Boundary Road, 5th and H Street NE - GM Mary Kate Wrzesniewski Has Departed - Closed

[chefgunshow]

Hi. Here's one of the things going on down at Boundary Road. This is porchetta di testi, a whole pig's head, deboned, brined, and poached overnight. We're serving it with sauce gribiche and grilled bread. I stuffed it with spicy kale.

Did this work?

Thx.

Brad

[DaRiv18]

Stopped in yesterday for their Annual Artichoke Week that runs through the weekend.  They have like 4 or so dishes (apps and entrees) and 4 or so cocktails.  I had the raw artichoke salad with green peas, mint, parm, and tripe.  I especially liked the tripe, the visual thing for me was that it looked like a romaine lettuce rib hiding in plain sight in the salad.  The Cynar Fizz was a nice highball with the artichoke bitter, armagnac, coffee syrup, and egg white.  

[Tweaked]

Mad genius drunk stoner food alert:  the Charcuterie Sammy ($12) on the late night menu.  Two thick slabs of grilled bread stuffed with a generous pile of  thin sliced charcuterie (I remember mortadella and prosciutto in the mix, but there was at least one other cut), melted cheese, greens, and stone ground mustard served with a well dressed side salad.  A brilliant mashup and big enough for two to share to ease a belly full of booze.

Boundary Road should definitely be on the radar for late night eating drinking along the H Street corridor.  

 

[Josh]

It also works equally well at that belly easing the morning after at brunch.

[lhollers]

In case you missed it, Boundary is doing special guest chef nights on Sundays where a ... guest chef ... takes over the kitchen and puts a movie of his or her choice up on the big screen. Last night's was Sam Adkins, who was slanging some dynamite sandwiches while The Triplets of Belleville screened. A buddy and I stopped over late and went with the char siu pork. Really, really nice flavors (almost banh mi-ish), with some pickled carrot and daikon offsetting the super tender barbecued pork on a ciabatta roll. I had a Hardywood Virginia Blackberry out of Richmond, VA - Belgian wit with a little rye and a ton of fruit-forward blackberry flavor. As always, a great, low-key crowd and an extensive beer selection. For those with a Sunday night to burn, I'd highly recommend. Remaining schedule is here.

Cheers!

[DaRiv18]

The Late Night Sunday Celebrity Chef Takeover is really gaining steam, it's becoming a fun night out.  I'll have to chill with lhollers next time!

The Toki Underground one was insane.  Even after being seated, no one had been informed exactly what Chefs Erik and James would be offering.  The week before was an awesome fried chicken and biscuit meal for like $12.  Finally, they told us that TU had a four-course price fixe meal for us.  Sounded pretty fancy for a 10:30pm event, but why else was I here?

The first course served was three sides: spicy edamame, pickled veggies, and a bowl of rice.  Then came heavy hitters.  2nd course: Szechuan tofu with ground chicken.  3rd course: whole sardine with crushed peanuts (so awesome!).  Finally: long beans with pig ears.  I was stuffed, super-happy, but somewhat dreading the bill.  I actually laughed when I got it: $15!  The sardine dish alone might have gone for $20 in some restaurants.  The restaurant was packed at midnight and everyone was having a blast.

This past Sunday, the District Fishwife event.  Also great.  App included fried frog legs and a shrimp dumpling and a sausage dumpling.  The main course was a fried whole fish (durat?) which was amazing.  I've had most of the prepared offerings at their Union Market spot, but this was my favorite.  Again, well attended event and I'd do it again.

The next upcoming events are also Union Market folks, Jonny Taco from Neopol (he tells me to expect breakfast for dinner, as well as Travis from Peregrine preparing accompanying coffee flights, should be great).  The week after, Evan Colondres (currently of Peregrine, formerly of Komi and Little Serow) & James Waziuk (Maketto/TU at Union Market) collaborate, should be excellent as well.

[chefgunshow]

Has the schedule been extended

 

Yup. As always, I'm the asshole that can't promote things properly. So, as DaRiv, lhollers, and Don have mentioned, we're doing a guest chef take-over Sunday late nights. The chefs are encouraged to cook whatever they want, and they pick a movie to match. We're going to continue until chef's stop volunteering to work on their day off.

Next up, Jonny Taco cooks Breakfast from Neopol. He's showing The Breakfast Club.

