

And I love all those, but this is my mission to introduce different kind of Japanese cuisine.

ANNOUNCER: And the winner is... Masako Morishita!

SETH: Since Masako's menu revamp, the accolades have kept rolling in, including Eater DC's 23 Chef of the Year and the 2024 James Beard Emerging Chef Award.

MASAKO: My wildest American dream came true.

I'm really grateful that both organizations sees me and hear what I have to say.

So for every immigrant woman like me, they have anything they want to pursue, their dream, I just want to keep telling them if I can do it, they can do it.

Thank you, everybody.

Thank you.

SETH: I'm off to Perry's to try the Japanese comfort creation that put Chef Masako's cooking on the map.

Chef.

MASAKO: Hi.

SETH: Nice to meet you.

MASAKO: Nice to meet you.

SETH: I've been to Perry's many, many times, but always for sushi.

And it looks like you got something else cooking up here today.

MASAKO: Yes.

Today, I'm cooking my signature dish called, "Udon Carbonara."

So in Japan, like, people love Italian food.

We even have a word, it's says itameshi, which is like Italian food, kind of like migrated to Japanese cuisine.

SETH: And so Japanese food, Italian food put together.

MASAKO: Yeah.

SETH: I know that's going to be good.

So how do you get started on this dish?

MASAKO: Yeah, so for the sauce, first I have this heavy cream and this is grated Parmesan cheese.

I add a little bit of salt, and this is actually pretty unique.

This is kombu tea powder.

This is powdered tea that we drink in Japan.

Make it a little bit funky, but a lot of umami.

This is another key ingredient.

It's called Jidori egg.

We get this egg every week from California.

They raise the hen as the same way we do in Japan.

SETH: Whenever I crack open an egg, if I ever see a color like that, I know I'm going to be happy.

MASAKO: Yeah, so, we put everything in here and we just mix it up.

Now, we move on to actual cooking.

I'm going to drop butter and grated garlic, and then now I'm going to drop this udon noodle into the hot water.

Cook it for a minute or two.

The noodle we use is specific.

It's called Sanuki-style udon.

Sanuki is the name of the region.

They are known for making really, really textured, like chewy, thick noodles.

And then just, like, toss the noodle with the butter and a little garlic and then I'm going to drop this, uh, sauce.

SETH: And this is where you got to be really careful you're not overcooking the sauce.

MASAKO: Yes, yes.

Well, we'll do really low heat mix in very, very quick.

The noodle is almost like a color of egg yolk, like a very, very bright yellow-y like orange color.

And that's it.

Now, we're going to plate it.

Okay, and then we're gonna garnish.

This is crispy prosciutto.

And then this is also the same egg yolk we use for the sauce.

It's a Jidori egg yolk, but we actually pasteurize it in house.

So this goes in the middle.

SETH: Oh, beautiful.

MASAKO: And then the chives, and then a little bit of black pepper on the top, okay, and then this is the udon carbonara.

SETH: Wow.

That came together so quickly, but it is just a thing of beauty.

MASAKO: Thank you.

SETH: Should we go dig in?

MASAKO: Absolutely.

SETH: All right, chef, my first itameshi dish.

I want to ask what we're drinking, but it's carbonara, so I want to eat it while it's hot.

MASAKO: Yes.

SETH: How do we attack this?

MASAKO: Just kind of, like, break the yolk and mix everything together.

SETH: Oh, and getting that beautiful orange color as well.

(laughter) All right, and maybe chopsticks aren't the way to go for me.

MASAKO: Yeah, but in Japan, like, you have to slurp.

SETH: That's not going to be bad table manners?

MASAKO: Oh yeah, please, please, just slurp hard.

SETH: Slurp away.

(slurping) Oh, Chef, I couldn't match your slurping, but that is phenomenal.

MASAKO: Great.

SETH: So rich, those little bits of prosciutto too... MASAKO: Yeah.

SETH: But the sauce itself is just loaded the flavor.

MASAKO: Yes.

SETH: Let me see if I can give a little better slurp this time.

(slurping) (Masako laughs) Come on, man.

Making a mess on TV, this is what I'm paid to do.

The udon just a perfect noodle for carbonara... MASAKO: Yes.

SETH: Because nice toothy bite there too.

MASAKO: Yep.

SETH: Is this a representative of the type of itameshi food you'd get back in Japan or is this your own spin on it?

MASAKO: Yeah, since everybody really loves Italian food in Japan, everybody probably knows what carbonara is.

