Mirabelle, Modern American at 16th and I Street Downtown - Chef Keith Bombaugh and GM Jennifer Knowles

[Pool Boy]

Anyone been yet?

I know they are only open for lunch so far, but the initial buzz seems quite good. I was never in doubt of course, but I think this could be something really special. We have ressies for the middle of next month for dinner, so I will be sure to report back but just curious to see if anyone has been there yet. Also....thoughts on parking?

Mirabelle

[squidsdc]

I thought for sure you would be first Pool Boy! We are considering a belated birthday meal for Mr. S-but want to wait for them to get their sea legs before taxing the kitchen dealing with my allergies. 

Did you see Tom Sietsema's First Bite column? WaPo

[DonRocks]

4 hours ago, Pool Boy said:

Anyone been yet?

I almost went - or, should I say, "I almost called" yesterday, Saturday, based on this Google Search:

but it looked somewhat suspicious - 12 AM just didn't sound right - and I ended up not going downtown. (Someone from Mirabelle should check this out - may as well get these types of things correct as quickly as possible). Welcome back, Frank and Aggie.

[Gadarene]

I'll go sometime from work.  That area is a lunch/dinner wasteland.  (Blah blah BLT Steak, Bombay Club, Oval Room blah blah.)

[Pool Boy]

21 hours ago, squidsdc said:

I thought for sure you would be first Pool Boy! We are considering a belated birthday meal for Mr. S-but want to wait for them to get their sea legs before taxing the kitchen dealing with my allergies. 

Did you see Tom Sietsema's First Bite column? WaPo

I'll be there soon! New job makes it impossible for me to steal away to try it for lunch though you know, you all KNOW, I'd love nothing more than to get there stat.

 

[turbogrrl]

went today. it's lovely, but too expensive for me to make a habit of going there. But I've been craving a real Jambon Beurre for years now, and so despite all of the other things I might have ordered (the burger looks deliciously decadent), I went with my craving. Even though it was $26. It definitely hit the spot. Dessert was the yuzu sesame mille crepe— more cream and caramel than yuzu, alas. tasty but my tastebuds had been primed for yuzu!

I suspect, however, I may be doomed whenever they open for breakfast (maybe May?), because I'll walk by it nearly every day, and I am sucker for pastries.

The space is gorgeous, and all of the staff are super nice and attentive.

[DonRocks]

12 hours ago, turbogrrl said:

went today. it's lovely, but too expensive for me to make a habit of going there. But I've been craving a real Jambon Beurre for years now, and so despite all of the other things I might have ordered (the burger looks deliciously decadent), I went with my craving. Even though it was $26. It definitely hit the spot.

My goodness - I think the most I've *ever* paid for a Jambon B (that's either a Jambon Beurre or a Jambon Brie) was $10: This was at BreadFurst with Mark Slater when it first opened, and I'm pretty sure it was a Jambon Brie, and was enough to split. At the time, I thought the price was extravagant.

I'm quite sure it isn't Frank who's setting the pricing; he's probably under orders to "Make the best food you can possibly make, and don't worry about the cost" - that looks like a half-pound of ham!

Ironically, I'm a purist, so the ratio of bread, butter, and ham means a lot to me - here, they're really piling on the meat and butter, but I'll bet it was awesome.

[turbogrrl]

10 hours ago, DonRocks said:

I'm quite sure it isn't Frank who's setting the pricing; he's probably under orders to "Make the best food you can possibly make, and don't worry about the cost" - that looks like a half-pound of ham!

Ironically, I'm a purist, so the ratio of bread, butter, and ham means a lot to me - here, they're really piling on the meat and butter, but I'll bet it was awesome.

oh, yes. basically, every lunch dish is 25-30-- sandwich, salad, or entree. I suspect the ham is applied to get to the needed price point, not the other way around. I am no purist, but would have been happier with a smidge less ham and a smidge more butter

and here is the crepe, because why not?

[Pool Boy]

Thanks for the picture and the report! I am a sucker for Frank & Aggie food no matter the price. Fortunately or unfortunately, I am not near their location (or even near enough) to get there for lunch or the coming breakfast. Maybe once in a blue moon. I will likely be a regular at dinner though. But Frank and Aggie already probably know that.

[Gadarene]

With those prices, I will not be going there.

[MidwestTransplant]

7 hours ago, Gadarene said:

With those prices, I will not be going there.

I have to say I was concerned when I saw the location.  This is prime expense account territory.  But I will probably end up going anyway at least once to taste the magic.

[Pool Boy]

On 3/29/2017 at 0:41 PM, Gadarene said:

With those prices, I will not be going there.

Yeah we all make choices. We all work hard I am sure and where to spend what we earn is a very personal decision.

[Finatic]

I had lunch there yesterday. When we made reservations there 4 or 5 days earlier, the only available times were 11:30 am or 1:00 pm or later. I was surprised when I arrived at 12:45 that easily one half of the tables were unoccupied. They must still be operating on a soft opening schedule to iron out all of the wrinkles in the kitchen and the service. That being said, the place is beautiful. I ordered the yellowfin tuna nicoise. It came on an oval plate with a good sized portion of confit tuna, nicely dressed greens with thin slices of purple fingerling potatoes and a ramekin filled with (from top to bottom) extremely finely diced boiled egg whites, extremely finely diced olives, and red pepper purée.  A clever play on the standard nicoise, and delicious to boot! My host ordered the bouillabaisse, and based on how much was left it was delicious too.  After we finished eating we went to the bar for another glass of wine. I asked the bartender for something different and he suggested I try the Michael Shaps Petit Manseng from Virginia. I consider myself fairly well schooled in the area of wine, but I had never heard of the winery or the varietal before.  I am normally skeptical of Virginia wines, but decided to try it.  The wine was delicious, but probably more suited to drink with food than as an aperitif.  I will definitely be returning. Dinner service starts next week, I think.

[Pool Boy]

Not my picture but this is what it is --

"...Foie gras poached in consommé with radish and chrysanthemum. Said consommé poured at the table...."

OMG. Want.

[MarkS]

Curious if this is a 100 bowel of Foie Gras given the cost of the ham sandwich.  They probably force feed the ducks themselves.  And the wine pairing for this dish is probably a 50 glass of champagne.

[cheezepowder]

Tom Sietsema mentioned in his chat that Mirabelle started serving dinner on Monday.

[porcupine]

The opening menu:

[Bob Wells]

On 4/1/2017 at 0:27 PM, Finatic said:

I had lunch there yesterday. When we made reservations there 4 or 5 days earlier, the only available times were 11:30 am or 1:00 pm or later. I was surprised when I arrived at 12:45 that easily one half of the tables were unoccupied. They must still be operating on a soft opening schedule to iron out all of the wrinkles in the kitchen and the service. That being said, the place is beautiful. I ordered the yellowfin tuna nicoise. It came on an oval plate with a good sized portion of confit tuna, nicely dressed greens with thin slices of purple fingerling potatoes and a ramekin filled with (from top to bottom) extremely finely diced boiled egg whites, extremely finely diced olives, and red pepper purée.  A clever play on the standard nicoise, and delicious to boot! My host ordered the bouillabaisse, and based on how much was left it was delicious too.  After we finished eating we went to the bar for another glass of wine. I asked the bartender for something different and he suggested I try the Michael Shaps Petit Manseng from Virginia. I consider myself fairly well schooled in the area of wine, but I had never heard of the winery or the varietal before.  I am normally skeptical of Virginia wines, but decided to try it.  The wine was delicious, but probably more suited to drink with food than as an aperitif.  I will definitely be returning. Dinner service starts next week, I think.

Now that sounds good. Interestingly, for all the mockery the $26 jambon beurre sandwich is getting, the 15 sandwiches, salads, and entrees are all priced from $25-29, and the entrees are complete plates, so to me they seem like a better deal than the bare-bones plates of fish you'd pay $30 odd for at a place like Oceanaire.

PS. Michael Shaps has a very good rep. Whote Foods carries some of his wines. Petit Manseng is one of those varietals that apparently is doing very well in VA (like Cab Franc, Viognier, and other "off-brand" grapes).

[cheezepowder]

On 4/6/2017 at 10:45 AM, cheezepowder said:

Tom Sietsema mentioned in his chat that Mirabelle started serving dinner on Monday.

But FYI, you can't eat at the bar yet.

[Gadarene]

14 hours ago, cheezepowder said:

But FYI, you can't eat at the bar yet.

Weird.

[Pool Boy]

15 hours ago, cheezepowder said:

But FYI, you can't eat at the bar yet.

It seems like they are taking a phased approach to expanding their service. Lunch, then dinner. Eventually dining at the bar, and breakfast (IIRC). They'll eventually do everything they want and establish a flow and cadence to their operations.

[DPop]

On March 29, 2017 at 0:41 PM, Gadarene said:

With those prices, I will not be going there.

I'm not going to go that far, but I'm with you in being disappointed that the prices from the Capella/Rosewood have traveled with Frank. $26 for a ham sandwich is up there with the $50 truffle gnocchi at Fiola Mare in terms of blatant gouging.

[Jonathan]

12 minutes ago, DPop said:

 $26 for a ham sandwich is up there with the $50 truffle gnocchi at Fiola Mare in terms of blatant gouging.

You'd think at a French restaurant they would be more inclined to gougere rather than gouge.

[Ericandblueboy]

1 hour ago, Jonathan said:

You'd think at a French restaurant they would be more inclined to gougere rather than gouge.

I see what you've done there!

[Poivrot Farci]

13 hours ago, DPop said:

$26 for a ham sandwich is up there with the $50 truffle gnocchi at Fiola Mare in terms of blatant gouging.

Charging $50 for a gallon of diesel and potato chips during a hurricane in the midst of a siege is gouging. Charging a premium for hand made leather shoes, top shelf booze or truffled noodles at a fancy restaurant is not. That ham sandwich is a blatant splurge, not an essential consumer good.

Consumers are free to purchase other options for ½ the price, at Taylor Gourmet, where a commodity vegetarian sandwich somehow costs the same as a one with commodity meats. Spendthrifts can also buy cardboard flip-flops and burlap sheets. Mirabelle makes the bread, butter and ham from infinitely better ingredients, which commands a fair amount of knack, and none of that comes cheap.

Ultimately, your gripe is with commercial landlords who are the scourge of humanity and deserve to collectively get syphilis.

[brian]

9 hours ago, Poivrot Farci said:

Ultimately, your gripe is with commercial landlords who are the scourge of humanity and deserve to collectively get syphilis.

Based on what the landlord was asking, Mirabelle is paying lower rent than some restaurants on H St NE and Rockville Town Center.

[Gadarene]

Unpopular opinion: people on this board venerate Frank Ruta too much.

And it probably speaks to the overall paucity, relatively speaking, of high-quality food in this town, especially (but not exclusively) for a reasonable cost.

[DonRocks]

1 hour ago, Gadarene said:

Unpopular opinion: people on this board venerate Frank Ruta too much.

The problem is that there's no good way to reply to this because there aren't enough specifics. 

Here's an attempt at a reply: People on this board don't venerate Frank Ruta enough considering how popular Jaleo, Rasika, and Mike Isabella are.

That statement will (justifiably) make some people request substantiation, and I said it merely as an example of something that would (if you hadn't said this, I wouldn't have said that - I thought one lick was enough; two called for a rebuttal).

BUT! You have every right to voice your thoughts - you're an informed, knowledgeable diner, and your opinions must be taken seriously - you've earned that right, but I do think people should be allowed to request supporting detail, given that you've now said two very general statements without any.

Understand, at least three of the people venerating Frank here on a regular basis are his ex-employees.

[Gadarene]

All are certainly fair points.  And every time I've eaten Chef Ruta's food, I've quite enjoyed it, in an absolute sense if not relative to value.

So here's a reframing that I hope is less overtly combative: I wish that we had many many more chefs in this town that were worthy of as much veneration as Chef Ruta, so that the breathless posts about his cuisine (and Eric Ziebold, another person whose food I very much respect and who seems like an extremely good and worthy and respectable person, but whose endeavors are the subject of overwhelming hagiography on this board) would not seem, in my fully subjective perspective, to stand out nearly so much.

