Sticky Rice Saves Nichole From Post-Camping Starvation

I spent most of the early part of this week camping in Upstate New York, and I knew that I’d return to empty cupboards, and planned this week’s post accordingly. Despite living just up the hill, I’d yet to try Sticky Rice, located at 1224 H St, NE. I’d heard that it was quite good and that it was also quite crowded, so I’d just never managed it.

On Wednesday, I met some friends for .25 Sticky Wing night. We ordered ours with a variety of sauces (sweet teriyaki, fiery hot and tangy sweet & sour) to get a good feel for what was on offer. We also ordered the Bucket of Tots, and their special Tot Sauce really is the best. (I’m a huge, huge tater tot fan.) I’ll be honest – I didn’t love the wings. The sauces were tasty, but I thought the breading wasn’t so delicious, and they seemed overdone. That said, my dining companions liked them a lot, especially for the price. I took pictures, but they didn’t come out so well – so please imagine what wings look like here.

Story continues after the jump.

Because I wasn’t really enjoying the wings, and wanted to get a better picture of the menu in its entirety, I moved on to ordering us some rolls. The combinations were dizzying and some seemed so odd, I couldn’t imagine whether they’d be good or not. I consulted Russell, our friendly and helpful waiter, who advised us which were the most popular. We opted to skip the Sticky Balls (tuna, crab, sriracha, rice in an inari pocket deep fried w/ scallions, wasabi dressing and eel sauce) because we were eating wings (that seems like a lot of food from the fryer) and chose the Godzirra (large crunchy shrimp, avocado, cream cheese, spicy sauce and cucumbers w/ tempura crunchies and tobiko) and the Chili Roll (tuna, cilantro, cucumber, jalapeno & grilled pineapple w/ tempura crunchies and tobiko). Russell told us that they were big, with 10 or so pieces per roll, and when they arrived we were not disappointed.

Both were incredible, and more than made up for my not so much loving the wings. I’d been drinking Jack’s Pumpkin Spice Ale (I’m not normally a fan of Anheuser-Busch products, but this was quite good if you like pumpkin) with the wings, but decided to have a lychee martini with the rolls.

I am excited to return and try the rest of the menu. Signs on our table indicated that beginning September 20, they’ll be open for lunch and they do takeout, which is especially exciting. (Though, not quite as exciting as delivery would be.) I will probably skip karaoke night, but I might consider Blingo. Mostly I will eat tater tots and sushi, which at Sticky Rice, seems as natural a combination as any. (By the way, my dining companions were from Petworth and Columbia Heights, and left feeling like it was worth the trip to hit up H St. for dinner. I’d recommend making a reservation though. We didn’t, but we got there pretty early. By the time we left there were folks waiting for tables, though, it never felt crowded.)

Oh, and make sure to say “hi” to Russell!