Rooster & Owl - Carey and Yuan Tang's $65, Prix-Fixe, Communal Tasting Menus in Cardozo

[cheezepowder]

Rooster & Owl opened at 2436 14th St, NW, DC, on Feb. 7, 2019 (Washingtonian).  Website

[DonRocks]

Can anyone else think of a prix-fixe, communal, tasting-menu format?

[mikew1]

My wife and I tired Rooster & Owl before The Post review came out.  We really enjoyed most of the menu.  We didn't love the steak but everything else was excellent.  I was especially impressed with the drink menu and wine pairings.  I imagine the prices will soon go up.  Right now, I think it is one of the best bargains in fine dining.  

[MichaelBDC]

I don't know that I've ever seen Sietsema give a place three stars.  Especially on a first review.  Thankfully @eatruneat read something about the restaurant in Washingtonian prior to Sietsema's review coming out so we were able to get a reservation before the madness began.  After meeting up with her at Franklin Hall - my god that place is big - and getting my ass handed to me at a few games of Simon while she cackled in delight, we walked around the corner to the subterranean entrance.  We were greeted by the chef's wife and General Manager, Carey Tang and shown to our table.  For the $65 per person pre-fixe menu you get to choose an item from each of the four sections, so we got to try two from each section.

We started with the kanpachi and an order of carrots.  The thinly sliced kanpachi with coconut and citrus was a great way to start off the meal.  Subtle tartness from the citrus and sweetness from the coconut lends themselves well to the velvety texture of the fish.  The carrots live up to the hype.  They are cooked to the perfect softness and their barbecue flavor is spot on.  The accompanying 'cornbread' ice cream is a good foil to the their spiciness but not great.    

While waiting for the next set of dishes we noticed that people were getting bread, so we inquired with our server.  She was surprised that we had not received any and went to get us some.  Make sure to speak with your server if the same thing happens to you.  The reward is sweet, light and fluffy rolls that taste great and don't fill you up.  Imagine a MUCH better King's Hawaiian role and that's what they are like.

Next up we got the lobster etouffee and 'pot roast'  I can't eat the former due to an allergy, but with the speed and thoroughness that @eatruneat polished it off, I'm guessing it's pretty good.  I was able to eat the braised oxtail in the 'pot roast' and it took every fiber of my being to share a bite with @eatruneat.  I devoured it along with the mashed potatoes and diced rutabaga it came with in about two minutes and was left wondering where I could get more.  

We got somewhat lucky with the next round when we were brought the NY strip steak instead of the quail.  Not that the quail is bad.  It's fantastic.  But because they let us keep the steak and brought us the quail as well.  Also, I say somewhat because the steak isn't anything great.  Meat and potatoes people will love it, but it's not memorable.

Lacking a sweet tooth, dessert was just dessert for me.  I'll let @eatruneat comment on those.

Rooster & Owl was one of the very few restaurants @eatruneat  and I have gone to recently that we've really enjoyed.  We can't wait to see what they do for spring.  

 

[eatruneat]

47 minutes ago, MichaelBDC said:

I don't know that I've ever seen Sietsema give a place three stars.  Especially on a first review.  Thankfully @eatruneat read something about the restaurant in Washingtonian prior to Sietsema's review coming out so we were able to get a reservation before the madness began.  After meeting up with her at Franklin Hall - my god that place is big - and getting my ass handed to me at a few games of Simon while she cackled in delight, we walked around the corner to the subterranean entrance.  We were greeted by the chef's wife and General Manager, Carey Tang and shown to our table.  For the $65 per person pre-fixe menu you get to choose an item from each of the four sections, so we got to try two from each section.

We started with the kanpachi and an order of carrots.  The thinly sliced kanpachi with coconut and citrus was a great way to start off the meal.  Subtle tartness from the citrus and sweetness from the coconut lends themselves well to the velvety texture of the fish.  The carrots live up to the hype.  They are cooked to the perfect softness and their barbecue flavor is spot on.  The accompanying 'cornbread' ice cream is a good foil to the their spiciness but not great.    

While waiting for the next set of dishes we noticed that people were getting bread, so we inquired with our server.  She was surprised that we had not received any and went to get us some.  Make sure to speak with your server if the same thing happens to you.  The reward is sweet, light and fluffy rolls that taste great and don't fill you up.  Imagine a MUCH better King's Hawaiian role and that's what they are like.

Next up we got the lobster etouffee and 'pot roast'  I can't eat the former due to an allergy, but with the speed and thoroughness that @eatruneat polished it off, I'm guessing it's pretty good.  I was able to eat the braised oxtail in the 'pot roast' and it took every fiber of my being to share a bite with @eatruneat.  I devoured it along with the mashed potatoes and diced rutabaga it came with in about two minutes and was left wondering where I could get more.  

