A New Website — Lighter and Faster
The website has been fully rebuilt. sashimidc.com is now static HTML — no CMS overhead, no render delays, just the content loading quickly. Ordering and transactions continue through Square as before. The main site is simply much lighter and less frustrating to use.
The rebuild also brought a significant expansion of content: there is now a full guide to every Bluefin Tuna cut, dedicated pages for Sasshu Salmon, Otoro, and each of the rarer cuts, a founder profile, sourcing detail on the farms and supply chain, a Q&A guide, and a recipes section. If you haven't visited recently, it's worth a look.
Unagi Sold Out — Next Batch April 8
The Kagoshima Unagi Kabayaki sold out as expected — thank you for the response. We are planning the next shipment for April 8th, timed in part around a special Kagoshima event at the Japanese Embassy. We'll announce availability through Instagram and the newsletter when it's confirmed. This remains an irregular import, not a weekly item.
Spring Schedule
| Thursday March 19 | Keita leaves early. Rice Market staff can assist with fish purchases in the evening. |
| Sunday March 22 | Keita leaves in the early afternoon. Updates on Instagram. |
| March 23–24 | Keita is away. Rice Market staff are available to sell fish — come in as usual. |
| March 25–31 | Closed. |
| April 1 | Reopening with fresh fish shipment arriving that day. |
Violin Wine — Will Hamilton, Eola-Amity, Oregon
Rice Market DC now carries the widest range of Violin Wine available on the East Coast. The winery was founded in 2013 by Will Hamilton — a Maryland native who moved to Oregon in 2005 with no winemaking background and spent nearly a decade working his way through some of the Willamette Valley's most important cellars before starting his own label.
Will's formative years included five years at Northwest Wine Company in McMinnville — Oregon's largest custom-crush facility — where he worked across fifteen varieties from across the state. From there he moved to Evening Land's Seven Springs Vineyard in Eola-Amity, where he learned barrel-fermented Chardonnay from a Burgundian team and developed the deep attachment to the Eola-Amity AVA that defines Violin to this day.
The name is personal: the f-holes of the violin family of instruments, his son Olin, the word vino inside violin, and an admiration for BB King's Gibson. The idea that winemaking at its best shares something with stringed instrument-making — precision, patience, and the pursuit of a specific sound.
His approach is one of consistent restraint. No commercial yeast since the first vintage. No nutrients or yeast supplements since 2018. No fining. Light filtration at bottling only. Chardonnays ferment in barrel as juice for around twelve months. Pinot Noirs run fourteen months with 10–15% whole cluster depending on the site. He targets moderate yields — 2.75 to 3.25 tons per acre — and favors early picks to capture freshness rather than ripeness.
Seven of his nine grape sources are in the Eola-Amity hills — a volcanic island at the end of the Van Duzer Corridor, where Pacific winds funnel through the coast range and keep temperatures in check through the growing season. All nine growers dry-farm.
"Personally, I can't recommend Violin's wines highly enough." — Eric Guido, Vinous, May 2024
We hosted a Violin tasting in June 2025 with Will present — the Sojeau Chardonnay vertical (2019 vs 2021) was particularly instructive for understanding what vintage variation looks like in practice. Bottles are available at Rice Market now, across the Willamette Valley, Polk County, and single-vineyard expressions.
Sushi Making Classes — April & May
We are resuming our small in-shop sushi making classes after the spring break. Three dates available, all at 2:00 pm at Rice Market:
- April 5
- April 19
- May 3
Small groups held in the shop. All levels welcome — from first-time home cooks to those who have been buying our fish for a while and want to learn proper slicing and rice technique.