Shaw’s New Japanese Bar Has a Hand-picked Sushi Master

Large and in charge

For the past few months, Shaw residents have seen the exterior of a new sushi, yakitori, and izakaya bar take shape with a Godzilla mural painted on the wall of the building that formerly housed two duds, the Shaw Bijou and French Quarter Brasserie. The new venture, coming from the owners of Chaplin’s ramen down the block, will have a supersized talent in the kitchen, too. Washington City Paper reports that Zeppelin, expected to open this month at 1544 Ninth Street NW, will feature traditional Edomae-style nigiri sushi from chef Minoru Ogawa, a Tokyo native who studied under his master-chef father in Japan. Ogawa formerly ran the sushi program from Mandarin Oriental hotels and is a chef-owner of the highly regarded Sushi Capitol in Northeast and the intimate Sushi Ogawa in Kalorama. WCP reports that two of the owners, Ari Wilder and Adrian Williams, used to work with Ogawa at the now-closed Cafe Japone and targeted him for Zeppelin from the project’s inception. Zeppelin will be open until at least 1 a.m. every day. It will host karaoke and serve food until closing. [WCP]

Barbecue news?

A Popville reader told the site he talked to one of the owners of a business that’s moving into the old Ruta del Vino space in Petworth, and it will supposedly serve smoked brisket and chicken as well as bourbon and beer. [Popville]

Kind of local

Maggie McFly’s, a Connecticut-based chain with a diner-like menu of food and beer, is set to open at the Springfield Town Center. Washington Business Journal reports that the local outpost, which may open as soon as tomorrow, will be full of products sourced from Virginia producers, including peanuts, honey, sausage, tea, and breads. This is the seventh location, and the second outside of Connecticut. There’s also one in Virginia Beach. [WBJ]

Political pizza

After D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser tweeted her four favorite pizza places in the city, DCist did a deep dive on her connection to each place. Officials at all of them donated money to one of her two mayoral campaigns. Considering her mumbo sauce gaffe, it’s a pleasant surprise to see the mayor was a Ledo Pizza stan before taking office. [DCist]