Mendocino Grille and Wine Bar

[Al_Dente]

HOWEVER don't bother clicking for the printable menu right now - that still has the winter one.

Whoops! I'll have that fixed ASAP. Looks like we forgot to replace the PDF file, with a spring or summer menu.

Thanks for the heads up!

If I can see the new menu, I might be convinced to go there for my bday dinner. The pdf still says Winter 2004.

[chengb02]

Passed by during a weekend walk through Georgetown with friends. We stopped in front of Mendocino, but moved on. It was a decision I regretted, but I'll need to make the group stop next time I'm in town...

[JRage]

I've updated the menus on the Mendocino website... but if you don't want to go to our website...

...here are some direct links to download (pdf) the different menus;

Saturday Brunch

Lunch

Dinner

Dessert

Thanks for the heads up! Let me know if you have any questions.

[Al_Dente]

I took Jrage up on his kind offer on a table for 2 for my birthday meal. It’s great having your birthday on a Saturday—slept in, took a hike on the C&O, lounged by a pool and napped despite the car-alarm volume of the cicadas. This restaurant fit in perfectly with the wonderful day I had. Jrage included a few thoughtful birthday touches too.

My personalized “Happy Birthday Mike!!!” menus arrived while I sipped on some pinot juice from Carneros (note to Rocks: served at the right temp, btw). As I perused and finished my glass our waiter brought us a couple of glasses of sparklers courtesy of Jrage. To start, I had an excellent house-made charcuterie plate. The rabbit terrine and chicken liver pate were great with the grilled bread. For once there was enough (even more than enough) bread to go with the spreads. By the way, why do so many restaurants give you only one or two slices of bread? You’d have to pile huge mounds of stuff onto such a paltry amount. Anyway, this dish also came with duck prosciutto wrapped figs. This was a little disappointing because the prosciutto was postage stamp-sized and affixed to the side of each fig. The duck was barely noticeable, but I do enjoy figs. My girlfriend had the baked pornici ricotta raviolo. By itself this would have been good with its toasty flavor, but it was the fava bean pesto that really made it delicious.

Then Drew the chef came out, introduced himself, and served us an amuse of vichyssoise with house-made smoked salmon. This had a nice creamy texture while still remaining light and delicate and the spoonful of salmon was excellent. Next up, grilled Jamison Farm lamb medallions. The flavor of the lamb was perfect, but whatever cut it was seemed fairly tough. It came with an artichoke barigoule and chickpea fries that I thought were novel and tasty. The star of the night was my girlfriend’s gnocchi with morels, fiddleheads, and ramps in a shallow puddle of wild mushroom broth. I’ve been trying to come up with the right adjective for this dish. Jurassic? It was deep, dark, damp, and incredibly earthy. Seemed kind of primeval—a beautiful dish.

If I had room for it, I would have ordered one of the cheese courses to finish, but I had enough and chose to drink my last course—a glass of 20-year-old Dow’s port. We also made a stop at the wine bar at Bistrot Lepic for champagne (have we had reviews of that place yet? I dig the wine bar, but have never had dinner there).

Anyway, overall Mendocino made for a wonderful birthday night out. I must go back to the bar and try some cheese sometime soon. They do a cheese tasting with wine pairings for $40. Unfortunately Jrage left for the day by the time we arrived, so I’ll have to time my cheese night with a time he works.

[sara]

Anyway, this dish also came with duck prosciutto wrapped figs. This was a little disappointing because the prosciutto was postage stamp-sized and affixed to the side of each fig. The duck was barely noticeable, but I do enjoy figs.

Were the figs fresh or dried??

[Al_Dente]

Were the figs fresh or dried??

Dried.

[mktye]

This thread immediately caught my eye because I grew up near the town of Mendocino in northern California and some of my family still live in that area. So last Sunday, my husband and I braved the holiday/Georgetown traffic and had dinner at Mendocino. Our friends, Mr. & Mrs. S, are also native Californians and joined us to check out the California-style cuisine.

We arrived a bit before our friends so we sat at the bar and perused the by-the-glass wine list – we got a chuckle out of the “Interesting Whites” and “Interesting Reds” headings on the list since it seemed to imply the “Merlots” and “Chardonnays” were not. My husband also amused himself noting the non-traditional areas of wine production in California these days – he grew up in Marin county and is still a bit of a Napa Valley wine snob.

As was said in earlier reviews, the décor of the restaurant was very nice. Soothing and cozy without being dark or claustrophobic. They also had a very good ratio of staff to customers. Our waiter was good, but, between his accent and his soft-spoken-ness, we had trouble hearing him even in the near-empty dining room.