After that, Evan and James are coming from Union Market and I have no idea what they're cooking, but it will be awesome. They told me they're going to beat Toki's turnout.

Andrew Markert from Beuchert's Saloon is coming September 21st and showing The Fifth Element. The prototype menu is awesome, but I think it's still in progress. I'll share when it's done.

Alex "A-Rod" Georgiadis formerly of Cashion's fame is up next.

After that, I don't think I have anyone, but we're still lining buddies up to sling some grub and possibly enjoy an adult beverage.

That's about all the details we have. We do the Bo and Overholt combo for $6, but the rest is a mystery. Come on by, nobody works Monday AM anyway.

All the info should be on our website, or you can give us a ring.

Thanks.

Brad

[lhollers]

I was stuffed, super-happy, but somewhat dreading the bill.  I actually laughed when I got it: $15!  The restaurant was packed at midnight and everyone was having a blast.

This past Sunday, the District Fishwife event.  Also great.  App included fried frog legs and a shrimp dumpling and a sausage dumpling.  The main course was a fried whole fish (durat?) which was amazing.  I've had most of the prepared offerings at their Union Market spot, but this was my favorite.  Again, well attended event and I'd do it again.

We do the Bo and Overholt combo for $6, but the rest is a mystery.

All the info should be on our website, or you can give us a ring.

Thanks.

Brad

All 100% correct - I also laughed my ass off when I got the Toki guest chef bill... Each one has been awesome, the movies have been a trip and a great time, and the food is out of sight thus far. I love when chefs get the chance to just freestyle and throw out some new stuff they're trying out, and I feel like the crowd at these events is definitely open to trying delicious new items.

If you can't make it in on Sunday nights, the regular menu has some awesome new food on it as well. Stopped in last night to try the smoked mackerel (dynamite, with a rye bread base, sliced heirloom cherry tomato, fennel frond, shaved carrot, and a mustard powder dusting - kind of a Dutch[ish] flavor profile) and the new iteration of the sweetbreads (which used to be way too small and gummy, but are now three huge chunks that have an amazing char to offset the creamy richness of the gland [and some outstanding black-eyed peas to sop up the vaguely Cajun-esque sauce]).

They're also are getting out there on the beer selection - we tried two Perennial brews, one the Hopfentea, which was sour and definitely had a distinct steeped fruit tea flavor, and the other the Last Word, one of the funkiest, most intense beers I've ever had, with hints of key lime, wintergreen, and juniper. My brain couldn't wrap around it, but I kept going back in for another sip. Crisp, SOUR, and so, so weird. Killing it on the booze front here, per usual.

[DaRiv18]

I don't have time for a detailed review, but wanted to memorialize some late night chef menus here before I deleted them from my phone.

Breakfast at Night was great, the pancakes and eggs were my favorite.  The peanut butter mousse on the dessert puff was a close second.  Travis's coffee cocktails were really good too!

Evan and James's event was crazy, they did about 100 covers starting at 10pm, I haven't seen the place that packed on a Sunday night before.  The food was spicy and sour, definitely close to the Little Serow approach.  I partnered up with my friend Jason, and the food total for the two of us WAS ONLY $10.  Or maybe it was $10 each.  But I think it was for both.  I spent more than $10 on adult beverages, hence that detail is a bit hazy to me.

[lhollers]

Cool new pairing menu event going down at Boundary Road - launches tonight. Funky, Foraged, and Fermented offers either a cheese course and a mushroom course for $9, or a cheese course, mushroom course, and a paired beer for $12. Three options, all look awesome.

Couldn't figure out how to embed a tweet, so link to the menu and announcement is here.

Cheers!

[chefgunshow]

Once again, we here on H street NE are driving the PETA people nuts and having our second annual foie gras fest. Swing by any of these nine (!) establishments for their unique take on the most delicious thing on earth.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

[chefgunshow]

PETA is coming to protest our Foie La La event tomorrow at 1. Come on and hang out. Love those hippies. Those poor, uninformed hippies. 

[Josh]

Lot of talk about the various great special events BR has run recently, but I want to add a note that they continue to put out solid plates of goodness nightly.