We all want the same thing here.  Ubiquitously transcendent and exciting food at ubiquitously cut-rate prices that nevertheless allow for the highest quality of ingredients and the highest possible standard of living for the chef and all of the kitchen and front of house staff.  That's little enough to ask, surely?

($26 or what-have-you for a jambon beurre is still presumptively ridiculous this side of Zurich (I think still one of the most across-the-board expensive food cities in the world?), though, and I say that unapologetically as someone who has spent far too much on food in the last decade!)

[Pool Boy]

3 hours ago, Gadarene said:

Unpopular opinion: people on this board venerate Frank Ruta too much.

And it probably speaks to the overall paucity, relatively speaking, of high-quality food in this town, especially (but not exclusively) for a reasonable cost.

That is your opinion and you are certainly welcome to believe it and state it as such. No worries whatsoever. Food and the dining experience is such a subjective thing. Some people love one thing, others another. I was talking to a coworker the other day. She and her husband had been to Komi in the past few months. They left and her husband said to her that 'I'd have been just as happy eating a bunch of Chick-fil-a.' So....see what I mean?

From my experience with Ruta and his food as compared to many, many, many other places I have dined over the past 15-16 years, well, his stuff is top notch and the experiences I have had at Palena and Grill Room have been quite, quite good. For you maybe....not so much? No big deal. I have my own issues with some places like we all do (like Rose's Luxury - I am sure the food is wonderful there, and the service as well, and now I hear you can book a rooftop table if you all do a tasting menu - but I will probably never go there (because 1) I don't have 6 other people I want to go experience a tasting menu there with so I can get a reservation and 2) I cannot otherwise get a reservation - my loss I am sure), and we all deal.

9 minutes ago, Gadarene said:

All are certainly fair points.  And every time I've eaten Chef Ruta's food, I've quite enjoyed it, in an absolute sense if not relative to value.

So here's a reframing that I hope is less overtly combative: I wish that we had many many more chefs in this town that were worthy of as much veneration as Chef Ruta, so that the breathless posts about his cuisine (and Eric Ziebold, another person whose food I very much respect and who seems like an extremely good and worthy and respectable person, but whose endeavors are the subject of overwhelming hagiography on this board) would not seem, in my fully subjective perspective, to stand out nearly so much.

We all want the same thing here.  Ubiquitously transcendent and exciting food at ubiquitously cut-rate prices that nevertheless allow for the highest quality of ingredients and the highest possible standard of living for the chef and all of the kitchen and front of house staff.  That's little enough to ask, surely?

($26 or what-have-you for a jambon beurre is still presumptively ridiculous this side of Zurich (I think still one of the most across-the-board expensive food cities in the world?), though, and I say that unapologetically as someone who has spent far too much on food in the last decade!)

Well, you know that is impossible. It's kind of like the analogy to software development - you can make software potentially good, fast and/or cheap. Out of those three things, you can only pick two - good and cheap (not fast), cheap and fast (but not good), or fast and good, but not cheap. I am sure there is some trinity or similar that applies to dining out.

That all being said, you can get some awfully good food out there, you just need to pick some things that you are unwilling to sacrifice on and deal with the rest. Hot Doug's in Chicago (gone, dang it) was a place where you got really excellent hot dogs and sausages, for pretty darn good prices for pretty cheap, but you often had to wait an hour or two in line to get it (we waited 45 minutes - an anomaly for me - I utterly hate waiting).

[Pool Boy]

2 hours ago, DonRocks said:

The problem is that there's no good way to reply to this because there aren't enough specifics. 

Here's an attempt at a reply: People on this board don't venerate Frank Ruta enough considering how popular Jaleo, Rasika, and Mike Isabella are.

That statement will (justifiably) make some people request substantiation, and I said it merely as an example of something that would (if you hadn't said this, I wouldn't have said that - I thought one lick was enough; two called for a rebuttal).

BUT! You have every right to voice your thoughts - you're an informed, knowledgeable diner, and your opinions must be taken seriously - you've earned that right, but I do think people should be allowed to request supporting detail, given that you've now said two very general statements without any.

Understand, at least three of the people venerating Frank here on a regular basis are his ex-employees.

And it is a travesty of the two that I am aware of are no longer in the DC Metro area because they are both completely and utterly amazingly talented folks. I miss them not being here in the DC Metro dining scene for sure. A lot.

[Gadarene]

10 minutes ago, Pool Boy said:

That is your opinion and you are certainly welcome to believe it and state it as such. No worries whatsoever. Food and the dining experience is such a subjective thing. Some people love one thing, others another. I was talking to a coworker the other day. She and her husband had been to Komi in the past few months. They left and her husband said to her that 'I'd have been just as happy eating a bunch of Chick-fil-a.' So....see what I mean?

From my experience with Ruta and his food as compared to many, many, many other places I have dined over the past 15-16 years, well, his stuff is top notch and the experiences I have had at Palena and Grill Room have been quite, quite good. For you maybe....not so much? No big deal. I have my own issues with some places like we all do (like Rose's Luxury - I am sure the food is wonderful there, and the service as well, and now I hear you can book a rooftop table if you all do a tasting menu - but I will probably never go there (because 1) I don't have 6 other people I want to go experience a tasting menu there with so I can get a reservation and 2) I cannot otherwise get a reservation - my loss I am sure), and we all deal.

Well, you know that is impossible. It's kind of like the analogy to software development - you can make software potentially good, fast and/or cheap. Out of those three things, you can only pick two - good and cheap (not fast), cheap and fast (but not good), or fast and good, but not cheap. I am sure there is some trinity or similar that applies to dining out.

That all being said, you can get some awfully good food out there, you just need to pick some things that you are unwilling to sacrifice on and deal with the rest. Hot Doug's in Chicago (gone, dang it) was a place where you got really excellent hot dogs and sausages, for pretty darn good prices for pretty cheap, but you often had to wait an hour or two in line to get it (we waited 45 minutes - an anomaly for me - I utterly hate waiting).

It's not impossible, actually, if "transcendent" and "cut-rate" and "highest possible" are toned down for hyperbole.  There are half a dozen cities I've been where it seemed, to me, with my upper-middle-class privilege of having a well-paying DC job (which will soon no longer be the case), that cheap/affordable/reasonable, delicious, and even innovative food was virtually everywhere (Portland, Austin, Berlin, Madrid, Tokyo-though-admittedly-because-the-dollar-was-strong, even New York, honestly, if one stays in the midrange independent places and does due diligence, almost anywhere with a vibrant street-food scene and a food-loving culture, a bunch of random smaller places in southern and central Europe) in a way that it is certainly not remotely here in the district.  

It's not unattainable.  It's just unattainable here, in the land of the expense account and the restaurant groups and the property manager preference for chain places or super high-end places or both.

It doesn't have to be the way it is here.  Not to say there aren't great things here, but I totally disagree with any notion that the things I describe aren't far more attainable in a number of other places.

But the rest of your post is certainly quite well-taken.

[lion]

14 hours ago, Gadarene said:

It's not impossible, actually, if "transcendent" and "cut-rate" and "highest possible" are toned down for hyperbole.  There are half a dozen cities I've been where it seemed, to me, with my upper-middle-class privilege of having a well-paying DC job (which will soon no longer be the case), that cheap/affordable/reasonable, delicious, and even innovative food was virtually everywhere (Portland, Austin, Berlin, Madrid, Tokyo-though-admittedly-because-the-dollar-was-strong, even New York, honestly, if one stays in the midrange independent places and does due diligence, almost anywhere with a vibrant street-food scene and a food-loving culture, a bunch of random smaller places in southern and central Europe) in a way that it is certainly not remotely here in the district.  

It's not unattainable.  It's just unattainable here, in the land of the expense account and the restaurant groups and the property manager preference for chain places or super high-end places or both.

It doesn't have to be the way it is here.  Not to say there aren't great things here, but I totally disagree with any notion that the things I describe aren't far more attainable in a number of other places.

But the rest of your post is certainly quite well-taken.

I was just having a similar conversation on a different topic with a friend down in TN. If you don't have the population base to support inventive or non commercial endeavors, what does become mainstream has lost most of its uniqueness.

Frankly, DC cuisine is always going to be less interesting than other cities on East Coast because of the economics. NYC will support original or obscure restaurants if it is good. Philadelphia has a population base that will try new things. DC and the surrounding metro area have high rents that preclude chefs from taking risks and over the past decade as gentification has taken hold in the DC proper and quasi urbanization has weaved itself into the suburbs, it has only gotten worse. 

Of course this has nothing to do with Mirabelle or Chef Ruta's restaurants, we have enjoyed Palena on our visits.  

[Jonathan]

On 4/11/2017 at 9:42 PM, Gadarene said:

($26 or what-have-you for a jambon beurre is still presumptively ridiculous this side of Zurich (I think still one of the most across-the-board expensive food cities in the world?), though, and I say that unapologetically as someone who has spent far too much on food in the last decade!)

$26 for a ham sandwich might be on the pricey side. I'm not there. But if it's $26 and after eating it you are satisfied and full then I am ok with that.

At Rose's Luxury, there are diminutive pastas on the menu that go for $13, $14 and $15. If I went there for dinner one night and just wanted to eat pasta...and be sated, I would probably end up having to eat two or three pastas. Which would cost anywhere from $26-$45. 

That is an expensive bowl (or three) of noodles, which typically comes with not much more than butter and cheese.

[Pool Boy]

On 4/11/2017 at 10:12 PM, Gadarene said:

It's not impossible, actually, if "transcendent" and "cut-rate" and "highest possible" are toned down for hyperbole.  There are half a dozen cities I've been where it seemed, to me, with my upper-middle-class privilege of having a well-paying DC job (which will soon no longer be the case), that cheap/affordable/reasonable, delicious, and even innovative food was virtually everywhere (Portland, Austin, Berlin, Madrid, Tokyo-though-admittedly-because-the-dollar-was-strong, even New York, honestly, if one stays in the midrange independent places and does due diligence, almost anywhere with a vibrant street-food scene and a food-loving culture, a bunch of random smaller places in southern and central Europe) in a way that it is certainly not remotely here in the district.  

It's not unattainable.  It's just unattainable here, in the land of the expense account and the restaurant groups and the property manager preference for chain places or super high-end places or both.

It doesn't have to be the way it is here.  Not to say there aren't great things here, but I totally disagree with any notion that the things I describe aren't far more attainable in a number of other places.

But the rest of your post is certainly quite well-taken.

Well those are good points. One of the things I hate to see happen is when a place gets redeveloped in to a modern mixed use thing and then the chains come in. Boring! And with the rents being so sky high, it gets harder and harder for restaurants to make it in this metro area.

However, if you extend your definition of this metro area to include points a bit south, east, west and north (like Baltimore), there are plenty of options with good food that is a better value and may even be closer to where you live potentially. Grace Garden in Odenton is a good example. So is Curry Leaf in Laurel, MD. Ren's Ramen in Wheaton. Many, many options for Peruvian Chicken based on your own preferences. But I do, indeed, hear you about having a really good overall experience that delivers the goods on good, interesting food, with a nice atmosphere and service and maybe a decent wine list/beer program/cocktail program is, in general, a bit harder to find in even the expanded idea of this metro area.  I like a lot of interesting places in Baltimore, too (Peter's Inn comes to mind, as does Fork & Wrench, and plenty of other options, too).

The adventure continues.

[Jonathan]

On 4/11/2017 at 5:53 PM, Gadarene said:

Unpopular opinion: people on this board venerate Frank Ruta too much.

That's like saying people venerate Jean Georges, Daniel Boloud or Gunther Seeger too much.

it might be true. But he, and they, are deserving. Having had the pleasure of working for Frank for 6 years, his technique, flavors, attention to detail and work ethic are second to none. From his simple Oxtail Vaccinara or little pork head cheese croquettes to his more sophisticated Lobster and Oyster Navarin with Sauternes...his food is unlike any I've encountered in my travels or in my work with other chefs.

i still dream of his stollen. His bread and tomato soup. His brandade. His bolognese. (I could go on).

[Gadarene]

55 minutes ago, Pool Boy said:

Well those are good points. One of the things I hate to see happen is when a place gets redeveloped in to a modern mixed use thing and then the chains come in. Boring! And with the rents being so sky high, it gets harder and harder for restaurants to make it in this metro area.