We each ordered a different appetizer and shared. Mrs. S had the baked porcini ricotta raviolo. It was as good as Al_Dente said in his post and something I would definitely order in the future. Mr. S had the crab remoulade. It was excellent – fresh and light atop beautiful asparagus. Probably the most California-y of the appetizers. My husband ordered the blue corn fried clams. I thought they tasted a bit murky and that the oil they were fried in needed to be changed, but my husband liked them. The accompanying avocado salad was delicious. I had the vichyssoise soup special and our waiter took great care to tell me that it would be served cold and to make sure that I still wanted to order it. Um… yes… I would have been worried if it had been served warm. The soup had a very nice texture and flavor. Not too thick and very smooth (I suspect it was strained through a chinois rather than just blended).

For salads, the men each had the Caesar. The upright presentation in the “crouton” (it appeared to be something similar to a springroll wrapper that had been fried into a tall cup shape) was quite California-cuisine-like, but luckily there was more to the salad than just visual appeal. Once deconstructed and mixed together, it was very tasty and the dressing was not overly garlicy. I had the baby lettuce salad with the stilton dressing, but was a bit disappointed. It was a good salad, but I could not really taste the stilton over the tarragon (?) in the dressing. Mrs. S did not have salad to save room for her entrée (actually, she really wanted to save room for dessert).

Now the weird part of the evening – when the salads were served, I started to look around the room… were we the only table without any bread? No, no bread in sight at any of the tables. Hmmm. I am the self-proclaimed Queen of Carbs... I am the Baroness of Bread… I am Miss Anti-Atkins… I am… distressed! Okay, no one panic. Luckily, my husband was not eating his “crouton” so I snagged a few pieces off his plate. Phew, carb-emergency averted.

For the entrees, the men once again ordered the same thing (much to my chagrin since I wanted one of them to order the salmon so I could taste it). They had the grilled lamb medallions and, like Al_Dente (again), they found them a bit tough (but my husband very rarely finds American lamb to his liking). My husband also thought the lamb lacked grilled flavor. He and Mr. S were split on the chickpea fries, although Mr. S. seemed to like them less once he found out that they were made from chickpeas and what chickpeas were. However, I thought they were excellent. Mrs. S had the roasted chicken and it was cooked to perfection, but she was surprised that the Marsala sauce was tomato-based. I ordered the gnocchi. It had a very good, intense mushroom flavor that was somehow reminiscent of California, but about halfway through it started to wear on my palate. I think next time I’d split it with someone and have half of their entrée. Or maybe some bread would have helped…

For dessert, the chocoholic Mrs. S had the chocolate pot de crème that she said could not be improved on. I had the strawberry sorbet that was quite refreshing with just the right amount of sugar. The almond vacherin that came with it was also a good contrast. The gentlemen wimped out and said they were too full.

We had a very nice dinner overall and, to yet again echo Al_Dente, I would like to return soon to try the cheese tasting plate.

And, yes, in retrospect, I probably should have asked for bread (and certainly would have if I had seen any at any other tables in the restaurant). I guess I just did not want to take the chance of hearing an incredulous “bread?!?, you want bread?!?”. But I am left to wonder, was there some sort of D.C.-area bread shortage? Have the low-carb folk taken over the world? Or am I just horribly out-of-style in wanting bread with my meal?

[JPW]

Hmmm. I am the self-proclaimed Queen of Carbs... I am the Baroness of Bread… I am Miss Anti-Atkins… I am… distressed!  Okay, no one panic. Luckily, my husband was not eating his “crouton” so I snagged a few pieces off his plate. Phew, carb-emergency averted.

mktye,

Great review.

I believe that all of us who went to the Malcolm X picnic will be happy to strip the "self-proclaimed" from the above quote.

By the (lack of) power vested (although I don't think I've worn a vest since I worked at a Todd English restaurant 11 years ago) in me (by myself) I hearby proclaim you the

Queen of Carbs and

Baroness of Bread.

You may now toast the crouton.

[mktye]

Thank you, thank you...

Do I get to wear a croissant coronet? A philo sash? Carry a baguette scepter?

[JennyUptown]

Is this the current menu?

JRage - are you out there?

[DrewTr]

Is this the current menu?

JRage - are you out there?

←

I'm not JRage, but I can say that the menu on our website is not current. We are trying to get our web designer in to show us how to update the site in house. If you want me to I can fax or e-mail you the current menu. It is a work in progress as we are updating it for fall.

Drew Trautmann

Executive Chef

Mendocino Grille

[DonRocks]

I'm not JRage, but I can say that the menu on our website is not current. We are trying to get our web designer in to show us how to update the site in house. If you want me to I can fax or e-mail you the current  menu. It is a work in progress as we are updating it for fall.

Drew Trautmann

Executive Chef

Mendocino Grille

←

Hi Drew,

As long as we've got you here, would you mind mentioning a plate or two that is going to be on the "must-try" list?

