Corduroy, Convention Center

(See January 15, 2011 Review here.)

I spent the first day of Restaurant Week all alone, at the bar of Corduroy, with the fine company of bartender Casey Wilson, her friend  (and Corduroy server) Dee Tobin, and Dee’s boyfriend (and also a Corduroy server) Joe Carroll – they kept me company, but I was the only diner the whole time I was there.

How ironic that I probably had the best Restaurant Week meal in the city, and I only spent $30 for three courses. Yet, I was the only diner in the entire bar area? Sorry, everyone, but it really does help to know what the hell you’re doing in order not to get ripped off by Restaurant Week.

Oh, and I guess I should mention that Corduroy is not participating in Restaurant Week, and offers this three-course, $30 steal at the bar all year long. Ahem … hello?

I was hoping to repeat my Kabocha Squash Soup from the week before, but it was gone; instead I got the Red Snapper Bisque which, after one bite, showed that Tom Power was cooking with a vengeance this evening. It was fantastic – piping hot, deep, rich, made with lobster stock, and just an incredible bowl of soup.

Better yet, the fish of the day was the exact same Peppered Rare Big Eye Rare Tuna with sushi rice and hijiki that was off the week before; this was not. It was perfect, it was awesome, and it almost brought tears to my eyes. The only difference was that it was about 20% smaller than the mammoth portion you get on the regular menu (no restaurant in the world could stay in business serving a full-size portion of this dish in a $30 three-course). Still, it was an ample piece of terrific tuna, cooked beautifully.

And for dessert, three scoops of Homemade Ice Cream, two vanilla, and one honey. As good as any ice cream there is, and the end to a blissful meal.

I knew the previous meal was a fluke, I just knew it; this one was Corduroy as it should be, and also a lot less expensive. Corduroy is a great, great restaurant, and the $30 bar menu is an absolute steal. How’d you guys like your $35.11 Restaurant Week dinner at Mie & Yu? Educate yourselves, please.

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Cashion’s Eat Place, Adams Morgan

Cashion’s isn’t quite what it used to be when Ann Cashion owned the restaurant and was toiling away in the kitchen, but her old sous chef, John Manolatos (who purchased the restaurant along with GM Justin Abad) still runs the best restaurant in Adams Morgan, by far.

For a $20 corkage fee, you can bring your own bottle of wine at Cashion’s (isn’t it ironic that restaurants with good wine programs allow you to do this?), and it was Pinot Noir night with a Littorai and a 1999 Roumier Chambolle-Musigny.

Do get the Mezzethakia ($7), three traditional Greek spreads (Manolatos is Greek) of hummus, baba ghanoush, and taramosalata, all three of which are among the very best of their types in the entire DC area. With a basket of warm pita bread, it’s a perfect way to start your meal, and well-worth the $7 charge.

I dined with two special friends, making plans for a very special occasion (which is one of the two greatest honors ever bestowed upon me, the other being asked to speak at a slain child’s funeral in Seat Pleasant). Unlike the funereal speech, this was a joyous occasion and a cause for celebration.

My friends ordered, and then it was my turn. I closed the menu, and said to our server, “whatever the chef thinks is good.” I do this fairly often with restaurants I trust, and I’ve come to the belief that chefs always appreciate it as the gesture of respect that it is.

Housemade Charcuterie ($16) was a fine plate (the charcuterie here is made by the sous chef) consisting of finocchino, chorizo, speck (purchased), pork rillettes, rabbit liver mousse, and traditional garnishes. Add Cashion’s to the growing list of restaurants doing a crackerjack job of curing their own meats. Charcuterie is a fickle mistress, but when it’s done well, it’s a thing of beauty for the diner, and a decent profit center for the restaurant.

I was surprised that Justin picked the Korean-Style Pork Belly ($26) for my main course, served with a salad of cabbage, mangos, peanuts, fresh chilies, cilantro, mint, fish sauce, lime, and carrots. It was a complex dish that worked very well together, and surprisingly didn’t clash with the Roumier in any way (who would have thought this?)

I also tried my friends’ dishes (wild mushrooms and grilled baby octopus as appetizers, organic chicken and black Angus ribeye as mains), but didn’t play close enough attention to be writing about them – they were all very good, although my friend did say her octopus was a bit on the tough side. Actually, now that I think about it, my other friend completely Bogarted his wild mushroom appetizer, and I didn’t get so much as a single bite of it!

For dessert, a Chocolate Macadamia Nut Tarte ($8) with fudge sauce and Kahlua cream. An extremely well-made flourless (I believe) dessert, there was nothing at all here not to like.

A fine meal at Cashion’s that only reinforced its stature, and a special mention to the elegant GM and host, Justin Abad.