However, if you extend your definition of this metro area to include points a bit south, east, west and north (like Baltimore), there are plenty of options with good food that is a better value and may even be closer to where you live potentially. Grace Garden in Odenton is a good example. So is Curry Leaf in Laurel, MD. Ren's Ramen in Wheaton. Many, many options for Peruvian Chicken based on your own preferences. But I do, indeed, hear you about having a really good overall experience that delivers the goods on good, interesting food, with a nice atmosphere and service and maybe a decent wine list/beer program/cocktail program is, in general, a bit harder to find in even the expanded idea of this metro area.  I like a lot of interesting places in Baltimore, too (Peter's Inn comes to mind, as does Fork & Wrench, and plenty of other options, too).

The adventure continues.

Would that I had a car!  And the time and inclination to fight through traffic for an interesting meal.

But yes, I don't think our perspectives are nearly as far apart as it seems.

And apologies for hijacking the topic!  Let's let Jonathan's beautiful post about Chef Ruta's food guide the thread back on track.

[Poivrot Farci]

On 4/11/2017 at 10:12 PM, Gadarene said:

It's not impossible, actually, if "transcendent" and "cut-rate" and "highest possible" are toned down for hyperbole.  There are half a dozen cities I've been where it seemed, to me, with my upper-middle-class privilege of having a well-paying DC job (which will soon no longer be the case), that cheap/affordable/reasonable, delicious, and even innovative food was virtually everywhere (Portland, Austin, Berlin, Madrid, Tokyo-though-admittedly-because-the-dollar-was-strong, even New York, honestly, if one stays in the midrange independent places and does due diligence, almost anywhere with a vibrant street-food scene and a food-loving culture, a bunch of random smaller places in southern and central Europe) in a way that it is certainly not remotely here in the district.  

It's not unattainable.  It's just unattainable here, in the land of the expense account and the restaurant groups and the property manager preference for chain places or super high-end places or both.

It doesn't have to be the way it is here. 

It doesn’t have to be but it is and forever will be under the survival of the richest economic model. The costs of living, goods and services are very high in the D.C. area which is commensurate with an area flush with fat cats. In terms of cosmopolitan cities, Berlin is a gruff, thrifty outlier more in line with Montreal where rents are still very affordable and ½ of Berlin/DDR was essentially off limits (and backwards) up until 25 years ago. Germany is much more affordable than this land of opportunity and Germans enjoy far less income inequality despite having the 4^th highest GDP. And you can get a 18^th century fixer-upper manor house in the former DDR for $45K.

-deputy archivist and executive cheerleader of the FR fanclub.

 

[DonRocks]

Isn't it kind of cool that we have (at least) two of Frank's ex sous-chefs (who don't give a flip about money) putting themselves on the line for him? 

I swear to God I would keep this website going for this reason alone.

[Finatic]

Everyone wants a Bentley for the price of a Hyundai.  The world does not work that way. Fine dining demands the best ingredients and more labor. There are dozens, if not more, restaurants in our area producing phenomenal food, albeit not cheaply. You get what you pay for. We all have different tolerances for price points of food. I paid $1200 for dinner for two at the French Laundry years ago. It was horrible. I also paid $600 for dinner for two at Le Bernardin. I would go back in a heartbeat!

[Gadarene]

57 minutes ago, Finatic said:

Everyone wants a Bentley for the price of a Hyundai.  The world does not work that way. Fine dining demands the best ingredients and more labor. There are dozens, if not more, restaurants in our area producing phenomenal food, albeit not cheaply. You get what you pay for. We all have different tolerances for price points of food. I paid $1200 for dinner for two at the French Laundry years ago. It was horrible. I also paid $600 for dinner for two at Le Bernardin. I would go back in a heartbeat!

Apparently you didn't get what you paid for at French Laundry.  :-)

[silentbob]

1 hour ago, Finatic said:

Everyone wants a Bentley for the price of a Hyundai. 

Strawman IMO.

No one is saying that a >$200/pp meal should be available for <$50.  But is it to unreasonable to think that one could obtain a comparable level of quality for, say, $100 to $150?  Or a $100/pp meal for $40 to $60?  Because I too have been able to accomplish that in Tokyo (with great exchange rate, and eating at lunch), San Sebastian, Portland, Toronto (go strong USD!), and most recently Lisbon.  Or in cities with corkage-friendly policies.

[jca76]

1 hour ago, silentbob said:

No one is saying that a >$200/pp meal should be available for <$50.  But is it to unreasonable to think that one could obtain a comparable level of quality for, say, $100 to $150?  Or a $100/pp meal for $40 to $60?

totally agree.  unless i'm mistaken, only turbogrrl has actually eaten at mirabelle, where she had the ham sandwich and the yuzu crepe dessert, both of which sounded satisfying without being revelatory (too much ham, not enough butter, not enough yuzu).  obviously it will take a lot more dining experiences/reviews thereof to really form a view on mirabelle -- on both whether the chef is doing justice to his talents, and whether there is a sufficient "value" (however subjective) to justify the cost.  i can't wait to hear people's opinions on the first question.  

an observation to the second question: yes, fine(r) dining has higher costs for ingredients and labor, but it was also a conscious choice to set up shop in this area, presumably with an eye toward taking advantage of the downtown power broker price insensitivity.  it will be interesting to see what effect that choice, and the resulting prices, has on mirabelle's draw for those without that sweet, sweet expense account money.  chef ruta understandably has a lot of goodwill in this town that earns him a number of defenders on mirabelle's pricing who have not yet eaten mirabelle's food.  (compare the tone of this thread with the tone of the shaw bijou thread before its opening.)  experience and resulting credibility should matter, but they shouldn't mean that we can't ultimately make judgments about relative value.  (although i don't actually know, i'd read gadarene's initial comment on veneration to be expressing a similar feeling.)  

[Finatic]

4 hours ago, silentbob said:

Strawman IMO.

No one is saying that a >$200/pp meal should be available for <$50.  But is it to unreasonable to think that one could obtain a comparable level of quality for, say, $100 to $150?  Or a $100/pp meal for $40 to $60?  Because I too have been able to accomplish that in Tokyo (with great exchange rate, and eating at lunch), San Sebastian, Portland, Toronto (go strong USD!), and most recently Lisbon.  Or in cities with corkage-friendly policies.

I am going to go out on a limb here. The restaurant business is notoriously fickle with thin margins. We in the DC area do live in a high rent area. Whether you put a fine dining establishment at 16th and K, NW or a Burger King, your rent is going to be the same, although your build out costs will probably vary drastically! I have eaten at Mirabelle. It was phenomenal! I tried to go back, but could not get a reservation because it was booked solid. It may not be worth it to you, but it is apparently worth it to many other people. One size does not fit all. I personally will keep trying to go back. I WAS ASKED TO DELETE MY PRIOR LAST SENTENCE WHICH I DID!

[DonRocks]

54 minutes ago, Finatic said:

Perhaps you should opt for the dollar meal at McDonalds!

[Personal Foul! Please edit out this comment - I *think* you were just making a joke, but if not (and even if so), it could come across as very mean.]

[Ericandblueboy]

1 hour ago, Finatic said:

I am going to go out on a limb here. The restaurant business is notoriously fickle with thin margins. We in the DC area do live in a high rent area. Whether you put a fine dining establishment at 16th and K, NW or a Burger King, your rent is going to be the same, although your build out costs will probably vary drastically! I have eaten at Mirabelle. It was phenomenal! I tried to go back, but could not get a reservation because it was booked solid. It may not be worth it to you, but it is apparently worth it to many other people. One size does not fit all. I personally will keep trying to go back. Perhaps you should opt for the dollar meal at McDonalds!

McDonald's no longer does dollar meals.  Now it's called McPick 2 or something like that.  I don't personally have an opinion on whether Mirabelle is overpriced since I haven't been.

[eatruneat]

The owner of Mirabelle decided to open a restaurant that caters to those with expense accounts, pricing out many fans of Chef Ruta who can not make this new establishment a regular habit (or even a special occasion restaurant). Self included. That is unfortunate. I haven't eaten there so I can't comment on whether the food is deserving of the high prices. 

For those upset about the lack of affordable fine dining in DC, Chef Ruta had such a place. It was called Palena and it was not a sustainable business model. Can't imagine that a new build in downtown DC is more affordable in 2017 than Cleveland Park in 2014.

[Gadarene]

I do think it's important to note that there's a fundamental distinction between the lack of affordable fine dining and the lack of affordable good dining.  To my mind, D.C. suffers from both, because it's beset by chains and blandness and general lack of value for money at all price points, not simply the very top.

This is significant because, while one should expect to pay high prices for more refined food, luxury ingredients, whisper-soft service, and elegant ambience (which appears to be the thrust of Fintastic's point above), it's simply not true in many, many places that one should expect to pay high prices for delicious or interesting or even exciting food that does not have, or need, the level of refinement necessary to qualify as "fine" dining.  Many of the best meals of my life have been dirt-cheap, especially relative to the quality of the food.  (That yakitori place in Tokyo with random skewers of amazing chicken parts for $1.50 each...man.)

So it is a bit of a strawman, I think, or at least an incomplete argument, to focus on the consequences of DC's unique milieu on the kind of food you expect to pay a lot of money for regardless -- I'm never going to rail against the steep markup at Ruth's Chris or The Prime Rib, for example, because those places are what they are -- because the larger issue isn't "hey, this restaurant opened up catering to the expense account crowd, and I'm mad that it means a legendary chef's prices are higher than they might be," it's more (as someone observed earlier) "hey, i wish there was a more vibrant and affordable restaurant scene at all price points, but that's hard to do in this city because so much of the current development is centered around 'new builds,' which are biased towards the profit margins of the investors and property managers over all else."

Fine dining will always be expensive; it comes with the territory.  Good dining doesn't have to be -- and, in many many many cities in the world, it usually isn't.

[Gadarene]

I should also hasten to add that the D.C. dining scene today is light years better than what it was when I moved here in 2001, or even in 2011.  I love the fact that there are interesting, unique, and chef-driven places out there that aspire to thoughtfulness and deliciousness without being self-consciously "fine dining," like Himitsu, Tail Up, Thip Khao, Little Serow, Etto, Tiger Fork, EatBar, and so forth.  If the prices at these places are a little higher than they would be elsewhere, well, then I chalk it up to a feature of the area and don't let it diminish my enjoyment too much.  I just selfishly wish that there were way more of those kinds of places (and that more of them were within easy walking distance of Mt. Pleasant, dammit! Purple Patch and Beau Thai, I'm looking at you -- why can't you aspire to more?), because I know there can be, because I've seen it elsewhere again and again and again.  I want more under the radar hole-in-the-walls with surprisingly awesome food for cheap, too, for the same reason.  And while I'm at it, I want a pony.

I'd much rather dine in DC now than ten years ago.  That doesn't mean I can't begrudge the amount of culinary real estate in this town given over to making money for investors/property managers/corporate headquarters (and/or attracting as broad a well-heeled clientele as possible by aspiring to widely acceptable genericness in its category -- see Kushi taking all the interesting stuff off its menu after a month -- and/or churning out lazily slapped together "on trend" food and calling it a day) as its first, second, third, and fourth priority.  (And, to bring it back to the topic again, I'm not painting Mirabelle with that brush, because I haven't been there and because I know that Chef Ruta is not going to allow anyone to lazily slap together anything in his kitchen.)

[porcupine]

6 hours ago, jca76 said:

totally agree.  unless i'm mistaken, only turbogrrl has actually eaten at mirabelle,

Ah, nope. How do you think I got pix of the opening night menu?

[Gadarene]

Once I get my sciatica under control and can comfortably work in my office again, I selflessly volunteer to go by Mirabelle for lunch one day and have what is sure to be an extremely tasty meal for myself, to put my money where my mouth is.

Not ordering the ham sandwich, though. 

[Pool Boy]

My wife and I went last night for our inaugural dinner at Mirabelle.

In short - Wow.

In shortish - Amazing space, great service, great food and drink. A place to linger and indulge. Not cheap. At all. But for me, worth it.

And now for the long form review.

