Nava Thai, Wheaton, MD

Posted on February 7, 2011 by Don

So, it’s Super Bowl Sunday, and every sports bar in town is packed. Me? I sauntered up to the bar at Nava Thai, ordered a Singha ($4.50), and watched the opening of the game there.

I ordered Stir Fried Crispy Duck ($11.95) with chili, garlic, and Holy basil. I’ve always suspected Nava Thai used MSG, so I asked my bartender if I could get it without. He said, “Sure,” then went over and punched in some instructions – he didn’t type anything, so I think one of the buttons actually said “No MSG” on it.

This was a gutsy, peasant version of this classic dish (think Rabieng rather than Duangrat’s), the most interesting thing being a stem full of teeny-tiny green berries thrown into the dish that looked (and tasted) like micro-capers, but I’m not quite sure they were.

The duck itself needed to see higher heat (I’m presuming it was flash-fried), as it was not crispy except in a very few places. Still, it was a pleasant dish with a coarse-tasting (in a good way) chili-based sauce. Two older Thai gentlemen were sitting next to me sharing a pot of something extraordinarily fatty (or cartilaginous), maybe pig knuckles.

There was a big glass jar marked “TIPS” with a perfectly folded $5 bill in the bottom, as if it were an invitation. On a possibly related note, I’d sat there for over an hour, and right when the check arrived, the proprietor (with whom I hadn’t talked for the entire meal) brought me a glass of ice water.

I also ordered a Pad Thai with Chicken ($9.95) to go, dropping it off at dear old mom’s (you know, the person with the really big, nice TV) 🙂 I only took a couple nibbles and it seemed fine, but it was unmixed (since it was a carryout order), so I didn’t get the full picture – she called me today and said she loved it.

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Toscana Green, Courthouse, VA

Posted on February 7, 2011 by Don

Never have I been so frustrated with the name of a restaurant than with Toscana Green. Or is it Toscana Grill? After two years, I still don’t know what it’s called, and neither the website nor the restaurant itself is much help. I think it used to be Toscana Grill, then changed its name to Toscana Green (to reflect the organic, natural theme), and now it’s waffling between the two. Or not.

This is an ugly restaurant with friendly service, right in the middle of the Courthouse complex. My young dining companion enjoyed his usual Diet Coke (only $1.80 here), while I had the “best” (if you can call it that) of an absolutely miserable beer selection, a bottle of Peroni ($6), then a 12-ounce draft of Stella Artois ($5). Both beers are lousy and have been for a long time, but I refused to drink Bud or Bud Light.

Both the Lasagna ($12) and the Meat Combination Pizza ($14) looked really good, with lots of gooey cheese, nicely oven-browned – in fact, they looked a lot alike, except that one was lasagna, and the other was pizza. They were large portions, and more than enough to stuff two hungry guys.

The lasagna, baked in its serving dish, was the winner, because it’s hard to mess up a noodle; the pizza dough had zero char on the bottom, and was a topping-based pie full of meats, the only loser being the boudin-textured sausage. Compared to the pizza I had two nights before at Ristorante Murali, this pie was much bigger (and $4 more expensive), loaded with toppings, and had a yeastier, but more flavorless, crust.

Not every meal has to be great, and this certainly was not, but it was “okay.” Not a repeat for me, not unless something changes here (and not just the name).

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Pesce, Dupont Circle

Posted on February 7, 2011 by Don

After a Chehalem wine tasting at Eola (which was full for dinner), a couple close friends and I meandered over to Pesce and nabbed a four-top.

The last meal I had at Pesce was the best I’d ever eaten there. Chef Tom Meyer was there then, and was also there this time around, so it’s going to be great again, yes?

We stated with a bottle 2009 Coustaut Graves Blanc ($40) which went quite well with my Carpaccio of tuna and salmon wrapped in flounder, the whole thing presented flattened, dressed with some greens in the middle, and unevenly salted and sauced. The fish was fine; the saucing was off.

I also took a bite of my friend’s tuna tartare which was simply drowning in a soy-based sauce. Again, the fish was fine; the saucing was disastrous to the point where the dish was ruined.

