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Rasika, with 2014 James Beard Award Winning Chef Vikram Sunderam, and Rasika West End, Modern Indian in Penn Quarter and West End


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Totally agree. I love the place. I just don't understand how it makes it in the 1 - 5 list every year. Wonder if I'm missing something, too. I think based on this place alone, he starts the Washington DC/Food cities article with "A surprise only to those who haven't tried it, the finest Indian food in the country seduce with its spices in a city that's home to just over 650,000 residents".  How is that even for real? You go to Devon Ave in Chicago, and you have 5 places within a city block that are better than most of the places in town here. It's very strange. 

Even my non Desi friends in Chicago go to Devon Street for Indian food.

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Apologies for veering off topic, but I, too, have never understood Tom's love of Jaleo.  Had a number of mediocre meals there.  Dinner at Estadio last night was fantastic--as usual.  Never had a bad meal at Rasika either, though I would appreciate it they had SOME truly spicy dishes. 

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I must be missing something also.  I've been to Rasika five times, and the only dish that "blew me away" was the palak chaat.

The lamb xacuti I had last night at the West End location was a perfectly fine, perfectly ordinary curry that was executed on a level I could have found at a half dozen (or more) other, less heralded Indian restaurants in the area.

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The lamb xacuti I had last night at the West End location was a perfectly fine, perfectly ordinary curry that was executed on a level I could have found at a half dozen (or more) other, less heralded Indian restaurants in the area.

I've found at Rasika that ordering curries that sound similar to what you can get at other Indian restaurants resulted in getting fairly ordinary curries. Since then, I've only ordered the more interesting sounding dishes that I wouldn't find elsewhere, and those have been exceptional every time I've been there.

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I've found at Rasika that ordering curries that sound similar to what you can get at other Indian restaurants resulted in getting fairly ordinary curries. Since then, I've only ordered the more interesting sounding dishes that I wouldn't find elsewhere, and those have been exceptional every time I've been there.

Their appetizers and vegetable dishes are often outstanding too.

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Absolutely. I usually make a meal (with at least one friend) from a variety of things but we skip the entree category (though I do like the black cod). We always get palak chaat, lemon cashew rice, and one or two breads, and there are so many good veggie/side dishes and griddle dishes to choose from - I like the fish chutneywalla (sea bass/coconut/mint/cilantro), and we've had great cauliflower dishes, eggplant, and pea dishes.  

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I've found at Rasika that ordering curries that sound similar to what you can get at other Indian restaurants resulted in getting fairly ordinary curries. Since then, I've only ordered the more interesting sounding dishes that I wouldn't find elsewhere, and those have been exceptional every time I've been there.

Agreed. The biryani is pedestrian, but the palak chaat and black cod are outstanding. It's better to get their more "chef-y" dishes, and leave the classics for other places.

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surprisingly, i actually like a lot of their more standard dishes, including the okra, spinach, and the dal (at west end, i haven't had it at penn quarter yet). in my experience many of the standards are worth ordering, either because they put a nice twist on them or it's a really excellent version, like  a great home cook, and i don't get that level of cooking often here.

I normally don't order either dal ( i make this well at home, particularly if i allow myself to use the typical amount of cream or butter for the mahkani) or palak, (in my opinion it's not that flavorful and tastes of mostly spinach..). however, was with a friend who ordered the spinach, which i actually tried to dissuade her from doing. she didn't listen and i tasted it and loved it. it has fenugreek and hints of mint and for me those transform the dish. it's now my go-to, unless the butternut bharta is on the menu. and i love the okra because it's very like my mom's.unlike most places locally, they add amchur, sour mango powder, and it's great. (it always amuses me when people say rasika is doing fusion indian, as so many of the dishes are really traditional, just different than the standard punjabi food at most places).

i went to westend recently and loved the dal dhungaree. i've never had that preparation before, and don't know what it's supposed to taste like, but this was like a really excellent mahkani. rich and creamy and comforting, but more highly flavored than the dish usually is. we also had the sweet potato samosa. on one hand we were dissapointed because the sweet potato was somehow not sweet and tasted like normal potatoes. and the  spicing was utterly traditional--but again, a really good version. i'd happily get them again. nothing groundbreaking at all,, but at a level of tastiness you probably only get in like the top 15% of home cooked versions.

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it's now my go-to, unless the butternut bharta is on the menu.

It's interesting you mentioned this dish. I had it and loved on my first visit to Rasika a number of years ago but I also haven't seen in on the menu in years. The last time I was at the Penn Quarter location (maybe a year and a half ago) I asked the server if it was available even though it wasn't listed and she looked at me puzzled. She wasn't even aware of the dish! And if my fuzzy memory is correct, she was an experienced server (as in, she didn't start the day before).

