Kinship - The Upstairs Portion Of Eric Ziebold's New Mount Vernon Square Location, 7th and K Street NW

[Bart]

These guys are doing their second annual Kinship Roast Chicken Dinner on Sunday night, and shockingly, even in the pandemic, it's not sold out.  I just got an email saying seats are avaialble.

https://kinshipdc.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Kinship-Roast-Chicken-Dinner-2021-1.pdf

 

[Keithstg]

On 3/12/2021 at 4:55 PM, Bart said:

These guys are doing their second annual Kinship Roast Chicken Dinner on Sunday night, and shockingly, even in the pandemic, it's not sold out.  I just got an email saying seats are avaialble.

https://kinshipdc.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Kinship-Roast-Chicken-Dinner-2021-1.pdf

 

Oof - what a great menu! Sad to miss it.

[saf]

On 3/12/2021 at 4:55 PM, Bart said:

These guys are doing their second annual Kinship Roast Chicken Dinner on Sunday night, and shockingly, even in the pandemic, it's not sold out.  I just got an email saying seats are avaialble.

 

Yeah, takeout is sold out though. 

[saf]

Saturday night, a return to the bar at Kinship. Trying to make up for 2 missed anniversary dinners, several missed birthday dinners, and a planned Christmas Eve dinner. And as ever, so very tasty!

We started with drinks, a "split tail" for him and a Mai Tai for me. Then he had soft shell crab appetizer while I had ricotta dumplings with poached asparagus and artichokes. For dinner we had the "For the Table" ribeye (usually his roasted chicken obsession means that we end up with the chicken. I am okay with that!) and a bottle of Piedrasassi, Rim Rock, Arroyo Grande Valley (I love sommeliers. They always help so much!) And of course, the most amazingly delicious parker house rolls ever! (Sorry, menu is not online. It says it is, but it brings up the cocktail list.) For dessert, I had "Drunken Cherries," while he had "Caramella Chocolate Ganache Tart." Delicious glass of dessert wine for each of us - can't remember specific names and list is not online. Mine was something made with cognac grapes, he had a Sauterne.

And also as ever, the service was amazing. The bartender, who I think I have sat with before?, was lovely. The sommelier was so friendly and helpful. The food servers were lovely. It was just a wonderful night all around.

[eatruneat]

Celebrated three years of marriage with @MichaelBDClast night with another fantastic dinner at Kinship. We have never had anything on the menu that we didn't think was amazing and last night was no exception. 

After we placed our order, we received some bread and butter, both of which were very good, especially the butter which was soft and salted and amazing. Despite slathering the butter onto the pieces of bread, there was some left over.@MichaelBDC suggested we request more bread for the remaining butter but I said no because we had a large meal ahead of us. We both thought about eating the butter by itself when the server removed it from our table. Next, we had three appetizers, one for each year of marriage: tuna tataki, pâté de campagne, and softshell crab. The tuna itself was so good and buttery, it nearly melted in my mouth and I couldn't get enough of the dashi geleé I used a spoon to get as much as I could. The pâté de campagne was another winner. @MichaelBDCnoted how light it was relative to other pâtés we have had. He especially loved the dijonaise. I had the softshell crab to myself, minus some bites the grilled peach, red onions, and cherry tomatoes that accompanied the crab. This was my favorite dish of the night and if you are a softshell crab enthusiast, I highly recommend you seek out this dish. 

For our entrees I had the pan seared duck breast and @MichaelBDChad the grilled lamb t-bones. Both were great plates and cooked to a perfect medium rare. I was too full to finish the cauliflower and mulligawatny sauce that accompanied my duck. While I really enjoyed the duck, I really really enjoyed the few bites of lamb I was able to try. The slow baked tomato accompanying it was also stellar. 

We were too stuffed at this point for any dessert but that blackberry merveilleux and the drunken cherries are calling our names so we'll have to go back this weekend to finish our outstanding anniversary dinner. 

[Bart]

21 hours ago, eatruneat said:

Celebrated three years of marriage with @MichaelBDClast night with another fantastic dinner at Kinship.  