Parking - It's a little tricky in that area. They have valet right out front, so you always have that option. Fortunately, we only spent a couple of minutes circline and we found a great spot less than two blocks away.

The Space - They have outdoor seating, but it was not yet ready. They are apparently planning on installing large patio umbrella over the whole space as well. The main doors are twofold right at the corner of the building. There's an interior door and the host stand is immediately to your left at the head of the main walkway toward the bar. We were a little early but they were able to seat us immediately in a booth (yay!) - big enough for four, but most of the booths had two people in them. It was not crazy busy when we got there, but filled up during the course of the evening (we were there from 8 to midnight). It really is a beautiful space with a lot of attention to detail. The chairs, the bar chairs and the booth seating is at the same time beautiful, sumptuous and above all comfortable. I especially like that the bar seating has seat backs (note, they are still not serving the menu at the bar). Designs are echoed across elements as well - it's well thought out. And the bathrooms are on the way to the kitchen and that hallway is where a lot of wine is stored/displayed (similar to my experience at Tin Lung Heen). It was funny, I mentioned to my wife that the space was not technically authentic Parisian, because the tables were not close enough together (haha - just kidding, I love the spacing here!).

The Service - What a treat. Warm, well-informed staff are thorough and engaging, and know very well how to be unobtrusive as needed. They almost all predicted things we'd want or need before we ourselves knew. Katy was our server, and we hope to be always be under her care on all of our future visits. Jaren and Jennifer kept us well taken care of with some half glass pairings for our first course. Jaren in particular helped, when we decided to go Rhone instead of Burgundy, not only nailed the selection, he did it in a way that made it work with a difficult to manage line-up of courses we'd picked. We saw some Palena alums there as well - glad to see them again. Though we did not really experience the tableside finally delivery from pan to plate (exception - our first course soups), we did see this happen quite a bit. Fun. And though we did not see the actually cheese trolley, we were seated right next to the trolley of brandies and other goodies. I found it quite wonderful to watch how the staff managed a demanding customer with grace and professionalism - ultimately addressing the customer's desires while maintaining perfect decorum. Lastly, I forgot to mention the cocktails. They have a fairly sizable list of their own creations/variations. We tried the Coda (really, really good) and the Paul's Spritz (a little weak as compared to the Coda, but interesting).

The food. Frank and Aggie have been on their game, both of them, for years. At Palena, then at Grill Room and now here at Mirabelle. But I have to admit, I think it is possible that they have raised their game again. While I will miss the sprinkling of Italian bits and pieces through Ruta's dishes, he just adapts to the situation and makes things fun. And, I am getting ahead of myself here, but Chin's desserts are exceptional. Truly. Bear in mind you will have two paths to follow on the menu - 1) a six course proposed meal (4 savory, 1 cheese, 1 dessert) with optional wine pairings and 2) picking from the regular menu (I 

So, without any further delay, here are the courses we selected--
 

Spring soup with buckwheat tempura walleye pike, tapioca with curry flavors and coconut. This dish was so good. The coconut and the curry were such great elements and the crisp of the tempura really held up in the soup and provided a nice textural contrast. Jaren helped us pair this with a 2015 Domaine Mardon 'Tre Vielles Vignes' Quincy (a sauvignon blanc I believe). 

 

Ruta's consomme is legendary. I crave this at the center of my being. I live for his endless variations of this dish and this one did not disappoint at all. Consomme...enveloping poached foie fras with chrysanthemum and spring radish. Hoo boy so good. And what a heady aroma. Anytime anythig with consomme or other brothy variants are on the dish, we have a standing rule that one of us needs to order it. Jaren suggested the pairing of a 2014 J. Fritsch 'Schlosserg'Riesling that I think was not only one of the best pairings I have ever had, but was also one of the best Rieslings I have ever had. Wow.

 

Boudin blanc - cicken and foie fras sausage with house made lardons, spinach coulis and poached raisins. Clearly house made everything. The sausage was so fresh and perfectly prepared, it was almost quivering with glee as to got it in to your mouth. So damn good. And, while picking rankings of dishes is splitting hairs, this was on the bottom of the list of dishes we tried not for lack of being an excellent dish, but just because there was so much strong competition from the rest of the dishes we had at this meal.

 

Tete du porc with baby leeks and truffle vinaigrette. I love all of the bits and parts of the meats I love so much and this, this is me on a dish in many ways.The mustard was clearly house made and provided the sharpness and mild sting to counter the richness of the planks of this pork. But there were also the lightly pickled carrots to help provide texture and zing. They event rolled up the carrots and stuffed it with a çarrot green top'on the one in the foreground. Too fun! I would order this again and again.

 

We fell in love with beef tartare on our Alpine trip several years ago, liking perhaps the best the variants in Lucerne, Switzerland and Schladming, Austria (though the versions in Verona, Italy were amazing, though different). So we had to try this.

This version is quite good. My wife liked it less than I, mainly because she pines for the more 'Germanic versions indicate above (the Germanic versions tend to only very lightly bind the meat, and leave all of the various pickled and other additions off to the side for you to endlessly experiment with combinations - sometimes even adding butter to the plate - note the butter in the background, but this was not served with the dish but the lovely breads we had earlier in the meal) - but I digress.

I totally loved this dish. It's rich and decadent and wonderful - especially with the poached egg broken and leaked all over the lovely tartare. The brioche was a nice textural play and IIRC there were tiny potatoe strings spinkled on the top of the tartare that were tasty and provided more textural fun. The razor clams, I think, were added to the dish so as to cleanse your palate a bit between bites of the tartare. I didn't eat them that way as I slurped it all down before jumping in to the tartare. But I can see how and why it was added to the dish, I just personally think it was unnecessary.

 

Squab nantua, the breast roasted with spices, the leg braised with morels, crayfish and spring asparagus. This was a spectacular dish. Perfectly cooked squab, well seasoned and just fantastic. The underpinning of the sauce (likely the braising liquid for the legs?) was the star of the show - it seemed almost ever so lightly goulash-y with a hint of light paprika and other mystery spices (maybe marjoram? no idea). So.Damn.Good. Order this.

This paired really well with the 2014 Domaine Tunnel St. Joseph that we selected off the list with Jaren's help. It threaded the needle of fruitiness, but also a meatiness to it. Honeyed elements and a more thick viscosity revealed itself well after being open for a while. Yum.

I went for this dish since we veered in to squab. It was a hard decision because there were other significantly tempting other mains to consider (the chicken, the bouillabaisse, the turbot, and more). But I went here and was not disappointed.

Angus beef sirloin, dauphin potatoes, with beef tongue, bone marrow glazed carrots and spring onions, sauce bordelaise. I reallynot need to say anything more about this dish, right?  The spring onions under there seemed to have been first grilled or seared, and then lightly braised. Wow. Again, a role player basically stealing the show again. And this on a plate of spectacular food. It's what Ruta does all the damn time. The Domaine Tunnel St. Joseph also paired well with this.

 

Strawberry 'mille feuille' - buckwheat puff pastry, vanilla fromage blanc, strawberries, toasted buckwheat ice cream

Where Chin got these strawberries this early in the season is curious, but they delivered for sure. And the buckwheat elements to this dish were lovely. It makes us want to experiment with this in the kitchen when strawberry season is in full swing as well.
 

 

Matcha Rhubarb Roulade, matcha cake, yuzu cream, rhubarb compote, rhubarb sorbet. We have decided that if Chin has a dessert on the menu that involves anything on the tea spectrum, one of us needs to order it. I fell in love with and still dream about her 'Spot of Tea'dish she came up with while at Grill Room. This is a worthy successor in that line of thinking. I mean, this was the piece de resistance. A triumph. A masterpiece in flavor, subtle sweetness and amazing texture and flavor interplay.

Wrapping things up on things I forgot to mention - they had three breads offered up for service - a pumpernickel, a baguette and something else. We tried the two I mentioned and enjoyed them a lot. The butter is whipped and the proper temperature and seasoning. If you got some off of the serving dish on to your knife, you were left with a peaked swirl on the butter still on the serving dish. Amazing!  The cheese was excellent and they had maybe 12 to 15 to choose from. Katy offered to have us come look at the trolley to view them, but we were too lazy and ordered off of the list instead. Much to explore there. Enjoyed a 1975 Calvet-Thunevin GRenache 'Maury' Vin Doux Naturale from Roussillon, France with dessert. And then one of the Absinthes at a 3-to-1 ratio that we doctored up with a little more ice and water to probably the 4-to-1 ratio. Interesting to try but not my thing. I'll explore the brandies the next time.

 

The thing is, it was almost unbearable that we did not order the proposed menu, because there was so much amazing stuff on that list that we knew we were passing on, but hey we will just have to come back. One thing to remember, you cannot currently order anything off of the proposed menu as an a la carte item. Yet, anyway. However, if one person in your party wants to the proposed menu, and others do not, they will happily accommodate you. Oh and you also get tasty petit fours at the end!

All in all, I was very pleased with our first experience there. Dinner will often be our main experiences there, though lunch I am sure will be excellent as will the coming breakfast. Not sure if they are ever doing brunch, but you never know. It is expensive, I will admit. But the attention to detail here on not just the food front, but the service and the beverage program, not to mention the space and everything else that goes in to the experience, is, in my opinion, worth it. Plus, it is relatively easy to keep a lid on costs - we ordered a lot - cocktails, a couple of half glasses of wine, a total of 5 appetizers, a nice bottle of wine, two mains, a cheese course, two deserts, a dessert wine, a try at the absinthe and the petit fours at the end. You could easily omit several of these things and be full, satisfied, and drop a lot fewer dollars there as a result. And to experience the food elsewise, there is always lunch and the coming breakfast to allow you other opportunities to get back more often.

And now...I'm hungry for more.

[peasoup]

Dinner a week ago at Mirabelle was such a let down that it made me wonder whether I would still love Palena if I could go back in time and eat there today. Is my memory of my first time in the cafe, at the bar, eating a hamburger, the old fry plate with lemons, and Ann Amernick's platonic ideal of a brownie sundae, a meal which to this day remains a favorite, simply an experience I wouldn't enjoy today?

Putting aside some issues with oversalting, nothing was all that tasty at Mirabelle. We ate 1 tasting menu, and a few first courses. Best part of the meal was the cheese course. The spring soup with buckwheat tempura walleye pike that Pool Boy enjoyed was gross during our visit. One note bitterness with stale curry flavors.

The lobster plate had an interesting texture, neither raw nor fully cooked, and quite chewy.

The cured trout that started the tasting menu was bland, forgettable, ho-hum, and worsened with an over salty potato bite.

A salmon and white asparagus plate was also bland and boring. 

The john dory with sauce americaine was the best dish on the tasting menu yet nothing special.

The lamb shoulder was too salty and plated with pretty vegetables that were pretty flavorless.

The souffle to finish the meal was fine as in passable, decent, ok.

Ruta and Chin were in the house so not entirely sure what to make of such a lackluster meal. 

[DonRocks]

8 hours ago, peasoup said:

Ruta and Chin were in the house so not entirely sure what to make of such a lackluster meal. 

Maybe your palate has moved to the point where you want more done with the food than simple ingredients presented simply?

(I'm talking about Ruta, not Chin.)

To be honest, both the pictures and your descriptions of them look and sound wonderful *to me at this point in my life* - that doesn't mean they work with you, or that I'm right and you're wrong. Believe me, I appreciate what I think you're searching for as well; it's just that I've had it done poorly *so many times* that I often yearn for simplicity.

[Pool Boy]

10 hours ago, peasoup said:

 

Putting aside some issues with oversalting, nothing was all that tasty at Mirabelle. We ate 1 tasting menu, and a few first courses. Best part of the meal was the cheese course. The spring soup with buckwheat tempura walleye pike that Pool Boy enjoyed was gross during our visit. One note bitterness with stale curry flavors.

I found the seasoning throughout our dinner was spot on. While I am surprised about your comment about the spring soup, it is possible that the dish evolved from your experience to our experience. Curious, did you happen to mention to your server that you thought the dish was gross (thus providing the team the opportunity to correct the situation)?

[peasoup]

13 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Maybe your palate has moved to the point where you want more done with the food than simple ingredients presented simply?