I've always been a fan of their rustic salads, and the Belgian Endive does not disappoint.  The Basque (country) Ham and Egg was straight up ham and eggs.  Leaned heavily on the goodness of the country ham, but that's not a problem when the ham delivers.  (They have a Basque cider on the drinks list I snagged a free taste of that was funky and weird, and perfect for the dish.)  The Swordfish with Hoppin' John was perfectly cooked.  I normally hate swordfish, mainly because I always overcook it and that drives me nuts, but Brad hit it just right.  The black-eyed peas were al dente, which made for a nice textural contrast.  The vegetarian Farro Risotto was hearty and composed mainly of toothsome portions of root vegetables held together with a mild goat cheese.  Hearty but light, if that makes sense.

Rounded out with a nice glass of a Serbian red wine, this was a dinner that was fantastic in how easy and effortless it felt.  Glad I can walk out of my front door and land here in 2 minutes or less.

[Pat]

Is the current menu up online fairly close to the menu being served?  Friends want to go out for German food near Capitol Hill on Saturday night.  We don't want to go to Cafe Berlin and the Biergarten Haus isn't so super appealing to us.  There are several German or German-influenced items on the Boundary Road menu online, and that's sounding much more appealing than the two nearby strictly German options.  Before suggesting it, though, I thought I'd check on whether the sauerbraten, wurst, etc., are still on the menu.  It seems like perfect weather for them!

[chefgunshow]

Hey Pat, that's the current menu, but I'm getting ready to run out of the kid leg. We'll run the loin after on the same set up. Then, who knows? Maybe rabbit?

Also, we have some interesting beverages.  Lost Rhino Kolsch,  that our current beverage director, Tim Prendergast, wrote the recipe for. And a couple of German wines: Dr. Loosen Reisling and  Villa Wolf Gewí¼rztraminer that are not quite on the list but for definitely for sale. The Choucroute will be there, as will the Sauerbraten Short Ribs for the next few weeks. Say hi when you come by!
 
Also, attention all Rockwellians! Tonight is the pre-release party for Green Hat Gin's Navy Strength. Starting at 5, until we run out. Hope to see you there!

[Pat]

Hey Pat, that's the current menu, but I'm getting ready to run out of the kid leg. We'll run the loin after on the same set up. Then, who knows? Maybe rabbit?

Also, we have some interesting beverages.  Lost Rhino Kolsch,  that our current beverage director, Tim Prendergast, wrote the recipe for. And a couple of German wines: Dr. Loosen Reisling and  Villa Wolf Gewí¼rztraminer that are not quite on the list but for definitely for sale. The Choucroute will be there, as will the Sauerbraten Short Ribs for the next few weeks. Say hi when you come by!

Thanks!  This sounds great.

[DaRiv18]

There's a roasted corn and summer melon gazpacho on the menu right now that is just amazing.  Tomatoes, watermelon, and cantaloupe blended into an incredibly balanced gazpacho.  But there are oversized croutons that give it a buttery crunch, and the roasted corn kernels give it a sweet crunch as well, it's a great texture play.  Topped with sherry vinegar and olive oil.

[btw, Mary Kate Wrzesniewski has been the GM for awhile now]

[chefgunshow]

Thanks Man!

[Josh]

The Valencian spiced sausage with tzatziki and the soft-shell crab with fermented green tomatoes and skordalia most assuredly don't suck either.

[chefgunshow]

Hi everybody! I'm working with an awesome group of folks to open a Basque cider house and pintxo bar called ANXO (an-cho) down the road at 300 Florida NW. We are offering a preview of ANXO at Boundary Road on Monday, August 17. The last one we did at Dolcezza sold out super fast and these tickets are also going fast. The dinner will be a cocktail / pintxo hour and then four courses of Basque-inspired cuisine paired with fantastic ciders of varying origin. The tickets are $85, plus the eventbrite fee, which you can find here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/anxo-sighting-cider-pairing-dinner-2-tickets-17996473938

Here's a recap of the last one: http://dolcezzagelato.com/anxosightingphotos/

I hope some of you can make it. We are having some serious fun with the food and drink and look forward to being the District's first cidery.

[chefgunshow]

Here's another ANXO sighting ... we're heading up this coming Friday.

Mark  your calendars: this Friday, Oct 23!

Also Nov 13 and Dec 11:

 

 

[ArlFred]

Went last night for the first time ever, before a show at the Atlas. The menu we had was the same as posted online 10/17, except they were out of the duck. The smaller dishes looked more tempting that the mains, so me and my companion made a meal of the starters. We both had the Late-summer salad to start, a lettuce-free salad with kale sprouts instead forming the leafy green. They were a little to big to eat in one mouthful and kind of tough to cut, and I think a saltier chunk of speck could have made a nice contrast to the general "pickled" flavor of the vegetables. It just seemed a little one-note.