We knocked off that Bordeaux pretty quickly, and shifted to a heftier 2008 Domaine de la Collonge Pouilly-Fuisse ($32) which went tremendously with a split (three-ways) middle course of Lobster Risotto ($28) with red beets and gorgonzola. The consensus of the table was that this was the dish of the night for all of us – wonderfully fresh lobster, gently cooked and placed atop the rice so as not to toughen it.

My entree was a Roasted Bluefish ($24), a very small portion of good bluefish, served with butternut squash purée and mushroom. Once again, the saucing was off on this dish.

So, what happened?

My guess is that Meyer was working fish, and that someone else was having an overzealously bad day at the sauce station. A very disappointing meal at a restaurant I know to be quite good. Do you ever hear restaurant critics talking about an “off night?” This is exactly what they’re referring to – Pesce is still a fine restaurant; just not on this evening. Doubly vexing coming off a disappointing dinner at Mio, another restaurant that I have liked in the past.

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Ristorante Murali, Pentagon City, VA

Posted on February 6, 2011 by Don

When you’re walking around Pentagon Row, the first thing you might say to yourself is, “Jeez, this place looks corporate.” Yet, there are also several restaurants you won’t find anywhere else; yet again, they all have this extremely well-funded, corporate feel to them.

Ristorante Murali is owned by the Murali Group which also owns three others in the area: Brasserie Creperie next door, Pizza Milano, and PR Grill, and right when you walk in the door of Ristorante Murali, the first impression is that someone pumped some pretty serious money into this place.

The decor is old school while also being fresh and comfortable, and more than anything else, the things that caught my eye were the beautiful glass chandeliers – as it turns out, a carryout menu I took home mentioned they indeed came from Murano.

The service here is polished and friendly, and the waitstaff wears black vests and black ties. So far, so good, right?

(I’ll bet you guys are wondering which direction this is going to go in…)

My young dining companion started with a Diet Coke ($2.95, cheerfully refilled without being asked), and I had the one beer on their list that I really enjoy – the underrated Moretti La Rossa ($5.25), for my palate, one of the best mass-produced beers available. La Rossa is a double malt beer, and is a welcome relief from overhopped American monster brews. Typing this, I’m asking myself why I don’t buy La Rossa for my home, and I don’t have a good answer.

Pizza Margarita ($9.95) is a low-stakes gamble at a restaurant such as this (that doesn’t specialize in pizzas), and it arrived as a flat disk, cut into six small pieces, each having a dense (but flavorful) crust, pretty good sauce, lots of golden-brown cheese, and one wiggly strip of basil. “This isn’t a Margarita; it’s a cheese pizza with basil,” Matt astutely commented, but if you don’t mind a flat, dense pie, you might enjoy this (there wasn’t a crumb left of ours).

Homemade Pumpkin Ravioli ($14.75) may have been purchased (pumpkin ravioli often is), but also seemed fresh enough to be made in-house. A fair portion for the price, refreshingly light on the nutmeg (which usually flexes its muscle in this dish), and served in a thin butter white-wine sage sauce.

I was very leery about the Lamb Shank with Risotto ($21.50), but for the absolute wrong reason. I figured the shank would be fine (since it was braised), and the “risotto” would be a pile of rice, and I was wrong on both counts. Served atop the risotto made with white wine, fine herbs and vegetables, the lamb had a bizarre, flakey texture – it was tough, dry, flavorless, and it cut off almost in layers; the risotto, however, was way better than I thought it would be: good, flavorful rice, cooked to a perfect al dente. When I asked my server about the dish, he said the lamb was “baked for over an hour” (eh?), and enthusiastically said that they’re using Arborio rice for the risotto. Don’t get me wrong: this isn’t the type of risotto that you’d pay $20 for on its own, but as an accompaniment to an entree? A wonderful surprise. Interestingly, the dining room menu lists the dish as “Braised Lamb Shank,” whereas the carryout menu calls it “Ossobuco.”

In all, an enjoyable meal, with the lamb itself being the one, fatal flaw.

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Mio, Downtown

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Don

Mio is a restaurant stuck on Vermont Ave. just north of K Street, a dead zone for no real reason. It has undergone several transformations over the years, but the one thing that has remained constant is its co-owner, Manuel Iguina, who has struggled with the restaurant’s identity; yet, that identity is now teasingly close to being just what Mio – and the city – needs.