(I'm talking about Ruta, not Chin.)

To be honest, both the pictures and your descriptions of them look and sound wonderful *to me at this point in my life* - that doesn't mean they work with you, or that I'm right and you're wrong. Believe me, I appreciate what I think you're searching for as well; it's just that I've had it done poorly *so many times* that I often yearn for simplicity.

Actually, over the years my palate has moved more towards preferring good ingredients cooked or prepared in a way that highlights their innate flavors. But even a long time ago Palena quite impressed with: ground beef, cheese, toasted bun; fried potatoes and lemon; chocolate, flour, egg, baked.

And I agree, the dishes at Mirabelle looked nice (except for the "spring soup" which looked like an algae bloom). 

They just did not taste very good!

Bad nights can happen, sure. But I also think an underdone, chewy lobster, multiple over-salted items, and a permeating blandness make for a highly disappointing dinner.

[peasoup]

3 hours ago, Pool Boy said:

I found the seasoning throughout our dinner was spot on. While I am surprised about your comment about the spring soup, it is possible that the dish evolved from your experience to our experience. Curious, did you happen to mention to your server that you thought the dish was gross (thus providing the team the opportunity to correct the situation)?

The server said the kitchen purees whatever leaves they have in that day for the soup. So entirely possible we ate different pureed leaves.

And yes, we mentioned our dislike of the soup. We weren't charged for it.

[Pool Boy]

7 hours ago, peasoup said:

The server said the kitchen purees whatever leaves they have in that day for the soup. So entirely possible we ate different pureed leaves.

And yes, we mentioned our dislike of the soup. We weren't charged for it.

It sounds like that was the case. The dish was perhaps not the most impressive looking, but as stated, I thought it was a very good dish. Not as good as the consomme for sure, but a very good dish. Well, as with all new restaurant opening, I would imagine things can often be less than perfect. Perhaps you'll consider trying Mirabelle at another time in the future.

[DonRocks]

9 hours ago, peasoup said:

Actually, over the years my palate has moved more towards preferring good ingredients cooked or prepared in a way that highlights their innate flavors. But even a long time ago Palena quite impressed with: ground beef, cheese, toasted bun; fried potatoes and lemon; chocolate, flour, egg, baked.

And I agree, the dishes at Mirabelle looked nice (except for the "spring soup" which looked like an algae bloom). 

They just did not taste very good!

Bad nights can happen, sure. But I also think an underdone, chewy lobster, multiple over-salted items, and a permeating blandness make for a highly disappointing dinner.

You absolutely come across as someone who knows what they're talking about. I believe you.

[DaveO]

If you haven't seen this a thoughtful perspective on dining on at Mirabelle by Mark Furstenberg.  He and Frank Ruta are friends and you might recall that after Palena closed Ruta cooked for a short while at BreadFurst

[Gadarene]

3 hours ago, DaveO said:

If you haven't seen this a thoughtful perspective on dining on at Mirabelle by Mark Furstenberg.  He and Frank Ruta are friends and you might recall that after Palena closed Ruta cooked for a short while at BreadFurst

Quite an interesting essay, indeed.

[DonRocks]

3 hours ago, DaveO said:

If you haven't seen this a thoughtful perspective on dining on at Mirabelle by Mark Furstenberg.  He and Frank Ruta are friends and you might recall that after Palena closed Ruta cooked for a short while at BreadFurst

Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch ...
Becky Beck and the Krystal Lunch ...

Let's all trek, and go visit Flunch.

1) If it weren't for turborgrrl's Mar 27, 2017 post about the Jambon Beurre, with price and picture, would anyone in Washington, DC even know this sandwich exists right now?

2) If it weren't for porcupine's Apr 7, 2017 post with the opening menu, I wouldn't be able to say that Mirabelle is no more expensive than Restaurant Eve, Fiola, or any of numerous other high-end restaurants in the area - of course, people are free to judge for themselves:

Paying $26 for a Jambon Beurre stuffed with seemingly 10 ounces of homemade ham, on a homemade baguette with homemade butter (that's according to Frank Ruta's ex-sous chef) - wow - what must people have thought when they were paying $32 for a lobster burger at Central in 2008? Does anyone remember seeing that giant lobster tank at Central? Because I've been racking my brain trying to remember where it was, and I just can't. There's no way that lobster was frozen, is there? Nah ... not at that price.

3) If it weren't for my Mar 28, 2017 post linking Mirabelle's Jambon Beurre with Bread Furst's, I wonder if any inspiration would have come to write an essay about said sad sandwich. Oh, yes, yes - the Post wrote about it on April 4th, I'm sorry.

My bad. Oh God I really *am* sorry: That phrase was so basic, even twenty years ago - Chai Latte at Starbucks, anyone?

And Susan Friedland, good on you for that picture - I would have never known you were the mastermind behind it.

By the way, there's a $45 Dover Sole at La Chaumière right now. Who knows? Maybe somebody will write about it. 

On second thought ... what do I know?

Seriously, what do I know?

[jca76]

4 hours ago, DaveO said:

If you haven't seen this a thoughtful perspective on dining on at Mirabelle by Mark Furstenberg.

And . . . wow.  I'm genuinely unsure of whether this post is supposed to be a defense or a slam or just assorted musings.  Somehow I managed to feel slightly offended on behalf of both the people who are excited to dine at Mirabelle and the "young people" whose preferred style of dining this is not.

[DaveO]

18 hours ago, jca76 said:

And . . . wow.  I'm genuinely unsure of whether this post is supposed to be a defense or a slam or just assorted musings.  Somehow I managed to feel slightly offended on behalf of both the people who are excited to dine at Mirabelle and the "young people" whose preferred style of dining this is not.

I'd strongly suggest they were just simply musings. 

 

[Pool Boy]

On 4/18/2017 at 8:11 PM, DonRocks said:

Paying $26 for a Jambon Beurre stuffed with seemingly 10 ounces of homemade ham, on a homemade baguette with homemade butter (that's according to Frank Ruta's ex-sous chef) - wow - what must people have thought when they were paying $32 for a lobster burger at Central in 2008? Does anyone remember seeing that giant lobster tank at Central? Because I've been racking my brain trying to remember where it was, and I just can't. There's no way that lobster was frozen, is there? Nah ... not at that price.

The butter at our dinner was truly amazing.

[mtureck]

On 4/18/2017 at 8:11 PM, DonRocks said:

 wow - what must people have thought when they were paying $32 for a lobster burger at Central in 2008?

By the way, there's a $45 Dover Sole at La Chaumière right now. Who knows? Maybe somebody will write about it. 

But lobster and dover sole are top-shelf products that people have been conditioned to paying top dollar for.

$26 for a ham sandwich is simply a different mindset.

 

[Finatic]

4 hours ago, mtureck said:

But lobster and dover sole are top-shelf products that people have been conditioned to paying top dollar for.

$26 for a ham sandwich is simply a different mindset.

For real Dover sole, you are paying for the airfreight on top of the fish. Not sure you always get what you pay for when you order it. Fish in restaurants and stores is, I hear, the most frequently mislabeled food item. Having fished for decades, I can attest that this happens. Not sure whether it happens at the wholesale or retail level.  Living in the DC area, I never got the lobster thing. Maryland blue crab put lobster to shame in my mind. Then my friend, Jon Mathieson (formerly of 2941 and Inox, now head chef for the Redskins), prepared butter poached lobster for me! Wow! Most people over cook lobster, both professionals and amateurs.

[peasoup]

Just finished a second dinner here....reminded me much more of Palena, right down to the busted bathroom ceiling.

Consomme with foie, beef tartare with razor clams, duck pate, tete de porc, and roasted turbot all tasty, flavorful, and very good.

The matcha and rhubarb dessert very good. Baba was kind of ruined by a large pour of raw rum at the table....but if you like alcoholic heat in your dessert than you'd love this.

Besides the baba, my only nit to pick: $35 corkage, and the stems are Rona?

Can't explain the difference between tonight's food and the last time!

[Pool Boy]

35 minutes ago, peasoup said:

Just finished a second dinner here....reminded me much more of Palena, right down to the busted bathroom ceiling.

Consomme with foie, beef tartare with razor clams, duck pate, tete de porc, and roasted turbot all tasty, flavorful, and very good.

The matcha and rhubarb dessert very good. Baba was kind of ruined by a large pour of raw rum at the table....but if you like alcoholic heat in your dessert than you'd love this.

Besides the baba, my only nit to pick: $35 corkage, and the stems are Rona?

Can't explain the difference between tonight's food and the last time!

I would imagine, anyplace that is new takes time to establish a rhythm.  As for the stems, I could not read the tag when I was there. $35 is not great, but it is not horrible either, with many places hitting $50/bottle locally. That said, as much as I like their list, I'll be taking advantage of some cellared bits I have to bring there in the future.

[Pool Boy]

I hope I can still get in here when I want to.

[DonRocks]

32 minutes ago, Pool Boy said:

I hope I can still get in here when I want to.

As long as you don't go this Friday or Saturday night at 7:30, you'll be fine (and even then you could sit at the bar).

[Josh Radigan]

I believe they have not started menu service at the bar during dinner hours.

[zgast]

I have a reservation for tomorrow night (made before the WaPo piece came out, thankfully).  I couldn't find anything on the menu about the 'proposed menu'.  Anyone have additional details?

[Pool Boy]

9 hours ago, zgast said:

I have a reservation for tomorrow night (made before the WaPo piece came out, thankfully).  I couldn't find anything on the menu about the 'proposed menu'.  Anyone have additional details?

I know you cannot beg, grovel, or bribe your way to a la carte any of the items on tha proposed meal menu (yet).

Here's what was on the list when we went a few weeks ago - 
 

1. House Smoked Tasmanian Sea Trout with Dauphine potato, lemon creme fraiche, and smoked trout roe
2. tart of warm white asparagus with ora king salmon, toasted seeds and green almond oil
3. Wild caught john dory 'Dieppoise'with bouchot mussel royale, sauce Americainem and Kennet Square Mushrooms
4. Stuffed breast and confit shoulder of Shenandoah Spring Lamb with spring nettle and mint emulsion, baby leeks and carrots
5. cheese from the cart
6. snickeresque souffle with dark milk chocolate souffle, peanut butter caramel sauce, candied peanuts and vanilla nougat glace.

I cannot speak for any of them as we ordered off of the regular menu. And, as you  probably know, what's on the menu will likely change with great frequency.

[zgast]

11 minutes ago, Pool Boy said:

I know you cannot beg, grovel, or bribe your way to a la carte any of the items on tha proposed meal menu (yet).

Here's what was on the list when we went a few weeks ago - 
 

1. House Smoked Tasmanian Sea Trout with Dauphine potato, lemon creme fraiche, and smoked trout roe
2. tart of warm white asparagus with ora king salmon, toasted seeds and green almond oil
3. Wild caught john dory 'Dieppoise'with bouchot mussel royale, sauce Americainem and Kennet Square Mushrooms
4. Stuffed breast and confit shoulder of Shenandoah Spring Lamb with spring nettle and mint emulsion, baby leeks and carrots
5. cheese from the cart
6. snickeresque souffle with dark milk chocolate souffle, peanut butter caramel sauce, candied peanuts and vanilla nougat glace.

I cannot speak for any of them as we ordered off of the regular menu. And, as you  probably know, what's on the menu will likely change with great frequency.

Thanks!  Sounds so tempting.  Hoping the white asparagus shuffles off the menu.  As cool as it may be to grow asparagus in the dark, I've just never warmed to the stuff.

[franch]

went for lunch. didn't take pics, sorry.

i had the Tasmanian Sea Trout ($17) to start. i'm a sucker for raw or smoked fish, and this was no exception. the blood orange complimented the smoked fish perfectly. my dining companion has a decadent-looking chicken and foie gras boudin blanc ($18) and he praised it highly.

i moved on to the famous Belleburger ($28), which i was asked if i wanted it "wet or dry." it was explained that it's a french onion soup inspired burger and "wet" basically included onion soup on top. i chose wet. it was absolutely delicious. it was also absurdly messy. i cut it into little pizza-sized wedges to save some sort of dignity. but it was delicious -- the only other "french onion soup" like burger i have had was at Minetta Tavern in NYC, and i'd take this one in a second. dining companion had the lamb salad ($27). he said it was very good. there was a large amount of lamb on it -- it could have easily been rearranged as a lamb entree (particularly at lunch) with a large side salad and no one would have noticed. too full of onion broth and lamb to continue to dessert. excited for summer intern season, this is easily going to replace BLT as my go-to lunch with summer interns!