Wait!  What night were you there?!?!?   I was there Wednesday and had a lot of the same dishes.  Also congrats on three years!!

I was going to post something on my own about the service.  I've been reading in Tom's chat and other places about poor service, slow service, and many screw ups due to the pandemic and labor shortages, but the service at Kinship remains as it ever was - top notch!

We also got the sweetbreads and the red fish, both of which were absurdly soft and tender and only required a tongue to "chew" them!  The roast chicken remains amazing, but they no longer present it table side before carving it.

The duck and sweetbreads are pictured below

 

[eatruneat]

16 minutes ago, Bart said:

Wait!  What night were you there?!?!?   I was there Wednesday and had a lot of the same dishes. 

Wednesday! We had 7:45pm reservations and sat in the room closest to the front. Say hi next time! Don't tell me you were the guy that came in close to 9pm, couldn't stop talking about Duke University, and ordered the roast chicken at 9:15pm. 😉

And I agree, service was really great, both our server and the sommelier were fantastic. 

[Bart]

I think I saw them come in!  I was in at 6 and walking out at 9.  I like eating early and commented in surprise that people were actually starting their meal at 9!  I realize that's fairly normal to eat that late, but I'm thinking about a couch or bed at that advanced hour!  😂

We were probably very close to each other.  I was in a both in the main room, but took the shortcut through the bar area on the way out so I missed you.

[saf]

So, dinner at the bar here on 11/10. Birthday celebration. (Following a funeral for a friend. Ping pong birthday!)

Service as perfect as ever.  Started with cocktails. He had a wolfhound, El Guion for me. Apps were Oeuf en Meurette for me and La Ratte potato confit for him. Then the chicken (naturally). And the delicious delicious delicious parker house rolls. The wine was a Tortochot Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles (don't remember the vintage) on the recommendation of the sommelier. (We always go for the advice when we are there. So many wines, so little knowledge on our part. We are never disappointed.) Split a roasted white chocolate ganache tart for dessert. Well, I ate most of it. He was pretty full.  Delicious dessert wine to go with it, but can't remember what. Again, on their recommendation. It was not a Sauterne, but done in that style. So good. Anyhow, I would eat a LOT of those desserts too.

This place remains amazing.

(I want to go here for Christmas eve. Planning to call tomorrow, but I think it is already sold out. Was waiting to see if our dinner companions were in for dining inside. Oh well. Next year.)

[saf]

OK, it seems I had not missed reservations for Christmas eve, but it still did not work out. Will have to plan a visit another time. Our usual Christmas eve dinner companion has her mother coming in for the holiday, and this is far beyond her financial comfort level.

But we did score Corduroy reservations, so that will be good.

[Ericandblueboy]

Had dinner at Kinship last night with Steve.

We ordered 5 dishes to share

Started with an amazing potato crusted veal sweetbreads served with an onion and spinach sauce.  The sweetbreads were very tender, as expected.  The oniony sauce had just a hint of sweetness that worked beautifully with the sweetbreads.

The second dish is the polenta and olive agnolotti served with artichokes.  The artichoke and olive flavors dominated the dish. 

The third dish is the sauteed filet of corvina served on bed of cannelini beans.  The texture of the fish was not flakey.  Steve suggested the texture is the result of sous vide.  Neither of us really enjoyed that texture.

The fourth dish is the roasted pekin duck breast.  Super tender and flavorful.  I love duck, especially when executed perfectly.

The final dish was the glazed beef short rib.  Again, tender and flavorful.  Another winner.

Always wanted to try the roast chicken but got sidetracked as usual.

 

[saf]

3 hours ago, Ericandblueboy said:

Always wanted to try the roast chicken but got sidetracked as usual.

We have the opposite problem - always want to try other things, and sometimes manage to, but that chicken is so good that it wins 75% of the time. And since we can only afford to eat there so often.... we haven't tried a ton of the other mains.