But the ingredients I put into the sauce, that's probably very unique.

SETH: Well, it definitely took an already umami-rich dish and really put it over the top.

So now what are we drinking here, chef?

MASAKO: Yeah, so we have this sake.

This is actually one of my favorite, this coming from Kobe.

Our brewery name is called Kiku-Masamune.

My mom actually used to work for this brewery.

That's how my mom and my dad actually met.

SETH: Oh, wow.

MASAKO: This sake is very dry.

So to me, I think this pair pretty perfect together.

SETH: All right, well, cheers.

MASAKO: Kanpai.

SETH: Kanpai.

Ooh, that is nice and dry.

And Chef, I was somebody who when I was in my twenties, found myself in a line of work that really just wasn't quite where I needed to be.

Made the transition to television and I've been thrilled ever since.

But I also know that just making that leap can also be a little bit scary too.

MASAKO: Yeah, it actually took me a long time to pursue this career because I, I'm an immigrant.

Um, my family is still in Japan, so if I fail, there's nobody that can support me.

And also my, since my family, they know how hard it is, so they were pretty much against me going to this career as well.

SETH: But now that you've had so much success, have they changed their mind about your career path?

MASAKO: Uh...

I think they're like, "Okay, I think she is doing it okay."

SETH: How many more awards do we need to win?

MASAKO: They were like typical, like Japanese parents.

They don't really give huge praise to their kids.

So for them to, like, say, "Okay," that means actually a lot to me.

SETH: Well, I'd say you're doing more than, okay.

DC is pretty lucky that you found your true calling right here in the city.

Thank you, Chef.

MASAKO: Thank you.

SETH: I'm next off to the rapidly developing Downtown East neighborhood.

Behind this nondescript glass is the Love Makoto Food Hall, home to Dear Sushi.

MAKOTO: I'm from Japan, Nagoya City.

I started working as a sushi chef when I was 15.

SETH: After working for many years in Japan, Chef Makoto moved to the US in 2001, first landing in DC to work at the venerated Sushi Taro.

From there, his career took off, first working for Iron Chef Morimoto before opening sushi restaurants across the US and around the globe.

In 2023, Chef Makoto teamed up with local restaurateurs David Deshaies and Eric Eden to open Love Makoto.

MAKOTO: Love Makoto is a Japanese food hall focusing on only Japanese cuisine.

This is my love letter to where I started in this journey in Washington, DC, and America in general.

SETH: The sprawling food hall features an izakaya bar for drinks and small plates, a fast-casual counter, and a spot for high-end Japanese barbecue.

At the flagship Dear Sushi, the signature dish is the omakase menu.

MAKOTO: Omakase is up to chef, so chef choose the fish based upon seasonality.

What's the best in the house?

We do old school and new school.

Old school's honor traditional nigiri, traditional sushi, the new school to pull out my experience from other venture, different perspective, different way of presentation.

Just the making nigiri or sushi is not that difficult.

But I think it's the understanding foundation of the sushi, how to prepare each fish with a different seasonality, how do you take care of it, preparation.

I think that's the real sushi chef work.

SETH: Chef, good to meet you.

MAKOTO: Hey, good to meet you too.

SETH: I love sushi.

How are you preparing it today?

MAKOTO: So, we're going to make omakase, new school and old school.

So I'm going to start seasoning the rice.

We do have a two different type of rice.

One is for old school, which is white rice, and one is brown rice, which is for new school.

And also we do use the two different types of seasoning vinegar.

So, this is white vinegar we pour into this pot and break it into individual grain.

SETH: The combination of the vinegar and the steam from this freshly cooked rice... MAKOTO: Yeah.

SETH: Unbelievably aromatic.

MAKOTO: What we are doing here is, every single grain, the rice is properly seasoned.

So that's white rice.

SETH: And I wouldn't think brown rice would be a winning combination for sushi.

MAKOTO: I thought about the same thing.

But when I moved to San Diego, everybody start asking, "Where's my brown rice?"

Oh my God.

I guess the healthy way of thinking, brown rice is healthy.

I don't know at this point anymore.

But we like that texture and flavor of the brown rice.

SETH: If you mix rice and fish, I'm going to eat it.

MAKOTO: So, now I'm going to cool down rice in the back.

SETH: And then in the meantime, looks like we have four different types of fish here?

SETH: I thought that was Wagyu when I first walked in.

SETH: Before the knives even come out, you're seasoning, you're marinating.