[zgast]

Had my evening at Mirabelle last week.  In summary, it was a wonderful evening with great service and truly delicious food.  My only complaint is that without hailing the bread plate a couple extra times, my and my dining companion would have left hungry - after eating our way through the tasting menu.  I totally get the quality over quantity concept, but this was a tad too far.  Just a couple extra bites in the early dishes and I wouldn't have raised it at all.  Still, I left very happy with the meal, but offer this only as a caveat to those thinking they need to skip lunch before the tasting menu.

Here were the dishes (no photos, sorry):

Tasmanian Sea Trout - You're hearing about this dish a lot because it's really great.  A slice of the trout was wrapped around greens and creme fraiche with a fried dauphine potato side topped with more of the creme fraiche.  Both were excellent bites.  The latter made me want to order the fried goodness from Palena Cafe just one more time.

Tart w/ White Asparagus - This was a bit of a deconstructed dish as the asparagus was separate and between layers of the separately baked tart. I'm not a huge fan of white asparagus, but really liked the dish.  What made it standout was the green almond oil on the bottom. Bottle that stuff - I'm a buyer.

Turbot - This was presented with two fried mussels, Sauce Americaine, mushrooms and a sauce/custard in an egg.  To be honest, I started the dish was just ok until I figured out that one needs to use the contents of the egg with the rest of the dish, which raised it to a whole different level.  What was it? Who knows - it was green and delectable.  Also to note - the Burgundy that was paired with this course was really wonderful. If there was one wine to go back to, I would choose this one.  Saint-Aubin 1er cru, 2011 for reference.

Duck Breast - Was served with a nettle and mint emulsion, pickled green strawberries, and glazed vegetables.  The most substantial plate of the evening and another winning dish. 

Willoughby Cheese Course - Twas cheese, gooey, stinky cheese.  Heaven.

Snickeresque Souffle - A semifreddo roll accompanying a dark chocolate souffle onto which a peanut butter caramel sauce was poured.  You're not going for subtle with Snickers as your model, but this dish was really great, in my view.  Really enjoyed the desert fortified wine they poured with this one as well - was a Grenache from the southwest of France that drank like a port (which they were shooting for, but will only feature wines with French grapes). This course also featured what made the service so wonderful throughout our dinner.  We lingered a bit too long on the cheese course and noticed two waiters walking past our table carrying deserts - an odd fact since based on our placement they really only could have been coming to our table.  The lead waiter had noticed that a few dishes hadn't been cleared, silently led her partner past our table, informed the hostess who sent over runners to the table to clear, then continued their loop back to the table as soon as it was clear.  Probably a mistake on their end to have come out before the table was clear, but the level of training implicit in the way they handled it was impressive.  At almost any other table in the restaurant I'm certain it would have gone entirely unnoticed.

We finished with some of the usual candies - all enjoyed at our table.

A great meal for us.  Would definitely go back, although I might opt for an appetizer and entree rather than the tasting menu next time.  The foie gras in consomme, in particular, is calling out to me to try.

[Pool Boy]

20 hours ago, zgast said:

Had my evening at Mirabelle last week.  In summary, it was a wonderful evening with great service and truly delicious food.  My only complaint is that without hailing the bread plate a couple extra times, my and my dining companion would have left hungry - after eating our way through the tasting menu.  I totally get the quality over quantity concept, but this was a tad too far.  Just a couple extra bites in the early dishes and I wouldn't have raised it at all.  Still, I left very happy with the meal, but offer this only as a caveat to those thinking they need to skip lunch before the tasting menu.

Here were the dishes (no photos, sorry):

Tasmanian Sea Trout - You're hearing about this dish a lot because it's really great.  A slice of the trout was wrapped around greens and creme fraiche with a fried dauphine potato side topped with more of the creme fraiche.  Both were excellent bites.  The latter made me want to order the fried goodness from Palena Cafe just one more time.

Tart w/ White Asparagus - This was a bit of a deconstructed dish as the asparagus was separate and between layers of the separately baked tart. I'm not a huge fan of white asparagus, but really liked the dish.  What made it standout was the green almond oil on the bottom. Bottle that stuff - I'm a buyer.

Turbot - This was presented with two fried mussels, Sauce Americaine, mushrooms and a sauce/custard in an egg.  To be honest, I started the dish was just ok until I figured out that one needs to use the contents of the egg with the rest of the dish, which raised it to a whole different level.  What was it? Who knows - it was green and delectable.  Also to note - the Burgundy that was paired with this course was really wonderful. If there was one wine to go back to, I would choose this one.  Saint-Aubin 1er cru, 2011 for reference.

Duck Breast - Was served with a nettle and mint emulsion, pickled green strawberries, and glazed vegetables.  The most substantial plate of the evening and another winning dish. 

Willoughby Cheese Course - Twas cheese, gooey, stinky cheese.  Heaven.

Snickeresque Souffle - A semifreddo roll accompanying a dark chocolate souffle onto which a peanut butter caramel sauce was poured.  You're not going for subtle with Snickers as your model, but this dish was really great, in my view.  Really enjoyed the desert fortified wine they poured with this one as well - was a Grenache from the southwest of France that drank like a port (which they were shooting for, but will only feature wines with French grapes). This course also featured what made the service so wonderful throughout our dinner.  We lingered a bit too long on the cheese course and noticed two waiters walking past our table carrying deserts - an odd fact since based on our placement they really only could have been coming to our table.  The lead waiter had noticed that a few dishes hadn't been cleared, silently led her partner past our table, informed the hostess who sent over runners to the table to clear, then continued their loop back to the table as soon as it was clear.  Probably a mistake on their end to have come out before the table was clear, but the level of training implicit in the way they handled it was impressive.  At almost any other table in the restaurant I'm certain it would have gone entirely unnoticed.

We finished with some of the usual candies - all enjoyed at our table.

A great meal for us.  Would definitely go back, although I might opt for an appetizer and entree rather than the tasting menu next time.  The foie gras in consomme, in particular, is calling out to me to try.

IMHO, the 'easter egg' to Frank's food is that, while all of the components are typically excellent and delicious, the assembly of some or ideally all component parts of the dish on a fork is what makes things he does truly exceptional.

Oh and order that consomme. Next time I am seriously considering ordering a double portion.

[Simul Parikh]

Mirabelle is not a type of place I would typically go to, but after reading this reviews, I figured I'd give it a try.

We ate at the bar, and it was really a beautiful place. I had called the day before, and talked to a lovely woman named Brenda who said to call on the day of to remind her to hold a high top for us when we were on our way. They had a hightop for us, but at the time we got there (6:20ish), it wasn't all that busy, but may be worthwhile to call ahead. 

For starters we had the tartare (well, she had this, I don't eat beef) that came with a poached egg (I think they poach it in a mushroom broth) and razor clams. She said it was awesome. I had some of the egg and the razor clam. Delish. So pretty to look at. I got the lobster, and it was simply cooked with a fennel foam. I enjoyed this a lot. I thought the texture of the lobster was great, not chewy. 

I think if you sit at the bar, you don't get bread service unless you request it. Request it! The butter and bread are fan-freaking-tastic.

So, this is interesting... the tartare is $18 and is quite a portion - in fact, since we didn't share it, she got a bit full. So, we asked the server (who was new, and very attentive) should we get a full entree or split one? He said the lamb was fantastic and definitely split it if we were eating dessert. It was lamb saddle and came with delicious spring vegetables. Again, as the other dishes, plated very pretty. But, it was very small. I think less overall meat than the tartare, but it was $36. 

We shared a strawberry tart and a chocolate something or other that were beautiful to look at it, and tasty to eat. 

With 2 cocktails each, we spent under $200 with tax and tip, which isn't bad, but I was a little hungry afterwards. 

I'd go back, but it's overall too fancy for a guy like me. I like places with waiters/waitresses that have tattoos, wear t-shirts and say "stoked" a lot. 

 

[Pool Boy]

On 5/16/2017 at 8:51 AM, Simul Parikh said:

Mirabelle is not a type of place I would typically go to, but after reading this reviews, I figured I'd give it a try.

We ate at the bar, and it was really a beautiful place. I had called the day before, and talked to a lovely woman named Brenda who said to call on the day of to remind her to hold a high top for us when we were on our way. They had a hightop for us, but at the time we got there (6:20ish), it wasn't all that busy, but may be worthwhile to call ahead. 

For starters we had the tartare (well, she had this, I don't eat beef) that came with a poached egg (I think they poach it in a mushroom broth) and razor clams. She said it was awesome. I had some of the egg and the razor clam. Delish. So pretty to look at. I got the lobster, and it was simply cooked with a fennel foam. I enjoyed this a lot. I thought the texture of the lobster was great, not chewy. 

I think if you sit at the bar, you don't get bread service unless you request it. Request it! The butter and bread are fan-freaking-tastic.

So, this is interesting... the tartare is $18 and is quite a portion - in fact, since we didn't share it, she got a bit full. So, we asked the server (who was new, and very attentive) should we get a full entree or split one? He said the lamb was fantastic and definitely split it if we were eating dessert. It was lamb saddle and came with delicious spring vegetables. Again, as the other dishes, plated very pretty. But, it was very small. I think less overall meat than the tartare, but it was $36. 

We shared a strawberry tart and a chocolate something or other that were beautiful to look at it, and tasty to eat. 

With 2 cocktails each, we spent under $200 with tax and tip, which isn't bad, but I was a little hungry afterwards. 

I'd go back, but it's overall too fancy for a guy like me. I like places with waiters/waitresses that have tattoos, wear t-shirts and say "stoked" a lot. 

Nice.  It's not too fancy of a place if you ask me. I go in jeans and an Hawaiian shirt. Great service, fantastic food, normal, personable staff (that probably many have tattoos, and are probably wearing undershirts too, but probably do not say stoked while on duty) is fine with me. The seating all around is magnificent.

We went again with friends to the Peay Wine dinner there recently. A little tight, a little noisy, but food was great and a great time. Notes to follow.

[jpbloom]

9 hours ago, Pool Boy said:

We went again with friends to the Peay Wine dinner there recently. A little tight, a little noisy, but food was great and a great time. Notes to follow.

I was there for the Peay dinner as well.  My first time at Mirabelle and unfair to judge based on a group dinner/set menu like that, but definitely interesting enough to make me want to go back soon. 

[Pool Boy]

13 hours ago, jpbloom said:

I was there for the Peay dinner as well.  My first time at Mirabelle and unfair to judge based on a group dinner/set menu like that, but definitely interesting enough to make me want to go back soon. 

Yeah I can only imagine how hard it is to get that right for what, 25-30 people at once?  We were on the right hand table as you walked in to the private dining room. The 2009 Pommarium Pinot Noir was the piece de resistance on the wine front.

[bookluvingbabe]

Mr. BLB and I went for lunch for our anniversary last week.  It is a lovely space and the food was amazing.  In fact, I think the only negatives I can say are that it isn't Palena (price point, menu variety and warmth of service) and Aggie, while terrific, isn't Ann Amernick. (Which may be another way of saying that it just isn't Palena...)

We split the gnocchi to start.  It was perfect. I wanted to lick the bowl.  It was that moment when I realized we had not received bread and I didn't see our server to ask if it was possible to get bread to wipe up the last drops of the sauce. 

I had the Belleburger, dry.  It isn't quite the Palena burger but it is lovely and tasty and almost as good.  Mr. BLB had the Bavette.  Which was good but not as good as the burger. (It is a universal truth after 13 years of marriage, 17 years together and 20 years of knowing each other--I always order better than he does...)

For dessert I had the Chocolate Concorde and he the assortment of confections, which was the only true disappointment as none of them were satisfying or on the same plane as the rest of the meal.

We are plotting a return over the summer while BL-almost 5th grader is away at camp.  It is too expensive to go more often and that makes me a little sad.

