CityZen Lounge Menu

[sdelgato]

Anyone been yet? I have heard rumblings but nothing concrete. With it's staff pedigree, it has the makings of a powerhouse.

[DonRocks]

Approaching the hotel from the northern perspective, one appreciates the scallop atop the majestic batiment, the crescendo of grandeur as one strolls slowly across the trestle, winding across the expansive exterior foyer, disappearing into the frosted glass porticos.

Translation: if you're a cheap fuck like me, park across the railroad tracks and check your car insurance beforehand.

I went through the majority of the lounge menu at CityZen this evening. Here's the scoop:

The drink menu is impressive, with page-after-page of interesting and thoughtful choices, ranging from the affordable (fine selection of quality beers for $6, Bouchard Montagny for $9, a fabulous, traditional Sidecar for $10) to the hilarious ("Jack Daniels is Using his Blackberry in Tennessee" - a whiskey drink made with blackberry puree) to the insane (a $650 glass of Cognac: take your pick from among three of them). Three dozen vodkas, a dozen rums. [note: it's hard to believe so many millions of dollars would go into this restaurant, and they wouldn't pay someone $100 to spend thirty minutes spellchecking their drink menu]

The toro of marinated salmon and beef tartare (in the $13-14 range each) are flat-out great, and perfect ordered side-by-side. I cannot rave enough about these great little plates - if you're on a budget, scarf a few handfuls of nuts to fill up on, and then order one of them. The potato crisps that come with the beef tartare are the best thing approaching a potato chip that I've ever tasted and must be tried to be believed - just try and eating a waffle fry at Chick-Fil-A when you've had one of these babies.

But contrast these with the porcini soup with Madras curry puree (a dollop of vegetable creme spooned atop the soup, $10), which was a no-holds-barred failure. The proportion of (cool) puree -to- (hot) soup was excessively high, and the puree was overtly curried to the point of being dry-spice gross. This soup will either change or come off the menu in the near future (trust me).

Braised ox heart with Bermuda onions ($10 or so) was perfectly executed, and a stunning combination of salt(ox)-and-sweet(onions), fat(ox)-and-acid(onions), earthen(ox)-and-colorful(onions), warm(ox)-and-cool(onions). I was worried about this dish because I've seen similar things in the past that are clunky-gamey and crunchy-thick-oniony, but this was just a perfect combination of a well-conceived recipe supported by great work in the kitchen.

Speaking of the (semi-open) kitchen, I smiled when I walked past, looked over, and noticed the consummate professional Ron Tanaka (former saucier at Citronelle), front and center, working the line furiously, hopping and sweating, looking like he was trying to stop a dam from bursting. Everyone that knows Ron likes him, and it's nice to see this hard-working and talented chef here at CityZen, sure to get the credit he richly deserves.

At the bottom of the lounge menu, there are four intimidating dishes: three rillettes (low $20s) and a foie-gras ($42), all served in a preserving jar. In no way should you run from the prices of these dishes, as they are enough for two or three people to share, and worth it. The duck rillettes was everything you could possibly hope for, served with cornichons and brioche presented in an interesting nod to (rip-off from? message about?) Citronelle's fries: rectangular prisms, stacked perpendicularly in twos, well... if you've had Citronelle's fries before, you'll instantly recognize what I mean here.

After dinner comes the cheese course (if you're quirky and want to go backwards on the menu to order it), and this California Saint-Marcellin-looking disk (I cannot remember the name of the cheese) is baked up in a little ramekin and comes out looking like a small order of hummus, served with terrific housemade pita bread and a pear chutney with pine nuts in it. This middle-eastern riff was clever and cheeky, but it simply didn't work - the hot cheese tasting blue (it wasn't blue) and acrid, and dominating every other component on the dish.

Four brilliant plates, two misses, excellent service and atmosphere, great and imaginative drinks (the wines by the glass are merely decent, not great). Not at all bad considering how short a time they've been open, and at the highest heights, this meal was a clear indication that CityZen Lounge is going to be in its own right, apart from CitiZen the Restaurant, a worthy destination for fine dining.

Cheers!

Rocks.

P.S. CityZen Restaurant currently offers 3 courses (app, main, dessert) for $70 or a 5-course tasting menu (app, fish, meat, cheese, dessert) for $90 (nothing on the tasting menu was on the 3-course menu, but the styles of the offerings were similar. My (excellent) bartender told me that he'd see if they could serve me the 3-course at the bar, although I was perfectly content to explore the Lounge Menu instead. They are not booked for next week at this point - as of this evening, they had openings at any time next Wednesday or Thursday nights, for those curious earlybirds among us.

P.P.S. The meal this evening got rather extensive, and when I asked for a copy of the lounge menu to take with me, they politely declined, saying it was against hotel policy to give out the menu for now, so I'm recalling all of these plates from memory, with the appropriate disclaimers if I miss something, but I think I'm pretty close to accurate as I was paying serious attention to what came out tonight.

[Malawry]

Thanks for taking one for the team, Don. Those rillettes: I assume one of the other two was pork. You mentioned the duck. What's the third one, do you remember? I am a big fan of rillettes and may try to swing by for rillettes and a cocktail sometime.

[DonRocks]

Thanks for taking one for the team, Don. Those rillettes: I assume one of the other two was pork. You mentioned the duck. What's the third one, do you remember? I am a big fan of rillettes and may try to swing by for rillettes and a cocktail sometime.