We got somewhat lucky with the next round when we were brought the NY strip steak instead of the quail.  Not that the quail is bad.  It's fantastic.  But because they let us keep the steak and brought us the quail as well.  Also, I say somewhat because the steak isn't anything great.  Meat and potatoes people will love it, but it's not memorable.

Lacking a sweet tooth, dessert was just dessert for me.  I'll let @eatruneat comment on those.

Rooster & Owl was one of the very few restaurants @eatruneat  and I have gone to recently that we've really enjoyed.  We can't wait to see what they do for spring.  

 

The lobster etouffee was indeed delicious, but the kanpachi and carrots were the best dishes of the night.

You forgot the Parisian Gnocchi, which was probably the weakest dish we had. Taste was good but the gnocchi were a little too doughy and soft for me. 

@MichaelBDC had the winter citrus for dessert and I had the eclair. The eclair was very good but the savory dishes stole the show.

[funkyfood]

Short review:  really enjoyed this place, but kind of over tasting menus and don't feel any desire to go back in the near future.  The cooking is good, but I just felt...constrained by the small menu and lack of choices. 

[silentbob]

E-mail alerts on Resy for the win!  Our original plan was to eat at Chloe, but a table here opened up and we pounced.  The app even automatically cancels the old booking when you're making a new one.  Really looking forward to it.  We usually swap plates while dining out anyway, so it will be like an 8-course tasting menu for us.

[funkyfood]

On 5/10/2019 at 2:17 PM, silentbob said:

E-mail alerts on Resy for the win!  Our original plan was to eat at Chloe, but a table here opened up and we pounced.  The app even automatically cancels the old booking when you're making a new one.  Really looking forward to it.  We usually swap plates while dining out anyway, so it will be like an 8-course tasting menu for us.

How was it?

[DPop]

On 5/9/2019 at 12:17 PM, funkyfood said:

Short review:  really enjoyed this place, but kind of over tasting menus and don't feel any desire to go back in the near future.  The cooking is good, but I just felt...constrained by the small menu and lack of choices. 

Amen.  Add prix fixe to the top of the trite list for 2019.  

[Ericandblueboy]

We had a pretty damn good dinner here on Friday.

We started with some burrata and squash with dan dan sauce.  That julienned squash with the dan dan dressing was refreshing and pretty amazing (it wasn't really spicy, actually more tarty).

Next were the shrimp tartine and pigs ear salad.  A note on the tartine, the sauce was made with the shell, head, etc. from the shrimp, so rich in flavor that it tastes like you're sucking on a shrimp head.  I also loved the crispy pigs ear slices.

We had 3 entrees - you can order extras.  We don't know what the charge would've been because the cobia was overcooked so we sent it back and it was taken off the bill.  The steak and poussin were wonderful.  

4 courses for $65 for quality food in DC is a bargain (I do agree with Tom S. that this is worth 3 stars).  We were stuffed silly.  I was gonna get a falafel on my way back to McPherson Sq. if I was still hungry.  

 

[Marty L.]

Anyone had the $75 carry-out?  Worth it?

[horacebailey14]

We got it last month, it was great. We were planning to go dine in person back in March but obviously those plans got scrapped. Eventually we saw they had the $75 takeout and decided to try that out. All the food was delicious and it traveled very well. I had the steak with brown butter hollandaise and now that's the only steak I ever want to eat again. The burrata and watermelon appetizers were great and very interesting. 

I'm not sure how to judge if it was worth $75, but I can say we thoroughly enjoyed the meal. This really seemed like a place we would have loved to dine in person. The cocktails look very interesting, and I know we could have gotten them to go but it's just not quite the same. I really hope this place makes it through, someday when this is all over we'll go in person.

[lotus125]

We've had R&O carry out twice -- once the $75 multi-course, and once the weekday a la carte option.  The food is quite good (save a sadly undercooked pasta we got -- well under al dente, but with a great filling).  It's a little harder to say whether the carry out is "worth it."  The portions are not large, and it's not necessarily better than Bresca's or Albi's less expensive multi-course meals, or many of our other regular go-tos (Happy Gyro, Etto, Bad Saint, etc.).  But they're putting out good food.  And especially in these times, I can't begrudge their pricing if that's what it takes to stay afloat.  

[Ericandblueboy]

A few weeks ago we had dinner at Rooster and Owl, where the format is 4 dishes for $85.  A Michelin one star joint at $85 these days feels like a bargain.

Much of menu has changed but the one stand out dish we had is still on the menu, that is the king trumpet noodles with zha jiang sauce, topped with daikon and cucumber.  They allow you to order any dish for $10, so we had a second order of the noodles as well.  The tempura fried fish was also amazing.  One of our entrees is the lamb ribs (covered by greens) - very tender and heavily cumin seasoned (lovely).  The branzino was perfectly cooked but not seasoned in any specific way to make it stand out.

At this price, we ought to go to R&O more often.