Thanks!

Rocks.

[Malawry]

I second the request. I'm coming by soon, finally.

[DrewTr]

As I mentioned, the menu is in flux right now, while we are waiting (very impatiently) for things to come in. Currently, we have a roasted baby beet salad with greek feta, toasted walnuts, frisee', & walnut vinaigrette that I like, also there are seared diver scallops with braised baby root vegetables, black trumpet mushrooms, celery root puree' & herbed braising jus. In the offing, grilled virginia kobe tri-tip with oxtail porcini tart, & fresh alaskan spot prawns with their roe steamed in dashi. Our menu constantly changes, but I can tell you I have been looking forward to brussels sprouts. On the dessert side we have an local apple dried cranberry cobbler with maple cinnamon ice cream. The apples we have been getting are amazing & also appear in our chicken liver bruschetta. On fridays our fish purveyor has been bringing in fish from Japan (all sorts of interesting sashimi grade fish) & we have been playing with it. Most recently, we had sea bream tartare with watermelon radish, preserved lemon, & hyssop dressing. Hope this whets your appetite.

[hillvalley]

That baby beet salad sounds amazing. I'll have to stop by very soon to try it.

[FunJohnny]

As I mentioned, the menu is in flux right now, while we are waiting (very impatiently) for things to come in. Currently, we have a roasted baby beet salad with greek feta, toasted walnuts, frisee', & walnut vinaigrette that I like, also there are seared diver scallops with braised baby root vegetables, black trumpet mushrooms, celery root puree' & herbed braising jus. In the offing, grilled virginia kobe tri-tip with oxtail porcini tart, & fresh alaskan spot prawns with their roe steamed in dashi. Our menu constantly changes, but  I can tell you I have been looking forward to brussels sprouts. On the dessert side we have an local apple dried cranberry cobbler with maple cinnamon ice cream. The apples we have been getting are amazing & also appear in our chicken liver bruschetta. On fridays our fish purveyor has been bringing in fish from Japan (all sorts of interesting sashimi grade fish) & we have been playing with it. Most recently, we had sea bream tartare with watermelon radish, preserved lemon, & hyssop dressing. Hope this whets your appetite.

←

Any of these going to affect the lunch menu? (I.E. by appearing on it)

[DrewTr]

Any of these going to affect the lunch menu? (I.E. by appearing on it)

←

The beet salad is already there as is the cobbler. The other items may find a way on to the lunch menu in varied forms and many times if a request is made at lunch for something on the dinner menu we are able to fill it. Say hi next time you're in.

[JennyUptown]

After a really wonderful meal at Mendocino last night, I have to say that I think this place deserves more discussion.

I'm not the food expert that some of you, my esteemed fellow egulleteers are, so I'll keep my post brief, but man...I really, really liked it.

The space: intimate, lots of light wood, flattering lighting. Really attractive. The front bar area is definitely a linger, chat and snack-friendly place. The dining room isn't spacious - some will find it cramped - but I thought it cozy.

We started with a round of cocktails and wine as we were celebrating (a friend's upcoming wedding, my birthday). I tried - and retried - Mendocino's take on sangria. Served up in a martini glass with a slice of orange, it was deliciously sweet-tart. The first disappeared quickly; I had another.

I skipped the appetizer portion of the evening as I had treated myself to a birthday ice cream sundae around 5 pm.

What we ate:

Smoked pumpkin soup, toasted pumpkinseed oil, lavash

[ordered by the bride-to-be, the only one who had an appetizer; she didn't share as she seemed to really like her soup]

* * * * *

Homemade potato gnocchi chanterelles, sweet corn, kale, cherry tomatoes, corn froth

($16)

[my dish; loved it and I'm not a vegetarian-dish ordering sort; the gnocchi was light, not heavy, and I'm a sucker for any dish with corn]

Oven-roasted organic chicken, scallion mashed potatoes, rapini, wild mushroom marsala gravy

($19)

[bride-to-be again did not share, but this was the best looking chicken I've seen in awhile, all brown-and-gravied goodness]

Seared diver scallops, celery root puree, baby carrots, turnips, pearl onions, black trumpet mushrooms, herbed braising jus

($25)

[the friend who ordered this liked it so much that she talked me, the non-seafood-eater, into tasting a scallop; I can't lie - I hated it, but that's just me and I'm weird, I know]

The fourth member of our party had a big-eye tuna special; no recap available.

