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. 

Convivial -- 3 Stars

We had the pleasure of dining last night at Convivial -- a relatively new (2 year old) restaurant in the Shaw neighborhood.  It was the second time we had gone and the first time for our friends Bob & Lisa.

The experience was good enough that it was worth reporting.  I start with the end -- Katy is lactose intolerant and none of the deserts on the menu were lactose-free.  So ... the chef made her a desert.   It was a vacheron (sp?) with berries and it was made from scratch just for her.  I liked my key lime pie better but the effort that went into creating a single desert for someone who needed it was so remarkable that even if the rest of the food had been "blah" I would have fallen in love.

And the rest of the food was NOT at all "blah."  We started with a nibble -- traditional latkes (potato pancakes) in small bite sized pieces, topped with vinegared celery root and cured lamb.  Tiny bites of perfection.  Small appetizer plates were next -- my burrata was sublime and the dijonaised leeks (that's them in the picture) that Katy had were just wonderful, but I think the winner was Bob's fish sticks (yes, fish sticks) made from snakehead fish.  Talk about turning a silks purse (snakehead are an invasive species) into a sow's ear.  Though I will speak highly as well of the roasted cauliflower that Lisa had -- light on the palate.

Main courses were just a fantastic.  Katy's trout literally melted in your mouth.  My lamb merguez was wonderfully fresh and spicy on a bed of hummus.  Lisa's guinea fowl was cooked to perfection but Bob "won" again with fried chicken (yes, fried chicken) prepared as coq a vin style.  To top it off, we had the Tablas Creek, "Patelin de Tablas" off the wine list to make a really wonderful meal complete.

We want very much to go back when the weather is nice -- the outdoor patio looks great for summer.  And the vibe of the place was just right -- young folks from the Shaw neighborhood, but the noise level was not too high.  We give it 3 stars.

Rose's Luxury

In 2015 a new restaurant opened on Capitol Hill -- Rose's Luxury.  Bon Appetit said it was the best new restaurant in the entire country. They don't take reservations, so the only way to get in is to stand in line and wait.  When they open the doors at 5 PM you can either sit right down, or ask to be put in the second seating and texted when the seats open up.

Katy and I went to Rose's once before on a day that Katy just happened to be wandering by.  Yesterday we went for the second time.  We figured that on a hot day in August the line would be shorter and we could get in.  We were right and it was worth the trip.

Like we did the first time, we chose to sit at the bar looking right into the kitchen.  Half of the fun of the day is just watching the team work.  There were more than 8 people squeezed into the kitchen working like clockwork.  Almost nothing in the way of haste or disarray.  That's Wendy, on of the lead chefs, in the center making one of our dishes.

Meanwhile, the food was just fantastic.  We've had one friend who didn't like it when they went, but everyone else we know has raved -- and so do we.  We started with a small plate of Pork Sausage, Habanero, Peanuts and Lychee that was just an awesome bang of flavor.  The Catfish came next with a great green tomato relish and a saffron aoli that was smooth to the taste.  The Bucatini in a sungold tomato sauce tasted fresh and smooth in a way that red sauce does not.  And the Brisket at the end -- well, it was as tender as we've ever eaten.  Paul loved it; Katy (who doesn't like brisket at all) was even moderately appreciative.  The homemade slaw and horseradish that it came with were as fresh as you could imagine.  And we finished off with a fresh coconut milk ice cream.

The most amazing thing though, was the price.  We bought a Vouvray Chenin Blanc bottle for $60.  Total price for the meal with tax was just $159.50.  Put another way, three small courses and a large family style meat plate, along with desert cost less than $100 -- and we got the view as well.

We'll be back -- and it is worth the trip if you can find the time.

NO Dining -- Great New Finds and Some Disappointments

This may be the first time we have come to this city without indulging in the traditional crawfish étouffé or jambalaya. Instead we decided to search out some of the more recent NO cuisine. One general comment about food in NO: it is heavy, sugar-filled and served in large portions, all of which accounts for the epidemic of obesity on display here this weekend.

