My Delicious Life in DC: 2012

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Revisiting a Favorite: Great Meal @ Blue Duck Tavern

Needed to heading back to Blue Duck Tavern (in the tiny 'West End' section of Washington DC).

Rated as a 2012 Top-100 Restaurant by the Washingtonian (& each year since 2007)
Editor's Pick in the Washington Post

FOOD: Modern (foodie) take on classic American tavern fare focused on quality fresh-from-farm ingredients. Chef Sebastien Archambault recently took over as the new Executive Chef & food hasn't missed a beat. Many dishes are produced using the restaurant's wood-fired oven. Nice dishes to entertain include the Roasted Bone Marrow (starter), Middle Neck Clams (starter), Octopus Confit (starter), Scallops, & Braised Beef Rib.

Oh & save room for dessert, the fresh straight-from-oven Chocolate Cake (w/ Maker’s Mark flambé) was particularly great during the Winter season, but like all dishes here it regularly gets a 'refresher'.

Service is quite good here as well, typically attentive but not intrusive. They don't distract from the dining experience.

Average entrees prices are pretty wide (i.e. you could definitely spend $ here), ranging from $23 - $36. Wine selection is nice here too, but is on the higher-end of the area restaurants.

Really do love this place, but be mindful of the pricing if attending ;)
---> Review an example of a recent dinner menu for dishes & prices

SPACE: Upscale, modern but comfortable. Large open kitchen as well. The restaurant is attached to the Park Hyatt hotel, & is one of the nicer spaces in DC.
Hint: Take a walk to the bathroom & you'll find yourself walking intentionally through the middle of the kitchen. Kitchen staff is typically nice enough to chat with you for a minute if you want ;)

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This 'Bread Making Station' view immediately is available once you reach the Host Stand, Blue Duck Tavern boasts an open kitchen. So much so that diners need to walk through the middle of the kitchen to reach the bathroom haha.

Oven Roasted Bone Marrow w/ Spiced Pumpkin Butter. A signature, tasty appetizer from Blue Duck Tavern.

Wood Oven-Roasted Maine Scallops w/ Black Mussels, Sea Bream & Lemon Butter. Fantastic sear on the fresh scallops.

12-Hour Roasted Suckling Pig w/ Baby Root Vegetables & 'Mustard Jus'. Wow, that was tasty. I cracked into block of the suckling pig to see the tasty insides.

Molten Chocolate Cake with Brandied Cherries. Well, it's 'Cherry Blossom' season in Washington DC, & Blue Duck Tavern honors this time of year w/ a special version of its famous 'made-to-order, fresh out of the oven' chocolate cake. A molten version (warm & chocolately gooey in the center) with accompanying brandied cherries.

Milk Chocolate Banana S'Mores. Nice treat to end a fantastic dinner

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Missed Dishes: Ray's Coconut Cake

Light meal @ Ray's the Classics in Silver Spring tonight, and tempted by dessert.

Miss much the long-retired Coconut Cake (available at both Ray's locations at the time). That was crack. Light subtle coconut flavor, huge tall slice. Even coconut haters liked. Sigh. Reminded me of other retired dishes or restaurants which have come & gone who offered dishes that I really enjoyed.

But I digress ... back to eating lol.

Wanted something a little lighter tonight (i.e. just worked-out, felt guilty haha) & always waned to try Ray's "Wild" Turkey Burger. I've heard good reviews from the foodie boards when it first auditioned over at Ray's Hellburger. As burgers are now available at the Ray's main restaurants, I've always bypassed that option for a steak or perhaps the fantastic Crab Royale (like a deconstructed crab cake, I've gotten many a friend hooked on this over the years). Tonight seemed like a great candidate to give this a try.

First reaction? Wow, it's a huge sammie. Not surprising as all of the Ray's burgers can be described that way. I'll venture to guess between 8 - 10 oz of juicy fresh house-ground Turkey and spices. Includes grilled red onions and a sweet bourbon glaze on-top ... I decided to include a nice White Cheddar for $1.00 extra. Comes with good, crisp traditional fries or sweet potato fries. Great flavors & surprisingly juicy throughout. This is a nice alternative to the normal beef burger. Will have to try this again.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Fiola Still Representin'

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Cooking at Home: The Lazy but Always Tasty Method

Sometimes you work crazy hours & you feel like just staying in. You want a delicious meal but don't want to spend hours cooking a deeply rich & satisfying meal.

Well you can. Just requires some out-of-box thinking. Find a fantastic butcher in your area that offers pre-cooked but vacuum-sealed meats. In DC, one such butcher is Red Apron Butchery. Owned by Nathan Anda, a very good ex-Chef from some of the better restaurants in the area.

