Demvtr

My girlfriend and I stopped in last night around 8:45 p.m., checked out the fixed-price bar menu, and left to have dinner elsewhere.

I called CityZen on Wednesday to ask that the fixed-price bar menu be e-mailed to me, and the gentleman I spoke with assured me he would do so that evening. Not having received the menu via e-mail, I e-mailed CityZen on Friday morning (thus ensuring they had my e-mail address) to ask that the menu be e-mailed to me. I never received it, so we took a risk by just showing up last night, and found that neither of us could eat what was on the fixed-price bar menu. I would have appreciated knowing that before we made the drive and paid for parking.

I stopped in last night for drinks (after a great meal at the underappreciated Dupont Grille), and the description at the top of the thread is right on. It's a modern, sleek space with a classy wine bar area, spacious dining area, and a bar overlooking the kitchen that I have to try out. There's also a cool little enclosed private dining area for groups.

The menu was interesting, though, like Jacques, most of the items (except the crostini and pizzas) escape me. Also, despite eating out frequently and trying to familiarize myself with obscure ingredients, I might need a food dictionary to puzzle through parts of the menu. It would be easier to research if the menu was on Urbana's web site.

I had dinner in this space back when it was Gabriel something like five years ago. If you were ever at Gabriel, the difference is night and day, and I mean that near-literally, as Gabriel had some sort of sun-like logo and a bright reddish-orange interior, whereas Urbana, with its dim lights, dark wood, and grayish interior is clearly devoted to those who appreciate subdued lighting and late evenings.

Has anyone eaten at Bar Pilar since the introduction of the new menu? I'm hitting the 9:30 Club tonight, and Bar Pilar is a potential for dinner.

I put together a birthday dinner at Tabaq Bistro last month for a group of fourteen, and it worked out very well. I recommend e-mailing the manager, Omer, at info@tabaqdc.com, and asking about dinner for your group. The restaurant handled our group professionally, with minimal errors relative to how many diners we had at one table ordering numerous small plates in the middle of Saturday dinner rush. And the downstairs lounge is a good pre- and post-gathering location.

I had dinner at Sunflower last night, my fourth dinner there over the last few years. I've never had a bad meal there, though some experiences were better than others. Their eggplant medley is outstanding, a huge mound of sauteed eggplant in an appealing sauce, and their version of General Tso's chicken is sweet, slightly spicy, and less chewy than many imitation meats. The dish I had last night, Songbird, features a chewier soy product in the same sweet-and-spicy sauce as the Tso entree, tossed with watercress, peanuts, celery, and a yam flour substance called Konnyaku that you should read about on the menu's glossary. (I'm fine, thanks.) The Songbird entree was good enough that I ate leftovers for dinner tonight.

Part of the restaurant's appeal is the size of its menu; the number of dishes and combinations is near-overwhelming. And there are items on the menu one is not going to find anywhere else in this area. I'm happy to hear that they are doing well enough to open a new branch.

Six of us tried Rock Creek Restaurant for the first time last night as part of Bethesda's Restaurant Week, and we all left with a good impression.

The restaurant itself has a modern earthy decor, to the extent that such a combination is possible. I saw hip, well-dressed professionals seated near ex-hippies with multi-hued, New Age blouses, and the setting managed to neutralize the contrast in clientele.

The Restaurant Week menu was limited to four appetizers and four entrees, though the entirety of the dessert menu was available. The appetizers were: (1) frisee and arugula salad; (2) smoky shrimp and roasted pepper bisque; (3) marinated chicken satay; and (4) organic butterleaf salad. The entrees were: (1) baked monkfish loin; (2) Yucatan pork tenderloin; (3) grilled chicken breast; and (4) grilled mahi-mahi. Two of the available "desserts" were actually flights of dessert wines. The remaining six available desserts were: (1) broiled pineapple with saffron sauce and vanilla frozen yogurt; (2) fresh raspberries with honeyed yogurt; (3) chocolate cake with light whipped cream; (4) peach blueberry strudel; (5) blueberry creme brulee; and (6) a trio of sorbets.

