mb palaver

RestaurantPalaver: Fabio Trabocchi Is Back, at Fiola

Washington has a new player in the Italian restaurant field.  Fiola is the latest venture of acclaimed chef Fabio Trabocchio.  It's a departure from Maestro, the over-the-top luxury dining destination at the Ritz at Tysons Corner where Fabio helmed the kitchen until 2007.  Fabio left DC for Fiamma restaurant in SoHo, which closed its doors in 2009, evidently a result of the recession and the public's reduced appetite for extravagant dining.  Perhaps in reaction to that experience, Fiola aims to be more informal and affordable, though both concepts are relative.  The dining room at Fiola may not be formal, but it is no neighborhood hangout, and though dining there won't break the bank, for most of us it's not an every day sort of event.  The menu reads like high end Italian comfort food, if that's not a contradiction in terms.  In addition to the traditional pasta dish cacio e pepe (basically, with cheese and pepper), the menu includes lobster ravioli, a very delicate but rich dish of a few ravioli stuffed with lobster, accompanied by lobster claw meat and a ginger-scented foam (apparently a staple of Maestro's menu).

I dined there with some friends during the restaurant's first week, when they were offering a 10% discount to make up for any bumps in service, a nice gesture.  When I called to make the reservation, I spoke to a woman who sounded like a gorgeous, stylish Euro, with a fancy Italian accent, and I immediately thought of the hosts in the movie "Date Night," who answered the phone at the exclusive Claw restaurant by saying "Claw -- you're welcome."  But instead she was very welcoming.   We were talking about the menu and she said it's more casual than Maestro's, then she said something like "and it's not as dressy as Maestro, since I know you're going to ask me that --you don't have to be super dressed up -- you can wear anything, just chic and modern!" And I thought oh no, now I have to go shopping!  Pasta dishes are priced in the 20s, as are second courses, with no dishes more than $30.  The wine list is relatively reasonably priced, and I appreciated the interesting offerings, particularly of Italian whites like Falanghina and Greco Bianco.

The meal started out with an amuse bouche of tomato water, accompanied by two skewered cherry tomatoes air-dried to remove the bitterness, which made me feel almost virtuous when I ate the rich, flaky, croissant-like roll.  We ordered a chocolate/pistachio torte for dessert to celebrate my friends' birthdays.  It was absolutely delicious.  Until I tasted it I regretted ordering it, because they also brought us each three small desserts gratis -- two tiny cookies and a small cupcake.  I've read nothing but raves about all the desserts at Fiola, so as much as I'd like to stick with the little treats from the pastry chef, it will be tough not to try all the desserts on the menu.

I never dined at the super high-end Maestro (given my own small appetite for extravagant dining), but I did go to an event at Casa Italiana back in 2006, where Fabio cooked several dishes to promote his cookbook, Cucina of Le Marche.  (Le Marche is the region on the east coast of Italy that Fabio hails from.)  I still dream about the fried stuffed olives Ascolana-style that he made.  Although the cookbook includes a recipe for these delicious morsels, I will never make them -- they involve stuffing olives with a mixture of 16 ingredients -- including 4 types of meat -- and then frying them.  But they were delicous.  (Note:  The cookbook isn't all high maintenance items -- it includes, for example, a risotto flavored only with cinammon and lemon -- the kind of dish you can make even when you think you have nothing to eat in the house.) 

Fiola is on Indiana Avenue, NW, between 6th and 7th Streets. (The official address is 601 Pennsylvania Ave., but I assume that's just for the cachet.)  No sign of fried stuffed olives Ascolana-style, which would be a tremendous bar snack, but perhaps they are even too high maintenance for a busy restaurant kitchen.  Fortunately, there's plenty on the menu to make up for it.