[DonRocks]

35 minutes ago, bookluvingbabe said:

Aggie, while terrific, isn't Ann Amernick. (Which may be another way of saying that it just isn't Palena...)

Do you really think this is a "negative," or just something different? Ann is a baker - no more, no less - and Aggie is a pastry chef, more of a creator of composed dessert plates.

I don't know that I've ever had a dessert by Aggie or by Ann Specker (Kinship) that didn't have a crescent of ice cream in it, and I mean this quite literally, although I'm having trouble remembering Aggie's work at Palena (certainly, there was the cookie plate at the end).

[Pool Boy]

7 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Do you really think this is a "negative," or just something different? Ann is a baker - no more, no less - and Aggie is a pastry chef, more of a creator of composed dessert plates.

I don't know that I've ever had a dessert by Aggie or by Ann Specker (Kinship) that didn't have a crescent of ice cream in it, and I mean this quite literally, although I'm having trouble remembering Aggie's work at Palena (certainly, there was the cookie plate at the end).

I have. A Spot of Tea by Aggie was one of the singular best desserts I have had in my entire life. No ice cream.

As for Ann versus Aggie - why choose? I like them both for different reasons. Overall, I think I prefer Aggie's end results, but Ann's caramels are better than Aggie's, but geez, we're splitting hairs for sure.

[weezy]

17 hours ago, DonRocks said:

I don't know that I've ever had a dessert by Aggie or by Ann Specker (Kinship) that didn't have a crescent of ice cream in it, and I mean this quite literally, although I'm having trouble remembering Aggie's work at Palena (certainly, there was the cookie plate at the end).

the one time I ate at Palena, I had a lemon thyme posset for dessert.  No ice cream.  And It's been a couple of years and I still yearn for another bite of it.

[Ericandblueboy]

4 out of these 5 dishes were huge winners.  The quail and poussin (just a young chicken) were super tender, the raviolis were superb (pasta texture and the sweetness of the filling), the foie gras was magnificent, the terrine full of flavor, and the boudin light and airy (although not quite as airy as Marcel's).  What happened to the last dish?  I found the texture of the fish to be mushy.  It was obviously sous vided because the fish was cooked yet not really flaky or firm.  Other dishes were sous vided to much better effect so I'm not against sous vide, just not a good way to prepare fish.

SWEET PEA RAVIOLI - Beaver Creek quail confit and egg, lardons

ALL OF THE RABBIT IN A TERRINE - Mushroom gelée, tarragon dijonnaise, minus 8 verjus vinaigrette

FOIE GRAS POACHED IN CONSOMMÉ - Chrysanthemum, spring radish and onion buds

ROAST POUSSIN BREAST AND BOUDIN OF THE LEG - Arrowhead spinach, glazed spring onions, juniper sauce

ATLANTIC BLACK SEA BASS AND GULF SHRIMP - Porcini and button mushrooms, favas and their shoots, sauce meurette

[Poivrot Farci]

3 hours ago, Ericandblueboy said:

It was obviously sous vided because the fish was cooked yet not really flaky or firm.  

Doubtful.  More than most likely slowly cooked stove-top in a stainless steel pan with not too hot olive oil.  Black bass that is not overcooked is neither flaky or firm.  I don't think Frank has ever cooked fish SV and probably is not going to start now.  

[Pool Boy]

Frank made ravioli at Mirabelle?!! Oh man alive I would love to see that on the menu when I go again!

[ScotteeM]

We went to Mirabelle for the first time on Saturday (7/15), and we look forward to another visit.

The space is lovely, and the service was excellent. The wine list offers a broad range of choices, including bottles priced at less than $40. We ordered a red—Domaine de Bel Air, Cabernet Franc, ‘La Fosse Aux Loups’ at $40—and a white—Chinon 2011 and Bernard Defaix, Aligoté, Bourgogne Aligoté NV at $26— to accompany our meal.

Others before me have mentioned the rabbit terrine, but I will, too. It was excellent—possibly one of the best dishes of the evening. So many terrines and pates are bland. Not this one! It was nicely seasoned and spiced, and was accompanied by a mustard and a green salad that added punches of flavor and acid that complimented the terrine. Nuggets of rabbit, mushroom, and foie gras delighted us in turns.

Beef tartare had a nice, beefy flavor and was enhanced by its dressing. We enjoyed every bite, and this is now my favorite tartare of the ones I’ve tried.

Foie gras poached in consommé was a new preparation for us, and we loved every single luxurious spoonful!

All in all, the appetizers we tried were delicious, special, and ones we’d order again and again.

I ordered the Angus strip loin, which was accompanied by Dauphin potatoes and beef tongue. The tongue was not a dominant flavor in the potatoes, rather it seemed to provide depth and richness to the crispy potato cake. My husband had the veal “Oskar” with lump crabmeat. He seemed to enjoy it, although he felt the sauce/preparation kind of drowned out the flavor of the crab. That’s more a stylistic criticism than a quality criticism.

Our overall impression of the food was extremely positive. Flavors were balanced. This is not quick or easy food to make. Terrines and consommés take time and care and skill to make. The ingredients used are very high quality. Someone upthread commented on the butter, and my husband did say that it was the best butter he’s ever tasted.

I can’t speak to the issue of the ham sandwich, as we were there for dinner, and I wouldn’t be able to try it anyway. But my husband and I both felt that the prices for dinner were competitive with other restaurants in the same category. I never had a Palena burger or the roast chicken. We dined at Palena several times, only once in the front room and even then we ordered from the back-room menu, which we always loved. I understand that some people miss that front-room neighborhood place from Cleveland Park, but it wasn’t a sustainable business model there, and it probably wouldn’t be here on 16th Street by the White House. This is a different restaurant, in a different area—not really a neighborhood. It is a place where “power players” will go, and they will get a good meal for their dollars.

Many years ago, when we first moved to the area, we read about Jean-Louis at the Watergate, and knew it was a very special place, but it seemed too expensive and we never went. To this day I regret not saving up the money for that special dinner. I don’t know if Frank Ruta compares favorably to Jean-Louis Palladin, but I think that a dinner at Mirabelle is well worth saving up for, if it is beyond one’s normal dining budget.

I have celiac disease, and I ate here safely. My choices were limited, but what I could eat (listed above) was wonderful! Everyone connected to our service was aware of the issue and took great care to ensure my safety. As always, YMMV.

Angus Strip Loin:

Veal Oskar:

Tartare:

Foie Gras:

Terrine:

[hopsing]

 

Interesting opinion about non-trendy food by one of Bloomberg's policy wonks. My husband totally agrees and now he wants to visit Mirabelle. We had gone to Palena for our 16th wedding anniversary and enjoyed it, so he needn’t twist my arm to get over there.

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-07-21/when-a-restaurant-is-simply-perfect-not-novel

[Marty L.]

32 minutes ago, hopsing said:

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-07-21/when-a-restaurant-is-simply-perfect-not-novel

Megan McArdle identifies some of the reasons people aren't flocking to Mirabelle, but she neglects the two most important:  location and, especially, formality-bordering-on-stuffiness--both of which are largely responsible for the prices (which she does mention).  It was obviously designed for an expense-account, business crowd. Which, along with the prices, keeps the crowds away.  And that's a shame, of course, because she's right: there's no one better than Frank Ruta.

(FWIW, I've only been once, two months ago, and thought the food was, not surprisingly, wonderful; but since then I haven't thought once of returning, largely for the reasons stated above.  By contrast, I *always* yearned to go to Palena (the "front room" cafe before expansion, especially), though the food was no better there.)

Case in point:  Komi.  Virtually everything McArdle writes is equally true about Komi, and Johnny Monis. Except that it is even more expensive. Yet it is booked every night.  It's not very hard to see the differences that are the cause of the disparity.

[Simul Parikh]

Interesting ... I'm more cost conscious when dining, much more than regular posters... but, in my experience, Mirabelle just didn't get that level. You go to normal steak houses that charge this much.. and ...The Fiolas. Metier/Kinship. Convivial. Le Diplomate. Omekase at Sushi Taro. Izakaya Seki. P&P. As mentioned above, Komi. Many more... I'm not even a huge fan of Mirabelle's cuisine, but hammering on them for price seems a little odd. It was expensive. As dining in DC tends to be. Nothing over the top... 

EDIT: Just read Megan's article. She's right. They do high end, standard food well. Maybe perfectly? Idk... I see enough $2.75 oysters and $45 steaks and $38 fish and $13 Brussel sprouts that aren't amazing that I really don't think price is keeping people away. 1789, Marcels, Fiola/Casa Lucca, and many more are the same price. It's stuffy, that's what keeps me from making it something I want to go to soon. But, wouldn't deny its great, and a reasonable value compared to much of non-Asian DC...

[Marty L.]

4 minutes ago, Simul Parikh said:

Interesting ... I'm more cost conscious when dining, much more than regular posters... but, in my experience, Mirabelle just didn't get that level. You go to normal steak houses that charge this much.. and ...The Fiolas. Metier/Kinship. Convivial. Le Diplomate. Omekase at Sushi Taro. Izakaya Seki. P&P. As mentioned above, Komi. Many more... I'm not even a huge fan of Mirabelle's cuisine, but hammering on them for price seems a little odd. It was expensive. As dining in DC tends to be. Nothing over the top... 

I agree.  Mirabelle would be slightly less pricey with a different address, and if it were trying to attract a different clientele.  But Komi and P&P are much pricier.  That's why I suggested its lack of (relative) popularity is mostly a function of location and, especially, formality/stuffiness, real and perceived, more so than the factors McArdle identifies.

[zgast]

3 hours ago, Marty L. said:

I agree.  Mirabelle would be slightly less pricey with a different address, and if it were trying to attract a different clientele.  But Komi and P&P are much pricier.  That's why I suggested its lack of (relative) popularity is mostly a function of location and, especially, formality/stuffiness, real and perceived, more so than the factors McArdle identifies.

Totally agree with this concept.  I loved Palena precisely because I could go 1X/month with the whole family, then 2x/year for the back room.  More formal places get my business, but only 1 or 2 times per year.  Who wants to go out in a suit all the time, even for good food?  Maybe it's because I'm a Gen X'er, but I'd rather spend most of my time at places that let me relax.  And I say all this having really, really enjoyed my meal at Mirabelle.  I'm definitely going back - later this year.

[Pool Boy]

11 hours ago, zgast said:

Totally agree with this concept.  I loved Palena precisely because I could go 1X/month with the whole family, then 2x/year for the back room.  More formal places get my business, but only 1 or 2 times per year.  Who wants to go out in a suit all the time, even for good food?  Maybe it's because I'm a Gen X'er, but I'd rather spend most of my time at places that let me relax.  And I say all this having really, really enjoyed my meal at Mirabelle.  I'm definitely going back - later this year.

I wear jeans and a nice Hawaiian shirt every time I go to Mirabelle (and the Grill Room before that, and Palena (front cafe, back dining room, outside, bar, etc). I never feel out of place or uncomfortable.

We always have great service there. We always have a great time and sometimes I think it it is possibly because, from anyone's viewpoint, we're so obviously enjoying the experience.

[Gadarene]

Just ate here for the first time (a farewell lunch from my law firm job) and probably the last time (since it was a farewell lunch from my law firm job).  It was good!  I had the consommé and the cod.  The  consommé was lovely, like a very refined phở broth.  The cod was nicely cooked and the clam and mussel broth it came in was flavorful and surprisingly bright.  All in all quite enjoyable.  Very nice job by them.

[Pool Boy]

When my wife asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday ending with a zero, I advised her that I preferred to put our focus on our trip next year to Scotland (big anniversary year for us). However, it sat rattling around my head what we might be able to do to mark the occasion.

I thought maybe we could do 24 hours of the food of Frank Ruta and Aggie Chin.  Unfortunately, they have not yet launched breakfast, so we could not accomplish this goal completely. But we came pretty darn close - lunch, dinner and goodie bag from them to take with us to indulge in today.

It was such an amazing experience, and I promise to post full details of everything soon, with pictures and more. But please folks, this is the place you NEED to get to when you have a big, indulgent meal (at the very least!). Lunch is more affordable (but still expensive and indulgent). Dinner is more manageable on the cost front if you limit courses and/or beverages, too. But when you really want a great experience, a relaxing environment, and really want to indulge and stop your life for a while to slow down and be present - come here.

