Means eating a lot week. Besides trying out Corduroy, which I loved and raved about, I also went to David & Greggory's, Zaytinya's, and Cafe Atlantico.
So David & Greggory, bustling happening golden triangle restaurant which had quite the happy hour scene. We started with the mushroom, manchenga, and almond croquettes. Which were awesome! Nice chunky bits of mushroom, crispy on the outside, with manchenga melted on top with some type of crushed tomato accompaniment. We also had the tostones with black bean mash, habenero salsa and crema. The salsa was not spicy ... at all ... and if you're curious tostones are similar to plantains, just less sweet. For the main entree I got the seared halibut with spaghetti squash and seafood stew. I think someone was afraid to season this dish, kind of bland. For dessert I got the cloud-in-a-pudding, basically chocolate pudding, richer and more satisfying then a normal cup of jello. My friend got the bread pudding which advertised Mexican chocolate, but seemed to be missing. We had some pretty good martini style drinks, I started with a Blue Heaven, super sweet and super blue, for the next round I went with the tarter, slightly bubbly mango-tini. The service was a bit spotty, more likely due to ours being a bit in the weeds. Also kind of felt bad for them because they had to wear really ugly shirts, but maybe its because it made me think back to my days dishing cheddar bay biscuits at Red Lobster in hideous Hawaiian shirts. Overall a great place for a happy hour, if I came back, I would have to go for something else, but for some reason I feel it's utter travesty to order Garam Masala Salmon outside of an Indian restaurant.
As usual, I have nothing but praise for Zaytinya's. My main complaint is that even if you make reservation for over 20 people, the restaurant will not budge from its pre-theater dinner reservation times before 6:30 PM, which causes problems when they ask you to have all members of your party present before seating. Normally on any night, around DC dinner time (around 7 PM) you can expect a 45 minute wait, but the bar is trendy-chic, has great drinks with attentive bartenders, and it's a pretty good singles scene. Arriving with a large group of people is challenging, and I worried about a place that served only mezzes, the ordering would be a mess. Thankfully, our kind server saved us from that predicament by informing me of a tasting menu, roughly the same cost of ordering a la carte. He explained the chef would prepare a variety of dishes that exemplify Zaytinya's range. And I'm glad we chose that option because otherwise I wouldn't have tried many many tasty dishes, including: Ottoman rice pilaf, tzatziki, scallops, shrimp, a bunch of salads not on their regular menu, including an incredible tomato and caper salad, orange and feta salad, and kibbeh nayah. Zaytinya's is an old favorite for me, but the next time I come, I'm going to ask if can go for the chef's tasting menu, even though I didn't see anything regarding it on the regular menu or online.
Having such high regards for Zaytinya's and Jaleo, I had high expectation's for Jose Andre's first restaurant, Cafe Atlantico. That said, it's difficult for me love Latin American food in the states (except in Mexico, the only Latin American country I've been to so far). For an appetizer my mom and I ordered the table-side prepared guacamole, which although good, I'm convinced I do a much better version at home (the secret is hot green chillies). My mom got the salmon sandwich, which was excellent, and I sprung for the exotic: sea scallops in coconut cream, crispy rice with squid ink. I wasn't expecting the sauce to be mostly coconut cream, which I normally find undiluted too much. And I have to admit, although the dish looked pretty with its startling white contrasting with a nice circle of black squid ink, the thought of eating squid ink and watching it turn gray as I dipped my fork in, grossed me out. Oh well, maybe another time, but not in a particular hurry. I'd totally be up for another tasting menu evening at Zaytinya's though.
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