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Steak Tartare


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Bump.

I need new places people. Tired of BdC.

Recently I've had Bistro La Bonne's (once) and Lyon Hall's tartare (several times). La Bonne's was decent - simply dressed, served with a pretty sizable green salad, a few gherkins and cone of okay frites -- enough for a meal. I've enjoyed Lyon Hall's tartare more - similar portion size of the tartare, but served with a yolk on top, a little gherkin mixed in and mustard dots on the side -- its more of an app or light meal as its only served with crisps (which I ask them to sub out for bread - and they have no problem doing).

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Bump.

I need new places people. Tired of BdC.

The tartare at Et Voila! is excellent. Clean beef flavor. Nice mustard and caper additions. Appropriately dressed greens to accompany. Solid all around.

Sometimes they offer it as a starter and sometimes they offer it as a main. If it is only on the menu as a main and you have a friend with you who is also interested in tartare as a starter, the main is just the right size to split as a starter. They'll serve the larger size at the start of the meal. No prob'.

JFW

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This thread needs updating; it's almost 7 years old! My current favorite is at Fiola. Chef T changes the preparation every so often, but it is always outstanding. The most recent rendition had tiny slivers of guanciale. Brilliant.

Mintwood Place does a good version, with tiny cubed fried potatoes on top (a nice twist on frites). 2941 uses American wagyu beef and a peanut vinaigrette (very subtle).

Any new recommendations?

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The best I've ever had in dc was at central, everything else was off but the tartare was awesome, brinoise fried potato, a mustard seed dressing and some gaufrette as well. Pretty awesome.

Had it at the Central in Vegas. It is awesome. My favorite in DC used to be Capital Grille, which featured egg yolk. But it has been years since I tried it.

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So last night a friend asks me "where can you get good steak tartare around here?" and I didn't have an answer for him. So I'm asking youse guys. Any ideas? Thanks.

The tartare at Et Voila! is excellent. Clean beef flavor. Nice mustard and caper additions. Appropriately dressed greens to accompany. Solid all around.

Sometimes they offer it as a starter and sometimes they offer it as a main. If it is only on the menu as a main and you have a friend with you who is also interested in tartare as a starter, the main is just the right size to split as a starter. They'll serve the larger size at the start of the meal. No prob'.

JFW

I had a very good Steak Tartare ($25) with well-dressed greens and frites tonight at Et Voila!

jfw, surprisingly, it didn't have capers (unless they were so finely ground that I didn't notice them).

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I've lost count, but for me Bistro Bis has consistently been the gold standard. Some like a different style, so they may prefer the mayonnaise-ier, less acidic versions I've had elsewhere.

Some might, but Bistro Bis is one of my gold standards, too. (Try West End Bistro's as well.)

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^That's interesting; when I had it a few weeks ago I thought the onion came close to overwhelming it.  A few days later I had steak tartare at Le Diplomate and thought the balance much better.  I also had it at Bistro Bis a few months back and wasn't terribly impressed;  it had been made in advance (that's not a guess, I asked because I wanted them to go light on the onion).

The best rendition I've had this year (outside of Fiola's out-of-this-world not traditional version) was at Firefly.

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I remember (close to 30 years ago) when I was on a business trip to Belgium, I enjoyed Steak a la American, which was a tartare made with horse meat. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it set the bar for steak tartare for me.

I'm very happy that Wikipedia covers kitfo and kibbe nayyeh as regional variants of steak tartare....!

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I remember (close to 30 years ago) when I was on a business trip to Belgium, I enjoyed Steak a la American, which was a tartare made with horse meat. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it set the bar for steak tartare for me.

Just had it in Vancouver (it's called basashi in Japanese).

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We dined at Bistro Bis two or three Sundays ago (the last night of restaurant week) and ordered the steak tartare (which I believe was an upcharge).  The preparation was what you would expect with capers, onion and cornichons and I thought the flavors were excellent.  The garlic chips that were included complimented the dish and it also included an apple slaw, the light freshness of which (not too sweet) was a perfect compliment to the bold flavor of the meat.  This is still a go-to place to sample the dish.

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I had Montmartre's recently and enjoyed it - although it is dressed more aggressively like Central's.

Fiola's has been my favorite for quite some time and is the main reason I go back.

I just had Montmartre's and even though it's dressed aggressively (there's a creamy, almost mayonnaise-like dressage (well god-dammit, if you can do it to a horse, why not a steak tartare?)), it may be my new BOMinDC (Best Of the Moment in DC).

The quality of the egg in Woodberry Kitchen's version is outstanding (picture a farm egg with a deep yellow yolk), but the local beef is, as local beef so often is, lacking depth of flavor. I know, I know, it's "high-quality" beef, and I'm supposed to like it. I do, in fact, like it; I just have trouble loving it. Don't get me started on local ryes and gins.

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Not to take anything away from the several fine versions identified above, but I am going to nominate Restaurant Eve's as not only the best version I have had in DC, but the best anywhere in my life. Definitely one of my 5 favorite dishes in the area and the singular dish my pregnant wife talks about having in the hospital after she gives birth.

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First, CONGRATULATIONS!

Second, unless your wife is going to pass on nursing, that steak tartare will have to wait a bit. For the same reason you shouldn't eat it when pregnant, you shouldn't eat it while nursing...

This doc respectfully disagrees.  Get that postpartum woman to Eve posthaste.

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Just tried the one at Brasserie Beck during lunch today. It's very lightly dressed with a mayonnaise, but has good acidity, somehat like Bistro Bis' version in that respect. Many of the condiments that are usually incorprated in the tartare are served in little mounds on the plate: diced cornichons, diced shallots, chopped egg yolk and egg white, etc. It comes with delicious gaufrette potatoes. Overall an excellent version that I would put up there with those of Bis and Bearnaise.

(The endive salad I had as a starter was also excellent.)

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I still have not found a true and proper European version here stateside. Give the benefit of the doubt to your probably reasonably adventurous and at least half intelligent diner and do not mix everything in to the tartare. Give them accoutrements. Given them a slab of butter. Buve them something texturaly different to mess with in between experimenting with mixing different combinations of accoutrements with the tartare.

Please.

---

Bistrot du Coin (Mark Slater)

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