MAKOTO: Sushi work is all about the preparation.

SETH: But speaking of knives, I'm guessing we have a pretty fancy one right over there.

MAKOTO: Well, I've been sushi chef 35 years, 33 years actually.

SETH: Who's counting?

MAKOTO: Who's counting?

So this is called Yanagi knife.

SETH: I can't tell you how excited I am for this thing to be unsheathed.

Wow.

MAKOTO: Being a sushi chef, you're slicing a fish for 1,000 pieces a day.

You get tired of it, right?

But hold this, the weight and balance of the knife... SETH: Wow.

MAKOTO: It justify the work.

SETH: I'm not even going to ask you how much it costs.

MAKOTO: So, now I'm going to get to slicing it.

We're starting from a Thai snapper, so... SETH: Like a hot knife through butter.

MAKOTO: And you score fish, better it melt in your mouth.

That is it.

SETH: And I still can't believe that this isn't Wagyu beef.

MAKOTO: I know.

SETH: That you're slicing right there.

The marbling on it is astonishing.

MAKOTO: I'm going to slice the smoked fish.

SETH: Wow.

With the fish freshly sliced, Chef Makoto now shapes the nigiri.

SETH: And that nigiri-making motion, I'm guessing you could do that in your sleep.

(Makoto chuckles) SETH: Beautiful.

SETH: After the nigiri is formed, next come the dressings.

SETH: And finally, the garnishes.

SETH: I actually have heard of bottarga, actually on "Signature Dish."

This is a cured fish roe.

MAKOTO: Yeah, exactly.

But this is a Japanese way of making it.

SETH: And what is the flavor of the mold bring?

MAKOTO: Umami, straightforward.

Everything on top of it is not just make it prettier, it's just actually very important flavor profile.

SETH: You are a chef and an artist.

Beautiful.

MAKOTO: Thank you.

SETH: Since the Dear Sushi omakase includes 10 pieces of nigiri, five each of old school and new school, Chef Makoto now turns his attention to making the remaining pieces, as well as preparing the appetizers and dessert that will round out the experience.

All right, Chef, colors galore.

How should we even begin to tackle this omakase?

MAKOTO: So we're looking at the entire omakase at once, but actually we're serving as a course style.

So the first people come in hungry stomach, so we sip this little miso soup and some acidic seasonal appetizer together with it.

SETH: Not that my hunger needs any boosting right now, but here we go.

Mmm.

MAKOTO: The second course is going to be hand roll that we highlight old and new school again.

Before we begin, I wanted to clean the hands by giving you hot towels.

SETH: Ooh, and this is Japanese finger food.

So it's important that our hands are nice and clean?

MAKOTO: Yeah.

The hands is the best tool ever.

SETH: All right, I got clean hands... MAKOTO: Here you go.

SETH: Where should they be headed first?

MAKOTO: We'll begin with the hand roll.

SETH: Okay.

Look at that, more love.

MAKOTO: So I think you should try, it's the old school.

SETH: And this one should be dipped in the soy sauce, correct?

MAKOTO: Yeah.

SETH: Nice crunch and bite when you go through the handroll.

But obviously nigiri was the star of the show back there in the kitchen.

Where do you want to direct me first?

MAKOTO: I think I'm always recommend starting from my old school.

SETH: Should we start with the old-school Thai snapper?

MAKOTO: Old Thai snapper would be great.

SETH: All right, soy sauce for this as well?

MAKOTO: You can use soy sauce, but it's already perfectly dressed.

SETH: I am loving that fish flavor.

MAKOTO: Simple, but a lot of umami.

SETH: But you know what really hit me, that fresh wasabi.

MAKOTO: Thank you.

SETH: I'm so used to the green horseradish paste, but then there's just this little pocket of flavor hiding right there in the middle of the bite.

MAKOTO: Thank you.

I'm glad that you're noticing that.

SETH: All right, well, it's time for new school.

MAKOTO: Go for it.

SETH: That citrus flavor comes through loud and clear.

MAKOTO: Umami from the bottarga SETH: But still melting in your mouth.

Well, I'm just going to keep going.

(overlapping chatter and laughter) Just explosion of flavor.

MAKOTO: Indeed.

SETH: I feel bad for this plate of soy sauce.

It's been so neglected during this meal, but all the flavor is right here.

And Chef, what am I looking at with these strawberries?

MAKOTO: So the finale for us to present Japanese strawberry mousse and covered with the chocolate.