Has anyone seen it on the menu recently? Maybe I'm just looking at the wrong time of year (although this is the time of year they should have it).

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The key to enjoying Rasika for me is to order the most unfamiliar dishes I can. As others have said, the more mainstream a dish, the less impressive it is.

Rasika rewards the adventurous.

I think there are a lot of restaurants where knowing what NOT to order, is just as important as knowing what to order.

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It's interesting you mentioned this dish. I had it and loved on my first visit to Rasika a number of years ago but I also haven't seen in on the menu in years. The last time I was at the Penn Quarter location (maybe a year and a half ago) I asked the server if it was available even though it wasn't listed and she looked at me puzzled. She wasn't even aware of the dish! And if my fuzzy memory is correct, she was an experienced server (as in, she didn't start the day before).

Has anyone seen it on the menu recently? Maybe I'm just looking at the wrong time of year (although this is the time of year they should have it).

I had the butternut bharta at some point in the last couple of years and it was wonderful. Whenever I see it on their menu, I get it, but it's only been on it sporadically, at least at the times I visit (Penn Quarter location, two or three times a year).

I do love their dal and it tastes far more complex than dal I've had elsewhere.

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Last time we were at the Penn Quarter location at the beginning of January, the Avocado Banana Chaat (Cumin / red chili powder / tamarind / date chutney), Red Snapper Reshad (Shrimps / peri-peri masala / masala bhaat) and Tawa Baingan (Eggplant / spiced potato / olive oil / peanut sauce) were all excellent.  We also like the Dal Makhani, although it is comparable to other restaurants. 
 

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As a point of comparison, having just had dinner at Junoon, a 1 star Michelin in NYC, with 8 people, so we ordered a lot of dishes, Rasika was superior across the board. Not even close. In fact, on a couple of dishes Masala Art was vastly superior. And both DC restaurants are half the price.

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On 2/24/2016 at 0:07 PM, ktmoomau said:

I think there are a lot of restaurants where knowing what NOT to order, is just as important as knowing what to order.

There is a possibility that I end up going to Rasika with out-of-towners who LOVE Indian food and were persuaded by all of the high praise. I've never been, but looking through this thread, it seems there's varying opinions of what is can't miss and what is should miss, so I thought I'd take some current input if anyone has it...

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On 9/3/2016 at 8:03 AM, Bart said:

Palak chaat is a must-order. If there are 3 or 4 of you, you'll need two orders. 

I love the black cod as a fish dish (the most tender fish you could ever imagine), but I'm not sure if it's an "Indian" dish. 

Agree with these. The lemon cashew rice is very much worth it as a side dish, and the dal is particularly good.

Other than that, I've had many wonderful things at Rasika in the last few years (including twice this year), but I wouldn't say any were more must-haves than others.  I go with what ingredients I'm fond of.

I very much like the fish chutneywala (they do a great job with fish), and the goat cheese kulcha (an unusual bread), the ragda patties, and the tawa bhangan.

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i don't normally like paneer, but i think the paneer shashlik is very good, and very flavorful (esp for paneer). i agree with the suggestion of lemon rice above-it's only $1 more than plain rice and well worth it. (i don't think the other rice, a pulao i think, is worth it). i like the toffee pudding dessert a lot. 

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Went to dinner with my aunt and cousin for their second evening in DC last week. Ordered the palak chaat, makkai kofta, tandoori lamb chops, chicken tikka masala, garlic naan, and cucmber raita. Palak chaat was very good, but my aunt and cousin who eat Indian food regularly in California, did not think it was as revelatory as people here make it out to be. I ordered the makkai kofta to get a vegetable dish into the mix and while I liked it, my family thought it was just okay. After reading Don's review above, I wish I had ordered the eggplant chili garlic instead. Lamb chops were our favorite dish of the evening. Three meaty and well cooked chops. The chicken tikka masala was a request by my cousin and we all enjoyed the dish. However, it felt a little "safe" and I wish we had ordered something more adventurous. The garlic naan was great, we should have ordered more. Agree with Don that the raita was no better than a standard raita and none of the dishes we ordered were spicy enough to merit a dollop of raita. 

The meal was lovely and very good, but wish I had do-overs on the makkai kofta and chicken tikka masala. Guess I will have to order a bit more non-traditional the next time I am at Rasika. 

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12 minutes ago, eatruneat said:

The meal was lovely and very good, but wish I had do-overs on the makkai kofta and chicken tikka masala. Guess I will have to order a bit more non-traditional the next time I am at Rasika. 

I was fooled by this line, and went an extra time to try and be open-minded: Learn from my mistakes.

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2 hours ago, DonRocks said:

I was fooled by this line, and went an extra time to try and be open-minded: Learn from my mistakes.

