Posted on eGullet - really recently. A good time has been had at 21P last Saturday. Because I really, really, really disliked BeDuCi, I was anxious to like 21P. Stepping in, I felt ready to trill like one of these deranged supersocial ladies, "I love what you've done with the place!" Decor is really quite enjoyable - blond wood across navy blue walls, glassed-in facade, orange daisies in turquoise glasses, very nice, nod of approval from Modern Living. Note that no delay in seating ensued with no reservation on a Saturday night. The bar gets a special vote - we only spent a few minutes there, but it seemed both inviting and strangely unpopulated. Wide barstools on which the bottom rests comfortably, same dark blue color scheme, and a counter facing the street. I can think of worse things to do on a weeknight than to toss back cocktails and watching Dupont go by. The food was...it reminded me of Princess Diaries or another movie where the plot revolves around a timid, unpopular and rather homely girl that through some twist of fate needs to Get Gorgeous, and soon. Twenty minutes later, after appointments with Antoine The Hairdressing Arteeste, posture tutors and unlimited accounts at Emporio Armani, she's a younger Elizabeth Hurley. Then, to stifle a fit of welling jealousy, you remind yourself that she always had good bones and pretty eyes to begin with. The food at 21P needs Antoine The Hairdressing Arteeste. Good bones and pretty eyes are there, they just need to be polished and presented. The ambition of the owners is clear when you take in the decor and some menu items. Now all they need is polish. My veal cheeks appetizer was gorgeous and prettily presented on a square plate (note to ambition.) My friend had a rather serviceable green salad with candied walnuts, so good I charmed and guilt-tripped him into feeding me most of them. The entrees were a step down. My cilantro-braised lamb shank was fork-tender and falling of the bone, but please. Does it need to be floating in the (tasty) sauce to the point of needing a swimguard? It takes a lot of sauce to sink a big ol lamb shank. Accompanying bean raviolis were yummy and with a bit of saucing on top could have warded off the dryness that distracted from how yummy they were. My friend's coffee-dusted steak (note to ambition) was okay and the sides of haricot vert and mashed potatoes (declined to taste) looked good. Desserts were a crash. The pastry department is either still putting its act together or is an afterthought of a busy kitchen. Flourless chocolate cake that looks like a strip of fudge. Strawberry bread pudding with heath bar crunchies in some manner of sauce. Both taste and look as if they came out of a glass case in a corner store. Provide a sugar rush, yes. Demonstrate ambition and finesse clearly present or attempted elsewhere? No. I think 21P is a great addition to the 'hood and I will continue to go - most certainly to the bar. My sincere wish is that they give the food a critical look to showcase its strengths a little better - which in most cases will require just a few tweaks. Antoine the Hairdressing Arteeste will be proud of this one when it emerges as a swan, and I sincerely hope it will.
Can't believe you people didn't got going on Palena yet. The cafe menu continues to grow and amaze as always. From the latest, bisque with mussels, touch of rice and spinach flan; stuffed Pennsylvania lamb with piquillo bread sauce; and hen gallantine sexed up with pistachios and foie gras have blown my mind. The menu is so familiar and well-loved by now that ordering became a struggle, although not entirely un-looked-forward to. Should I have something new? Or should I get the best burger in NW? Of course, last night I figured had to have my burger fix before taking off for two weeks of caviar therapy. I said it first...Jeff is very dreamy and extremely dexterous with beverages of all sorts.