HOUSTON
JAPANESE
Aiko
Japanese · Hushed · Washington Ave
$$$
The most ambitious of Patrick Pham and Daniel Lee's Houston trio (after the casual Handies Douzo and Kokoro) — a Washington Avenue sushi room where three daily-rotating omakase give the kitchen room to work a wider, more serious specialty-fish selection. The partners bring roughly three decades of combined Japanese experience, and at the counter that pedigree shows; the à la carte menu still overlaps with its more casual siblings, so the omakase is where to spend your attention. Come for the counter and the trust it asks for.