[saf]

Kinship on Sunday night for the boy's birthday. Dinner at the bar - went early to make sure we got seats. And it was, as ever, delicious. And the service, also as ever, perfect.

So we started with cocktails - El Guion for me, Wilderness Trail for him. (He admits that while it sounded delicious, the decision between several equally appealing cocktails was made by the fact that is was "served in a Nick and Nora glass." Our favorite characters!)

For apps we split duck foie gras (with crispy scrapple! and bacon vinaigrette!)

Then mains - we resisted the chicken this time! So I had shoat with globe artichoke and potato gratin, wilted greens and pork jus. He had Rockfish with melted savoy cabbage, garlic chives and red wine sauce. Both delicious. We also asked if it was possible to get parker house rolls. It was! The wine, on the advice of the sommelier, was a 2019 Chateau La Nerthe Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Tasty. I love sommeliers.

For dessert, he had ruby red grapefruit, described as "greek yogurt panna cotta, avocado cream, tarragon granité and ruby red grapefruit sorbet," while I had Oaxacan hot chocolate, which came with vanilla crema, lime gel, crystallized chocolate and mamey ice cream. Both exceptional. I do so LOVE it when a restaurant has good desserts. It's an afterthought too many places. We drank tokaji with those.

We are always so happy when we get to eat at Kinship.

[eatruneat]

When friends and family asked @MichaelBDCwhat I wanted for Christmas, his automatic reply was "she really likes this restaurant Kinship so a gift card there would be nice." Sure, I am the only one who likes Kinship and would be the one to benefit from said gift card in this marriage. All of that is to say, I had a few gift cards waiting for the right moment to be used.

Enter: Kinship Cassoulet. When I saw this on the menu, I knew we had to order it to complete the neighborhood cassoulet trifecta (Convivial, Corduroy, and now Kinship). This "For the Table" entree consisted of two perfectly cooked duck legs, two good sized braised shoat belly, sausage, white beans, and topped with delicious bread crumbs. It was also served with a simple yet delicious arugula salad and parker house rolls. From the duck to the shoat belly to the salad, everything was perfect. There are not enough good things to say about this dish and we luckily had leftovers to polish off a few days later. 

Prior to the cassoulet, we also had the tuna tataki and the caramelized sunchokes. We've never had a less than great dish at Kinship and these two were no exception. The tuna just melted in our mouth and the sunchokes were a crispy treat. I also had the oaxacan chocolate for dessert despite being very full. Like @safsaid above, exceptional. 

One gift certificate down, one to go. I would definitely use it on another cassoulet feast. 

[saf]

Dinner at Kinship on Saturday. One of our regular dinner crew just got promoted, and has wanted to get here for a very long time. Finally managed to get her Kinship celebratory dinner. (These 2 used to periodically join us at the bar at Cityzen for the bar menu. And one of them still says that the lobster corn chowder at Cityzen is the best thing he has even eaten, and will always for him be the essence of a New England summer.)

First, I have to say, on the service - how the hell do they remember us? We get there a few times a year. (WANT IT TO BE MORE OFTEN!) Yet they always remember us. And they knew the other 2 were new to Kinship. And the service was stellar. As always. The staff there is so good.

(I suppose that I should note that at the moment, my hair is a coppery hot pink with a few purple highlights, although last time I was there, it was a blue/purple/red swirl. So not the same! Perhaps I am a bit recognizable. But they knew the other 2 were new! And they recognize the boy. He has normal hair.)

So we opened with cocktails: a "spritz awakening" for me, a martini for the boy, wolfhound for one, and a wilderness trail manhattan for the other.  Then for apps, the boy and I split the foie gras, there was a grilled florentino cauliflower (was lovely, seemed like baby cauliflower), and a "Ramp Bararois." She loved it. I had to try the ramp stuff it came with - a kind of a foam. (I didn't try any other part of it, because it had shrimp.) She is now very interested in recreating that ramp foam. (I hope she takes the bartender's advice, and emails the chef about it. She's a good cook.) (Also, let me say again how tasty the bread here is.)