We visited some old haunts, too, starting with the Central Grocery (see Roadfood site for more info) for the best muffaletta sandwich on the planet. We are not sure what their secret is since the sandwiches are made behind a wall and no customers or cameras are permitted to go there. As good as the sandwiches are, they sat heavily on our old stomachs for the rest of the day, forcing us to take a nap. ;-)

We also revisited Cafe Beignet on Royal, the site of previous early morning, post-walk stops. With croissants that were really croissant-shaped Parker House dinner rolls and orange juice that contained almost no real juice, that experience was a disappointment, and we will likely cross Cafe Beignet off our dining list for the future. There are plenty of other cafe options in the French Quarter. Though, the best we found was Starbucks -- alas!

Before we came to NO, we made dinner reservations at a perennial favorite restaurant, Bayona. Sadly, this was not our best experience there. The food good, but not outstanding (Paul had a tasty stuffed crab appetizer and an okay pork chop, and Katy had a decent salad and interesting Rabbit entree). The real problem was the slowness of the service. We had 8pm reservations with the hope of being out by at least 9:30 to get to the 9:00 show (late) at Tipitina's, for which we had tickets. As it turned out, we did not get done with our meal until 10:20. It took them 1 hour 10 minutes from the time we ordered to get our entree out. Not sure what the problem was. They were pretty full, as they always are, but they should be organized enough to get food out timely. Of course, by the end of the meat we were too frustrated and tired to wend our way over to Tip's to catch what little might be left of the show. So we missed it.

So much for the old standards. Among the new places we tried, there were some winners and some losers. The losers included the dining room at Snug Harbor. We thought it would be convenient to eat there before the Ellis Marsallis show because there are not many dining options in that area of town. We would not go back. Katy had ordinary fried shrimp of the kind you can find at any cheap restaurant. Paul went for the blackened fish and got blackened hockey puck.

Another so-so choice was Oceana for breakfast -- "Petunia's Breakfast." Its fare is billed as a traditional southern breakfast. Paul, for example, had "Maw-Maw's Cajun Breakfast," which was basically jambalaya with eggs and bacon instead of andouile sausage and chicken. Here is where you really saw the excess portions and heavy food! I think we left behind at least half of what we were served. It may be worth the experience, but only once.

The real treats and finds in New Orleans were Lilette and Le Foret two relatively new restaurants, one just outside the Quarter and the other in the Uptown District. These we will definitely return to at the first opportunity.

Lilette:

A search of Time-Picayune restaurant articles brought my attention to Lilette, which is on Magazine Street in the Uptown area - a trendy area with plenty of art galleries, shops and other restaurants and some great examples of NO architecture. Lillete can be reached via the St. Charles St. streetcar (get off at Antoine St. and go a few blocks south) or by taxi from the Quarter. Since it is closed on Sunday, the only opportunity for a dining foray there was lunch on Saturday. Even so, it was packed. It is clearly a local favorite. The dining was leisurely - no rushing to get you out even on a Saturday when they were turning people away -- and the service great. While we had only luncheon food, its quality portends great dinner fare as well. The food was flavorful, well prepared and in right-sized portions. Katy had an arugula salad and a delicious duck confit with grilled pears from the appetizer menu for her main course, making a thoroughly satisfying lunch. Paul had a half dozen exquisite oysters followed by a chicken salad that contained, among other things, port-infused figs, which he loved.

Le Foret

At the recommendation of a helpful sales representative the Mann Gallery in the Quarter, who declared that the food was so good it brought tears to her eyes, we made reservations for Sunday dinner at Le Foret. While we are not given to easy crying, Paul did nearly swoon at the lobster cappuccino soup he had for an appetizer! The restaurant is located on Camp St. just across from the Sheraton Hotel on Canal, and it has only been open for 10 months. On Sunday it was almost empty. Being so close to the Quarter, at this point Le Foret must predominantly rely on tourists or business men and women for its clientele and Sunday is, of course, a slow day for both.

The meal began Le Foret with a number of ameuses bouches, each a taste treat. The bread was freshly made. Katy had a delicious leek salad, sadly without the Gorgonzola dulce that usually accompanies this Delicious salad (lactose intolerance), and Paul had the aforementioned lobster soup. When we recovered from that we were brought our entrees. Katy had a filet mignon with truffle sabayon, accompanied by potatoes and kale, and Paul quickly devoured his red snapper accompanied by spinach with raisins (a really nice touch) -- all in all, simple flavors, deliciously cooked.

Finally, we returned home on Monday for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and left over pizza dinner -- cuisine ala Kunzweig!