Though a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, a dose of rice aids consumption of everything from salmon and squid. Glorify the grain with today's Groupon: for $20, you get $40 worth of pan-Asian cuisine and drinks at Murasaki Japanese Restaurant in Tenleytown.

Murasaki, which is Zagat-rated "excellent" for food, serves fresh spins on traditional Asian cuisine. Pull up a chair in the Japanese-inspired dining room or on the outdoor patio, and wake sleepy taste buds with spicy ahi tuna with mustard miso sauce ($9.99). Regulars often order the omakase, a selection of fresh fish dishes specially prepared by the chef, but there are always savory cooked entrees such as panko-fried chicken katsu ($13.99) and buttery and crispy lobster tempura ($19.99). Murasaki's sushi is made with top-notch sushi rice, which is superbly moldable and lightly vinegared to accentuate fish that's sometimes silky, sometimes popping with flavor, but never rubbery like old elastic bands. The Godzilla roll flattens cityscapes of bland flavor with its fearsomely tasty yellowtail, salmon, and scallion roar ($12.95), and the iconoclastic rock 'n' roll's greatest-hits tour of fish filling shuns rice in favor of a cucumber wrapping ($11.95). Quench hunger-flames with a cooling scoop of ice cream or sorbet in flavors including nutty black sesame seed ($4.99), a Murasaki favorite.

Reviews

Zagat give the food at Murasaki Japanese Restaurant an excellent rating. Yelpers give it an average of 3.5 stars, and OpenTable reviewers give it an average of 3.6 stars:

• This “oft-overlooked” Upper NW Japanese is a “neighborhood” “go-to” with a rep for “top-notch” sushi crafted from the “highest quality” fish and served with “no attitude” – Zagat
• Outdoor dining with a covered canopy is comfortable and is set back from busy Wisconsin Avenue far enough so table conversation is audible. Good parking behind building. The variety of sushi rolls is reason alone to visit this restaurant. – OpenTable.com reviewer who dined on 09/25/2010