Three of us ordered the bisque, one ordered the frisee and arugula salad, and two had the chicken satay. The satay was notable in that it came unskewered, which is an appropriate gesture to the upscale setting, and was served with a sweet dipping sauce, as opposed to the more traditional peanut sauce. The diners who opted for the satay enjoyed it. My girlfriend commented after dinner that she very much liked her frisee and arugula salad and, in particular, its dressing. The bisque was outstanding; an as-promised smoky flavor, not too thin or too thick, and well-populated by tender shrimp. I added a bit of ground pepper because I enjoy a kick in my bisque, but I really did not need to. The bisque was so good, in fact, that none of us hesitated in cleaning the bowl with the bread on the table.

Despite the Post's panning of the bread (please excuse the pun), I thought it hit all the correct notes. It was whole wheat, but not at a cost of flavor or texture, soft in the middle, and surrounded by a chewy, oat-and-grain-flecked crust. Of course, I enjoy Kashi, so take what I say with a grain of salt. The hummus served with the bread, however, needs no caveats. It is smooth, garlicky, and prompted my girlfriend to state that she could make a meal of the hummus alone.

Two of the group ordered the pork, two ordered the chicken, one ordered the mahi-mahi, and I had the monkfish. The entree portions at Rock Creek have been described as Lilliputian, but I thought that, while they fell on the smaller side of the spectrum, they were not disappointingly tiny. I did not try the pork, though both people who ordered it enjoyed it, but I did try the corn-and-bean toss that came with it, and found it good, though not memorable. The bite of chicken I had reminded me that even though chicken is the default comparison meat of choice because it rarely has a strong or complex taste, it can still be prepared in such a way that it is moist and full-flavored. I will, based on that one bite, stop unconsciously eliminating chicken as an ordering option. And the roasted tomatoes served with the chicken tasted so good that I actually stopped conversation to make note of their flavor.

I did not try the mahi-mahi or hear what the diner thought of it, so I will not comment on it. My monkfish was superb, and I understand why the waiter noted that it was his favorite of the Restaurant Week entrees. Three or four smallish pieces of unbelievably moist fish, grilled to a light bronze on the outside, served with wilted greens (which were actually a bit too salty for my taste) and an eggplant-onion ratatouille that left me wishing it made an appearance on the everyday menu so I could go back and have it again. And again and again.

The dessert orders skewed heavily to the chocolate cake. Only two of us wandered off the chocolate path: one diner ordered the fresh raspberries, and I ordered the blueberry brulee. I had a single (small) bite of the chocolate cake, and thought it better-than-average. Again, texture was key, as I found the cake not too thick and not too airy. The waiter actively discouraged the order of raspberries, explaining that it is, ultimately, just a bunch of raspberries, but the diner persisted in her order, and was rewarded with fresh raspberries under a thick mound of honeyed vanilla yogurt. I tried her dessert, and I would happily order it in the future. My creme brulee was a sugary joy, perfectly portioned, and loaded with baked blueberries that complemented the vanilla-flavored brulee perfectly. I had zero regrets about my dessert choice.

I will note that, after my recent coffee disappointment, Rock Creek's coffee is some of the best I have had in memory. And, despite the emphasis on healthy food, the restaurant did not force me to use tuber-based "sweeteners," and instead provided the standard mix of sugar and traditional artificial sweeteners.

The waiter, a Hungarian gentleman, was extremely pleasant and engaging, and did not hesitate to opine on various dishes upon our request, which we appreciated. Further, a well-dressed man, who we could only assume to be the proprietor, stopped by the table and asked us not only the perfunctory questions about the food, but also about how we knew each other and what we did professionally. He clearly likes to get to know his diners and, after this meal, I expect to be speaking with him again sooner rather than later.

Superb review. Thanks for sharing. Seems a shame as it looks attractive. Not that I won't go sometime, but there's definitely no "Got to try that place" happening. Honestly, $86 all in doesn't seem too out of line for a meal with a crabcake, foie gras, truffle oil and a canteloupe martini. But if it didn't put a smile on your face, it wouldn't have been better at $56 either.

Thanks for the nice comment, CrescentFresh.

I agree that it was not an astronomical bill, and I did tip upwards of 20%, particularly in light of the waitress leaving my coffee off of the bill. But also note that we did not order any entrees or desserts, and only had one alcoholic beverage. Ultimately, though, it is as you say: a mediocre meal is a mediocre meal, and the price is a secondary matter unless the bill is at one of the extremes.

Eh.