 

Fiola (warning:  music will blare when you click the link)
601 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
(really 678 Indiana Ave., NW)
202 628 2888
reservations will be available (though don't seem to be yet) at opentable

RestaurantPalaver: Suds & Fine Dining at Birch & Barley

A few years ago my brother and his wife were fantasizing about opening a restaurant that just serves beer and bread.  I thought of that tonight while sitting at Birch & Barley with a goblet of beer and a board holding pretzel rolls, bacon and sage buns, and raisin cinnamon bread in front of me.  That was just the start of an absolutely delicious meal at this newish addition to the dining scene on 14th Street near Logan Circle.  The list of beers -- their specialty -- is long, but the dinner menu is short, with half a dozen each of starters, pastas and flatbreads, and main courses, selected with the season in mind.  We started with the Arctic char tartare, which was as delicious as it is fun to say, prepared with yuzu gelee, ginger, and basil, and served with light sesame crisps.  For main courses, I had a perfect dish of four of five small slices of venison loin served with braised red cabbage, potato puree, and cipollini.  My friend's crispy wild striped bass, with baby fennel, artichoke, sunchoke, and olives was also delicious.  We rounded out the meal with a side of maple glazed brussels sprouts, which complimented the venison very well, though some might find a bit too sweet.  We were sorry to be too full for dessert, because it was very tempting. The dessert menu is not on the website, but from memory the options included some kind of crazy good sounding french toast item with a bacon ice cream or something on the side that the server raved about (and yes, I said bacon), spicy carrot cake, a chocolate and peanut butter tart with malt ice cream, and a platter of (presumably) tiny desserts including their variation on a Hostess cupcake.  Birch & Barley is not inexpensive; main courses range from $16 for a "brät burger" to the venison, which clocks in at $30.  But worth it.

The restaurant is beautifully decorated and convivial but not loud. We were led toward the back and feared we were being seated in Siberia, but it turned out that on the other side of the copper-colored columns behind the bar, which you can see above, is an open kitchen -- so we had a view of the action behind the scenes, as well as the action in the front of the restaurant.  Our server was tremendous.  Here's an example:  He helped us choose from the lengthy beer list (which includes five cask beers, which are hard to find), and I took his suggestion for a dark Belgian beer (I think it was the Gouden Carolus) to pair with my venison.  Just before they brought out the appetizer he swept in and gave me a small glass of a lighter beer, concerned the dark beer would overwhelm the fish.  Wow.

Thank goodness Birch & Barley takes reservations, because it's already very popular, and Tom Sietsema said on a recent chat that the Washington Post will be running a review of it next Sunday.  Make a reservation now (you can do so on opentable) if you want to try it out.  If you just want to drop in, you might get lucky and get a seat at the small bar downstairs.  (We're already plotting to do that for dessert one night.)  Or, if it's really beer on your mind, and you'd like a more casual (and less expensive) experience, head upstairs to Churchkey, where the emphasis on quality and quantity of beers remains the same, but the menu includes small bites, flatbreads, sandwiches, and salads.  I took a peek tonight about 6:30 and it looked like every seat in the spacious room was taken -- I can't imagine how crowded it is on weekends.  But my friend, who's been many times, said they've always managed to find a seat with a little patience.

Two unrelated bonus points:  the restaurant is only a couple of blocks from the Studio Theater, and they serve brunch all day Sunday.

Birch & Barley/Churchkey
1337 14th Street, NW
(between N St. and Rhode Island Ave.)
Washington, DC  20005
(202) 567-2576

Image from opentable.com.

DCPalaver: Obama at Ben's Chili Bowl

If you live in Washington, or watch "Meet the Press," you know by now that President-elect Obama ate at Ben's Chili Bowl on Saturday with DC Mayor Adrian Fenty.  It might seem like a silly thing to get giddy about, but it's been eight years since we've had a president who showed any interest in what Washington has to offer.  And I love Ben's.  A volunteer group I work with, Hands on Housing, has sometimes gone to Ben's for lunch when we've worked on houses nearby.  Though it's generally a counter-service place, they'd seat the 8 or 10 of us paint- or dirt- or plaster-splattered people in the back room and provide table service.  Everyone was amazingly nice.  If I worked at a hot stove cooking half-smokes and chili and serving a continuous line of hungry people, I don't think I'd stay so cheerful.