No complaints on the valencian sausage (sensational) or the squid-ink tagliatelle. My companion had the squash soup, which tasted very cuminy (I am not a fan, he liked it a lot) and scallops (perfectly cooked, so tender you could cut them with a fork). So glad this place is on H Street, which otherwise has so little for my long-past 20s tuchus.

[DaRiv18]

I will soon relinquish my crown of H St Co-Overlord to a more worthy resident, as we move far, far away to the land of Comet Ping Pong and Buck's Fishing.  Chef Brad soon also heads NW to concentrate exclusively on ANXO next week, and formally hands the reigns over to Chef Luke, the sous for the past two years or so.  I expect the style will remain European peasant food with great ingredients, and that the relationships with their current vendors stay largely the same.  Chef Luke has the same enthusiasm as Chef Brad, perhaps more so for pickles, and the restaurant is in good hands.

Boundary Road is a great neighborhood spot, and I will certainly still eat here, but it no longer be my local saddens me.  I love the bar, it's always friendly, has great beers, one of the best late night menus, and it doesn't have a TV that discourages small talk.  Doesn't sound like a high standard, but surprisingly hard to find.

[eatruneat]

If Luke is Luke Feltz, I owe a former intern from my days in the Senate a visit and a hearty congrats.

[Luke.Feltz]

Yep that's me! Hello everyone, I am the new chef at Boundary Road. As mentioned above, I was the sous chef for awhile before taking over as Brad leaves to focus solely on his new project, ANXO Cidery and Pinxtos Bar. There will be (and already have been) some small changes to the menu, but stylistically and thematically, the food will remain the same. I will continue to execute Brad's vision of high-low/european-influenced peasant food. That being said, I have one change to announce here. In homage to the Kitchen Sink Omelette at classic breakfast diners, we have added the option to get the Quark and Black Pepper Pierogi "with the kitchen sink." Basically, I am going to come up with a combination of things from the kitchen to make with the pierogi instead of the usual butter/cream/onion sauce (again, optional, the normal pierogi will never ever leave).

Right now, the kitchen sink pierogi comes with brown butter, sage, onion, roasted butternut squash, spicy squash soup, and baby kale. The squash soup and pierogi combo was actually something that Brad came up with one day when he was cooking lunch.

[DonRocks]

Yep that's me! Hello everyone, I am the new chef at Boundary Road. As mentioned above, I was the sous chef for awhile before taking over as Brad leaves to focus solely on his new project, ANXO Cidery and Pinxtos Bar. There will be (and already have been) some small changes to the menu, but stylistically and thematically, the food will remain the same. I will continue to execute Brad's vision of high-low/european-influenced peasant food. That being said, I have one change to announce here. In homage to the Kitchen Sink Omelette at classic breakfast diners, we have added the option to get the Quark and Black Pepper Pierogi "with the kitchen sink." Basically, I am going to come up with a combination of things from the kitchen to make with the pierogi instead of the usual butter/cream/onion sauce (again, optional, the normal pierogi will never ever leave).

Right now, the kitchen sink pierogi comes with brown butter, sage, onion, roasted butternut squash, spicy squash soup, and baby kale. The squash soup and pierogi combo was actually something that Brad came up with one day when he was cooking lunch.

Welcome, Luke - You are now officially the new chef in the title of this thread (and thus highly searchable) - congratulations on the promotion!

Is Mary Kate Wrzesniewski still your GM?

[Luke.Feltz]

Welcome, Luke - You are now officially the new chef in the title of this thread (and thus highly searchable) - congratulations on the promotion!

Is Mary Kate Wrzesniewski still your GM?

Thank you! And yes she most certainly is!

[Josh]

I hesitate to post this because of my love for BR, but fair is fair.  After a surprisingly poor brunch at Sally's Middle Name last month, we ventured out with our guests to a neighborhood standby for a bleary-eyed New Year's mid-day meal.  Unfortunately, today's brunch just barely bested our SMN meal.

