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Forgot to note that I was at Liberty a couple weeks back eating outside with the dog (yeah remember those really warm, nice days). I had a really good spaghetti with homemade pasta, cooked al dente, house cured bacon and the red sauce had a little kick to it, as well. Really good. I forget what Hubby had... But as usual consistently good.

I am looking forward to more spring veg coming in so they can switch menus.

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I felt like something other than the usual brunch yesterday so I wandered over to Liberty Tavern to say hi to my friends bartending.

I didn't realize they had a "burger and a pint" special - basically add $2 on to the price of a burger for a pint of beer. I had a couple of pints and went with the Foie Gras burger, which is butter braised house ground beef, cured foie gras, camembert, and frisee on an "IPA" roll, along with potato salad.

Damn that was a good burger. Not the best one I've ever had, but a solid, if messy, burger. And the potato salad (mayo based) was also quite tasty. Made for a good summertime lunch, and the burger plus a pint was $15 - not too bad.

They also had a lamb burger which was VERY tempting, and a fried halibut sandwich with hot peppers and other condiments - also tempting. According to the menu, that burger and a pint special is every day until 5 PM, so I might have to wander back there some upcoming weekend...

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We met up with a couple of friends last night to celebrate a recent engagement and chose Liberty Tavern. I hadn't been in a while and forgot how packed the bar gets (it was obviously slammed at the tail end of happy hour, but it was still full when we left around 9:30). Thankfully they allowed us to get our table while we were still waiting on the last guest so we could get out of the hub bub and grab drinks and some appetizers.

We tested the waiter a bit by ordering the 5 cheese plate for the table, but letting him pick the cheeses, which he seemed quite excited about. We definitely had some nice variety, and there was really only one that I didn't love. My only issue here was that we had to ask for more toast since what they brought out initially was not enough for all of the cheese.

We all also enjoyed the generous bread basket. I especially liked the rolls and the brown bread, and probably ate too much before the main courses came! We could've used a little more butter since we were splitting it amongst 5 people, but it was certainly a nice to start to the meal (and we thought it a little odd that it came after the cheese course and not before).

Two of the girls at the table ordered half portions of pasta for their dinners that were very generous servings. I can't remember if I've ordered a full serving before, but it seems like it would be a lot of food! One guy got the skirt steak, and he was across the table from me so I didn't get a good look, but he cleaned his plate.

I was deciding between the egg noodles and the pork and the waiter swayed me to the Duroc Pork “Milanese” (brown butter/lemon marmalade vinaigrette, grilled fingerling potatoes, dandelion-tomato salad with housemade pancetta, egg $22). It was a giant piece of pork, flattened and breaded with a tangy vinaigrette, potatoes, and greens, topped with a lovely runny egg. It was a bit rich and heavy for a hot summer night, but the lemon in the vinaigrette did lighten it up a bit. The dandelions had a spicy arugula-like flavor that went well with the smoky pancetta. My +1 had the Georges Bank Haddock (local crab, house bacon with semolina gnocchi, Plymouth succotash, sweet corn-buttermilk/brown butter froth $22). The gnocchi is served as more of a polenta cake underneath the fish, which is wrapped in bacon. I didn't notice the crab in the bite I had, but the fish was good. I didn't have any succotash, but it looked very fresh and vibrant on the plate.

We were too full for dessert, but all agreed that there were many things on the main menu that looked so appetizing that we wanted to come back soon and try more.

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Two thumbs up for amazing host service at Liberty last night. Friendly, helpful greeters who offered us outdoor seating when the bar looked too crazy. "No problem," they said "you can order happy hour from outside".

Score!

Or so we thought.

Over ten minutes after seating, the server arrived. He knew we were only ordering drinks, but took time with us, sharing the Restaurant Week menu, bar menu, and other options in case we changed our mind and wanted to dine. His friendly manner was a good counterbalance to the long wait.

We placed our drink order and waited. And waited. And waited. The server stopped by and apologized for the bar being backed up. So we waited some more. We tracked him down again and requested the check when the drinks arrived, because we planned to grab dinner elsewhere. He handled it graciously, and again apologized.

A long time later, the Industrial Margarita ($5) was nothing noteworthy, causing my companions to pine for their California hometown. $3.50 drafts were fine. On the non-alcoholic front, the mint lemonade got "yuck" reviews from our seven year old dining companion, but rave reviews from his mother.

We got them on a bad night, and lesson learned that an uncrowded seating space will still be victim to a bartending chokepoint.

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We thoroughly enjoyed our meal here last night. Although there was some wait for our reservation, not many, if any, hiccups with service on a busy night.

They had just rolled out their spring menu, which is highly recommended! Ramps abound on the menu, white and natural asparagus, beans, peas etc. Browsing the menu itself was a treat, had me thinking that we were enjoying 70 degree temps a week early.