I read about Nage in the Post, perused its menu online, and very much wanted to give it a spin. My girlfriend and I got there Saturday night around 9:15 p.m. without reservations and were led to a table after a brief wait while the hosts chatted amongst themselves, presumably ensuring that offering us a table would not affect any reservations.

The restaurant is smaller than I expected. It sits in a narrow space divided between a formal dining area on the right and a bar area to the left, with an open kitchen at the far end. The music is geared more towards the clientele Nage may wish to attract, as opposed to the crowd that was dining there last night. Clubby electronica, not so fast that it could be played at a rave, but not so slow that it qualified as lounge electronica, flooded the space, loud enough that communicating with the waitress (and each other) required raised voices. The diners were not, however, young, hip, and appreciative, but, rather, middle-aged, simply dressed, and probably wondering why the music from the club scene in Basic Instinct was drowning out their conversations.

It took close to ten minutes before our server came over to ask for our drink order, but the service was fine thereafter. I have become so accustomed to restaurants priding themselves on quality coffee (thank you Oya, Cafe Atlantico, and Tallula) that I was surprised to get a cup of totally average, well, joe. The second cup was more of the same. Not bad, but no different from the stuff in my office's coffee vacuum-pot contraption. I appreciated, however, that the coffee did not show up on the bill, presumably because they considered me (correctly) to be the designated driver. My girlfriend loved her cantaloupe martini.

The waitress described the bread in a way that made me think that Nage either bakes it on site, or came up with the recipe used by whatever commercial bakery from which they get their bread. I did not get all of the adjectives, but I distinctly remember the word "honey" being used as one descriptive term. The bread, however, was simple white bread with more flavor than Wonder Bread, but by no means anything special. The green olive tapenade was, however, quite good, and I say that as someone who generally dislikes olives.

We opted against ordering any of the entrees, instead choosing to focus on the salads, starters, and sides. We both had the mixed green salad, a small-ish (on a large plate) mix of greens, currants, pineapple chunks, heart of palm, candied pecans, and bleu cheese tossed in a passion fruit vinaigrette. I passed on the bleu cheese.

The salad reads far better on the menu than it tastes in reality. I am a big fan of mixing fruit into salads and entrees, but I was disappointed in how understated the pineapple flavor was, as well as by how little the dressing reminded me of passion (or any other) fruit. There was nothing wrong with the salad; it was just anticlimatic and, ultimately, boring.

We split the foie gras and crab cake appetizers, as well as a side of the "Nage Frites," (listed on the menu as a "Signature Item"). Let me start with the fries. I order french fries a few times a year, at most, but I have a weakness for anything sweet potato, and the Post review of Nage stated that the fries, made with white truffle oil, are a mix of potato and sweet potato fries. Sign me up. The Post review also noted that the fries are shoestring-cut, which is generally not my preference, but can be done well, e.g., the fries at the Great American chain. Nage's fries are presented in a medium-sized, squared-off bowl, and look like a shiny pile of Potato Sticks. You know, the Potato Sticks that come in foil-sealed canisters that one sees in the grocery store but does not actually buy. Nage's fries taste very similar to those Potato Sticks, too, with the added benefit, however, of having just been fried. This is not necessarily a knock on Nage's fries. As a child, I loved those Potato Sticks, and used to lovingly eat them with ketchup. But I did not expect them at a supposedly high-caliber restaurant, and I did not understand Nage's failure to recognize that they are, essentially, serving Potato Sticks, as demonstrated by the overconfident lack of ketchup, or any sauce, accompanying the fries. We had to ask the waitress if any aioli or remoulade was available to serve as a dip, and ended up with a subtly spicy serrano chile aioli sauce that was creamy and rich, but not overwhelmingly so.

The lighting in Nage is minimal and vaguely reminiscent of the reddish lights one expects to come on during emergencies in office buildings. I was thus unable to tell whether the crab cake I tried had crab in it. Barely tasting crab, I examined the cake's interior for the seemingly absent meat, but it really is dim in Nage, so I cannot attest to having seen chunks of the normally tasty invertebrate. The accompanying succotash was fresh and enjoyable, and the small amount of tomato jam was pleasantly sweet (and interesting for its rare appearance on menus). The asparagus spears raising the crab cake from the plate, however, were slightly undercooked.