We've noticed some unfortunate inconsistency in the food in the past couple of months (the worse of which was a very undercooked piece of chicken being served to our 3-year-old), and a drop-off in the level of service we were used to.  Service was not in top form today, as they were staffed for half the number of diners who were there, though that could well have been due to people unexpectedly calling in sick after a long night.  The drinks (Bloody Marys and a delicious Right Proper Berliner Weiss) were great as always.  My BRB (Bacon, Radicchio, and Beet) sandwich was...fine.  2 slices of bacon, 2 circles of roasted beet, a few slices of wilted radicchio, and a smear of goat cheese on thick cut bread.  This is a simple sandwich, and I think to really be something, one of the ingredients is going to have to shine.  In this case, you're going to have to lean heavily on the bacon, and right now, Boundary is serving a thin cut relatively mild-flavored product.  This sandwich calls for a thick-cut, smoky beast.  My son's broccoli and raclette quiche was great, but served with a salad that looked delicious but desperately needed to be acquainted with salt.  My wife went with the generally safe choice of "Gentleman Will Take A Chance," a hash of pork confit and various vegetables.  Today's was served with diced root vegetables, none of which were actually cooked anywhere close to being done. (And unfortunately this wasn't a question of "al dente" versus done...these were raw.  Inedible.)

I have been and will continue to be a H St. NE booster, but our torch-bearers are going to have to step up their game if they hope to stay relevant as the corridor continues to develop.  Hopefully I just hit two old favorites at rare off-times.

[Bart]

"Liked" for honesty and impartial reporting.

[Luke.Feltz]

Hi Josh, you're right, fair is fair. There is no excuse for mistakes like that and I am very sorry that your experience didn't live up to our standards. I'm sure you saw me running around that day, but I would have been happy to take the time to correct these mistakes for you. I always prefer to address issues like these at the moment they occur. We appreciate your continued support for our business and I hope we can earn it back. I would also like to know more about the inconsistencies in food that you mentioned.

Now for some specifics. I am working on a new source for bacon, meeting with someone today in fact. The BRB sandwich will also be getting a splash of mustard vinaigrette to dress up that charred radicchio, and there should have been a few slices of raw red onion to give it a bit more bite. We had no other issues that day with the GWTACs (that we're aware of...), but that's no excuse for a singular mistake, everything should be tasted before it hits a plate. And there will be some reeducation on proper salt levels for dressing salads.

As for the level of service, again I am very sorry that it was subpar. New Years Day brunch is always a hectic day and I agree, we could have benefitted from an extra set of hands. There will be some more significant changes to the menu in the coming months, because you're right, we do need to up our game. I would love to sit down and chat in person sometime, both about these issues and some new ideas I'm working on.

Thank you for your honesty and objectivity and I hope we get the chance to serve you again.

Luke

[Josh]

Thanks for the reply, Luke.  My support for BR is going nowhere, as it has been, and remains my "local" (though with 2 young kids, opportunities to visit my local are a bit thin right now).

Dishes will slip from time to time, but given a couple different experiences, I just wanted to put it out there to maybe spur some examination.  I almost always bring issues up on the spot (which we did with the chicken issue a while back), but the brunch was, as I said, pretty "bleary-eyed,' and the fewer complete sentences we had to put together, the better.  And I should have mentioned that our guest that had the rapini salad really dug it.

Thanks again for being so open and gracious in your response.

[DonRocks]

Thanks for the reply, Luke.  My support for BR is going nowhere, as it has been, and remains my "local" (though with 2 young kids, opportunities to visit my local are a bit thin right now).

Dishes will slip from time to time, but given a couple different experiences, I just wanted to put it out there to maybe spur some examination.  I almost always bring issues up on the spot (which we did with the chicken issue a while back), but the brunch was, as I said, pretty "bleary-eyed,' and the fewer complete sentences we had to put together, the better.  And I should have mentioned that our guest that had the rapini salad really dug it.

Thanks again for being so open and gracious in your response.

I'd like to chime in and agree. Luke, you're exactly the type of chef we want to support in this community, and we'll continue to do so. One slightly negative review means nothing; how you responded to it means everything, and I'm pretty sure you can count on us going forward as "friends of Boundary Road."

[Luke.Feltz]

Thanks, everybody. I really appreciate that. Of particular note to this topic, we will have hand-sliced hickory smoked bacon beginning tomorrow. And the Reuben (and Reuben Benedict) will finally be on rye bread!