SETH: A perfectly refreshing end to a very memorable meal.

MAKOTO: Thank you so much.

SETH: Hey, kanpai.

MAKOTO: Kanpai.

SETH: Kanpai.

I'm wrapping things up in the center of downtown Bethesda.

Right on Wisconsin Avenue, you'll find Zao Stamina Ramen.

PAYESONE: I was born and raised in Tokyo.

My parents are both from Burma, so they immigrated in Japan and they raised me there.

SETH: After moving to the States in 2010 and graduating high school in Rockville, Payesone attended the Culinary Institute of America to follow his ramen dreams.

At Zao, he's teamed up with his wife, Shiho, the shop's self-proclaimed noodle queen.

PAYESONE: To structure a bowl of ramen, you need five elements in there, which is oil, taro, soup, noodles, and toppings.

Changing one element changes the whole bowl, and understanding the balance of each element is very important to create a perfect bowl of ramen.

PAYESONE: After even a 12-hour shift, we get home, I'm like, "I want ramen."

And I sleep.

I wake up the next morning and I'm like, "I want ramen."

SETH: Payesone.

PAYESONE: Hey Seth, welcome to... SETH: Good to meet you.

PAYESONE: Welcome to Zao Stamina Ramen.

SETH: Thank you so much.

Very curious about this mountain of bones.

What are you making today?

PAYESONE: We're making our signature Tokyo Tonkotsu today.

Tonkotsu literally means pork bones in Japanese.

So we got 50 pounds of pork femur bones.

SETH: These are what's going to go into the broth?

PAYESONE: Yes.

SETH: And so lots of pork bones and a hammer.

PAYESONE: Oh, yeah.

By hammering all these bones, all the marrow's going to expose so that we can get every flavor out of it.

SETH: So this broth is going to be really thick with all that... PAYESONE: Very thick.

SETH: Marrow and gelatin, all right.

PAYESONE: Well, first of all, I got something for you to upgrade your eye protection sir.

I got some goggles just in case.

SETH: Just in case.

PAYESONE: Just in case.

SETH: I guess I am new at this.

PAYESONE: I'm going to show you how we break bones here real quick.

SETH: Okay.

PAYESONE: Here, we're going to take a whole femur bone and we're going to look for the skinniest part of the bone.

And we're going to hammer it down.

Ready?

SETH: I'm ready.

PAYESONE: All right.

SETH: All right.

PAYESONE: There we go.

SETH: Well, that woke me right up.

PAYESONE: Good morning.

SETH: Good morning, indeed.

PAYESONE: By hammering, we have these marrows just exposed like that.

And we're going to gently hit the fattest part a little bit like that so that it can get tenderized.

So you want to give it a shot?

Let's be aggressive.

SETH: All right.

Should we do gloves for this?

PAYESONE: Yeah, so that you have a nice grip.

SETH: All right, here we go.

Going to channel my inner Dexter on this one.

PAYESONE: Here.

SETH: Today on, "This Old House."

PAYESONE: There you go.

SETH: Woo!

PAYESONE: Yeah, turn it.

SETH: Flip it?

PAYESONE: Flip it.

There you go.

Nice.

Yeah.

Awesome.

SETH: Okay, that was too much fun.

Let's do another one.

Oop.

PAYESONE: Woo!

Perfect.

SETH: And how many bones do you need to make the broth?

PAYESONE: We're actually going to need all 50 pounds right over here.

So, I'm glad you're here to help me and I'm very glad that I have another hammer set down.

SETH: All right, let's do this.

PAYESONE: Let's do it, Seth.

(hammering) (ticking) SETH: Woo.

All right.

I got the heart racing a little bit.

PAYESONE: That was a lot.

Thank you so much for helping me through the process.

Seth, why don't you pick those bones up and follow me back in the kitchen?

SETH: All right, let's see if I can get 50 pounds here.

PAYESONE: You got it.

You got it Seth.

SETH: Here we go.

Really making me work today, chef.

PAYESONE: Oh, yeah.

So Seth, we're going to be making our tonkotsu broth.

Why don't you go up and... SETH: Dump.

PAYESONE: Dump these bones in.

SETH: All right, here we go.

So what goes into this broth besides the pork bone?

PAYESONE: So just water and bones.

It's a very, like, basic way.

A lot of places do add vegetables to get extra flavor to it, but we like to stick to the most simplest form.

SETH: And how long does the broth need to cook for?

PAYESONE: It needs to cook for at least three days, sometimes four days.

