32 replies to this topic

[JLK]

I'm looking for info about local restaurants using pumpkin on their menus presently. Most interested in pastas, desserts, etc. more so than pumpkin martinis and the like. Thanks in advance.

[JLK]

Answering my own question. (Washington Post)

[Barbara]

I found a killer pumpkin cheesecake recipe on Epicurious a couple of years ago. However, I find the idea of a pumpkin martini to be just ICKY.

[MelGold]

Chef Anda at Tallula has pumpkin appearing on the new fall menu. The one I'm most anxious to try:

House Made Fettuccine
chorizo sausage, butternut squash, mascarpone cream, pumpkin seed pesto

[MissCindy]

Kaddo borawni appetizer at the Helmand in Baltimore. Pan fried pumpkin with a yogurt garlic sauce. Good.

[Meaghan]

Pumpkin custard goat cheese cake at Palena with pistachio brittle, it turns out (I mistakenly said candied pumpkin seeds in another post). It's something else, but hard to give undivided attention when flooded with other yummies like cookies and caramels.

Nectar (still clear as day in my head) had the best pumpkin soup in all the land.

Nora has a dish on their tasting menu: Lobster with pumpkin risotto, red chard ribs, baby spinach and leek froth (or something like that). Not sure about loster and pumpkin, though.

Who's going to make Cinderella some pumpkin ravioli with madness like foie gras (I have a sick imagination)?

[Jacques Gastreaux]

Firefly--Braised lamb shoulder with pumpkin bread pudding.

[jm chen]

The pumpkin soup at Au Bon Pain is actually very, very tasty. A little bit creamy, pureed, with small lumps of either pumpkin or carrot.

And it's not pumpkin, but it's close: the butternut squash pasta at Dino, with walnuts and truffled ricotta over a sort of shell/penne/quill thing, it tastes of the season.

[porcupine]

Kaddo borawni appetizer at the Helmand in Baltimore.  Pan fried pumpkin with a yogurt garlic sauce.  Good.

or kadu at Panjshir/Panjshir II and Faryab.

[Camille-Beau]

This sounds good: Pumpkin Pot de Crème

Edited by Camille-Beau, 26 October 2005 - 03:26 PM.

[porcupine]

Also TemptAsian has a pumpkin bun filled with (I think) sweet red bean paste.

[Meaghan]

"The humble pumpkin gets star treatment at 1789 (1226 36th St. NW, 202-965-1789) under chef Ris Lacoste. She fills ravioli pockets ($13) with two types of locally bought pumpkin as well as fresh and salted ricotta cheese, and serves them with a rich wild mushroom sauce studded with cranberries and walnuts. Deep-fried strips of pumpkin add a finishing touch." -WaPo

Tonight, I had this dish along with some other 1789 traditions. As Lacoste put it, "it looks like leaves on the forest floor," and that it does. It's a bright dish, an excellent way to wake up the season.
A meal full of soul, followed by a walk across the Key Bridge to home...
I owe that 1789 thread a bump to the top.

[LaShanta]

Being the pumpkin-obsessed person that I am..... The crisp in the air and the beautiful changing leaves (and recent posts on the Dairy Godmother thread) has inspired me to attempt to gather a list of place that have pumpkin items on their menu this season. This should include food AND drink items. (I used to LOVE Poste's pumpkin martinis and I still love McDonald's pumpkin milkshake. I know, I know, obsession is a terrible thing.)

So my humble request is for everyone to post on this thread any pumpkin menu items they see and a review of the item if you were so inclined to try it out. Then we'll compare notes.

Hey, if there are enough pumpkin lovers on the board, maybe we can even do a pumpkin themed Dine Around!!

Ready..... ? Go!

[porcupine]

deleted for redundancy

[BlakeG]

Being the pumpkin-obsessed person that I am..... The crisp in the air and the beautiful changing leaves (and recent posts on the Dairy Godmother thread) has inspired me to attempt to gather a list of place that have pumpkin items on their menu this season. This should include food AND drink items. (I used to LOVE Poste's pumpkin martinis and I still love McDonald's pumpkin milkshake. I know, I know, obsession is a terrible thing.)

