dragonfly

i've heard mixed reviews about dragonfly and with my love of sushi, i decided to try it for myself. when ryan & i got to the hostesses (yes there were two and i have no idea why) they told us that it would be a 30 minute wait (and there were plenty of tables open as far as we could see). we preferred to sit at the sushi bar anyways and there was no wait to do that.
after being seated at the sushi bar our waiter promptly came, introduced himself and took our drink order. it was a pretty hot day yesterday so we both wanted water, but as hot as it was, i still can't pass up hot green tea when i'm having sushi. when our waiter returned we got one glass of water and a beautiful pot of tea. we had to ask again for the second glass of water.
for starters i ordered a tomato & avocado salad: sliced tomatoes topped with avocado, hearts of palm, and sesame-crusted goat cheese, with a sherry vinaigrette. the tomato & avocado salad required more than just chopsticks (and trust me, i can eat just about anything with chopsticks however, even i can't cut up a huge chunk of tomato with them) so i had to ask for a fork. i love goat cheese but even this portion was a bit too much for moi. the sherry vinaigrette dressing was good but there was just too much of it.
ryan opted for pork & edamame pot stickers: handmade dumplings with pork and soybeans served with a citrus ponzu dipping sauce. ryan is a big fan of gyoza and he liked the addition of edamame but when he bit into his last one, he found that the pork was a tad too pink.

while we were waiting for our sushi to arrive (which we waited for a while), i snapped pictures of the inside of the dragonfly. ryan described the atmosphere to be sushio 54. the crowd was definitely younger. it seemed like the place to go if you wanted to be seen. the restaurant's music was very loud which in turn made everyone talk even louder. i don't particularly enjoy this aspect.
you can kind of tell that the columns are covered with iridescence to mimic an actual dragonfly. i thought that was a very nice added touch.
for our entree ryan ordered the high rise: spicy hamachi, green onion, and cucumber inside with spicy tuna and tempura flakes on outside topped with eel sauce & the waka: snapper, cucumber, and avocado inside topped with salmon, ponzu and green onions. i ordered the tsunami: crab, salmon, and asparagus inside with snapper and tobiko on top & the pink lady: mango, cucumber, and shisho leaf topped with tuna and green onion. (details of all dishes provided by dragonfly's menu)

left to right: tsunami, high rise, the waka, and pink lady

i enjoyed the tsunami very much. the pink lady was decent but i didn't enjoy biting into the stem of the shisho. ryan preferred the high rise to the waka.

in both of our opinions, the best part of the meal was the lemongrass cheesecake: not listed on the menu but according to our waiter is homemade & hand whipped in the back. it came with strawberry glaze on top. it was very creamy and delicious.

if it's sushi you want, i say go to ogawa. but i would definitely return for a slice of the lemongrass cheesecake.