On a side note, I'm sure many of you are familiar with the Foie La La festival that Brad Walker started three years ago. After a bit of a bumpy start to it this past December, we have rescheduled and regrouped and will run the 2016 Capitol Hill Winter Foie Festival January 13-20. You might notice that this is no longer restricted to H Street, as we will have several restaurants over by Eastern Market and a couple just off H Street. I am not releasing the names until next Tuesday, the 12th, but I can say that we have over one dozen restaurants signed up as of this moment, and I expect a couple more to trickle in tomorrow. We have also partnered with D'Artagnan, a wholesale specialty meat and food supplier, to supply all of the foie gras for the competition from Hudson Valley Foie Farms in New York, ensuring that each restaurant uses only the best, most responsibly sourced foie gras. Voting will be on our website www.boundaryrd.com/foiethewin, and voters will enter for a chance to win a multi-course foie dinner for two here at Boundary Road.

I'm super excited about this event, and I really hope that the community comes out to support it. There's a lot of stigma about foie and we've definitely received some negative press in the past, but this is about removing that stigma, clarifying some facts, and celebrating the farmers who do it responsibly. Also, in addition to my signature dish, I'll be adding foie gras here and there to other menu items. I'll post a photo and description this weekend.

[Bart]

On a side note, I'm sure many of you are familiar with the Foie La La festival that Brad Walker started three years ago. After a bit of a bumpy start to it this past December, we have rescheduled and regrouped and will run the 2016 Capitol Hill Winter Foie Festival January 13-20.

I'm super excited about this event, and I really hope that the community comes out to support it.

This sounds awesome. I hadn't heard about it before this note, so please keep us posted.

[Luke.Feltz]

Just started a new topic dedicated solely to DC Foie Fest 2016. Link here. Participants will be announced Tuesday, January 12th. 

[Luke.Feltz]

Full list of participating restaurants:

Barrel

Belga Cafe

Beuchert's Saloon

Boundary Road

Cafe Berlin

DC Harvest

Driftwood Kitchen

Granville Moore's

Le Grenier

Montmartre

Rappahannock Oyster Bar

Smith Commons

The Big Board

The Queen Vic

 

Details, map, and voting here.

[Luke.Feltz]

So I can't figure out how to put up a picture of the dish, but here's the description:

Chicory Chai-rubbed Seared Foie with smoked pear french toast, poached persimmons, pomegranate gastrique, pickled ramps, and duck cracklin'

I am also doing a "Kitchen Sink" Pierogi with Mushrooms, Thyme, Madeira, and Foie Cream, as well as Foie Gras and Black Truffle Butter with grilled bread to snack on.

If anyone knows how to put up a picture, I have one ready. First night was a resounding success. Over 10 PETA members came and protested, but there were a lot of people here eating foie. Super excited to try the other restaurants' stuff, too. Looking forward to the rest of the week.

[Luke.Feltz]

Still waiting on a couple descriptions from folks, but here's the list. Also got a cool interactive map to "Map your Foie" 

Boundary Road - Chicory Chai-Rubbed Foie with smoked pear french toast, poached persimmons, pomegranate, pickled ramps, and duck cracklin'

 

Driftwood Kitchen - Seared foie gras with a mulled port reduction, petit greens, bacon crumble

 

The Big Board - Foie Gras Poutine: hand cut fries with foie gras pan gravy and fresh Wisconsin cheese curds

 

Le Grenier - Foie gras creme brule & Orange-Onion Confit

 

DC Harvest - Sauteed Pecan Smoked Foie Gras with pickled rhubarb, candied blood orange, madeira jus and multigrain bread

 

Smith Commons - Foie Gras Trio: Orange Crusted Terrine, Walnut Stuffed Torchon, Coco Nibs-Dusted Seared Foie

 

The Queen Vic

 

Granville Moore's - Seared foie gras, apple and beet relish, porcini and foie gras mousse, grilled ciabatta foie gras, apple and beet relish, porcini and foie gras mousse, grilled ciabatta

Rappahannock Oyster Bar: Seared Foie Gras accompanied with carrot cake & kumquat-sherry gastrique

 

Belga Cafe - Pan seared foie gras, brioche waffle, spinach, red wine pears, Cuberdon crumble

 

Beuchert's Saloon - Seared foie gras, black pepper waffles, apple butter, hazelnuts, truffle duck fat powder

 

Barrel - Foie Gras, Oyster, and Short Rib Pithivier, swiss chard, celery root, amontillado, and foie jus

 

Cafe Berlin

 

Montmartre - Pan-seared with grilled brioche, port-soaked cranberries, pistachios, frisee, and burgundy sauce

[Luke.Feltz]

Due to popular demand, we will be extending Foie Fest through Sunday, January 24th. If you haven't gotten your foie fix yet, come check it out. 