After not having great success with “known” European-trained chefs (including two who worked at Maestro), Iguina decided he was going to jettison the idea, and return to his Latino roots for inspiration (he’s from Puerto Rico, and is well-traveled in Mexico and Central America). To me, this seemed like a perfect idea, and about a year ago, I was pretty much blown away by the lounge menu – it was the first “fine dining” restaurant to offer pinchos, and had the best empanadas in town.

Two nights ago, I went back and while both of those items are still on the bar menu, Mio is nominally trying to reconcept itself as “Urbano Latino,” which will eventually feature items you’d find in capital cities throughout Mexico, Central America, and South America. Again, I thought to myself, “Great!” That’s exactly what this area could use right now.

As of this writing, however, the dining room menu does not bear out the concept, which is in a nascent state (Iguina was leaving for Mexico the next day to interview two known chefs). They offer no bottled beers, and the best draft I could find was a Samuel Adams Winter Lager ($6) with nothing remotely Latino to be found.

Gnocchi de Yuca con Setas ($21) sounded like it had so much potential – gnocchi made from yucca! And it does, but the execution was all wrong for the concept, the gnocchi being pasty, and the abundance of Manchego cream sauce completely dominating the dish, even the otherwise wonderful wild mushrooms. Why, oh why, couldn’t these gnocchis have been smaller, more golden-brown, less pasty, and not drowning in a gummy, cream-based sauce that came straight from Europe?

Asopao de Mariscos ($24) is described as a “hearty classic Puerto Rican rice and seafood stew,” and was actually quite good, but came across more to me as a mild seafood gumbo than anything. This dish, however, was less recipe-flawed, and more in need of better execution – it, too, has potential.

And so does Mio, a restaurant again in transition, hopefully for the last time because with the right kitchen leadership (which is going to involve completely revamping this extremely European-influenced menu, and unabashedly going towards pure, modern Latino recipes), it could quickly become one of the hottest tickets in town. Think about it: how many of us wouldn’t flock to this handsome restaurant if we could get true, Urban Latino dishes found nowhere else in DC? I certainly would, and I have faith that Manuel Iguina can make this work. This is a restaurant I’m really pulling for – we have such a rich Latino representation, both in terms of upscale diners, and also talented line cooks whose hearts lie in their native regions. The time is right for this, but it’s not happening just yet. One, rock-solid chef is all it will take to turn this all around.

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Heidelberg Pastry Shoppe, Arlington, VA

Posted on February 2, 2011 by Don

A good twenty years ago (back when they were still in their old digs), I used to go to Heidelberg Pastry Shoppe all the time for donuts. In the past few years, I’ve been for lunch a couple of times and wasn’t all that impressed, but yesterday morning I went at 7:30 AM, and now I’m impressed again.

Heidelberg is huge, and just about everything (or maybe everything) grain-based is baked in-house. The bakery was just packed with goodies yesterday morning, and I mean I can’t think of a single bakery in the entire DC area (offhand) that has a bigger selection than what I saw.

Bagels are made in-house too, and a Breakfast Sandwich ($3.50) with ham, egg, and cheese on a poppy-seed bagel is something you should know about.

Less satisfying, but better, was the Laugen Brotchen ($1.55), pretzel bread which they split for me, smeared with butter, and – like the bagel – zapped in the microwave. Yes, I know, but they both survived the ordeal quite nicely.

Donuts! Chocolate-iced on chocolate-cake, and Maple-iced on regular-yeast (95 cents each) were divine and also worth knowing about.

For Valentine’s Day (or possibly year-round), they’re selling really cute, highly decorative cookies that are about the size of your hand, wrapped in plastic, and finished (on top of the plastic) with little rubberized signs that say “Love You” etc. At $5.25, they aren’t cheap, but I have to think it would go over better than a Whitman’s Sampler.

Heidelberg opens at 6:30 AM M-F, and 8 AM on weekends. Just to see what was left, I also stopped back in yesterday afternoon, and it was entirely different – the pastries were just about all gone, and they were set up for lunch service with Boar’s Head meats and cheese on display – some residual donuts et al were marked down 50%.