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Hmm ... going from visual memory here. Top item was pork, second one was duck, last one was the foie-gras... third one was ... salmon I think, but don't hold me to this.

Our bartender (both bartenders were very good) briefly explained how these were made in-house. I don't remember the exact details, but they reflected quality and care, and it showed on the plate. The toasted brioche was perfectly made, but I wished there were more than eight of them for this ample jar of rillettes which was served a touch too cold (I prefer rillettes served at room temperature although in a new restaurant (where they're making them earlier and guessing how many need to be served at the bar) that can't be easy to control).

Be careful about going for a rillettes after work and showing up with a twenty. You'll either valet park here or feel like a groundling, and your evening will cost something pushing $50 for parking, rillettes, one drink, tax and tips for the server and valet. It is possible to eat affordably here (I've become the master at this), but there's definitely a fixed cost to one person bopping in for a quick nibble.

[hillvalley]

I'm curious about trying the salmon and beef tartare at the same time. I imagine the flavors are so delicate in each dish but cannot imagine them together. Did the oils of the salmon effect the flavor and texture of the beef?

If you had to choose one, which would you pick?

[hannnah]

And just how dicey is the neighborhood?  Wondering if I should recommend the hotel to my in-laws or whether they are going after an "edgier" clientele.

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The neighborhood's not bad exactly, but it gets really, really deserted and kind of creepy after about 6pm once all the L'Enfant Plaza crowd goes home. I'm sure if you're driving yourself in and out it's fine, but I wouldn't walk the 5 blocks from the Metro to the hotel if it weren't light out.

[John W.]

The last time Slater and I went we took a fuckin' limo.

Being inside an automobile should be enough to protect anyone from the "elements."

[Mark Sommelier]

Do they sell these jars of rillettes to go?

[eunny jang]

the ox hearts sound amazing, though i like heart cooked crisp-crusted over dry heat rather than braised to melting, myself.

or was this thread about something other than a restaurant and the food they serve? i can't remember.

[raisab]

Rillettes of Foie Gras? You are speaking my language there, but how do you do that besides serving it completely cru?

Edited September 26, 2004 by raisab (log)

[Steve Klc]

Thanks for the wonderful report Don. I haven't had good rillettes in four years and have a craving.

[babka]

What exactly is a rillette?  Those that y'all describe from CityZen intrigue me.

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I had the same question.

[Mark Sommelier]

For a less expensive alternative, go to Bistro Français in Georgetown and order the duck rilletes. They are always on the menu. Rillettes are most commonly made from duck, pork and rabbit. Foie gras sounds sinful, since it is so fatty to start with. Rocks, is this different from the preserved foie gras one can buy in France?

Edited September 27, 2004 by Mark Sommelier (log)

[Bux]

Rillettes are typically pork belly with lots of fat that have been long cooked and then shredded. Good small batch artisanal rillettes will be shredded by hand using a couple of forks, but most charcuteries have a more industrial grade shredded by machine. They can be very fatty and sometimes look more like pork fat mousse than meat, but I insist I have never met a rillette that didn't make the bread taste even better. More upscale rillettes are made from, or more likely with duck, rabbit, goose and pork. A few years ago I was at the charcuterie counter of a very fancy hypermarché in Brittany. I saw a pot of pork rillette at an economical price. Next to it was a pot of rabbit rillette for a bit more followed by goose or duck, I forget which, at even more money. The fourth and most expensive jar was pure pork again, but this time from a superior breed of pig raised organically. Now that's choice.

The fish rillettes I've seen in France are really little more than what we'd call fish salad shredded into a spread. olive oil, mayonnaise or butter will render them untuous like pork rillettes, but often they're not that rich. In fact you can buy them canned. Truthfully, they look not unlike cat food, but to many pate looks like dog food and the seasoning as much as anything else sets them apart as a potential tread.

[DonRocks]

I'm curious about trying the salmon and beef tartare at the same time.  I imagine the flavors are so delicate in each dish but cannot imagine them together.  Did the oils of the salmon effect the flavor and texture of the beef?

If you had to choose one, which would you pick?

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Wow, this thread has gotten a lot of response. Hillvalley, the salmon was glistening with a wonderful patina of olive oil, but it was also firm, fresh and extremely subtle. The beef was very delicate too, and the delicacy of both dishes made them work side-by-side and in fact, they were originally ordered in sequence and the bartender recommended that we get them together. I hate to pick between them but you've got to go with the potato crisps on the beef dish at gunpoint.

Do they sell these jars of rillettes to go?

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Hi Mark. In the lounge, I suspect not (I can't picture the hungover Krispy Kreme crowd lined up out the door and around the block waiting for their rillettes ), but with your connections who knows?

the ox hearts sound amazing, though i like heart cooked crisp-crusted over dry heat rather than braised to melting, myself.

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Hi eunny, these were sliced into really thin strips that had an almost raw-giant-clam texture which was a perfect tactile foil to the ever-so-slight crisp remaining on the marinated onions.

Rillettes of Foie Gras? You are speaking my language there, but how do you do that besides serving it completely cru?

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Raisab, no the foie gras wasn't a rillettes; I saw it from a distance, and our server implied that it was a traditional bloc which I assume means they source whole lobes and press them although I can't be certain.

Cheers!

Rocks.

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P.S. Thanks.

[fero style]

I actually tried `sardine rillettes` which were pretty good and full fat flavor.

this was some other restaurant.