There was not one miss with our meals. Everything is absolutely recommended.

GRILLED OCTOPUS “EN PURGATORIO” asparagus, mushroom, radish, pickled ramp vinaigrette 11.50

Don't be fooled, this a salad and not a stew as the name "en purgatorio" might suggest. Very healthy portion of octopus topped with a salad of the above mentioned. Some of the nicest cooked octopi I have in most recent memory.

ROASTED HOUSE BACON rhubarb gel, fava bean puree, carrot and asparagus salad 10.00

Again, a large cube of the house bacon topped with a the above accompaniments fauxing as a salad. The bacon had all sorts of preparations going for it. Pink from the brine/cure, possibly smoked, finished with a braise until it fell apart, then crisped with some amazing crunchy texture on the skin. Reminded me of a slow braised smoked pork shank. This was great.

FRITTO MISTO fried clams, oysters, shrimp, fennel, lemon, zucchini, onion, smoked paprika-lemon aioli, tartar sauces 10.50

Very traditional, gigantic portion, everything was fried super light and crispy. Seafood was fresh. Reminded me of Connecticut.

ARCTIC CHAR spring vegetable succotash, black venus rice, goats milk-preserved lemon and mint froth 18.95

DUROC PORK CHOP spaetzle-cheddar-ramp gratin, crispy housemade scrapple, spring vegetables, smoked pork, honey mustard jus 22.95

The two above entrees speak for themselves. Very nice portions of each. The pork chop was huge, I could not finish it and that is saying a lot. It is rare that we go out and everything is seasoned so well. The flavors were on in every single course. My single grief of the night was that our server recommended med. rare on the pork chop, and I accepted. It came out a little over med. rare, just barely pink in the middle. But the flavors were still booming even over cooked a tad.

If you think the above descriptions sound temping, wait til you try them! The prices may be comparable to many restaurants in the area, but the portions really put them above. I can't remember portions that large aside from Cheesecake factory.

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Here's some more info about the new chef, Matt Hill.

"The restaurant group announced today it has hired Matt Hill, former executive chef at Charlie Palmer Steak and, most recently, the chef de cuisine at Range. Hill replaces former executive chef Liam LaCivita, with whom the group"amicably" parted ways earlier this week.

Along with whatever changes Hill brings to the three Clarendon eateries, Liberty Tavern has been planning an American Heritage menu, according to Eater DC. The menu would feature different culinary traditions with American roots, like Polish, Irish and Greek foods popularized in immigrant communities around the country."

I heard from an employee at Liberty that Hill also has an association with one of Tom Colicchio's establishments.

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This is the first full meal I've had at The Liberty Tavern since Chef de Cuisine Miljohn Dimaano replaced Liam LaCivita (Matt Hill, who recently left Range, has assumed the Executive Chef role for this restaurant group - which includes Northside Social and Lyon Hall - and is overseeing all three restaurants).

There was only one seat open at the always-deafening bar, and my extremely chatty bartender (mostly chatting with two young women to my left) finally got around to taking my drink order for a draft of Legend Brown Ale ($6), brewed by Legend Brewing Company in Richmond, VA.

I wanted something other than pizza, or charcuterie, or cheese, just to see what this kitchen is capable of putting out right now. So I got the Whole Salt-Roasted Branzino ($20.95) with saffron fregola, vegetables "a la greque," and preserved lemon zabaglione. Despite the rather complex description, this dish was quite straightforward, the medium-sized fish obviously taking center stage, and not crusted in salt as much as I thought it might be. The fregola was a bit bland, and could have used some salt-overflow from the fish, but the vegetables were just about perfect - right at the level of doneness that makes them "cooked, but not cooked to death" - and the small dab of zabaglione lent a touch of sweetness to this somewhat neutral dish (I actually did put a bit of salt on my fregola, but the fish itself (which is obviously the most important part of the entree) was just fine.)

Finding a whole fish at The Liberty Tavern for $20.95 was a pleasant surprise, especially considering it was part of a composed plate. Five years ago, branzino was something of a luxury item; no longer - it's certainly not tilapia, but it's no longer the rarity it once was in these parts. The Liberty Tavern did a nice, if unspectacular, job with this dish, and it's one that I can softly recommend. I'm pretty sure that only a small minority of downstairs customers get a dish such as this, and so it's even more important that The Liberty Tavern gets the basics right - pizza, their burger, etc. The next time I have dinner downstairs, I'll try something a bit more typical, fully expecting this surprisingly resilient restaurant to come through, just as it always has.

