The great writer Victor Hugo once said: “An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.”
For DC, the idea was to reinvent the city, to bring creativity, excitement, and diversity to an otherwise unidimensional place. Toki Underground, the newest addition to the burgeoning restaurant scene in the Atlas district embodies the New DC in ways I only previously dreamt would materialize in this city.
Let’s start with the décor: many establishments in DC and around the country pay tens of thousands of dollars to achieve what Toki Underground has done with creativity and many hours of hard work – and they did it all themselves. The backdrop for the stylish scene is a mural of bright, edgy characters created by one of the best artists in our city – Kelly Towles. Scaling the backdrop are planks of reclaimed wood scavenged during construction and a painted wooden shelf carefully lined with toy characters placed brilliantly inside glass vases turned sideways to give the effect of custom glass enclosures. The dining counters along the walls are lined with blacked-out comic strips, and under the counter your feet rest on thoughtfully placed skateboard decks. The summation of the surroundings is a vivid artistic take on Asian street culture through the eyes of some of DC’s most talented residents.
The food at Toki Underground is also extraordinary – both in simplicity and execution. The ramen dishes were inspired by chef Erik Yang’s experience at a Hakata Ramen shop in Taipei. The soul of many of the soups is the Tonkotsu broth – a rich almost milky concoction that cooks and simmers for hours to lend an explosively flavorful backbone to its playmates: noodles and toppings. There are 5 ramen choices that range from a delicate Masumi Vegetarian soup with Shitake Kombu broth and pickled cucumbers to the flavorful Curry-infused Tonkotsu noodle soup with five-spice fried chicken. Each soup I tasted became my new favorite; I loved the fiery broth in the Kimchi Hakata, and the Toki Hakata Classic with the tender pork loin Chashu, red pickled ginger and a boiled egg. The Ramen add-ons are also a must – a friend nearby ordered a side of Nitamago (soft egg) and Chashu pork cheek – a combination that would also make a fantastic appetizer. During my first visit, my dinner mates and I finished each other’s dishes, drank every drop of broth and glanced over at each other smiling between bites. Toki Underground exemplifies many aspects of our transforming city – for me it is everything I look for in a restaurant: unique imaginative interiors, soulful simple food, and a group of creative people who had an idea and worked hard to execute it to extraordinary standards.
