Smith Commons for Restaurant Week, Saturday, January 29, 2011

I'm not sure why I decided to make two RW reservations in a row without a day of rest, but hot on the heels of my Friday night meal at Kushi, I found myself at Smith Commons on Saturday night.  I'd already been to Smith Commons twice for drinks, but they are not serving food at the upstairs bars yet, so I had not yet sampled the cuisine.

The reservation was for 7:30 for 4; despite being on time, we were not seated til 8:15.  I'm not sure how this goes, exactly -- whether there are just some patrons who linger and there's nothing to be done, or whether it's indicative of poor planning.  They were friendly about it, and said they would come get us upstairs when the table was ready.  Unfortunately, I was starving when I got there, so I continued to starve while we waited.

After sitting down at our table (and being thanked for our patience), we finally got to order.  I had already perused the RW menu in the same way I did the Kushi RW menu, and determined that at Smith Commons, the RW deal is probably akin to getting the dessert and one drink free (depending on what you order).  I have been eating a lot of chicken lately, so I went all beef: beef carpaccio, beef burger, and if there had been a beef dessert I probably would have ordered that too.  As it was, I decided on the lava cake.

Kushi for Restaurant Week, Friday, January 28, 2011

I often have the problem that I only order sushi at Japanese restaurants, because I mean, what else on the menu could I possibly love more than delicious sushi?  Sometimes I'm feeling katsudon, but that's basically it.  My one previous visit to Kushi was notable because it was the happiest I've been eating sushi in DC for quite a while, and I'm a tough sushi critic.  So, I decided I'd go to Kushi for their Restaurant Week menu and get a sampling of the rest of the menu to see if it was as delectable.

You can check out their Restaurant Week dinner menu here.  Looking at it ahead of time, I was curious how good a deal the $35.11 price was.  Cross-referencing with the regular menu, it seemed that if you got the most expensive items on the RW menu, the RW price basically added up to getting the miso and gelato for free.  Note that this means that everything on the RW menu was also on Kushi's regular menu, rather than creating some items especially for RW.

The meal started off with one small pork and scallion dumpling as an amuse bouche, which was quite tasty, and a nice beginning.  To follow, my companions and I ended up all getting the red miso and farm greens.  Red miso is typically fermented for longer than other miso, and has a more intense flavor than the white miso you typically get.  The red miso soup was warm and salty, which is exactly what I look for in a miso soup.  The farm greens were actually surprisingly good, with what tasted like a fresh ginger dressing on them, and not an iceberg leaf in sight.

Church & State, Tuesday, January 25, 2011

I was one of the first people through the door after the 7:30pm opening time of Church & State, the newest offering by Erik Holzherr on H St. NE.  I was expecting a large crowd of people, but was surprised to find only a handful of other patrons.  Perhaps they got confused because you have to go in the door for Fruit Bat and then go up the stairs, but I imagine that soon this bar will be busy every night.

My companion and I were early enough to snag two seats at the bar, and were handed menus by Josh, who was our bartender for the evening.  The menu is the "Bill of Rights", and lists 10 cocktails which are intended to be the core drinks that you always have the "right" to order.  There's also a page that lists all the liquors available, under the heading "Hymns", and Josh told us that he's developing a Seven Deadly Sins portion of the menu as well, which will have rotating specials (perhaps involving the Sriracha bottle we saw up behind the bar!).  Craft cocktails run between $10 and $12, and each item on the menu lists the ingredients in the drink, as well as providing a short description of the drink's history.

I have the unfortunate constraint that I cannot drink vodka, so I asked Josh what he recommended with no vodka, that wasn't super strong, but not too sweet either.  I was steered towards the Chuck Yeager or the Jack Rose, and picked the Yeager to start.  I'll fast-forward for you: over the course of the evening, I had the Chuck Yeager, the Jack Rose, a daquiri, and two off-menu drinks that are still in development, and I enjoyed every single cocktail.  Josh did a great job with my requests, which isn't surprising given his background; he's worked at Restaurant Eve, trained at PX under Todd Thrasher, and most recently tended bar at Wisdom, so he definitely has craft cocktail bona fides.  My friend ordered, among other things, the Old Fashioned (strong for my taste, but he thought it was great), and the Sazerac, which we both enjoyed.

Recipe: Braided Cardamom Bread (Pulla)

Yesterday I made my first ever bread, a braided cardamom bread called Pulla.  I got the recipe from one of my favorite recipe sites, Saveur.com.  I don't really know why I decided to make bread, but I'd noticed the recipe before when looking for ways to use the cardamom I have, and yesterday was the day!

