Peacock Cafe, Chef Maziar Farivar and GM Erika Martinelli on Prospect Street in Georgetown - Second Branch on K Street Has Closed

[VAFoodNut]

The suave, wood-paneled Peacock Grand Cafe, an offshoot of the Georgetown neighborhood haunt Peacock Cafe, should open by the middle of December in the former Legal Sea Foods space on K St. NW, which has since been outfitted with an expansive bar/lounge and a brick pizza oven; expect lots of signature cocktails and wines by the glass to pair with its midpriced New American menu of salads, pizzas, grilled fish and steaks

[Sthitch]

Is the Peacock Cafe any good? The menu seems to be all over the place.

[Keithstg]

Is the Peacock Cafe any good?

In a word, no. Food befitting it's location next door to to Cafe Milano.

[JLK]

I like the brunch menu. particularly the french toast with strawberries sauteed in balsamic vinegar and butter.

[Elias Hengst]

I like the brunch menu. particularly the french toast with strawberries sauteed in balsamic vinegar and butter.

I agree with JLK - there's alot to like about one of Georgetown's few 'neighborhood' places, and the owners are, frankly, some of the most sincerely hospitable and caring restaurant owners (they're brothers, actually...) in Washington.

[TinDC]

I have had better dishes off the brunch menu than the dinner menu. They have some sandwiches that are very good, I particularly like the "Sophia Loren". It has turkey, brie and some sort of pesto among other things. The tomato bisque is quite tasty and comforting.

It is funny, we once went for brunch and our dining companions highly recommended the french toast that JLK described above. My husband ordered it and when it arrived, it was literally triangles of dry toast. Obviously an oversight on the part of the kitchen but my husband was baffled since our friends raved about it.

The Georgetown Peacock does seem to draw heavily on the university and local neighborhood crowd. I will be interested to see who frequents the new location.

[KeithA]

The Georgetown Peacock does seem to draw heavily on the university and local neighborhood crowd. I will be interested to see who frequents the new location.

Probably a combo of lawyers/office workers from nearby on K St like me. Maybe some GWU folks too. Hopefully it'll be better than Legal was.

[demandalicious]

WOW - There is some serious hateration in the thread. What exactly does one expect from a CAFE?

I think that the GT Peacock is a great spot for a sandwiches and is reasonably priced. I like the Ginger Rogers - nothing fancy - on French Baguette. The James Dean is pretty good too. If the second location has the tomato bisque, I will be eating lunch there at least once a week.

[Rieux]

Had lunch here today (K st. location), first time since they opened. It is convinient, as my office is next door.

I thought on the whole it was (somewhat surprisingly) very good. I had the poached salmon with golden beets, baby bok choy, and some sort of blood orange foam sauce. It was light, cooked perfectly, and delicious.

My lunch companions had the roasted pepper spinach pizza and the turkey burger. The pizza got rave reviews, but could have been cooked a bit more. I think asking for a well-done pie would help. I tried a slice and liked it. The peppers were said to be outstanding (there were none on my slice).

My other friend did not say much about the turkey burger, but she ate the whole thing and seemed to really like the fries. (I seem to remember that the fries at the G'town location were pretty good).

We were out of there for $29 each, including 3 entrees, 2 glasses of wine, an iced tea, and three coffees. Not bad.

The menu has a huge range of healthy-seeming dishes, so I will definitely be back.

[KeithA]

Went last night for a work happy hour. We shared a bunch of bar appetizers which are select items lifted from the regular menu. The magherita pizza were good, crispy crust with light tomatoey flavor and good fresh basil accents. The roasted, not fired wings were pretty tasty with a sticky, not hot, but also not too sweet sauce on them. The wings come with two sauces which seemed a waste to me, neither added much flavor. Also, tried the combo of slider burgers. The tuna was bland, but the steak tenderloin was good. (I didn't try the turkey). The fries that came with the sliders were not my style -super thin sticks. Overall a nice place, but prices seem high and some portions are small. The sliders were only about 2-3 bites each with so so fries for $14. If they dropped their prices, it would be a go to place, but they are seeking to capitalize on the expense accounts like their also overpriced neighboring restaurants.

[darkstar965]

Okay, five year dormant thread, be gone with you!

Does anyone ever go here?

Peacock Cafe on Prospect in Georgetown is 22 years old this year. So something has clearly gone right for them. I used to go here for a more-or-less safe brunch and decent venue with visitors or colleagues/customers. But that was more than 10 years ago before I started to learn the DC restaurant scene. It was also long before DC became a serious restaurant and food city as it surely is now (at all price levels and representing many cuisines). It was before there were 50 (100? 200?) places to get a decent or better brunch on a Sunday.

Was here today for lunch. I don't remember the last time I was there.

Met a friend and we were looking for something different so, today, we went with the nostalgic option.

On the good side:

- the venue is exactly as I remembered it. very nice, professional, and gentrified. perfect for a business meal.

- service was friendly and generally very good

- I regularly struggle to find good brunch spots on Saturdays since 90%+ of those that serve brunch do it only on Sunday. Peacock Cafe serves brunch...every freakin' day. I don't think there's another restaurant in the greater DC area that does that. Am I wrong?

- their chef evidently has cooked at the Beard House..twice!

On the less-good side (but it doesn't matter since, as mentioned above, these guys know their audience and seem to be serving it well):

- food was pretty mediocre across the board. a tuna tartare was made with a low grade of who-knows-what-it-really-is "tuna" of a light pink and grainy consistency but no off smell. the recommended burger was ordinary in every way from bun to less flavorful meat (again of unknown origin but I think I don't want to know). shoestring fries are very likely of the pre-frozen variety.

- value. purely due to the above, value isn't great here. Low 30s pp for lunch. Unless you say it has to be that given the location in tony Georgetown, I say it's too expensive for what it is.

They use Swing's for their coffee. I didn't ask but I'd guess they've been using Swing's for more than 15 or 20 years.

Too many other places, lower and higher priced, are now within walking distance of Peacock that would draw me before I'd come back here.

We've come a very long way in this town. And Peacock reinforces a theme true for other spots that have been discussed more recently. Running a successful restaurant is as much about knowing whom to target and then meeting whatever their expectations as it is other key success factors. That's not necessarily the same as running a restaurant with great food. Great is in the eye of the beholder. I totally understand how others might really like or love Peacock. But, to this eye, Peacock ain't so great.