Here's a video.  Everybody's happy (except Velveeta's PR people).

Ben's Chili Bowl
1213 U Street, NW
Washington, DC  20009
(202) 667-0909

RestaurantPalaver: Take A Break at the Mandarin

For those of you who work in a godforsaken corner of SW Washington, where the opening of a Potbelly last year was cause for dancing in the streets, check out the Mandarin Oriental hotel's new "Take A Break" option.  This tiny take-out counter offers breakfast items from 7 to 10:30, lunch from 11 to 4 , sweets from 7 to 4, and coffee and other beverages from 7 to 5.  From 4 to 5 they will offer leftovers at "Fire Sale" prices.  (On Fridays they will also offer "surplus items such as overstocked hotel linens."  Whaaaatttt???)  The cafe appears to be an offshoot of the employee dining room, which you can see on the other side of the counter.  (There's no seating for riffraff off the street.)  The menu, which is pretty reasonably priced, is below.  Today I had the Marrakech Chicken Sandwich (a special on Thursdays), which was lemon parsley marinated chicken, Fattoush salad, and olive oil on lavash bread, for $6.95.  It was delicious.  They only had one person working behind the counter, so the service was a bit slow, but I was so happy not to be eating tofu with broccoli from the dreaded salad bar downstairs that I didn't mind.  However, they might not realize the throngs that could descend on them (at least if they've never walked past Potbelly at 12:30).  Take A Break is down an outdoor flight of stairs between the hotel and Portals I.  (Those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about can just go about your business; it's not worth driving across town for.)

 

BookPalaver: Holiday Books (with Optional Pizza)

If you've got books on your holiday shopping list, or need to buy Christmas cards, you can get 20% off most everything in the store at the Politics and Prose holiday member sale this weekend, December 5-7. An annual membership costs $20 (it's $50 for three years), and in addition to three member sales a year includes 20% off all books mentioned in the events calendar for that month and 20% off books on the P&P hardcover fiction and nonfiction bestseller lists.  You can pick up some gift ideas from their holiday newsletter, and most titles in it are 20% off for members through the end of the year.  For more book ideas, check out The New York Times for their 2008 lists of 100 Notable Books, 10 Best Books, and Notable Children's Books of 2008.

If you make it up to Politics and Prose, you can grab a pizza, a beer, and a paddle at Comet Ping Pong just up the block.  Here's an excerpt from Tom's review:

My vote for the most entertaining pizza parlor in the city goes to this spinoff of (and neighbor to) Buck's Fishing & Camping in upper Northwest Washington, which fuses its name from an old liquor store sign and a table tennis theme. Inside is a maze of green tables painted to look like Ping-Pong surfaces; Comet's white globes could pass for giant Ping-Pong balls. And way in the back, past the igloo-shaped pizza oven, await a jukebox and actual Ping-Pong tables for playing between sips of beer and bites of pizza. . . . . But the pies are what drive me here, particularly those topped with crunchy greens, fresh ricotta and black olives; mushrooms, gouda, bacon and soft onions (a.k.a. "The Smoky"); or, this being the mid-Atlantic, soft-shell crabs, leeks and fresh thyme. Whatever your pick, the base is thin, crisp, a little chewy and, like all good crusts, good enough to eat on its own.