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Bangkok Golden, Seven Corners, VA

Bangkok Golden is in a little strip mall (which is actually part of a deceptively enormous complex) in Seven Corners, Virginia’s answer to Rockville Pike when it comes to Driving Hell, the former being a labyrinth, the latter a straight line of torture. This restaurant is only a few doors down from Hong Kong Palace.

Bangkok Golden is actually a local Thai chain – perhaps – with other locations in Fairfax and Fort Washington. However, despite them all being listed on the carryout menu, the Seven Corners location is the only one with its own website, and more importantly, the only one that offers a separate, Laotian menu.

Earlier in the evening, I’d made the mistake of opening a 1996 Oddero Barolo which was not in particularly good condition – it was bitingly tannic, but also starting to lose its fruit. Desperate, I picked up the phone for some Laotian relief.

The Lao Curry Puff ($6.95) is actually three puffs, wonderfully golden, crusty turnovers (something like miniature Cornish pasties) stuffed with curried potato and chicken, served with a plastic tub of typically thin Vietnamese-style sweet, vinegary dipping sauce. These were so good that I finished two of them standing up at the kitchen counter.

But it was the Orm Pork ($8.95) that was my Hail Mary pass to save the Barolo, and fortunately, it did. Orm is a Laotian stew described as a “country style curry with chili paste, lemongrass, galangal, Asian eggplant, and fresh dill,” and you can order it with about six different types of meats (chicken, beef, tilapia, etc.). It’s a gutsy, harsh, sodium-laden (I’m not dropping the MSG bomb, I’m not) dish which, while not “hot,” comes at you with persistent, guttural spices. More importantly, it took that tannic Barolo and produced, magically, black cherry fruit. I know it sounds insane, but this was a great food and wine pairing.

I was miffed to see that only half of a large plastic container was full (there was only about a pint of the Orm), but it came with extremely heavy sticky rice (which I’m used to having with mango and coconut milk as a Thai dessert), and I could not finish all the food.

There is some past or present relationship between the three Bangkok Goldens, and I haven’t sorted it out yet, but more than anything else, I’m called back to the Seven Corners location to explore their Laotian menu more fully.

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Vidalia, Downtown

There are two Vidalias: the one that everyone goes to, and the one that nobody knows about – with off-menu preparations that can be simply incredible.

Interestingly, I went to the former last week, and had a fantastic meal.

Wines have gotten expensive here, with a couple glasses barely scraping down below $10, and the majority heading up to the mid-teens or higher (although they do have two-ounce tasting pours which are more affordable). Despite the prices, Vidalia has an excellent beverage program, and you’re going to get thoughtful wines, liquors, and beers, all served at the correct temperature and in proper stemware (thanks in no small part to sommelier Ed Jenks).

The order was simple: a burger, and anything the chef wanted to make. Polar opposites (or were they?)

Let me tell you, my friends, just when I was sure that the Chef’s Choice PS7’s Burger was the Usain Bolt of hamburgers, along comes the Shenandoah Angus Burger ($14.75, available on the bar menu only) which is neck-and-neck at the finish line. Innocently described as being served with bacon cheddar, and fried onions, it also comes with homemade potato chips on a buttery, homemade brioche bun that’s worth the calories. Meat-wise, I don’t think I’ve had a hamburger that tasted any better than this – they must, must, inject it, or twirl it in pork fat, or something, because native beef simply does not taste this good. An outstanding hamburger that’s worth every penny, despite the dish being surprisingly carb-heavy (the bun, the batter-dipped fried onions, the potato chips).

And the chef’s choice? Stuffed Plantation Quail ($33.50), a stunning dish that’s served with foie gras mousseline, mustard greens, fantastic black pepper gnocchi, and apple cider jus. The only possible criticism I can come up with is that it’s a “soft” dish texturally that could have use a bit more chew, but let me tell you, that’s really pushing it.

An outstanding meal at Vidalia. Hamilton Johnson has taken the baton quite nicely from R J Cooper, and let me also give a special mention to one of our city’s truly great GMs, Mike Nevarez, who has pretty much been at Vidalia since it opened. Think about that – Vidalia has been open for almost twenty years.

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Daily Grill, Downtown

Sometimes it’s the company that makes a meal, and so it was last Friday at Daily Grill, an awful California-based chain that, well …

Happy hour premium mixed drinks were $9, and a shot of Don Julio Blanco – which I needed badly when I saw the food arrive – was $10.50.

Popcorn Shrimp ($4.95 at happy hour, $10.95 as an appetizer) was tempura battered, deeply frozen rock shrimp, some still clinging together, served with a cajun tartar sauce (that I didn’t even know was cajun until I looked at the menu afterwards). They were mushy and flavorless.

Seared Rare Ahi Tuna ($4.95 at happy hour, $13.95 as an appetizer) was a gamble, yes, I knew, but I just wasn’t in the mood for fried calamari or a cheese quesadilla. This was sesame-crusted, cold, dried out, and blah. Enough about this.