So my humble request is for everyone to post on this thread any pumpkin menu items they see and a review of the item if you were so inclined to try it out. Then we'll compare notes.

Hey, if there are enough pumpkin lovers on the board, maybe we can even do a pumpkin themed Dine Around!!

Ready..... ? Go!

We have pumpkin cheesecake on the menu. Pretty good actually. I think we get them from a place called Sweets up in Germantown/Hagerstown somewhere (I don't really know that area well.)

[deangold]

Pumpkin soup at Dino. Also, our Zucca (pumpkin stuffed with roasted root veggies accompanied by assorted veggies and 23 cheese polenta) is now bieing made with sweet mini pumpkins. Should have pumpkin gelato any day now.

[cjsadler]

I read somewhere that Urbana is doing a whole pumpkin tasting menu.

[jm chen]

our Zucca (pumpkin stuffed with roasted root veggies accompanied by assorted veggies and 23 cheese polenta) is now bieing made with sweet mini pumpkins.

And a delicious little mini pumpkin it is. I believe that's a little accidental hyperbole on the cheese polenta.

I just read something about a pumpkin dessert at Mendocino that I hope to be in a position to review shortly.

Does anyone know if Ann Amernick is doing the pumpkin goat cheese cheesecake again this year at Palena? It was definitely my favorite pumpkin dessert last fall.

[LaShanta]

Any Afgan restaurant will have kadu. I particularly like Panjshir's (Falls Church and Vienna) version. Faryab (Bethesda) is pretty good, too.

I've never had Afghan food before. What is Kadu?

I read somewhere that Urbana is doing a whole pumpkin tasting menu.

Yes, I did just hear about that. It's $60 for 6 courses without wine. $80 with wine. If anyone is interested in checking it out with me, let me know either by post or by PM. That may be a fun DR outing!
Any takers?

[monavano]

The puree of pumpkin soup at Majestic Cafe in Old Town is wonderful (and HUGE). It's served with pulled smoked pork and pumpkin seeds.

[porcupine]

I've never had Afghan food before. What is Kadu?

Stewed pumpkin, usually with both tomato sauce (sometimes with ground beef) and yogurt sauce. Manages to be sweet and tart at the same time. At Panjshir you can get it as a side dish or main course. Theirs is on the sweet side.

[qwertyy]

"The humble pumpkin gets star treatment at 1789 (1226 36th St. NW, 202-965-1789) under chef Ris Lacoste. She fills ravioli pockets ($13) with two types of locally bought pumpkin as well as fresh and salted ricotta cheese, and serves them with a rich wild mushroom sauce studded with cranberries and walnuts. Deep-fried strips of pumpkin add a finishing touch." -WaPo

Tonight, I had this dish along with some other 1789 traditions. As Lacoste put it, "it looks like leaves on the forest floor," and that it does. It's a bright dish, an excellent way to wake up the season.
A meal full of soul, followed by a walk across the Key Bridge to home...
I owe that 1789 thread a bump to the top.

Ris Lacoste left 1789 nearly a year ago. Current chef is Beauchamp.

My favorite pumpkin dish is the meat-pumpkin-yogurt thingy at Aghan Grill in Woodley Park. On the menu year-round, but sure sounds good now...

[JLK]

The post was from last year.

I heard somewhere that often restaurants call a dish pumpkin whatever, but actually use a different squash like kabocha. Any chefs around who can confirm or deny this? Just curious.

[Poivrot Farci]

who can confirm or deny this?