[Luke.Feltz]

Hey folks, just wanted to let you know that we will be doing a special dessert menu starting next week, February 10-17. We will be working with an awesome bean-to-bar chocolate company up at Union Kitchen called Undone Chocolate, using their products in every dessert for the week. They're really great about sourcing their beans, and the owner, Adam, is very scientific in his approach. On Valentine's Day itself, we will host Adam and his team at 10pm to sell some of their retail chocolates, as well as feature additional tasting flights, spiked hot chocolate, and a chocolate cocktail. And I really want to show Willy Wonka on the projector, too.

Furthermore, Saturday, Feb. 13th is our FOUR YEAR Anniversary. It would be great to see some of you here that night. Still working on what specials we are going to run, but we'll definitely have something fun. Because that rhymed and I didn't plan it, I will end here.

Dessert menu v. 1 here:

Chocolate Zeppole...$8

    fried doughnuts sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, served with prickly pear and blood orange curd

Cookie Plate...$8

    Sandy's Cakeballs, Peanut Butter Cup, Chocolate Ginger Cookie

 

Maple-Chocolate Creme Brulee...$9

    candied pear, maple-glazed pecans

 

Flourless Chocolate Torte...$9

    honeycomb-brandied cherries, pistachios, whipped cream

 

Ice Cream Flight...$8flight...$3each

    Blue Salt, Indian Spice, Nicaraguan Single Origin

[Luke.Feltz]

Undone Chocolate desserts are off to a great start. the flourless torte turned into a flourless chocolate sassafras cake; kinda reminiscent of a root beer float but somehow i got banana flavors in there? Maple-Chocolate creme brulee is also bomb.

In addition, this weekend I am doing three dishes for two:

Veal breast, mushroom, and chard roulade, with twice baked mashed lemon-caper potatoes, grapefruit-glazed charred sunchokes, and madeira jus.

Pork Shank "Ossobucco" with stewed fregula, braised rapini, cannellini bean puree, and fennel gremolata.

Riesling-Braised Guinea Hen stuffed with chestnuts, cranberries and celery leaves, served with wild rice, celery root, caraway butter and caraway seed gastrique.

Finally, we will host the makers of Undone Chocolate Sunday night at 10pm. Come out for desserts, tasting flights, pairings, chocolate cocktails, and spiked hot chocolate after V-day dinner. And Willy Wonka (original) murdering children.

[DonRocks]

Undone Chocolate desserts are off to a great start. the flourless torte turned into a flourless chocolate sassafras cake; kinda reminiscent of a root beer float but somehow i got banana flavors in there? Maple-Chocolate creme brulee is also bomb.

In addition, this weekend I am doing three dishes for two:

Veal breast, mushroom, and chard roulade, with twice baked mashed lemon-caper potatoes, grapefruit-glazed charred sunchokes, and madeira jus.

Pork Shank "Ossobucco" with stewed fregula, braised rapini, cannellini bean puree, and fennel gremolata.

Riesling-Braised Guinea Hen stuffed with chestnuts, cranberries and celery leaves, served with wild rice, celery root, caraway butter and caraway seed gastrique.

Finally, we will host the makers of Undone Chocolate Sunday night at 10pm. Come out for desserts, tasting flights, pairings, chocolate cocktails, and spiked hot chocolate after V-day dinner. And Willy Wonka (original) murdering children.

Luke, thank you for all you've been contributing to this community; I only hope we're paying you back to some small degree.

[Bart]

Luke, thank you for all you've been contributing to this community; I only hope we're paying you back to some small degree.

I just had lunch there 20 minutes ago!

[Luke.Feltz]

Hey folks, on today, our 4th Birthday, I just wanted to send a thank you to everyone who has supported Boundary Road the past four years. It has been a surreal experience for me and we're grateful that this community continues to support what we do. I know it's busy weekend for everyone (still not sure why Brad decided February 13 was a good day to open), but we will be pouring free glasses of cava with desserts all night long to celebrate. 