Politics and Prose
5015 Connecticut Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
(202) 364-1919
(800) 722-0790

Comet Ping Pong
5037 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington DC 20008
(202) 364-0404

RestaurantPalaver: Potbelly, or Any Port in a Storm

A few months ago a Potbelly Sandwich Works opened around the corner from my office building.  I'm not a huge fan of Potbelly's sandwiches, but pickings are slim at the corner of 12th and Nowhere, SW, so this is big news under the Eb Principle.  (If you're a single woman in Hooterville, Eb looks pretty good.)  Still, I initially found going to Potbelly an assault on the senses:  the line, the noise, the live music, the ceiling fan/light strobe effect, the guy yelling at you to yell at him that you want a meatball sandwich on wheat.  And the micromanaging of the condiment people.  All this for a mediocre toasted sandwich.  I figured out two things that make it all bearable.  First, everything tastes better with hot peppers.  Theirs is a mix of vegetables, like an Italian giardiniera.  (One day during the jalapeno food poisoning scare this summer, a woman in line asked the condiment guy if the hot peppers include jalapenos, and when told yes, declined them.  The peppers were on display in gallon jars. Did she really think these were just canned that week?)

Second, and most importantly, you can now order online. I just log in, pick one of my usuals from my list, such as the turkey and swiss on skinny wheat with hot peppers, lettuce, tomato, Italian seasoning, and oil and vinegar, choose what time I want to pick up, and select the option to pay when I get there.  At the appointed time I arrive, go to the side cashier, give my name, hand over some money, and walk out with my sandwich.  No line, short noise-exposure, no yelling, and hot peppers.  It's perfect.  Like Eb.  If you're in Hooterville.

Not all locations are offering online ordering yet, but they seem to be rolling it out, so check back if you don't find your location here.  If you work in my building (you know who you are), you might want to bookmark this page.

RestaurantPalaver: Pick a Winner at The Majestic

Everybody's looking for a bargain these days, and if you work anywhere with quick access to Old Town, Alexandria have I got a bargain for you.  At The Majestic, part of Cathal Armstrong's mini restaurant empire in Old Town, you can pick any item on the lunch menu, plus a soft drink, for only $12.  The only catch in what they call The Royal Pick is that you have to sit at the bar, which is really no catch at all, given the comfy seats and friendly and efficient bartenders.  Though some of the lunch items don't cost much more than $12 to start with, there are several real steals available.  I've twice had the so-called crab cake salad, which would be $21 if you sat in the restaurant. And given that Armstrong, the celebrated chef of Restaurant Eve, is behind The Majestic, it's no surprise that it's one heck of a dish:  three small crabcakes each topped with a dollop of remoulade, surrounding a salad of watercress and other greens with pickled pearl onions, tossed with a lemon vinaigrette.  They don't skimp on the extra touches, either, starting the meal with delicious house-made bread and Kerrygold butter from Ireland ("Made from happy cows," as the menu says), and sweetening your iced tea with simple syrup.

The Royal Pick is available Monday through Friday from 11:30 to 2:30.  (The page that gives the details says the deal is good Tuesday through Friday, but the restaurant's home page says it's "now available" Monday through Friday.  The "now" gives me some confidence that's the correct one, but if you're heading over on a Monday you might want to call to confirm.)

Next I want to try Nana's Sunday Dinner at The Majestic.  But that's a subject for another post.

The Majestic
911 King Street
Alexandria, VA
(703) 837-9117

RestaurantPalaver: Bubble and Squeak Now Available in Columbia Heights

Jamie Leeds, the chef behind one of my favorite places to eat in Washington, Hank's Oyster Bar, has ventured into something entirely different:  a British-style gastropub in Columbia Heights named CommonWealth.  I tried it out a couple of weeks ago, and it was a big success, even though we had two British customers among our group eager to pounce on anything inauthentic (see, e.g., tofu shepherd's pie) (I didn't make that up).

One advantage to going to a new place with a big group is the ability to try lots of things.  Among the hits were the Scotch eggs (hard-cooked eggs coated in sausage and bread crumbs and fried (I didn't make that up either), a staple of Contessa's brunch repertoire), bangers and mash (sausages and potatoes), fish and chips, frog in a puff (which turned out to be lamb (I think) sausage in a roll, pigs-in-a-blanket-like, which my Brit friends had never heard of, unless it's just another name for toad in the hole), and the sticky toffee pudding.  I liked the Yorkshire pudding, essentially pastry covered with gravy, because it reminded me of when we'd have pot roast leftovers and my mother would serve it over toast with gravy, and I'd skip the pot roast.  Though most of the food is, as you can see, quite artery-clogging, some lighter menu options are also available, including several salads and a starter of crab salad on toast that was very good, as you'd expect from a chef known for her seafood.