I can neither confirm nor deny whether chefs indiscriminately throw pumpkin vs squash nomenclature around like frisbees, but a pumpkin is a winter squash, different from a summer squash in that it is left in the field for a longer time for the skin to harden and make it conducive for winter storage and that Scott McClellan’s head looks like a butternut squash, while Ari Fleischer’s resembles a balding sukkot holiday gourd. Stephen Colbert suggested that Tim Russert rural visage brings a creepy jack-o-lantern to mind. I put horn rimmed glasses on a turban squash once and called it Henry Kissinger. Children egged it. They were more sympathetic to the venerable Theodore Roosevelt pumpkin.

Using the generic pumpkin appellation rather than specific squash varieties might appeal to a wider spectrum of diners. Any chef worth their spatula would relish in using esoteric squash identification on their menu, lest they be using Libby’s pumpkins.

[The Hersch]

a pumpkin is a winter squash, different from a summer squash in that it is left in the field for a longer time for the skin to harden and make it conducive for winter storage

This may seem counterintuitive, but according to the Columbia Encylopedia, the species Cucurbita pepo includes pumpkins, vegetable marrows, and summer squash, while the winter squashes (for example Hubbard and turban) belong to the species C. maximus, which squashes, they add, are called pumpkins in Europe (although I seriously doubt they're called "pumpkins" in non-English-speaking places). How's that for a muddle? You can see the article here.


But speaking of savory pumpkin dishes, on Wednesday I had pumpkin ravioli with pancetta, brown butter, and fried sage leaves at Kinkead's. They were very, very good. The pasta itself was as good as it gets, tender, almost ethereal. And everything worked together to be luscious and luxurious. I felt pampered eating it. A beautiful autumn dish.

[ferment everything]

not savory, but Max's Ice Cream in Glover Park has Pumpkin Ice Cream now and it's delicious.

[New Foodie]

My favorite pumpkin dish is the meat-pumpkin-yogurt thingy at Aghan Grill in Woodley Park. On the menu year-round, but sure sounds good now...

Agreed! I went to Afghan Grill for the first time a month or so ago (and posted about it on here I believe). That pumpkin dish is delicious and I would definitely get it again.

And I know Ris has left 1789, but if they still have that pumpkin ravioli on the menu (as described above) I suggest getting it. I had it last fall when I ate there with my dad, and it may have been my favorite course of the evening.

[LaShanta]

I went to Oceanaire on Sunday night and was very excited to see that they had scallops with pumpkin risotto. Unfortunately, I don’t think the chef got the memo….

The aforementioned “pumpkin” was actually squash. It was just little pieces of it mixed into the risotto. It wasn’t pureed and seasoned or anything. And it was a very bland and uncooked squash (i.e. crunchy) at that. I was extremely disappointed.

So far, I’m 0 for 1 with the pumpkin dishes this season.

[goodeats]

I am resurrecting this thread after having that delicious pumpkin bread pudding at Eventide. Where else are pumpkin dishes perking? Pumpkin-vision!

[Poivrot Farci]

Pumpkin à la Lozèrienne

[Genevieve]

Anyone had any delicious savory pumpkin dishes lately? DC and Arlington places especially appreciated.

(That is a glorious jack o'lantern above!)

[TedE]

Beau Thai in Shaw has (or had) a couple pumpkin dishes on their fall menu. The pumpkin curry was not much to write home about, though. Basically their standard mild red curry with pumpkin. It was nice, just nothing special. They have a stir-fired pumpkin as well

[DonRocks]

Anyone had any delicious savory pumpkin dishes lately? DC and Arlington places especially appreciated.

(That is a glorious jack o'lantern above!)

Genevieve, it's not seasonal because it's canned, but I'd scroll up to Elizabeth's Panjshir recommendation, and also add Bamian in Bailey's Crossroads. There's no rush for these since you can get them twelve months per year. Sunflower's "Macro Plate" always has some wonderful squash thrown into it, and that would absolutely use fresh squash. In terms of pumpkin proper, I've noticed it mostly in pasta-type dishes and desserts this year, but I really haven't been looking for it specifically - your post will remind me to keep an eye out. If you're *really* dying for a great pumpkin dish, nudge me and I'll find one for you.