The seared foie gras was the best part of the meal. The eighteen-dollar appetizer is served on a rectangular plate, with two small pieces of grilled ginger bread on one side and a pickled-watermelon fruit mash on the other, balanced by a filet-size slab of seared foie gras. My first bite of foie gras was so rich that I thought I'd never make it through my half, but I quickly learned that the flavor was very nicely balanced by the memorable ginger bread, and equally as well-complemented, though in a different way, by the fruit mash. I do not think I would order this dish again, as I generally do not order foie gras, both on principle and because of its nutritional profile, but I believe that any dedicated fan of foie gras will think highly of Nage's version.

My girlfriend and I did not have a bad meal, and are not permanently writing Nage off. I am aware that we were at Nage on a somewhat busy Saturday night, did not try any of the entrees, and have only visited Nage once. Still, we had an underaverage meal for higher-than-average prices ($86 with tip), and while I am happy to pay for good food, I am not happy to pay for what amounts to food that is well-described but prepared with a shrug.

I had another off-the-charts good meal at Malaysia Kopitiam last month, tearing through the achar salad, fish ball appetizer, and curry puffs like it was my job. But I must express just the slightest bit of frustration about showing up there tonight at 9:50 p.m., finding the dining room half-filled with diners, but being told that the restaurant was "closed." The waiter that greeted us told us that he was sorry, but the restaurant closed at 10 p.m. What I thought was, "Well, yes, I know that. Luckily, it's ten minutes before 10 p.m., so I would like to eat good Malaysian food now, please."

I didn't say any of that, of course, because I'm not unsympathetic to the facts that (i) employees want to get out of the restaurant sooner rather than later, and (ii) it takes a while to get the kitchen shut down and ready for the next day. But I was disappointed, and I can't help but state the obvious: 10 p.m. means 10 p.m. I used to work in the food industry, an ice cream shop, to be exact, and even if we had shut down the yogurt machine, turned off the lights in the ice cream displays, cleaned the scoopers, and put away the waffle cones, I would still break anything out that I had to if someone walked in the door at 9:59 p.m., and not begrudge the customer for his or her timing.

As it turned out, I ended up having a great meal at Heritage India Dupont, so the night ended pleasantly. And, ultimately, I'm not mad, just a bit frustrated. The folks at Malaysia Kopitiam are super-nice, and the food is top-notch, so I will keep going there as often as I'm in the neighborhood.

But only if it's before 9 p.m.

I had the dining experience of the year last month at minibar, which I have been meaning to post about since then. This post, however, is just to pass on information I received via e-mail. The e-mail is as follows:

July 11, 2006

Dear Guests,

We would like to take this opportunity to express our sincerest gratitude to each of you in choosing Cafe Atlantico & Minibar as one of the restaurants of your choice when dining in the D.C. Metropolitan area. Also, we would like to welcome all of our new guests and look forward to serving you!

As the summer progresses, schools are closed and everyone is arranging their schedules to fit in some time for rest and relaxation! We would like to take this opportunity to inform all of our guests that the Minibar will be closed for the month of August as our creative, dedicated, and talented chefs are on vacation. We will be accepting reservations for the Minibar during the month of August for reservations in the month of September. Reservations for the Minibar are taken during the non-dining hours of the restaurant:

MON - SUN

9:00 am - 11:30 am

2:30 pm - 5:00pm

Again - Welcome to our extended family here at Cafe Atlantico & Minibar and we look foward to your next visit with us!!

Cafe Atlantico is located at:

405 8th Street NW

Washington, DC 20004

Phone: 202.393.0812

Fax: 202.393.0555

The hot sauce, which I consider more of a pale green, consists of habanero peppers, jalapeno peppers, cilantro, and possibly one or two more ingredients blended together. I generally think I have a good tolerance for spiciness, but I use Los Tios' hot sauce only slightly more liberally than wasabi.

The "Closed" sign is still up at Queen Bee. I had dinner with a friend last night who said that her second-floor office's conference room is directly above Queen Bee and, as far as she knows, her office is staying right where it is, and the Indian restaurant is replacing Queen Bee.

I should probably wait until tomorrow to post about A Taste of Carolina, because I'm inclined to be rather generous right now, as I'm happily stuffed. I moseyed over to A Taste of Carolina after catching Sonic Youth at the 9:30 Club (with NCPinDC) and had one of those "hit the spot" meals that are so much more common when one hasn't eaten in eight and a half hours.