Evergreen comment.

It has probably been about two years since my last visit to Rasika and it'll probably be another two years until my next one. Just a mental note for the next time I end up there.

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My wife and I were downtown last week and decided to have lunch at Rasika.  We had heard a lot about it, and since we both love Indian food, we were happy to give it a try.  We arrived at the restaurant shortly after 11:30 and were able to get seated without a reservation. We tried the onion and sage bread, the Chicken Tikka Masala, Sweet Potato Roast (“red chili/caramelized onion/black pepper”), and Makkai Kofta (“sweet corn/cashew nut/garam masala”).  All four dishes were very good, but the Makkai Kofta was easily our favorite.   

In addition to the food we were pleased with the service.  The chairs were very comfortable, which is important for people our age.  Only one visit, but I would still rate it a bit above the three Indian restaurants we most often visit in Northern Virginia: Raaga, Saravana Palace, and Woodlands.

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On 8/17/2017 at 10:03 AM, eatruneat said:

Evergreen comment.

It has probably been about two years since my last visit to Rasika and it'll probably be another two years until my next one. Just a mental note for the next time I end up there.

Dammit. I forgot Rasika has "jumped the shark." The staff members are very lovely people. That said, the house seems to be aging and not well cared for and the food tasted like the Indian stuff I get at the grocery and make for myself when I need a quick Indian fix. Why do people love this place? Bombay Club, OTOH, always delights me. 

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Perhaps when it first opened, we all just weren't used to eating so much Indian food and it seemed new, some of the best dishes we have now had, they aren't a surprise and we eat more Indian than we did before and are more open to a few more items on an Indian menu than we were before?  The dining room was shiny new and pretty, it seemed exotic.  But now it just isn't a surprise, the jewel box it first was?  A thought.  I haven't been in years, just reading the above, I kind of thought this.

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I'll offer kind of a reverse take -- when Rasika first opened I went a few times and found a lot of the dishes pretty average (my comp was above average neighborhood British Indian/Bengali). Fine but nothing extraordinary. The palak chaat was delightful though. 

Went with my parents about 6 months ago and dinner was wonderful. Fish and lamb curry dishes were rich, perfectly spiced. Service perfect. Palak chaat still delightful. 

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I came back to...scale down my review because it was my experience today and last time I went (probably a year or two ago). Both times I had the same impression but others like it. Oddly, last two men I lunched with there both love and are both named Paul. Kev29; is your name Paul? (Kidding, I'm going to assume it's Kevin).

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Hahahahaha Rasika got name-checked (or actually, probably a product placement, but that's kind of weird) on Season 2, Episode 1 of Designated Survivor!!  Apparently it's where President Kiefer gets his takeout chicken korma? LOL, that doesn't even sound like something they would have on their menu (I checked, it's not there now).  Note that the episode aired in late September 2017, which is possibly interesting or completely unrelated to the Michelin announcements in October 2017? What can I say,  I've been bingeing on the show and now have conspiracy theories on the brain 😉

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2 hours ago, Simon said:

I'm being taken here for dinner soon.  What should I order?

The Palak Chaat if you've never had it. 

Beyond that, order things you wouldn't find in your average Indian place. All the usual dishes are fine, but you'll leave wondering what the fuss is all about. 

Their seafood tends to be excellent, and I always really like their spicy lamb curries. 

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43 minutes ago, jca76 said:

while we agreed that the food is more interesting than rasika's and most of it quite good,  the overall experience wasn't one that will have any of us rushing back.

I was wondering if a comment like this would be made. At some point in the future - and it might not be Punjab Grill that does it - Rasika is going to be exposed for the fraud it has always been.

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18 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

I was wondering if a comment like this would be made. At some point in the future - and it might not be Punjab Grill that does it - Rasika is going to be exposed for the fraud it has always been.

That's what you got out of this review?!?

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2 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

That's what I got out of the fourth sentence of the first paragraph. As for the review itself, I gave it a trophy 🏆, highlighted it here, and then promoted it on Twitter and Facebook. How about you, champ? 

You think a meal that "wasn't one that will have any of us rushing back" will expose Rasika for the "fraud it has always been"...that seems a leap of logic that I can't quite connect. 

But to each his own. 

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1 hour ago, mtureck said:

that seems a leap of logic that I can't quite connect. 

But to each his own. 

Indeed.

On 2/20/2019 at 6:51 PM, mtureck said:

The Palak Chaat if you've never had it. 

BTW, the last time I got the Palak Chaat at Rasika West End, it was in the form of a salad. Here's our four-star, James Beard-winning, Indian restaurant in action:

PalakChaat.JPG

And the beer I ordered - Tikka Gold - was completely ruined with oatmeal-like sediment. When I asked for the sommelier, and pointed it out, he had the audacity to tell me that this is how the beer always is, and the flakes were the Golden Tikkas!!! ("Tikka" means "small pieces" - cf: Chicken Tikka). What a boatload of bullshit!