CommonWealth is located on Irving Street just off 14th, near the Columbia Heights Metro station and the new Target store.  Although it includes a couple of communal tables, leather banquettes, and Coleman's mustard, malt vinegar, and piccalilly on the tables, the atmosphere is less pub-like than I'd expected.  One side is all windows, and the decor includes cinder block walls, a beautiful copper-topped bar, and black and white renditions of the Union Jack.  Outside is a spacious patio with picnic tables.  The beer menu includes both "U.K." offerings (including Guinness, Smithwick's, and Harp -- discuss among yourselves), and U.S. offerings from the states that call themselves commonwealths (though counting Michelob as a Virginia beer seems to be pushing it, even if they have a brewery in that commonwealth).

CommonWealth's website is still a work in progress, but includes a PDF of its full menu and a link to opentable for reservations. The Washingtonian offers an early look (with menus, in case you can't read the blurry writing above or on the website).

CommonWealth
1400 Irving Street, NW
Washington, DC 20010
(202) 265-1400

RestaurantPalaver: Gom Ba Woo and Other Korean Restaurant Memories

My first memorable Korean food experiences took place at Steve's Lunch, down the street from the law school in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  I gather that a Korean family bought the place from the so-called Steve, because though you'd sit at a counter where you'd expect to order a grilled cheese and chocolate malt, the dish to get was bibimbap -- a hot stone bowl of rice, vegetables, hot sauce, and meat that they'd crack an egg over.  The bowl was so hot that the rice at the bottom would become crisp and the egg would cook when mixed with the rest of the sizzling, spicy contents.

Many years later, Pudding Man, who went to Michigan undergrad, and I would try to recreate our Steve's Lunch experiences at Woo Lae Oak near Pentagon City Mall.  (Woo Lae Oak has since closed its Pentagon City location, which we called Zaydie's Basement, because with its '70s mod dark wood/would-be ski chalet decor it reminded Pudding Man of his grandfather's basement; a new and presumably more spiffy branch is located in Tysons Corner.)  The first time we went I was pleased to see that most of the diners were Asian, suggesting an authentic experience. We both ordered the dolsot bibimbap (dolsot referring to the hot stone pot it was served in).  At the end of the meal our server asked if we liked it. We said yes.  He said "bibimbap is a favorite dish among our Western guests."  Ouch.

In search of a more authentic Korean meal, a few weeks ago I went to Gom Ba Woo, a small, low-key place tucked into a strip mall in Annandale, with a couple of friends.  (Annandale, which has become a kind of Koreatown in northern Virginia, is the home to many of the Washington area's best Korean restaurants.)  One of my dining companions was Korean-American, and was able to help me navigate the menu (and gave me the courage to deviate from bibimbap).  The first hint that things here would be different from my prior Korean restaurant experiences was the cold barley tea we were served in lieu of water.

The meal started, as Korean restaurant meals usually do, with panchan, a variety of small dishes such as kimchee, sprouts, tofu, and spicy radish.  This was no dainty amuse-bouche, but rather a generous spread of delicious, gratis dishes.  We also ordered pancakes with seafood to start, so when our main courses arrived we could barely fit them on the table.  My friend suggested I order a pork dish, which turned out to be pork belly.  I'd always thought pork belly was essentially fat, and since one tiny bite of fat in an otherwise good meal will put me off meat for a week, I was a bit wary.  But it was great-- evidently cooked so long and in such flavorful spices that it had a deep flavor and lacked the fatty texture I'd braced myself for.  The pork was served with lettuce leaves for wrapping up the meat with condiments such as garlic and hot peppers.  We also had kimchee with tofu, which was spicy and delicious; don't be fooled by the word tofu into thinking this is a vegetarian dish -- it's loaded with pork.  Finally, we had grilled beef that was tender and had an almost sweet, cinnamon-like flavor. Unlike many larger Korean restaurants, Gom Ba Woo does not have grills on the table -- the meat is grilled in the back and brought out ready to go.  As a parting gift, the server brought us each a stick of Wrigley's chewing gum with our check.