The restaurant was near-empty when I walked in around 9:30 p.m., though, from the sound of it, the upstairs bar area was hopping. I took a small table by the bar, and an exceptionally pleasant waitress brought me a menu and took my drink order. The menu (which really should be posted in full on the web site) is not extensive, containing one or two salads, five or six entrees, five or six sides, and a couple of platters, if I remember correctly.

I ordered the trout entree. The food didn't take long to come out, which I appreciated, because I was ready to eat the menu by the time I set foot in the restaurant. My plate came out nearly overflowing with food, the plate itself rendered nearly invisible. Two fried trout filets, a pile of collard greens with bits of smoked turkey (NOT pork, as this DCist review erroneously states), a mound of candied yams bathed in a thick, smoky-but-sweet sauce, and three hushpuppies. In fact, the plate looked just like the one pictured in the above-linked DCist article.

I am no fried fish connoisseur, but the trout filets were worth the artery-hardening. The breading is complex and enjoyably spicy; there's much more going on in there than salt and pepper, though I could not discern all of its elements. The fish was hot and fell apart easily, though it required a little fork-and-knife surgery to cut out a few unwanted sections that you expect to run into in certain cuts of fish. I asked for a side of tartar sauce which, in retrospect, I probably did not need, though it tasted fine.

I checked with both the owner and waitress about the collard greens, and was told that at no point had they ever been made with pork. I appreciated this, as I usually have to skip the collard greens because of the way they're cooked. I've had collard greens in the past that were unpleasantly fibrous, but these greens were soft and had good mouth-feel. They were a bit on the salty side, but not terribly so, and I happily ate the whole serving.

The hushpuppies were, as reported elsewhere, very good. I think that if they would have been just a bit hotter, i.e., straight out of the fryer, they would have been flat-out amazing. But they were tasty, derived from obviously well-seasoned batter, and should dissuade anyone of the opinion that hushpuppies are just little balls of fried dough.

Though the candied yams seem to be universally lauded, they have polarizing potential. I loved them, but I have a huge bias towards sweet potatoes/yams, so I knew I would. The thick, sweet, brown sauce blankets the yams, to a degree of thickness that "glazed" is not an accurate descriptive term. The yams themselves, served in big chunks, were so soft that my fork turned them into mashed yams with almost no effort. I saved the yams until last and polished them off as if they were dessert. Which goes to my polarization reference. If anyone resents overly sweet items on their dinner plate, they should take the menu's description of the yams as "candied" at face value and order something else.

Take my experience with a grain of salt, as (i) I was famished, (ii) the restaurant was near-empty, so my service was particularly attentive, and (iii) this was my first visit. All of that said, I know exactly where I'm going on concert nights from now on.

I had dinner at Asia Nora on May 5, and I enjoyed every bite.

I was part of a group of three. I ordered the "Napoleon" of tofu, veggies, and mushrooms, with stir-fried vegetables in a sweet-chili garlic sauce. One of my party ordered a chicken dish with sweet potatoes in a curry sauce that looked great, but which I did not have an opportunity to sample. The final diner ordered a beef dish that, like the chicken dish, does not show up on the current online menu.

I started with the baby Asian greens salad with julienned cucumbers and carrots, ginger crisps, and sesame-tamari vinaigrette. It was memorable. The serving was outsized, with a thick mound of greens and julienned vegetables lightly coated with the sweet, yet slightly salty, dressing. Those who prefer their salads with minimal dressing should inform the server; the rest of us who secretly rejoice when the salad comes out with not a dry leaf in sight can just enjoy this indulgence. I should note that this is one of those restaurants where silverware is distributed only upon request, so the salad can take a while to tweeze into your mouth with the chopsticks.

My entree was one of the best tofu preparations I have had in recent memory. I could honestly say on May 5 that I'd had tofu for lunch, but I had no regret ordering this dish for dinner. The large square of tofu was fried, and I believe it had a very thin, tempura-like batter on it. It laid the foundation for a rich combination of layered vegetables, mushrooms, and (if I remember correctly) more tofu. The stir-fried vegetables were competently cooked and nicely presented, though it is hard to make anything grand of this standard side item.