TikkaGold1.JPGTikkaGold.JPG

And in case anyone thinks I might be wrong about this, I went to a lot of trouble to verify I wasn't.

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46 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

Indeed.

BTW, the last time I got the Palak Chaat at Rasika West End, it was in the form of a salad. Here's our four-star, James Beard-winning, Indian restaurant in action:

PalakChaat.JPG

And the beer I ordered - Tikka Gold - was completely ruined with oatmeal-like sediment. When I asked for the sommelier, and pointed it out, he had the audacity to tell me that this is how the beer always is, and the flakes were the Golden Tikkas!!! ("Tikka" means "small pieces" - cf: Chicken Tikka). What a boatload of bullshit!

TikkaGold1.JPGTikkaGold.JPG

And in case anyone thinks I might be wrong about this, I went to a lot of trouble to verify I wasn't.

What's palak chaat supposed to look like? It's always looked like that when I've gotten it, and it's always been delicious. 

As for the beer,  yeah that would have pissed me off too, and quite possibly would have giving me a grudge against the restaurant for a long time. 

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3 hours ago, mtureck said:

What's palak chaat supposed to look like? It's always looked like that when I've gotten it, and it's always been delicious. 

If you want to give awards to raw, red onions, cold, soggy "fried" greens, and bad salad dressing, knock yourself out - I'm long past the point of caring about what the masses think.

Want some more four-star photos? 

IMG_4187.JPGIMG_4193.JPG

3 hours ago, mtureck said:

As for the beer,  yeah that would have pissed me off too, and quite possibly would have giving me a grudge against the restaurant for a long time. 

TenYearsAfter.jpg

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34 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

If you want to give awards to raw, red onions, cold, soggy "fried" greens, and bad salad dressing, knock yourself out - I'm long past the point of caring about what the masses think.

Want some more four-star photos? 

IMG_4187.JPGIMG_4193.JPG

TenYearsAfter.jpg

The vindaloos, daals, and curries at Bombay Club and Rasika come from a steam table.

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  Is that always necessarily a bad thing?

 In my experience, many dals and “ curries”,  especially the ones without large chunks of vegetable in them,  are unaffected by sitting around for a while, if anything they may be slightly better, as many of those things are definitely better the second day than the first day  as the longer the ingredients are together the more they marry .  I think it’s one of the reasons Indian buffets are actually relatively good-a lot of the food doesn’t suffer from being held on the steam table.

 In addition,  I would think a lot of the dishes would have to be made on the steam table in order to be served, because they simply take too long to make to be prepared individually per order. 

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4 hours ago, sandynva said:

  Is that always necessarily a bad thing?

 In my experience, many dals and “ curries”,  especially the ones without large chunks of vegetable in them,  are unaffected by sitting around for a while, if anything they may be slightly better, as many of those things are definitely better the second day than the first day  as the longer the ingredients are together the more they marry .  I think it’s one of the reasons Indian buffets are actually relatively good-a lot of the food doesn’t suffer from being held on the steam table.

 In addition,  I would think a lot of the dishes would have to be made on the steam table in order to be served, because they simply take too long to make to be prepared individually per order. 

All this is correct: Dals and curries are (or should be) long-cooked, so they're never cooked "to order" (and it doesn't really matter whether they're stored in a pan or a steam table) - ironically, I don't care for Rasika's dals or curries precisely because they lack a long-cooked depth of flavor.

That said, I went to an Indian steam-table buffet a couple weeks ago that bordered on being disgusting - one reason is that the oil (or ghee, or whatever it was) had separated in the steam table pan - that stuff needs to be kept warm and occasionally stirred to prevent this.

Woodlands is the king of area steam-table buffets - the selection is tremendous, the recipes use a light touch with oil, and since it's mostly vegan, the food holds really well. Damn, I'd love one of their Rava Masala Dosas right. this. minute.

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Very recent review from Andy Hayler

As a side note I'd recommend checking out Andy's recent reviews from the DC area - these should probably go into the individual restaurant threads so I won't give a synopsis of them all, but on a relevant note here he gave Rasika a better score than Kinship which certainly runs counter to popular opinion on this board.

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We ate at Rasika West on Sat August 17 before a Kennedy Center Show.  Despite options above we were extremely happy with solid food, great service.  The meal was well paced and the dishes we ordered were great.  We stayed mostly with fish dishes and were very pleased.  They recognized our 34th anniversary with champagne and desert on the house, great.

And by the way, Squeeze at the Kennedy Center, phenomenal.

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