Then for dinner she had shoat, which was especially interesting because of the tiny bratwurst meatballs it came with, the boy had "curry poached atlantic halibut," which all the fish eaters wish they had ordered, because it was apparently very delicious, and the fourth and I split the chicken. And we were nice enough to share the parker house rolls with the other 2.

We drank a bottle of a South African Chenin Blanc called Cartology. Let me say again how much we love a good sommelier. 

Dessert - I loved my honey cardamom nougat glace, the boy enjoyed the caramel peanut bar, there was also a royal milk tea pavlova, and a pistachio custard cake with rhubarb. Dessert drinks were all over the place, and I can't detail them because that portion of the menu is not on line, and I did not take pics. Desserts were all fabulous. Oh, and I just remembered - there was tea ordered. And it came with the toffee! I thought that only came with coffee, but the one who got the tea pavlova wanted to double up on his bergamot, so he got earl grey tea, so we got to try the toffee! And it was good.

[eatruneat]

The last gift certificate has been burning a hole in my inbox since Christmas and it was about time we used it. We were very happy we did. While all of our meals at Kinship have been amazing, last night's was one of the best. 

To start we had the morel mushroom gratin and the grilled florentino cauliflower. The morel gratin was served with gnocchi and asparagus in a mornay sauce and may have been an all time amazing dish from the Kinship kitchen. I would go back just to have this dish. The cauliflower (with fingerling potatoes, sweet peppers, and arugula) was very good as well but that gratin stole the show. 

For entrees we had the cassava crusted lamb shoulder and the curry poached halibut. The cassava came out like a potato patty on top of the lamb, which was so tender we could break it apart with a spoon. We especially enjoyed the sauce piquant that was served with the dish. The halibut in the coriander broth was super flavorful, without being too overpowering. We could only taste a hint of the curry and the coriander broth was slurpable but we were able to restrain ourselves. Both dishes had the potential to be too heavy for the warm evening, but both were surprisingly light and tasted like Spring. 

Kinship always puts out some delicious food, but last night exceeded our expectations. An all timer, until the next all timer. 

[DonRocks]

On 3/3/2022 at 4:18 PM, eatruneat said:

When friends and family asked @MichaelBDCwhat I wanted for Christmas, his automatic reply was "she really likes this restaurant Kinship so a gift card there would be nice." Sure, I am the only one who likes Kinship and would be the one to benefit from said gift card in this marriage. All of that is to say, I had a few gift cards waiting for the right moment to be used.

Enter: Kinship Cassoulet. When I saw this on the menu, I knew we had to order it to complete the neighborhood cassoulet trifecta (Convivial, Corduroy, and now Kinship). This "For the Table" entree consisted of two perfectly cooked duck legs, two good sized braised shoat belly, sausage, white beans, and topped with delicious bread crumbs. It was also served with a simple yet delicious arugula salad and parker house rolls. From the duck to the shoat belly to the salad, everything was perfect. There are not enough good things to say about this dish and we luckily had leftovers to polish off a few days later. 

Prior to the cassoulet, we also had the tuna tataki and the caramelized sunchokes. We've never had a less than great dish at Kinship and these two were no exception. The tuna just melted in our mouth and the sunchokes were a crispy treat. I also had the oaxacan chocolate for dessert despite being very full. Like @safsaid above, exceptional. 

One gift certificate down, one to go. I would definitely use it on another cassoulet feast. 

Go with us in September - I hope we can go.

[Pool Boy]

We did carryout here twice during the pandemic - each time was interesting because they packaged everything up so precisely and it traveled reasonably well back to our house. It was a bit of a logistical challenge each time, but it all worked out in the end.

We were there once more in person in spring and as always thoroughly enjoyed our dining experience there. We'll be back again soon.

[Bart]

I took my kids here for a Christmas dinner/belated birthday a week or so before Christmas and, shocker, it was a fantastic and sublime as it always has been.  The menu seemed almost all completely new and different from the last time we were in (other than than staples of course) and everything we got was just fantastic.  It's kind of astonishing at how frequently the dishes change, but still remain such high quality.