I cannot comment on the flavor of the beef dish, as I did not try it. The diner that ordered it said that he liked it, though he skipped a few pieces he considered too pink for his taste.

My only (very, very small) complaint was the coffee service. The coffee was quite good, but, because of the emphasis on organic food, no artificial sweeteners are served. I had to settle for some sort of "sweetener" made of the root of some vegetable that I suspect is ugly, bitter, and disliked by the other vegetables.

The space is attractive; dimly lit, reminiscent of the East, with dark wood and an open space in the middle that makes the relatively small restaurant seem more spacious than one would expect from the exterior.

As a final aside, I remember that I once saw Nora Pouillon speak at the now-defunct Bar Noir, following a viewing of "Eat This, New York." I wish I had tried one of her restaurants before seeing her speak, so I could have complimented her in person for her fine cooking.

I had dinner at the Clarendon location with two friends last month, and we were all disappointed. Despite the fact that the inside dining area was less than a quarter full, the waiter took so long (at least 20 minutes) to come to our table that we finally had to stop a manager walking by to place our dinner order. He was not at all apologetic, which is fine, and actually conveyed an air of imperiousness, which is not.

My eggplant entree lacked any heat whatsoever and relied on its cream sauce for any substance. An order of chicken tikka masala, conversely, came in a surprisingly thin sauce that really could have used more body (and flavor). And the tandoori chicken was bland, even accounting for the unadventurous nature of the dish.

Usually, I give a restaurant just getting its sea legs a couple of tries before crossing it off my list, and that is probably true of Tandoori Nights. But the subpar service and unappealing food puts this restaurant on the bottom of the list.

You might want to read the Washingtonian article before you go if you have a problem with pork. It's a predominant theme in Southern and especially in Low Country cooking. It's a flavor agent for about 90% of Low Country food.

Thanks, Escoffier. As you recommended, I read the article in Washingtonian, and while it mentioned that the chef went out of his way to have one dish on the menu that did not use pork at all, I don't want to be so limited in my options. Further, everything else, including the biscuits, salad dressings, etc., would be suspect, and I don't feel like navigating the menu like it's a minefield. So I'll avoid the potential problems by trying another restaurant. Thanks again.

I found a menu here: www.heatherfreeman.com

Thank you! Looks like I'll have to order carefully because so many of the dishes incorporate pork, but a couple of things look appealing.

I have reservations for Friday night. The restaurant's web site does not yet have a menu posted. Anyone take a shot of it with their camera phone, or know where it's posted online?

The dish you liked so much is under the Eastern Cuisine--

SHORSHE BATA MAACHH.

Thank you; my return is guaranteed!

(1) Thank you very much to Sudhir, Monica, hillvalley, and the others who organized, cooked, and served. The food was top notch, and we could not have asked for a smarter, more balanced and interesting menu.

(2) Speaking of the menu, I left mine at the restaurant. Can anyone post a PDF of the menu?

(3) Finally, I looked at the Passage to India web site, and did not see the mustard-brushed fish on there. I will be a sad, sad diner if I never have that dish again.

I'll bring a big array of prepared/flavored tofu from Whole Foods. (We have one of those oven things in our apartment, but I don't know how it works.)

I need to find a breakfast (not brunch) restaurant in or around the Inner Harbor in Baltimore for Saturday morning. Dinner the night before will be at the Helmand, so we probably don't want Afghan food for breakfast. Barring that, I'm flexible. Any suggestions?

I am going to Rosa Mexicano with friends on Friday night for dinner and drinks.  I have tried the pomegranate margaritas on at least three occasions and have been consistently underwhelmed.  That ends Friday I hope.  Can anyone recommend any other specialty drinks at Rosa?  Are their regular margaritas any good? 

And while we're talking about margaritas, someone tell me where to find the best ones in town, please!

In recognition of your first post, sunshineE, I extend a warm welcome. Keep posting!

(1) June 4, (2) May 20, (3) May 21. Taste of Arlington is a notable conflict on May 21.

Of course, only Mr. Redd can provide the definitive answer. Maybe we can ask him between sets when he's spinning a "Prince v. OutKast" night at the Black Cat! (Which, by the way, has Food for Thought, one of the most vegetarian/vegan-friendly cafes in the city.)