Whenever I meet up with Dan in DC, he tries to find a fun trendy place in the city, which I appreciate. We both agreed that we didn't really get all the hype around this one and it was a bit of #fail, although he seemed to dislike it more than I did. The setting of the restaurant was totally fine - it was a bit dark but they had a nice outdoor space that looked like it would have been a lot of fun if it wasn't 20 degrees outside.
The menu here is kind of a mish mosh of a bunch of random small plates as well as a duck special for 2-3 people that I would have totally indulged in if I were with my friends Jen and Kevin. Instead, Dan and I opted for the zucchini bread ($15), steak tartare ($15), roasted sunchokes ($13) and the gnocchi ($16). The zucchini bread came out quite quickly (almost too quickly) and was served with a side of foie gras mousse topped with chamomile gelee and bee pollen. The bread itself was nice, warm and slightly sweet from an overdose of butter on it. The foie gras was kind of a weird pairing with it - it just felt odd to spread foie gras on a sweet buttered piece of zucchini bread. I'm also not a huge fan of gelee either. Dan and I kept saying that we only liked the bread yet couldn't stop putting foie gras on each piece. Oh well - who wants to waste foie gras? Next was the steak tartare and I was on my own for this dish since Dan wouldn't eat it and it honestly was the best dish of the night. It was a nice helping of chopped up tartare served with a yolk on the side - the pros of this dish was that it came with a side of tater tots which I thought was a genius way to serve it up, the con was that it also came with a weird topping of onion dip. I like my steak tartare really clean tasting and a creamy dip on top it didn't work for me. But I loved the combination of the tater tots with it - yes, it seems a bit childish but I will eat tater tots in any format. Next came the roasted sunchokes, which we got mostly because the table next to us got it and it looked healthy and green. It was more like a salad with kale, sunchokes and pieces of fried tofu. Unfortunately it was majorly overdressed - like to the point where the kale was soaking in dressing. Total buzzkill. I liked the idea of the dish but it wasn't executed really well. Last came the gnocchi which came with a pork kimchi ragu and smoked pecorino. The gnocchi itself was nice and soft and the pork kimchi ragu was a creative topping. It was a totally fine dish but it could have used a bit more flavor or heat to it given that it had kimchi.
Overall, the meal was totally fine and enjoyable enough. But neither Dan nor I felt like it would be a place that we would run back to and we didn't really get what all the buzz was about. I would definitely come back for the steak tartare and ask them to hold the onion dip and pile on extra tater tots. Maybe the duck dinner is the way to go but I guess I'll never know. Total bill: $57/pp with tax, tip and drinks
Photo Credit: Yelp
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