I don’t normally go to national chain restaurants, and (wonderful dining companions notwithstanding), this was a poignant reminder why. Just so I can say something positive, I’m told by a trusted source that Daily Grill treats their workers well.

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Town & Country Lounge, Mayflower Hotel, Downtown

I don’t know as much about cocktails as I do beer and wine, but I sure know a good party when I see one, and last Thursday night at Town and Country? Look out!

At around 8 PM, this place was packed. Among other dignitaries? Bill O’Leary, photographer from the Washington Post, who was there taking these pictures of legendary bartender Sambonn “Sam” Lek, whose long tenure at Town & Country was to end with its closure in a couple of days (Lek will be working as an interim bartender at the Mayflower, by the way, so it’s not quite like saying “goodbye.”)

I’d read about his Sidecar ($12.95) here, but he was just so darned busy with the adoring crowds that I couldn’t get his attention, so I ordered one from the other gentleman working behind the bar. I was perfectly content just to stand against the railing, sip my drink, and watch the party, with a good 30-40 people crowding around the bar, and every table in the lounge full. Lek was playing up to his clientele, doing magic tricks, posing for pictures, and just having a good time.

When the bar started to thin out close to 9 PM, I grabbed a seat at the bar, caught Lek’s eye, and ordered the same drink from him. The differences on the palate were twofold: the first drink had a lime; the second had a lemon, and Lek’s somehow had more supporting acidity.

Although it’s sad that Town & Country is now gone, this particular evening was nothing but a celebration, and I’m willing to bet the next one was, too.

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Fast Gourmet, U Street Corridor

It’s finally happened. A great restaurant has been open for months in the DC area that I knew nothing about, and if it wasn’t for this posting on Fast Gourmet, I probably still wouldn’t.

But I’d like to think I can be forgiven. First of all, I’m not even sure which DC neighborhood to put this in. I could look at a map of neighborhood borders, but the truth is that, dining-wise, it’s just one block north of Busboys & Poets off of U Street, and this place deserves to go toe-to-toe with each and every restaurant on the U Street corridor.

Furthermore, it’s hidden inside of an obscure gas station on the corner of 14th and W Streets called “Lowest Best Price.”

Huh?

Once you walk inside, however, you are transported – not to Uruguay (even though Fast Gourmet is run by two Uruguayan brothers), but … to somewhere else, and I’m not sure where. It’s almost like Pupatella deliberately opened a second branch in the most hidden place they could think of.

But Fast Gourmet will not stay hidden for long because the secret is out.

The Chivito ($13) was one of the greatest sandwiches I’ve ever had in my life, period. I feel no need to describe it, because unless this place changes or goes downhill, you’ll be reading about it in the press, perhaps even the national press. Go now, trust me.

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Corduroy, Convention Center

This is the longest I’ve ever been without going to Corduroy, and I’m going to return sooner rather than later – but not for the reasons you think.

I’m going to give myself a little pat on the back for being an early supporter of Tom Power. His gifts as a cook were obvious to me, many years ago, and they’re still obvious to me today.

What I didn’t realize back then was what an excellent wine palate he has. On Tuesday night, they opened at 5:30 PM, but we got there well before and schlunked upstairs to the bar – it was a pleasant surprise (but not at all surprising) to see Tom behind the bar, tasting through some samples with a wine distributor – his wine list is his own brainchild.

That wine list has also lurched up in price (as has the wine market in general), and it’s a lot tougher these days for me to find anything I just have to have. It’s still a great wine list, but it’s not necessarily the screaming bargain it used to be – the realities of a higher overhead, no doubt: let’s not forget that just a few years ago, this gem of a restaurant was lost in the attic of the Sheraton Four Points.

With the new real estate, Corduroy has moved into the realm of full-blown fine dining, and it’s harder to overlook anything short of perfection from Power, whom I know to be a perfectionist.

Some things never change, and I broke into a big smile when Pichon (the bartender, not the Bordeaux) walked up to the bar. It is always wonderful to see him, and seeing him reminded me of how needlessly long it had been between meals here.

A table was available downstairs, and our server was kind enough to let us order one thing off the bar menu, and you know very well what they were: the Filipino Springrolls ($6). The same as they so often are, and a perfect match for the 2008 Chateau Ducasse Bordeaux Blanc, which uses its percentage of Sauvignon Blanc as a perfect foil to most things having sweet and salty Asian flavors.

The more things change, the less things change, and the menu at Corduroy had changed shockingly little, so I stuck with some old favorites for appetizers. The Kabocha Squash Soup ($9) has been compelling in the past. Thickened with foie gras, it can be one of the great soups of the city, which is why I found it so disturbing that this wasn’t. For some reason, it had overtones of dry, powdery spices that I haven’t seen in this before. Along with the Crab Blintz ($13) which was under-seasoned, these appetizers just didn’t represent Tom Power at his best.