Breakfast. That’s your buzzword here.

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Cava Mezze Grill, Bethesda, MD

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Don

I’d heard the new Cava Mezze Grill described as a hypothetical synthesis of Cava and Chipotle, and honestly, I cannot think of a better description. If you walk in, you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about.

And it’s a concept that’s going to work, too – it’s already been proven with burritos, but now we have the healthful (if not entirely true) perception of Greek and Middle Eastern cuisine combined with blazing efficiency and the business-savvy juggernaut of Cava – it’s one heck of a formidable trio.

On your first visit, you may be a bit confused – the menu’s sections are labeled, in large print: START, WITH, CHOOSE, EXTRAS, DRINKS. But it’s really quite simple – a plug-and-play formula where you pick your starter, add dips and spreads, choose your meat, and then buy whatever extras and drinks you want. Everything is sitting right in front of you in chafing dishes, so what you see is what you get.

Pita with Lamb ($7.50) comes with good, homemade pita the size of a very large, thick pancake, wrapped around pot-braised (*) lamb. I ordered mine with Crazy Feta, tzatziki, red cabbage, and a cucumber-tomato dice.

Bowl with Loukaniko ($6.90, and don’t laugh – it actually says “Bowl”) comes filled with basmati rice with loukaniko (a handcrafted, natural pork sausage with herbs and olive oil, grilled), and I added tzatziki and hummus, and some more of that red cabbage and cucumber-tomato dice. (Note to management – the scoops of hummus and tzatziki buried under the rice are hard to visually distinguish from the rice itself.)

Both of these were wonderful – this place reminds me, quality-wise, of Surfside, except right now it might even be better because the opening crew is putting on the full-court press. It’s fast, it’s cheap, it’s delicious, and … you may as well enjoy it now because I’m going to make the bold prediction that in five years there are going to be numerous Cava Mezze Grills, and this concept is so solid that it could easily, easily become a major national chain one day – catch it now while it’s in its state of dormancy, then look back and remember when.

(*) I love the giant braising pot sitting on the stove. Please don’t ever lose sight that braised meats are absolutely appropriate for this type of cuisine – that lamb was so obviously long-cooked. Yes, it had been sitting out for awhile (it was 9 PM), but it was just so right. Not to mention the visual appeal of that giant pot on the stove. Whatever you do, when you open your 500th store, keep it real.

When I think of the potential that Elevation Burger had culinarily before they militantly decided to cook everything to well-done, and even now that Taylor Gourmet has changed their rolls, it makes me a bit sad. It’s easy to see how expansion can erode quality – even though both of those chains appear to be making money hand-over-fist, the naive optimist in me still thinks a large chain – with controlled growth – can have both high quality and high profits.

Do I sound like I think this place is going to be a success?

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New Heights, Woodley Park

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Don

(See December 27th, 2010 Review here).

Logan Cox’s (and sous chef Erik Morgan’s) Cauliflower Soup was off the menu last night at New Heights, so they introduced a new one: Sweet Potato Soup ($10) with crispy petit-fours sized squares of duck confit, brazil nuts, and a tamarind scrape. A hearty, winter soup, the tamarind was almost (almost) unnecessary – the sweet potato base was so good on its own that it barely needed the confit, although I wasn’t complaining. In general, if I may levy a small criticism about Logan’s platings, it’s that the scrapes can sometimes dry out, and end up being more for cosmetic purposes, especially around the rim of the bowl (you have to see it to understand what I mean).

A few days ago I wrote that I was surprised that Frank Ruta served his calves liver in cylinders, wrapped in pancetta. Sure enough, Logan is doing a similar presentation with his fantastic Pennsylvania Rabbit Loin ($28), four cylinders of fresh rabbit that came with one of the most intriguing accompaniments I’ve seen in ages: salted apples, cut into cylinders, as well as a big strip of speck, sweet potato juice (tying this in with my soup), and a small pool of barley cream. Logan Cox is an evil genius.

And congratulations to new pastry chef Donald Smith, who recently came from Eola (and whose dessert was featured on the cover of this year’s Washingtonian 100 Best Restaurants issue) – give him time to settle in (but don’t miss his rosemary scones which now come with the bread basket).