One product that Nathan regularly sells is the pre-cooked 'Pork Sugo' (Italian-style braised or slow-cooked pork for hours in pork stock ... sometimes wine as well ... with a variety of spices). It's ridiculously rich and extremely tasty. Grab a package, reheat in a pan and add your favorite pasta of the day. Simple and easy!

Tonight was lazy night for me. Checked my fridge and lo & behold, Red Apron's Sugo! Added some Cheese & Spinach Tortellini, and call it a night ;)

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Lol for DC Foodies. SH*T People in DC Say

You must have seen this already right? This is sooooo spot-on, but I could add literally another dozen things to this.

Time-waster & hopefully worth a chuckle ;)

Monday, January 16, 2012

Dining at Oval Room: DC Restaurant Week Winter 2012

Today was the last day for the official DC Restaurant Week (Winter 2012) period. Today I took a group to a favorite that if you had an expense budget you'd probably visit their private dining 5-course dinners much more :) Where many of the power players in DC have come to eat over the years, the Oval Room.

Ranked #7: 2010's Washingtonian Magazine's 100 Best Restaurants
Editor's Pick in the Washington Post

FOOD: American w/ tons of creativity. Chef Tony Conte, formerly from Jean Georges in New York, is quite imaginative with his dishes. Normal prices are up there due to high quality ingredients. This place isn't about 'quantity over quality'. More often than not, his dishes are superb. And when the kitchen's on ... wow.

SPACE: Sophisticated and contemporary, very nice looking space.

Some of the dishes I tried tonight:

Goat Cheese Custard w/ Warm Cherries , Pistachios & Arugula

Rockfish w/ Spaghetti Squash, Sweet Garlic Lemon Broth & Chili Oil

Grilled Flat Iron Steak w/ Tararind Condiment, Crispy Potato & Spinach

Chocolate Bomb w/ Crumbs, Cherry & Vanilla Ice Cream

Sticky Toffee Cake w/ Brown Sugar & Butter-Pecan Ice Cream

The Winter 2012 DC Restaurant Week menu for the Oval Room

Overall Opinion? Tough call for Restaurant Week periods. Oval Room outside of Restaurant Week is a treat, due to no restriction of ingredient quality (which for this restaurant seems to impact their normal creativity). The food tongiht was good but nothing particularly 'Wow'. Not sure if I'd come back here & pay their normal pricing if I didn't already have the existing knowledge of seeing Tony Conte at his best (a private dining 5-course affair about 4 years ago in which I was thoroughly impressed with strong creativity and superior tastes, albeit at a pricepoint several times higher than the RW deal).

Friday, January 13, 2012

'Rogue Session #1': Special 24-Course Dinner @ Rogue24 (Guest Chef Bryan Voltaggio from Volt)

During James Beard Award-winning chef/owner RJ Cooper’s recuperation from open-heart surgery, some of his closest celebrity chef friends will pitch in to host “theme weeks” at the intimate Shaw–area restaurant. These special events were dubbed 'Rogue Sessions'.

Each Session was developed to be a 24-course dinner led by a Guest Chef and served with wine and cocktail pairings by celebrity bartender Derek Brown (Owner of The Passenger) and Sommelier JP Fetherston
The 24-course menus will be broken into 12 courses designed by the Guest Chef, and the other 12 courses are staple dishes from Rogue24 Chef RJ Cooper

Rogue Session #1 was headed by Guest Chef Bryan Voltaggio, Chef/Owner of Volt in Frederick MD. One of the best restaurants in the DC metro area. He already does a 21-course tasting menu at Volt, so he definitely is up to the task of leading a Rogue Session.

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Review:

Menu won't be offered in advance (keeping you anticipating throughout the dinner), but is handed-out as a 'takeaway' when you leave
About 2 -3 dishes hit 'Wow' status (what I define as 'transcendental' -- a complex flavor profile, a contrast or merging of flavors; something I'd casually call had a little 'sumptin 'sumptin)
Another 2 - 3 dishes were near-Wow status but couldn't quite get there
The remaining dishes were at least 'Good' but nothing particularly great
The Cocktail and Wine pairings were provided every 3 courses, and the theme of the pairing was supposed to match/align with the next 3 dishes. Sometimes it 'worked' for us, other times not so much
Space looks modern without being too trendy (reminded me of a relaxed NYC spot)
Staff was very pleasant and professional, many of the Chef handling prep-work most of the night were also serving dishes throughout the night
Very nice dinner overall

Well, to be fair this was a pregaming drink over at the Gin Joint within New Heights restaurant in Woodley Park. Fantastic gin selection here btw, and a knowledgeable bar staff. The above is actually their Midnight Manhatten, filled with tasty spirits ;)

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Macaroons/celeriac/beet.
One sweet-filled with apple (the left), and the right was savory foie gras filled. I especially loved the one on the right.