Restaurant Week in Review
I tend to be a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to restaurant week. I complain “it’s not really that great of a deal” and argue “why pay for three courses you don’t really want instead of just getting what you really want on the menu?” yet I don’t think I’ve gone to less than three places during any restaurant week since moving to D.C. I stand by these points– I never spend $20 for lunch, only spend $35 for dinner (sans drinks) on special occasions, and am a fervent advocate of quality over quantity when it comes to food. But since I’ve realized that I won’t stop falling for restaurant week anytime soon, I’ve learned to choose my restaurants strategically by following a few simple rules: 1. Pricier restaurants I wouldn’t usually go to are obviously going to be more bang for my buck — if the entree is already close to $35, I’m going to get my money worth. 2. The addendum to that: look at the menu first! What’s the point of going to a pricey steakhouse that only gives you the choice of pasta, salad or [insert cheap dish here]? 3. Restaurants that offer tapas or small plates are a great choice — they often allow you to select multiple dishes for each course, which is a great deal and just plain fun.
This year I started with a lunch at Bistro Bis. They offer their full menu, but most of their appealing choices have an up charge. Basically, I’m saying I broke all of my own rules, but it was a convenient place to go with coworkers over lunch, and I’ve been meaning to try it. I started with the endive salad with crisp pears, peppered walnuts, blue cheese and cider-walnut vinaigrette, the only appealing appetizer option with no up charge. I wouldn’t have recognized the dish as a salad, but the ingredients complimented each other well. For an entree, I went with the salmon roasted with lardons, savoy cabbage, trumpet mushrooms, herb spaetzle and mustard beurre blanc, even thought I only knew what about half of those words meant. To their credit, this was delicious; the bacon was a nice touch, the sauce was buttery but light, and the portion size resembled what human beings really should eat for lunch. Dessert was the molten chocolate cake with a dark chocolate center and mixed berry-rosemary coulis. I usually avoid molten lava cakes because they seem to all taste the same– like they came out of an Applebees freezer– but I was intrigued (and mislead) by the ‘rosemary’ in the description. This wasn’t your typical molten lava cake, but it also wasn’t much more exciting– the rosemary was a clear example of the old ‘adjective up charge’. Probably wouldn’t make a stop here again during restaurant week.
My next stop was Kushi Izakaya & Sushi, which I had highly anticipated, particularly after having to reschedule due to ‘thundersnow’. This essentially turned out to be a six-course meal, made up of wonderfully timed small plates.
We started with a standard red miso soup, followed by field greens with ginger, both lovely. Next up was the Kushiyaki course from which we each selected three of their char-grilled meat skewers. The duck sausage was especially tender and flavorful, but all the meats were tasty. The next course was the robata, or grilled items. We both selected the asparagus which tasted… well, like grilled asparagus– nothing to call home about. The final entree course was a choice of four types of Nigiri or a Maki roll, which also was good but not much different than my work cafeteria.
To top the meal off, they brought out the gelato; ironically, it was a picture of this in a blog that originally drew me to their website. Mom got the salty plum and I went with the sea salt, which was probably the highlight of my meal. Not because the meal wasn’t wonderful, the gelato was just that good. The waiter also let me have just a taste of the wasabi, which I had been terribly curious about but was relieved I didn’t order it– the wasabi was not subtle and polishing off a dish of it would have been difficult. Overall, this was a great choice for restaurant week, not only because of the sheer number of dishes you get to try, but because their regular menu is huge and overwhelming– I would have been completely over my head had they not narrowed down my options!
I really wasn’t intending to make a third stop this time around, mainly because I’ve already completely blown my own personal Pay-Go plan this month, but after reading a Washingtonian cocktail review I stumbled on PS 7’s restaurant week menu and decided I couldn’t pass it up. Mostly because they had a dessert that involved bacon, but that’s another story.