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Pupatella, Arlington, VA

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Don

(See January 13, 2011 Review here).

There’s really not much more to say about Pupatella whose co-owner, Enzo Algarme, celebrated a birthday early last week. I’ve been there a million times, and have yet to see him not working.

On Thursday night, it was getting late, nobody wanted a big production, and we decided to hit Pupatella which was the perfect solution. Two pizzas, and a bottle of that wonderful Sicilian white, 2009 Case Ibidini Insolia (only $13 with the purchase of two pizzas):

Tomato & Artichoke ($11) was the better pizza by itself, with the garlic-roasted tomatoes, artichokes and fontina cheese bursting with flavor.

Eggplant ($10) was the better pizza with the wine, with its grilled eggplant, roasted red peppers, and fontina cheese.

Two absolute winners. How much did I like these pizzas?

—

The next night, I was back, this time getting four pizzas (and two bottles of that wine, one to go!)

Quattro Formaggi ($12) was a weekly special, with Gorgonzola, Brie, Asiago, and Fresh Mozzarella. Fortunately for me, my young dining companion (who enjoyed a San Pellegrino Limonata ($2) thought it was a bit “blue-y,” so I got to enjoy most of it while he greedily enjoyed the Chorizo ($12) with spicy Spanish chorizo, thinly shaved red onion, roasted red pepper and fresh mozzarella.

For dessert, a third pizza with Nutella and Fresh Fruit ($8), in this case with sliced matchsticks of fresh apple. Do yourself a favor and get this pizza next time you come!

And, of course, we were going to be hungry for breakfast the next morning (and I wanted that $10 discount on the second bottle of wine), so we ordered a Bimbi ($8.50), a kid’s pizza that’s the same size as the regular pizzas, but comes with simple toppings of San Marzano tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella. Left out overnight, the sauce soaked into the crust, and it became quite mushy, so I would advise eating this on the spot rather than letting it sit – this is obviously my own fault, and when I peeked at the pizza right after getting home, it looked just as good as the others.

Six pizzas in two nights, and in case you haven’t noticed, five of the six were vegetarian.

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Backyard Barbecue, Arlington, VA

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Don

In a tiny, forgotten strip mall at the junction of Williamsburg Blvd. and Sycamore St., there sat for years a decrepit 7-11, alongside a host of other obscure mom-n-pop businesses. Recently, the 7-11 (which happened to be right next door to Backyard Barbecue) shut down, and was stripped to the bare walls. My thought about this? Good riddance!

Backyard Barbecue is a true mom-n-pop, with Michael Schmidt cooking the meats, and wife Anne-Marie Schmidt manning the register. I’ve become something of a regular there in the past year, because my mom loves their brisket, and whenever I see her, I try to swing by Backyard Barbecue and pick her up a pound.

A couple weeks ago, Anne-Marie asked me, “Don, is this a really slow time of year in general? Because nobody is coming by.”

“These first two weeks in January have been the slowest time for restaurants that I can remember,” I said. “The problem is city-wide.”

“The 7-11 shutting down has killed our foot traffic,” she continued. I was taken aback by this.

Can a 7-11 really be considered an “anchor” store? In this case, yes, it can, and its demise has hurt the surrounding businesses – who knew? Not me.

I went by on Thursday and picked up a pound of Brisket ($15), consistently good, and just the right amount of lunch for two hungry guys who had spent the morning sledding. I know Anne-Marie well enough now just to ask for “the usual” when I call, and I’ll be by in about ten minutes.

Michael and Anne-Marie really spruced up their store in the past couple of weeks in an attempt to draw in more customers – the signage is better, and there are more decorations on the walls.

Also, they now feature Wednesday Family Meals ($45-50) which are grab-and-go family-style meals for 4-6 people, designed for busy workers on their way home with no time to cook. It’s a great idea that deserves your support – examples include Shepherd’s Pie with fresh garden salad and rolls, and Grilled Chicken Fajitas with onions, peppers, guacamole, salsa, cheese and rice. Emails are sent out Sundays detailing the Wednesday menu, and the meals must be pre-ordered. Get onto their website and sign up!

And don’t forget, this small business survives by catering, not by walk-ins.

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