As a teaser, we had at least 8 dishes we tried at lunch, and at least 11 dishes at dinner. Plus we got to not only indulge in a great wine off of their list, but tried several more as half glass accompaniments to specific courses. We also partook of I think 4 spirits selections from their brandy, armagnac, cognac, etc cart at the front of the restaurant - including a selection from 1975 and also 1964. Such an adventure.

[Pool Boy]

OK so here goes. The day ahead of us was largely driven by the excuse to celebrate a birthday with a zero in it for me, while we really plan an celebrating it in Scotland next year. This year, we still marked the occasion by indulging in not one but two meals at Mirabelle, the current place Chefs Frank Ruta and Aggie Chin call home. The idea was actually hatched when both of them were at The Grill Room in Georgetown as that restaurant was in a hotel and we though 'Man, wouldn't it be amazing to have 24 hours of their food?!'Of course, they shifted away from The Grill Room to open Mirabelle instead. Foiled!  That said, we had a great lunch and, quite a few hours later, had dinner there as well. It was indulgent, sure, expensive, yes, but also a great way for my wife and I to spend a day where we needed to do nothing but take time out and enjoy each others company (a rare treat given a switch in occupation for me early this year having me work longer and commute farther than I'd done in a number of years). To really extend the experience, we stayed at a nearby hotel.

Lunch was up first, our first time trying lunch here at Mirabelle. Our reservation was at noon, and it was a little light in the dining room but this evolved over the next few hours as the tables filled up and diners came and went. The mix was mostly business folks, but also a good number of folks that were clearly there not for work. Love the space and seating as expressed before and our assigned wait staff member, Mario, took good care of us throughout the lunch and dinner as well.

After horse trading with my wife over dishes, we continued to do so after hearing of two additions to the menu - a variation of a summer bean salad that we've experienced before and an heirloom tomato salad. This altered our approach but not my drive to try the lunch version of the consomme. True, we knew dinner was on the horizon, but I also knew I wanted what I wanted and figured I would try to keep the rest of the meal 'lighter' (haha!). But the real surprise was getting to see both chefs come out to the table and say hi. So nice to chat with them both and so nice of them to do something like this as I am pretty sure they both prefer to stay behind the scenes and out of the spotlight as it were.

Anyway, we accidentally kicked things off with some lovely Champagne and then caviar and accoutrements - holy crap the accoutrements alone were amazing. The blinis were great, but the potato chips and then especially the piped, fried potato rings were magnificent. The caviar was wonderful and also came delivered with egg and very lightly whipped sour cream. Mmmmm.

Caviar and Accoutrements 

Next up were the salads. Here's the very simply presented but exquisite selection of many heirloom tomato varieties dressed with olive oil, salt, balsamico and greens. The elongated yellow one at the 7 o'clock position on the plate was my favorite (so sweet - like candy), but they were all so damn good.

Heirloom Tomato Salad 

The summer bean salad highlights these lovely light yellow beans, but are given a tremendous supporting cast of a coddled egg, truffles, tiny (peeled) heirloom cherry tomatoes and delicious greens.

Summer Bean Salad 

Next I had the lunch version of the consomme with little bits of braised veal and then veal tongue along with other tasty tidbits. But, as always, the star of the show is the glassy clear broth that is loaded with layer after layer of flavor. I hope to die in a vat of this slurping it all up in to my own oblivion. Well, maybe not, but you get the idea.
Consomme with Veal Tongue 

Next came the mains. First up is the Berlingot of Summer Corn, with With Maine lobster, chanterelles and chorizo oil. What a wonderful way to sneak in a little bit of pasta in to great, great dish. One at first would think the chorizo oil would overwhelm the dish, but it was not so at all. Someone was very careful about not letting that happen. The dish was completely in balance and so damn good.

Berlingot of summer corn with lobster 

I had the Navarin of Block Island Cod, with Mussel and clam broth, confit new potatoes and sweet garlic, brandade. I know, more sauce bordering on soup, but how could I not order this? Besides, remember I was trying to stay 'lighter' for lunch saving room for richer dishes later in to the evening.  Anyway, mixing the brandade in to the broth made an already delicious broth revelatory.

The Cod

I totally forgot to take pictures of the dessert, but we went for the Butterscotch Crémeux (Served with whipped vanilla crème fraiche and sea salt) and the Paris Washington (Choux pastry filled with caramelized peanut cream and milk chocolate served with chocolate sauce). Both were delicious, but the Cremeux was the better of the two by a slim margin. Never overly sweet and almost always having fun with textures or delivering perfection of the singular chosen texture depending on what is best.

We were sated and bid our hosts a brief goodbye. We worked off some of the indulgence with a walk around the area before retiring to our hotel before we returned later that evening for a great dinner.

DINNER! Hoo-boy so good.

We were well taken care of for the evening by Mario, Jaren, Jennifer and others of the staff - leaving us to enjoy ourselves and never getting in the way of our conversation and enjoyment of the evening. We opted to try some cocktails - The Stark and Embrasse de la Terre. Both were delicious and a great way to start things off. After considering the proposed meal of the evening, we still opted to order our own selections from the rest of the menu (very hard decision!). After that horse trading with my wife was over, we chatted with Jaren and, knowing we were going to splurge on an excellent bottle of wine to mark the occasion, he confirmed our wine list selection would work well with the bulk of our menu selections (it was a 1998 Chateau de Beaucastel Chanteauneuf du Papes). We snuck in a few other wines for the early courses (a tremendous Chenin Blanc for my wife and a wonderful Riesling for me - please note - they are happy to sell  you half glasses of wine - just ask!) as well. Here we go!

Before we got anything we actually ordered, extras came out from the kitchen - the Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho (from the proposed meal menu) - lavender scented Ora King Salmon in the middle with grated horseradish. The gazpacho was excellent but that salmon was perfection. The combination of the two parts at the same time. Yeah. Forgot to take a picture. Oops!

Next up was what appeared to be compressed melons of at least two varieties with great seasoning, alongside some lobster, greens some nice olive oil and a couple very small edible flowers. Very nice, but, in a day of great food, one of the overall weaker dishes (but, people, I am splitting hairs as usual).

Melons and Lobster

My wife started with the Oysters. Normally, I would not order oysters at anywhere Frank Ruta is cheffing (because I look for the stuff that difficult if not impossible to try to make at home!), but he had fun with this preparation methinks and I am glad my wife ordered this and shared a slurp with me. These oysters were prepped in shell with toasted brown rice tea, served with a small pumpernickel canape and a small bowl of yuzu vinaigrette was there for you to top off the oysters with. Alone, the oysters were great, but adding the yuzu was like a light bulb going off in your head. So good! And the Chenin Blanc my wife had with it was super.

Oysters View #1
Oysters View #2

Opposite the oysters, I had the Soft Shell Crab dish. Buckwheat Fried Eastern Shore Soft Shell Crab with curry vinaigrette and toasted coconut. Split baby corn, house pickled sweet peppers of a variety I could not place, and of course more wonderful greens, herbs and other magic tidbits. This dish was quite, quite fine and worked very well with the Riesling that Jaren suggested I try. Great pairing.

Soft Shell Crabs

Next, my wife had the Veloute of Locally Foraged Chanterelles and Pennsylvania Zucchini (with herb blossoms, small variety tomatoes and pickled chanterelles). Brought to the table composed with all of the elements, the veloute was poured at the table. My wife (and I) loves mushrooms and this was a great way to marry that with some elements of summer. A great dish. And it worked really well with the CdP.

Veloute of Chanterelles

I opted for the Áll Parts of the Rabbit and Foie Gras in a Terrine' dish (with mushroom gelee, tarragon dijonnaise and minus 8 verjus vinaigrette). I love rabbit. I love parts. I love terrines. This was PERFECTION. That is a house tarragon mustard/aioli there front and center. Plus some heirloom carrots and a pair of delicious yellow beans playing supporting actors to the perfectly dressed salad greens. SO.DAMN.GOOD.

Rabbit Terrine

My wife went for the Braised Veal Shoulder Óskar', next (braised Veal Shoulder Óskar' with Crabmeat gratin, chanterelle mushrooms, peas). It sounds sort of like it should not work, but it so does. How to make a braise in summer feel light and vibrant. Lots of other unmentioned veg in there as you can see. Really, really good and worked very well with the wine.

Braised Veal Óskar'

But this entree, what I had next, blew me away. The Roast Guinea Hen Breast and Boudin of the Leg (with summer chard, glazed carrots and onions, and juniper sauce) was good just in the letters and words already. It, at first, reminded me of something I had earlier in the year here when they did it with chicken, but this dish was a number of rungs above that prior effort for sure. Wow, just wow.  To me, this was the course of the night. Wonderful vegetables and a flavor packed slightly sticky sauce underpinned the whole dish. The breast was perfectly cooked, tender, well seasoned, juicy and with a 'more-ish' flavor.

But the star of this dish was the absolutely mindblowing boudin. Anyone that has had time with Chef Ruta's food knows he loves house making lots of what hits the plate, and this boudin is no exception. Part Guinea Hen leg, part foie gras and part magic, the boudin was as light as air (so delicate, so full of flavor!), full of Guinea henniness and yet reminded me of something almost Alsatian because a well made weisswurst in Germany can be a quite fine thing as well. This took the idea of a boudin, took the, IMHO, Germanic inspiration of a weisswurst, the presence of an excellent Guinea hen and made a thing designed to just blow you away.

Guinea Hen

To provide us a pause and a bit of relief as we headed towards dessert, out came another unexpected dish from the kitchen (also from the proposed meal menu I think), the Sour Cherry Sorbet with yogurt lime espuma, gin cucumber gelée, mint. Delicious and a nice was to transition away from dinner towards dessert.

Sour Cherry Sorbet

My wife opted for the Mirabeller 'Sachertorte'(with chocolate mousse, plum preserves, eau de vie cream, and cocoa sponge cake). A nice play on the traditional dish and delicious - And not too sweet at all! Mmmmmmmm! My wife was able to try two sips of other drinks along with this as well as after this dish. I think one may have been an eau de vie (I am probably wrong!), but the other, I am pretty sure, is the Thunevin- Calvet, Grenache, Vin Doux Naturel Maury, Roussillon, France, 1975 - which was a triumph, not just with the dessert (pairing well with the chocolate) but on its own. My wife was pretty much in heaven.

Mirabelle 'Sachertorte'

I opted for the Blueberry Vacherin' (with blueberry sorbet, lemon thyme sorbet, crispy (blueberry!) meringue, lemon curd and blueberry compote). Just lovely with such good flavors playing off each other so well.

After dinner, I tried a couple of sips from their Armagnac list (they have a cart of all of the wonderful Armagnacs, Brandys, Cognacs and Cavadoses (Calvodi?) at the front of the restaurant near the host desk) after chatting with Jaren about options originally thinking I was going to go for a cognac. Boy am I glad  I tried these Armagnacs. So good. The Vintage 1964 Marquis de Puysegur was quite, quite good (and older than me!), the 1990 Bas Armagnac Francis Darroze "Domaine de Bertruc"was really excellent (and better to my tastes). A wild little ride with these for sure.

Somewhere in there, too, there were the caramels and other goodies that Aggie sends out - always a pleasure and always good and delicious!

I think we left right after the other last table departed, a bit before midnight. A great night. We took a stroll around the block before taking a turn to the hotel, only to find one of the staff (the guy with an excellent tie, pocket square and even better shirt - I cannot remember his name, argh!) leaving the lobby, seeing us, and handed us a bag of goodies to take with us, too. What a surprise! We dug in to the goodies the next morning- macarons, caramels, house made peach preserves (well, that is not opened yet - saving that for breakfast tomorrow!), some of their great produce as well - cherries, peaches, figs and more.

It was a great way to spend a day celebrating. I think everyone should try that Guinea Hen dish - especially that boudin. Simply amazing.

[Pool Boy]

OK, still cannot get past the 2MB rule. Let's see if it works this other way. Nope - Trying 'Insert Other Media' using 'Insert Image from URL does not work either. GRRRR.