I must have looked at the menu 567 times, but still had a tough time deciding what to order. If you dine with me often, you know that I have a number of trigger ingredients, meaning that if they appear on the menu garnishing a fried flank of shoe rubber, I will probably order the dish. Goat cheese is one of them, but Saturday night it had been at least 48 hours since I’d eaten anything green, and I was really craving a salad. Luckily, Jana saved me from a serious dilemma by agreeing to split Sarah’s Salad and the Nutty Goat Flat Bread. This actually turned out perfectly, because the salad was dressed field greens with a few nuts (if the marscarpone was there, I needed a microscope to find it) and the flat bread was absolutely delicious, but huge. I didn’t try Julie’s mushroom soup, but it looked top-notch.
The main course was the most difficult decision, but luckily our waiter was patient enough to help each of us narrow down our options. I was originally drawn to the mahi mahi because I was intrigued by the words ‘bubbly gel’ and ‘parsnip fondue’ (I’m a sucker for adjectives), but I had read reviews of the trout with madeira ravioli. He convinced me this was by best option and I certainly didn’t regret it. The fish very tender and served with turnips and juicy mussels, under a single piece of ravioli, which they top off at the table with a lobster sauce. The madeira-butter sauce spreads over the fish when you break open the ravioli, giving the whole dish a subtle flavor I struggle to describe but salivate to remember. The picture doesn’t do it justice, which is probably because I am still self-conscious about the whole taking pictures of your food at nice restaurants concept and put my camera away so quickly I didn’t save the better photo. The women at the table next to us who told me that my mother would kill me didn’t help my beginner’s confidence, but she did laugh when I explained that actually, I had been out to dinner with my mom the night before and she was indeed horrified (see photo above). Julie’s pork won the award for best presentation and Jana spoke highly of her roasted chicken, so overall I think the entrees were a home run.
Okay, finally back to the bacon. Bacon in desserts is my latest obsession, so the Velvet Elvis alone had me sold on this menu. I don’t know why it seems so unconventional — sweet and salty have been a long popular combo (chocolate covered pretzels anyone?) and how is bacon and brownies really that different from bacon and pancakes? Regardless, I love the concept and have been dying to experiment with bacon desserts in my own kitchen. Although we did a great job not overlapping our choices on the rest of the menu, we all went with this same dessert: a small piece of red velvet cake topped with peanut butter icing and a banana slice served with a dollop of salty cream cheese icing sprinkled with bacon. My only complaint: I would have preferred five of them.
I was almost as excited to try PS 7’s cocktails as I was their food. Their mixologist, often described as a cocktail chef, has won a number of awards and they warn to allow for extra time for the gourmet drinks to be made to order. The menu was a decision to be reckoned with, featuring cocktails that included saffron, lavender and beets. The Sun and Sand, which included a root beer sugar rim, was small but tasty, but the Gnome’s Water didn’t differ much from a cucumber mojito– I really couldn’t taste the lavender. We ordered a round of dessert cocktails as well, mostly because I had to try the Sav U’R Cereal I’d read about in the Washingtonian and I feel better about myself when not drinking alone. The Dark & Skinny from their 100 calorie menu looked like a chocolate milk shake but didn’t taste like one, and the burning aftertaste left Julie unable to finish it; the Salted Caramel, which you’d also think would be a dessert drink, was pretty much rye on the rocks. My cocktail was made with milk that has had children’s cereal soaking in it, mixed with rye and an all spice dram and topped with Captain Crunch. When things are put on a menu that sound that weird, I just can’t help myself. The closest thing I can think to describe it as is a spiked eggnog, but it was much lighter and really quite enjoyable.
The service was a little spotty- our waiter was patient but not prompt and messed up one of our orders, although he made up for it by comping an entire meal. The cocktails were hit or miss, but enough fun that I am willing to gamble and the food was not only delicious but creative enough that you would never leave thinking “I could have made that at home.” I will definitely come back, hopefully (hint hint) to try their seven-course food and cocktail tasting menu!