With the entrees, a bottle of 2008 Brundlmayer Gruner Veltliner Kamptaler Terrassen ($45), an overpriced entry (it retails in the low $20s) that I’d not yet tried, and wanted to.  Our fine server Joe elegantly presented it with the screw top hidden which made me laugh.

I should have ordered these wines in reverse order, in retrospect, but I thought this might go with Power’s classic dish, Peppered Rare Big Eye Tuna ($28) with sushi rice and hijiki which has been quite consistent in the past. This time, however – and I know this is going to sound weird – it had an overtone of dried powdery spice, not unlike the soup, which overwhelmed the gentle, Japanese nature of this dish. It’s possible my own palate was off, but my dining companion thought the same about both dishes – I had raved about them before the meal, and found myself explaining how good they really are afterwards (I hate when this happens, but it does from time to time).

The highlight of the meal was the Roast and Confit Guinea Hen ($26) with Brussels sprouts which I think I’ve seen Power make with chicken in the past. This was just fabulous, especially the sliced, roasted portion (which surprises me, because I’m usually all about confit and dark meat).

Maybe it’s because it was 1/11/11, or maybe there was a full moon, but Corduroy had an off night. I’ve seen them here before, but not very often. One thing’s for sure, however: Power has nothing at all to prove to me. He’s a great cook (I promise you he didn’t all of a sudden forget how to cook), and deserves a Mulligan. And he’s going to get one, too, because by the time you read this, I’ll have been back to Corduroy – check back for details in a few days or so.

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River Falls Seafood Co., Potomac, MD

I’ve always been impressed by the fish for sale at River Falls Seafood Co. (and remember having a really good crabcake sandwich there once), but have never tried their sushi before this week.

A platter of Assorted Sashimi ($14.95) was supposed to be 12 pieces of fish (3 tuna, 2 yellowtail, 1 crab, 2 octopus, 2 salmon, and 2 flounder), but like any decent sushi counter, they instead went with what was fresh (or what they had in stock). Mine was actually 13 pieces (2 salmon, 2 rockfish (!), 3 medium-fatty tuna, 2 surimi (grrrrrrrr!), 2 octopus, and 2 escolar). The gentleman preparing my dish made a nice gesture by asking me if I’d like a little rice also (I did).

The clear stars here were the rockfish, which was just awesome, and the octopus. The tuna was good, and in fact the surimi (crab stick) was about the best I’ve ever had. Strangely, the losers in the bunch were the salmon and escolar, both of which were pre-sliced (!) albeit still sitting in the wedge of fish, and paper thin.

The rice, by the way, wasn’t bad at all, and would have made good sushi – maybe next time, I’ll try the nigiri; this time, I wished I’d gotten double orders of the rockfish and octopus.

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Public House No. 7, Seven Corners, VA

Thanks to this review by Fritz Hahn, I found myself at Public House No. 7 for the very first time on Monday evening.

Walking through the charmless main dining room, I didn’t find much appeal, but once I walked into the pub area, I knew I was no longer in Kansas (I know this isn’t an Irish pub, but I went to many a pub in Ireland this past summer, and the dining rooms there also tend to be spartan).

I have an enormous respect for Hahn’s knowledge of and palate for beer, so I took his advice and went straight for the Fuller’s ESB. I’ve had this numerous times before, but I got the feeling this was an especially good keg; unfortunately, they got slammed over the weekend because of the review, and were out of the Fuller’s.

It is you, Fritz, who led me to the oasis, and it is you who made it vanish!

So I settled for a pint of Boddington’s ($6), nicely poured by the wonderfully gregarious bartender Michelle. I was also very curious about the Chip Butty ($5.99) Hahn had mentioned – I’d heard of these before, but had never had one: how can something that’s nothing more than (frozen) french fries on a buttered bun be any good? Well, I don’t know, but it is, and you should order this when you come here – I wish I’d gotten two of them.

The Boddington’s was mediocre (as Boddington’s often is these days), so I moved on to a bottle of Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout ($6) because I decided to make it a full-blown “Fritz Hahn night,” and ordered his other recommendation, the Lancashire Hot Pot ($13.99), a lamb stew topped with scalloped potatoes (which entirely cover the dish, and serve to retain the heat coming up from the earthenware vessel). I liked this dish, but didn’t love it – the lamb was very muted, which is surprising because there was at least one other lamb dish being offered (this often indicates you’re going to get really good lamb). Don’t get me wrong – this was better than your average pub stew, but I’ll try something else next time.

Public House No. 7 exceeded my expectations, and the only thing preventing it from being raised to italic in the Dining Guide (free to donrockwell.com members) is the relative lack of good beers; hopefully this will change in the future – it’s a charming pub.

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