I wish I'd slipped a menu into my purse, because I can't find one online so can't give you proper menu terms for these items.  Next time I go I'll pay closer attention.  In the meantime, check out The Washington Post and Washingtonian reviews.

Gom Ba Woo
7133 Columbia Pike
Annandale, VA  22003
703-642-1577

RestaurantPalaver: Proof

Looking for a way to keep the festivities going this weekend?  Dine at Proof on Sunday, and receive a free glass of sparkling wine from the champagne trolley.  (As described below, it will be selected by wine director Sebastian Zutant.  Sebastian is the guy with the black pin-striped suit, black shirt, orange or black tie, and funky hair.  If I didn't make this up, he was at Komi, then Rasika, and now Proof.  He is memorable.)

Call soon, though ( at 202-737-7663 ).  Opentable only shows availability starting at 9 (though often a phone call will shake loose tables not showing up on OT).  I'll miss it, as I'll be at LBI, drinking a gin and tonic and eating a chocolate frozen custard on a cone with chocolate sprinkles (though not at the same time).  Life is sweet.

Here are the details from Proof's website -- check out the info about the new patio.  Thanks to BT for the heads up.

PROOF TOASTS ITS FIRST ANNIVERSARY WITH BUBBLES AND A BEST NEW WINE LIST NOD FROM FOOD AND WINE MAGAZINE

In celebration of its first anniversary on July 6th, Proof will offer a complimentary glass of sparkling wine to each and every guest in its dining room that evening.  The bubbly will be selected by Wine Director Sebastian Zutant.  In addition to the regular a la carte menu, Chef Haidar Karoum will offer a celebratory tasting menu outfitted for the occasion with specialties such as caviar, foie gras, and lobster.  This will be complemented by Zutant's special wine pairings that evening.

Proof has further cause for celebration this summer after being recognized by Food & Wine Magazine for having one of the Best New Wine Lists of 2008.  The July issue of the magazine praises the restaurant's 1,100-plus wine collection, and gives kudos to Zutant for stocking the cellar with collectible and cult wines, as well as a few "historic icons," such as the 1947 Cheval Blanc.

Proof has also just opened its 50-seat patio, giving alfresco fans one of the largest dining spaces in downtown DC on which to enjoy lunch and dinner, as well as warm weather wines and cocktails.  To coincide with the opening of the patio, Chef Karoum has added several dishes to his menu of small and large plates, including a Chilled Seafood and Hearts of Palm Cocktail, and Grilled House-made Lamb Sausage with Cucumber, Mint, & Feta.

Sebastian complements these additions by offering a "Rose of the Day" for $9 a glass, rotating the wines to offer domestic and international selections such as the Lauderbach a Syrah from California's Russian River Valley, and the Suzanna Balboa, an Argentinean Malbec.  Other summer specialties now stocked in the restaurant's unique Enomatic wine serving system include the Blach Chook, a Viogner blend from Australia priced at $9, and the Northern Italian Livio Felluga Tocai Friulano for $12.  Zutant has also added a few twists to his inventive cocktail list that are sure to beat the heat.  Mixed drinks such as the Coquette, a concoction made with Tanqueray Rangpur, Elderflower, grapefruit bitters, and his own house-made rose syrup, and the Chupa Cabra, made with Machu Pisco, yuzu sour, creme de violet and fresh lime juice are now available for $11 each.