As I seem to tell my kids every time we eat here, "We're so lucky to live in an area that has a restaurant of this caliber".

[reedm]

I just tried to find out what Kinship and/or Metier are currently offering, but the website is not working correctly. Does anyone have any idea what's going on? A google search turned up a potential foie gras controversy, but I'm not sure if that is related.

Cheers

[Keithstg]

18 hours ago, reedm said:

I just tried to find out what Kinship and/or Metier are currently offering, but the website is not working correctly. Does anyone have any idea what's going on? A google search turned up a potential foie gras controversy, but I'm not sure if that is related.

Cheers

Kinship's website is working perfectly for me. Metier's is showing some errors. Also, their phone number is listed online. Perhaps a call could sort this out?

[saf]

On 2/14/2023 at 7:26 PM, reedm said:

A google search turned up a potential foie gras controversy, but I'm not sure if that is related.

Apparently they were being picketed yesterday by animal rights activists.

And both websites are working for me now. 

[reedm]

21 hours ago, saf said:

Apparently they were being picketed yesterday by animal rights activists.

And both websites are working for me now. 

They must have hacked their website as well. Seems to be up and running again. Thanks!

[saf]

Tomorrow is the boy's birthday. He wanted dinner here. So, after a day of museums, we headed here, to find it locked up tight 20 minutes after they were supposed to open. No notice on the door. No notice online. Nothing on the voice mail. There was another pair of folks, also hoping for bar seats.

I hope all is well, and that they will be there when we try to have our anniversary dinner here next month.

[eatruneat]

On 2/15/2023 at 9:35 PM, saf said:

Apparently they were being picketed yesterday by animal rights activists.

We walked by this protest on our way back from Petco with our dog. Police blocked off 7th St. from NY Ave. to L St. NW for this protest. Kinship doesn't even have foie gras on the menu right now so I don't know what the deal is with this protest. And for all the chants about animal rights, they had zero regard for our sweet dog. She was already scared of the loud chants and the crowd of people, but in these activists zeal to protest the non-existence of foie gras at a restaurant one lady almost stepped on our dog and a guy kneeling on the sidewalk set off the siren on a bullhorn right as we walked by, completely terrifying our dog!

[saf]

OK, made it back for our anniversary to find them open. YAY! Bar seats available. YAY!

Asked about February closing, and was told that since they had been open on a not usual day for Valentine's Day, they had closed that Sunday. I did point out that it would have been nice to have that on the web page/facebook/twitter/SOMEWHERE. This did not seem to have occurred to them. One of the few frustrating things about this place. It has happened to us before - closed for a private event with no notice.

But the drinks were great, the wine was good, and the food was stellar (as always) and we celebrated well.

[eatruneat]

Another anniversary, another wonderful celebration at Kinship. We have never had a less than amazing meal at Kinship but this dinner may have topped all the rest.

We are still thinking about the amuse bouche summer garden granita with summer garden consomme the kitchen sent out. This consisted of a cold broth of tomato water, basil, lemongrass, and chile poured over a "slushee" of the same broth. Chef Ziebold stopped by our table and explained the inspiration behind the taste as well as how it is made. I am jealous that @MichaelBDCfor taking the whole thing as a shot and therefore got seconds while I restrained myself and sipped it like a classy lady and did not get seconds. 

The current menu takes advantage is heavy on the summer produce and we took advantage of it. We ordered the Kinship Saganaki, the Grilled Quail for our appetizers and then followed it up with the Corn Milk Poached Halibut and the Grilled Blue Fin Tuna for our entrees. Everything was perfectly cooked, especially the fish which were both so tender we didn't need a knife. Although we were pretty full after the entrees, I couldn't get enough of what this kitchen was putting out and ordered the Valrhona Carmelia Swirled Parfait for dessert while @MichaelBDC stuck with a digestif. Not too sweet or rich, the parfait was a perfect ending to another amazing meal at Kinship.