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Dinner at Liberty last night, I have to say I don't want to say too much good or bad because they are just in the middle of transitioning the menu.  I had the grilled romaine salad which was on the new menu, it was really nice, romaine, ceasar dressing, anchovies, proscuitto.  Very nice salad.  I am a big fan of a good salad, I don't find it boring, this was a good salad.I kind of wish they didn't have me in their notes as gluten intolerant (which I am, but) because I really wanted to cheat and eat some of their rolls, which looked so good.I had their garlic prawns of their new menu, which was a really good dish flavor wise.  I think the shrimp were a bit overcooked, but I really think while transitioning the chef deserves a little time to get his feet under him.  The flavors in the sauce and other components of the dish were great, so I see a lot of good promise.  The sauce was so good, that it was REALLY tempting to ask for a roll to dip up all the sauce.  Hubby had the skirt steak which is executed a bit differently than the last time he got it, it was fine, but he preferred the old execution.  His was one of the things we ordered off the old menu, the new entrees will be coming on later this week.  I am looking forward to seeing what is on the new menu.  In just a bit of time I think it will back to being just as solid as ever, and I like that the menu is getting a pretty big refresh.

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I'm heading there on Saturday.  I took a peak at the menu and was so disappointed that my favorite starter, mussels in smoky fennel broth, was gone!  These were my hands-down favorite mussels of all time.  I hope they substitute it with something just as good.

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I have had two meals at Liberty since the announcement that Matt Hill would be taking over as Exec Chef and the new Chef de Cuisine took the helm. I noticed no slippage in quality at either meal, measured relative to a large sample size of meals here under the previous administration.

Two visits ago, my recollection is a bit foggy, but I believe I had the beet salad to start and a scallops entree. The beet salad was solid, the scallops were fantastic.

This past weekend, I started with the Tavern Salad, which was satisfying if not exciting, and enjoyed the brook trout entree, which was excellent.

I do recall being told that the sommelier had also departed and that we could expect some changes to the wine list in the future. I was informed this as I found out that they no longer featured the Deangelis Falerio by the glass, which was a bummer to me.

Overall, Liberty still seems solid to me and will remain in my regular rotation for as long as I can see.

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Ordered take-out from "Liberty to Go" on Saturday to feed the family in town to help us with the new baby.  I had never utilized this at Liberty before and I came away pretty impressed.  The entire menu was available and the packaging (sauces in separate containers, etc) was excellent.  When I got home I plated everything and folks were pretty excited about what was delivered to the table.  The highlights being: pork chop with peach gremolata, halibut with corn risotto and a giant sized portion of rigatoni with "gravy" and meatballs.

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I was just there on June 25 and enjoyed the Sunday Gravy pasta dish for the first time.  Yummy meatballs and sausage with pasta in a red sauce. Real comfort food.  Now it's gone.  Oh well, maybe it is more of a winter meal and will be back when the weather gets cold.  Branzino looks interesting.  May try that next time.

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5 hours ago, hopsing said:

I was just there on June 25 and enjoyed the Sunday Gravy pasta dish for the first time.  Yummy meatballs and sausage with pasta in a red sauce. Real comfort food.  Now it's gone.  Oh well, maybe it is more of a winter meal and will be back when the weather gets cold.  Branzino looks interesting.  May try that next time.

I believe the Rigatoni with "Sunday Gravy" is still on the lunch menu (at least until the lunch menu catches up with the dinner menu).

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On 7/12/2016 at 9:19 AM, hopsing said:

I was just there on June 25 and enjoyed the Sunday Gravy pasta dish for the first time.  Yummy meatballs and sausage with pasta in a red sauce. Real comfort food.  Now it's gone.  Oh well, maybe it is more of a winter meal and will be back when the weather gets cold.  Branzino looks interesting.  May try that next time.

Rigatoni and meatballs back on the menu.

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Had some excellent, some good and some decent experiences here.

Solid lunch, their burger and a pint deal is great value.

All you can eat brunch is notable, always good variety and quality foods. If you come close to the end of service, when employees start packing it up, you may get a to go box... Can't promise that for the guys, but for the ladies (or this particular one) it worked out :)

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I was at Liberty Tavern on Friday night and it was disappointing, sad as I really do like their fried chicken deal on Mondays. It may have been due to restaurant week as the place was quite crowded, but the pumpkin soup was lukewarm, the chicken wings overcooked, and the Caesar salad overly salty.  It may have been because the kitchen couldn’t keep up with the crowd and the servers were frazzled.  I hope it was due to Restaurant Week and the place will revert back to its usual consistency.

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I was there a week ago Saturday (pre-RW) and was disappointed with my go-to dish, rigatoni with meatballs.  Way too much celery, both in the meatballs and the sauce, overwhelmed the dish.  Other dishes were pretty good: butternut squash soup, kale salad, and lobster diavolo.  Stay away from the Cotes du Rhone, one of the worst I've ever drunk.

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