SETH: My goodness.

Ramen is not an easy process.

PAYESONE: It's not easy.

That's the best part of it.

We're going to start cooking.

So Seth, I already have a tonkotsu that's already been made.

So why don't we create a bowl of ramen?

SETH: Sounds great to me.

PAYESONE: Follow me.

SETH: All right.

And that's the finished tonkotsu right there?

PAYESONE: Yes, sir.

SETH: That is so creamy and rich looking.

So how do you begin to put a bowl of ramen together?

PAYESONE: So first we start off from these fresh homemade noodles.

SETH: Got to have the noodles, obviously.

And what makes ramen noodles so unique?

PAYESONE: It's pretty similar to pasta, but the one unique ingredient that goes in is called kansui.

It brings out springy bounciness to the texture, and it gives that great aroma.

We're going to drop these noodles into boiling water.

While those are boiling, we're going to plate the rest of the elements into one bowl.

Here's our first element, soup.

We're going to add aroma oil.

SETH: And that's one of the five elements.

PAYESONE: One of the five elements.

So here's our third element.

These are tare made out of soy sauce, and I have a secret weapon today.

We're going to be blending with this immersion blender to give... SETH: Got it.

PAYESONE: The frothiness.

SETH: I need the safety goggles.

That's going to incorporate some air into the... PAYESONE: Yes.

It's going to emulsify all the fat.

And we're going to be ladling this into our bowl, just like that.

SETH: The broth by itself smells good, but now that you've added that oil and that soy sauce.

PAYESONE: So ramen's really all about the five key elements.

There's three in here already, but without each of them, it's not going to balance perfectly.

It's going to be a boring soup with boring noodles inside.

SETH: Boring's no good for me.

PAYESONE: I think the noodles are about to be ready.

Let me go grab those.

SETH: Okay.

PAYESONE: All right, just going to give it a nice fold so that all the topping can float on top of it instead of sinking down.

We're going to put our pork belly chashu.

And this gets marinated and simmered for a five to six hours.

SETH: And then the real fun starts.

PAYESONE: Real fun starts.

I'm going to be torching this pork belly on top of the bowl, render that fat down.

SETH: Wow.

Wow.

PAYESONE: Look at that fat.

We're going to top with our ajitama, our seasoned egg, and our seasoned bamboo shoots, scallion grass on top, piece of nori.

And here's our signature Tokyo Tonkotsu.

SETH: Beautiful.

All right, this looks so good.

I was so fascinated by the whole broth making process.

I'm going to start with just a little bit of the broth.

PAYESONE: Yeah, please.

SETH: That is just dreamlike, the richness of it, the creaminess of it.

The marrow gives it such a full body and the tare gives it that saltiness, but it's not overpowering.

That is really something special.

PAYESONE: Thank you so much.

SETH: And now I got, of course, go in for some of these noodles.

Well, yeah, it has that freshness, that springiness, and I see that you guys also have some tonkotsu, but different toppings.

PAYESONE: We have almost like 15 different toppings on the menu.

And some customer orders spice bomb on the side, or they like to add some extra kick to the bowl.

SETH: All right, well, spice bomb sounds good to me.

Is that what I'm looking at right here?

PAYESONE: Yeah.

SETH: All right.

So just be a little careful with this?

PAYESONE: Yeah, I recommend a little by little.

We have a lot of customers play around with their... You got the kick?

SETH: I got the kick.

PAYESONE: But yeah, a lot of our regulars like to play around with our toppings.

And every time I get an order, it almost looks like a little essay but on a ticket.

But it's very fun creating a bowl for that one specific person.

SETH: The possibilities of ramen are infinite.

PAYESONE: Exactly.

There's no right answers.

SETH: Shiho, what's your go-to Ramen?

SETH: It does feel like you can taste just the level of freshness and attention that's being paid to all the details.

Do you ever get tired of ramen?

SHIHO: No.

Never.

PAYESONE: No.

Learning never stops, even though I'm doing the same thing every day.

SETH: And if it's continually evolving, where are you hoping it will go in the future?

PAYESONE: Hopefully the best ramen shop in the world.

SETH: Well, I am looking forward to coming back to try ramen and all of its different incarnations.

This bowl has just reignited my love for ramen.

Thanks to both of you.

PAYESONE: No, thank you so much.

♪ ♪ (overlapping chatter).

♪ ♪ ANNOUNCER: To find out more about great food in the Washington Metro area, visit weta.org/signaturedish.