Ada's on the River, Alexandria

[ktmoomau]

The ARP Group has opened two new restaurants at Robinson Terminal- Ada's on the River and Barca.

https://www.adasontheriver.com/

We wandered down that way for dinner, Barca had no openings, so we ate at Ada's on the River.  The concept is really pretty inside, and has a really nice patio outside.  A friend had told me the entrees were very big, so we opted to just start with the charcoal brioche to start.  It was good, but I wasn't super fond of the orange butter.  For entrees Hubby got the salmon and I got the half chicken.  He really liked the salmon and ate it in no time, so it must have been good.  The chicken was really a huge portion, but it was really juicy, I liked the flavoring on the skin, and the roasted vegetables, yogurt and green sauce underneath were really a nice flavor in contrast to the chicken.  It wasn't mind blowing food, but we both thought our dishes were really well prepared.  This area of Old Town also just didn't seem to be quite as packed yet- I am sure it will be soon.  

[weezy]

Dinner with friends at Ada's last night.  We ate inside b/c it was an early dinner and oppressively hot & humid weather out with the sun still beating down.  A lovely space with an open kitchen that uses both coal fired and wood fired ovens.  menu:  https://www.adasontheriver.com/menu#all-day

We started by splitting a bottle of a Brut Rose  and then moved to individual glasses with our entrees.  Sharing things around the table, we got the octopus and the foie gras donut.  The octopus was well cooked and tender, but with as much potato (not in the menu description) as octopus, so tucked under some greens, what looked like an extremely generous portion of seafood was really an average tentacle.  The foie gras donut was literally a freshly fried donut atop the compote with a seared rectangle of foie gras balanced on top.  This was more interesting than the octopus with a better balance and contrast of flavors.  Entrees were the jumbo crab cake, grilled lamb rack and burger, with the sides of fries, charred cauliflower and creamed spinach.   The crab cake was made in a ring mold and was quite large, so Im sure the ring mold kept it together while cooking.   It had a good sweet flavor that wasn't overpowered by the other ingredients.  Probably not Chesapeake blues -- I grew up on them and this crab was much milder in flavor -- but still very tasty.  The lamb rack was cut into 4 single chops with a lemon-forward chimichurri.  Asked for med-rare and got it more on the rare side, and although the bones had some char on the ends, the meat didn't have much grilled flavor.  Burger was cooked to order and was nice and juicy and properly fatty and grilled.  The cauliflower side was I think the best dish of the night, plenty of charred bits and good contrasts of flavors and textures.  Good fries, fat and creamy inside, crunchy outside, well seasoned.  The spinach was a little cheesier than I expected...any leftovers would make an excellent omelette filling.  

 

The desserts didn't look too interesting, so we strolled over to The Creamery on King Street and got some ice cream to finish up the evening.