[Kanishka]

Two parents walk out of Boundary Road, the mom with a six-month old strapped to her in a front pack, the dad holding a toddler's hand in one hand, and a vomit-soaked sweater (size 3T) in the other.

About four hours earlier, the parents had marveled at the fact that there were tables for four available at Boundary Road on Valentine's Day.  Let's do it! they agreed.  They were five minutes late to their 5:45 reservation, much to the father's chagrin.

Their almost-three-year old being curious about food, but increasingly picky, they went with some "easy" dishes to share: tagliatelle with rabbit ragu, Swedish meatballs with spaetzle.  They augmented with the beef tartare and the mennonite greens salad (just for the grownups) and the monkfish entree.  Miraculously, the toddler ate the monkfish!  And the tagliatelle, and the meatballs.  And he drank with gusto the ginger ale his dad treated him to, and used it to toast his parents (who enjoyed the excellent champagne cocktail.)

But then came dessert, and the single spoonful of blue salt chocolate ice cream dad gave to his son.  Up! came dinner, all over the table.

And there went Valentine's Day.

The parents were mortified.  The service was amazing.  While dad whisked son off to clean him up in the bathroom, the hostess and waitress cleaned the mess up.  By the time dad was back at the table, it was as if nothing had happened.

A nice tip was left for the excellent service, as was some additional for a round of drinks for the neighboring table.  The vomit incident was, most likely, the result of a passing illness.  And once again Boundary Road left two customers impressed by how they treat young families.  It's a tough demo, and their overall outstanding level of service should be recognized.  Not to mention the food, which was excellent, standouts being the tartare and the rabbit ragu.

[odessea]

They were so amazing to me with mocktails when I was preggers, it warms my heart to hear this story and now they care about their neighbors, even those with vomiting children.

Happy V-Day, indeed

[Luke.Feltz]

Thanks for sharing this, Kanishka! If I remember correctly, your son loves broccoli and cauliflower. Off to a good start. Happy to have him here any time (you and dad, too).

[Luke.Feltz]

Hey folks, just wanted to let you know that our new dinner menu is hitting the floor this week. Lots of new stuff, different lay out, etc. Link here

[Pat]

We tested out the new menu last night, meeting an old friend for dinner.   The grilled bread with pickled eggplant puree was a good way to start.  I didn't quite know what to expect from the description, but it was fantastic. The pickled eggplant arrived atop 4 substantial pieces of bread.  We managed to be civil and not fight over the last piece (our friend got it).

The creativity and interesting flavor combinations carried on throughout the meal.  My husband ordered the lemon balm and buttermilk brined pork shoulder.  He enjoyed it but found some of the center pieces (it was pre-sliced) a little tough.  The pieces I stole off his plate were from the end and were moist and tender, so I can't corroborate that.

For my entree, I got the playful Beef Pojarski ("& Stuff"), which consisted of bison, veal, and pork formed into the shape of a chop, with a bone wrapped into the creation.  I'm not sure what the casing was holding everything together or whence the bone originated.  Very clever.  I loved the baby beets that were plated with this.

The Amish brick chicken done as a Moroccan tagine sounded intriguing and our friend loved it.  He insisted I try some, and again, the flavors were wonderful.  I stole some of his accompanying fries (as mine were plated in the jus of my beef Pojarski and I wanted to try some unadorned) and those are some great shoestring fries.  I also tried a little of the dipping sauce that came with them (I'm shameless!) and preferred them plain.

My husband was the only one to order something in addition to an entree, the spring mushroom farro risotto.  I had looked at ordering that myself and the bit I tried made me wish I had.  It was delicious, a full-on umami hit.

It had been a long time since we were here and it was a good choice for last night.  We spent a lot of time talking and service was unobtrusive and pleasant but prompt when needed.

[Luke.Feltz]

Thank you so much, Pat. Very glad you and your guests enjoyed dinner. We hope to see you back again.

For those interested, Pojarski was an innkeeper favored by Tsar Nicholas I for his dish of a veal chop, with the meat minced and mixed with soaked breadcrumbs and egg, and then reformed on the bone in the shape of the chop and cooked in butter. We're serving with with baby beets, mushrooms, dill, and tarragon, with a jus made with beet vinegar for some acidity.