Unconventional Dinner (4 Stars)

 Spending time in DC is always an opportunity to go out and eat interesting food.  We went to the Unconventional Diner last nigh (1207 9th St. NW, a part of the Washington Convention Center) and the trip was well worthwhile.

We started with a round of drinks.  The "Heard it through the Grapevine," pisco sour was truly exceptional.  They made it with passionfruit and simple syrup and it really was smooooth.  OTOH, the Licia Albarinio wine we had was just fair -- not as much tang and taste as some other Albarinio's we've had in the past, so when we go back (and we will!) we'll try a different bottle.

And  yes, we will go back because the food was magnificent.  We were there with friends Nancy and Jocelyn and so we had a chance to taste a bunch of stuff.  Our starters were stars -- the corn bread (that's it in the photo) came with a habanero spiced butter that was simply stunning.  We also had the cauliflower salad with spicy tahini sauce and the shitake mushroom roll with salad wrap.  My personal favorite was the crab fritters with red peppers and jalepeno and a calming remoulade.

The main courses were just as interesting.  Katy had a sweet potato curry with coconut rice and a falafel protein.  Nancy had the same thing with shrimp.  Jocelyn had the vegan Mexi-Cali "Chili" with squash, kale and avacado.  The side of lebneh was as good a lebneh as I've ever tasted.

I had the Peking Duck confit.  It came with bao bao rolls and a homemade hoisin that was ... really different.  Most hoisin is cloying and too sweet.  This one was much less so, and it was great -- it let the duck taste shine through.

We had outdoor seating that was fine and pleasant -- a bit too close to the street for my taste, but those are the sorts of compromises you have to make these days, and it was well worth it.  We will, as I said, go back.

Cranes (4 Stars)

 After nearly 18 months of the pandemic, it was good to return to the idea of eating out, traveling, posting on this travel blog, and reviewing good restaurants.   This past weekend, we were delighted to be able to dine out a a new-ish place in downtown DC called Cranes.   It won a Michelin Bib Gourmand last year.

Cranes styles itself as a Spanish Kaiseki, by which they mean that it serves a mix of Spanish tapas and Japanese sushi style food and drink.  To give you a feel, Katy ordered an Albarino white wine to drink, and Paul started with a jumaji-style sake.  

The interior of the restaurant looked magnificent, since we didn't yet quite choose to eat indoors, we sat outdoors.  Even the outdoor seating was good quality.  We were delightfully surprised to get real silverware and a real menu, not plastic and the QR code.  

For our meal we chose to try to mix styles as much as we could.  Katy chose to start with an Iberico Ham platter with a tomato salsa (pictured above).  If you love Iberico (as we do) this was just perfect. She followed up this quintessentially Japanese main course of an Hamachi crudo of sashimi-style fish with bits of roe and avacado.  Together we shared a really fun plate of thin-sliced zucchini with a hazelnuts and pesto (and some cheese sauce on the side, for Paul.

Paul in turn started with two braised bao buns with short ribs in them and a spicy/sweet Japanese mayonnaise spread. He followed that with a very small cup of cherry gazpacho that had a wonderful manchego panna cotta at the bottom and two half cherries floating in the nicely chilled soup.  But for Paul the star of the evening was an Unagi paella -- yes, you heard that right.  Take the Japanese style cooked eal add some fresh snap peas and a jalapeño aoli and marry that all to a traditional rice paella and you get ... something really different and delicious.  That's a picture of it to the left.

We finished up with an order of churros (more than enough to share) and two dipping sauces, a black sesame chocolate and a miso caramel.  Yum.

In short, this was a return to the type of "foodie" dining that we love.  Service was prompt and attentive but not overly so.  Pricing was reasonable (though a bit high) -- we did all that plus 2 more glasses of wine (the sancere and the pinot noir ) plus tip for around $240.  Not an everyday place -- but we definitely will go back.