6 days of eating and drinking in DC

[little ms foodie]

TallDrinkOfWater and I just got back last night after a very fun trip to DC!

We didn't take the camera out with us for meals but we had some really nice dinners and thought I would share. Thank you all for steering us in the right directions!

We stayed at the Topaz in Dupont Circle and after checking in on Friday night we headed to Corduroy for dinner. I had forgotten it was in the Sheraton, the only thing we didn't really care for (low ceilings, hotel-y feel). We had the torchon of foie gras which was great and the mozzerela porcupine which was good but needed s & p or something. Next up was the striped bass with trumpet mushroom sauce and the lamb sirloin with mini goat cheese ravioli. both were excellent! We mentioned to our waiter Tom that we were thinking of heading to the Firefly for drinks and would he recommend that? Tom let us know that his brother Derek was the manager and he was heading there too! Small town......

Drinks at Firefly (a Kimpton hotel) were great and Derek was really nice to comp us a round.

The next day we did a bit of musuem going and then stopped into the Willard Hotel for drinks at the Round Robin Bar. Great old atmosphere!! That night we had dinner at The Oval Room. It was a very nice evening! We had the tasting menu with the wine pairings:

Amuse of mussel with mussel foam

Red Mullet, foie gras, fava beans, orange vineagrette

Salmon tartare, salmon roe, salmon ice cream on cucumber soup (excellent!)

Lobster, morel, fiddleheads on pea puree

Lamb, topeka, peas, bluefoot mushrooms and jus

Zuchini cake, buttermilk icecream, carmel (one of the 10 best things ever!)

Roasted pinapple, crisp pinapple and ice cream

Selection of 7 cheeses (including one delicious and illegal blue)

Chef Matt Secich came out and talked with us for a while, he is incredibly nice and really cares about his food. I can't believe he has only been here 4 months!!

Helix lounge after for cocktails (another Kimpton! haha!)

[little ms foodie]

Sunday morning we had brunch at the Tabard Inn just next to our hotel. A couple at Corduroy told us about it- wonderful eggs, house made sausages, hollandaise sauces, etc. Then we worked it off by walking around all the memorials on the Mall and Tidle Basin.

A late day snack of oysters and sauv blanc at the Old Ebbitt Grill were just what we needed to tie us over until dinner at Cirtonelle.

What a beautiful restaurant and we were excited to finally get really nice stemware! That was strange to us, in seattle it seems that most places use Riedel or Spieglau (sp?). We didn't have the full tasting but each had 5 courses.

Amuse (can remember what kind of fish tartare but was excellent!)

First course I had the Lobster Begula which was amazing! even after all the hype I loved this! Dayne had the tuna nicoise napoleon which was also beautiful and delicious! One trip was that we had to wait for the sommelier after the dished were put in front of us and then for him to go get our selections to have with the course. I'd say that the Sunday sommelier wasn't quite up to par. He didn't know the vintages of many of the wines Dayne was discussing with him and also seemed quite slow and a bit unprofessional at times.

Back to the food. Next course was the Rabbit Tasting for me. Loin with mustard sauce, roasted leg and confit with pasta- OMG, yum!!!! Dayne had the Chautenbrian (sp) which was perfect and amazing too. We both loved our food here.

A nice but not over the top cheese plate was next.

Then we ordered our dessert- the waiter knew we were from Seattle so he sent the Tasting of Apples on the house. We also had the Breakfast at Citronelle which was surprisingly not hokey and was all very good. And the Chocolate mushroom was excellent. Too stuffed to continue our Kimpton bar crawl we headed home. This was our favorite meal.

[little ms foodie]

The next day we were walking around the Capitol so we stopped in at the Hawk & Dove for lunch and a beer. Great dive bar! After some more museum going we had a beer at the Dubliner before taking a much needed nap. Dinner was at Bistrot du Coin which was good but not great. We have a few french bistrot places here in seattle that I am a bit more impressed with. But the atmosphere was fun and friendly. Kimpton bar tour continues with Rouge after dinner.

Tuesday we spent the day at RFK stadium for the Nationals opener. We have never had to stand in lines like that for sausages and beers. Yikes!!! It was very frustrating. Dinner that night was at Jaleo which was good but again I didn't care for the interior. Our tapas were all great, wine was excellent and service very nice. Dayne thought the value here was fantastic! Wound up the Kimpton bar tour across the street (how convienent!) at the Monaco bar Post.

Our last day we had breakfast again at the Tabard Inn then shopping in Georgetown. We ended up having a pretty good lunch at J. Pauls on M street.

So you can see that we did a lot but missed a lot. We really wanted to go for Ethiopian food but it just didn't work out and there are still quite a few restaurants we'd like to check out. I think we did all the bars though unless Kimpton opens some new ones! haha!

[monavano]

Thank you SO much for sharing your visit to our city! You covered a lot!! of ground and I'm so glad you enjoyed yourself.

ps....do come back soon.

[docsconz]

Sounds like a wonderful trip, Wendy. You certainly got me hungry. I am thinking of a quick foray in May for The Oval Room (I need to see or taste for myself how Matt is doing down there. We certainly miss his cooking and presence up here), Minibar, where I have yet to dine and if I can squeeze in an extra day back to Citronelle. I have a craving for that Lobster Begula again. There are of course a few other places I would love to either get back to again or visit for the first time, but unfortunately one can only do so much at a time.

[C. sapidus]

If you are dining in DC, you really need to go to Adams Morgan and sample all of the wonderful international food. I'm not a regular any more, but there was always good Ethiopian, Mexican, Cuban, etc. Cool area, too.

Bruce