* * * * *

Cheese

Two goats

Two cows

Two blues

Better descriptions are available at Mendocino's web site but our favorites were the blues as well as the very creamy St. Marcellin

Dessert

Local apple cranberry cobbler, cinnamon maple ice cream

[the ice cream in particular was oh-my-gosh good]

Scharfen berger chocolate pots de creme, whipped cream, biscotti

[delicious, simple and rich - reminded me of how awesome chocolate pudding tasted as a kid]

* * * * *

The staff at Mendocino is really lovely - everyone we encountered was fabulous. In particular... Our server Melissa handled an awkward situation with one member of our party with aplomb. We also got to talk with Executive Chef Drew Trautmann who was gracious and warm. Alas, co-proprietor Jared Rager (egullet's own JRage) was out of town so we didn't get to meet him.

Surely on a future visit, we will. Can't wait to go back!

[FunJohnny]

The staff at Mendocino is really lovely - everyone we encountered was fabulous.  In particular... Our server Melissa handled an awkward situation with one member of our party with aplomb.  We also got to talk with Executive Chef Drew Trautmann who was gracious and warm.  Alas, co-proprietor Jared Rager (egullet's own JRage) was out of town so we didn't get to meet him.

Surely on a future visit, we will.  Can't wait to go back!

←

Jenny is right. Mendocino Grille deserves some more luv on this site. And Melissa is definitely a sweetie -- deserves a raise Jared -- worth her weight in gold. BTW this month they are featuring Virginia wines, so for those who may not be familiar or have been previously turned off by the return on the price now's a new opportunity for a re-appraisal.

[saycheese]

Having worked in Georgetown for the last 8 years, I remember being very excited when Mendocino Grille first opened, amidst the wasteland of tourist trap hell holes that seem to predominate on M Street, and then being seriously underwhelmed the few times I went there. Now, on the verge of changing jobs and leaving my Georgetown venue, I resolved to try Mendocino Grille again, based primarily on the comments here. What can I say, except that the kobe beef burger is something I'll dream about after I'm gone. Perfectly cooked, pink in the middle, juicy, flavorful. Total yum! The fries accompanying it were wonderful as well. Melissa at the bar was extremely helpful regarding the wines by the glass. I will regret missing all those lost opportunities to have lunch at the bar, as I did today, but hope to return for dinner to try more of the menu items. This was a completely satisfying experience and a perfect way to get the weekend off to a good start.

[FunJohnny]

Having worked in Georgetown for the last 8 years, I remember being very excited when Mendocino Grille first opened, amidst the wasteland of tourist trap hell holes that seem to predominate on M Street, and then being seriously underwhelmed the few times I went there.  Now, on the verge of changing jobs and leaving my Georgetown venue, I resolved to try Mendocino Grille again, based primarily on the comments here.   What can I say, except that the kobe beef burger is something I'll dream about after I'm gone.  Perfectly cooked, pink in the middle, juicy, flavorful.  Total yum!  The fries accompanying it were wonderful as well.   Melissa at the bar was extremely helpful regarding the wines by the glass.   I will regret missing all those lost opportunities to have lunch at the bar, as I did today, but hope to return for dinner to try more of the menu items.   This was a completely satisfying experience and a perfect way to get the weekend off to a good start.

←

Having sat at the opposite end of the bar today, I can also add "Run Do Not Walk" to have the broiled oysters in a sage/truffle sabayon. Did anyone know that on Sundays (dinner) you can get bottles of wine at half price?

Edited October 22, 2004 by FunJohnny (log)

[FunJohnny]

After much urging I finally went for dinner at Mendocino last night with my daughter. Taking advantage of the 1/2 priced wines, I had a Turley "Rattlesnake Ridge" Zin -- WoW! My little girl, who's favorite refrain at home is "Oh dad, why do you have to cook so gourmet!" tucked into quail served on a bed of cabbage after she sucked down a bowl of the Parsnip soup. I had the braised short rib w/ribeye. Very succulent and accompanied the wine (really the main event) nicely. Melissa and another server who's name I didn't get provided excellent service, as usual. G'town was buzzing for an early Sunday evening -- must be the Christmas shopping season. Mendocino is a nice port for those who need a respite from the frenzy in the shops.

[tjaehnigen]

What day of the week do they have half priced wine nights?

[DrewTr]

Half price wine night occurs every Sunday.

[FunJohnny]

Whilst we await the opening of Mendocino "Hill", I thought an update on the lunch offerings in G'town would be worthwhile. The RW week 3 courses for $21 is still in effect and the menu has some additions: Apps: diver scallops (w/surcharge); entrees: housemade potato gnocchi, seafood cioppino (w/surcharge), housemade wild boar (shot personally by Drew with the assistance of Troy as the bush whacker ) sausage/pasta. Dropped by today and had the scallops + the boar sausage + the coffee flan with the Pelligrini Carignane -- yum. I gleaned some good intel on what the new place will be like, but was sworn to secrecy So you will have to go there yourselves and ask Jared.

Edited February 1, 2005 by FunJohnny (log)