It was really fun braiding the dough, and the loaves came out looking wonderful after 20 minutes.  I didn't have the sliced almonds or lump sugar that the recipe calls for, so I just chopped up some whole almonds and used normal sugar instead.  Other than that, I followed the recipe exactly as written.

I don't find the cardamom taste overwhelming; I think it's just right.  For the future, I might try halving the yeast and doubling the rising time, since I think the flavor was a little yeasty.  Also, now I know to only use my mixer with the dough hook on speed 2, since 4 made it smoke...!  At any rate, I like the recipe, it's a nice bread to have with tea or coffee, and I'll make it again.

Meat, Interrupted

So, it should be pretty clear from my profile description that I love meat.  Don't get me wrong -- I love me some tofu, broccoli, and mushrooms as well, but meat holds a special place in my heart.  I also love animals -- I volunteer for a dog rescue, and always have a tough time with movies/TV shows that depict any violence towards animals, whereas I watch Dexter with no problem.

Here's the thing: a couple months ago, a friend of mine sent me a link about how badly most farms treat their animals.  He said, read this, and think about it.  I said, no, because I didn't want my meat eating impacted.  Minutes later, I realized this was cowardly, and the equivalent of sticking my fingers in my ears and saying "la la la I can't hear you" in response to concerns about animal welfare.  I stuck with my "no" and didn't read the article he'd sent me, but I did start doing some research on ethical meat.

Now, I'm not going to tell you all the horrible things that huge meat producers do to both the animals and the environment.  You've probably heard, and you don't want me pushing my viewpoint on you.  You might already know that phrases such as "free range" don't actually mean anything -- here in the US, it means just that the poultry has been allowed access to the outside.  Fair enough.  What I am going to tell you, though, is a solution to the problem of how navigate the grocery store and find ethical animal products.

Meridian Pint, Tuesday, January 11, 2011

I braved the winter weather this evening to head to a birthday celebration for a friend at Meridian Pint in Columbia Heights, at 3400 11th St. NW DC.  It's focused on environmental sustainability, and American craft beer.  I'd not heard of the place before my friend mentioned it, and it was much larger than I was expecting.  There's a sizable upstairs and downstairs both, though I only have a vague impression of upstairs as I immediately went downstairs.

Downstairs, we were seated at two 6-person booths that have taps installed in the tables -- and not just for show.  These taps are fully functional, connected to kegs somewhere you can't see, and they keep an electronic tally of how much you've dispensed as you go along.  To the birthday girl's dismay, they only had an IPA and a Pilsner on the taps, because apparently those are the most popular beers.  Nevertheless, it was neat sitting at those tables.  Other amusing decor -- the blue wall behind us had line drawings of various brewing-related items with suggestive descriptions.

Now, I am not a hugely knowledgable beer drinker, and I am not a fan of hops, so this won't really be a review of the beer offerings (sorry!).  I ordered an Allagash Black ($7?), which was actually fairly tasty, and was my only adult beverage of the evening as I was driving home.

Central Michel Richard, Thursday January 6, 2011

Last Thursday was my second-ever visit to Central Michel Richard.   Earlier that morning, I'd made a reservation on OpenTable for 6:45pm that day.  Both my companion and I arrived at the same time, a little after 6:30, and we were seated immediately.  A server came by to take our drink orders and give us menus, but we didn't have another server pay attention to us for about 10 minutes.

Despite that early misstep, the meal went wonderfully and the service was wonderful as well.  My Cel-Ray Pimm's Cup was the first I'd ever had, and I was surprised that it was sweet, given that I was expecting to be knocked over with celery flavor.  It was pleasantly carbonated and refreshing, and I'll definitely get it again (I hear it's not actually on the menu, but just ask for it).  For a starter, we ordered the gougeres ($7), which are little cheese puffs, tasty and warm, not too cheesy, though we couldn't possibly finish them all given that I'd also ordered the faux gras terrine and country pate ($15) -- an appetizer which turned out to be enough for a meal.

I'd not had the faux gras before (faux due to it being chicken liver instead of duck or goose), but it was delicious, and the accompanying spicy mustard was surprisingly spicy -- a fact attested to by my companion's observation that my facial expressions every time I had the mustard were providing ample entertainment to go with his food.  There was a bread basket on the table, and that plus the bread with the faux gras is what made that appetizer so much to eat.  I knew I wanted to save room for the bacon cheeseburger I'd ordered, so I asked the friendly French waiter if I could have the faux gras wrapped up to go.  He graciously complied, with no hint of an attitude (my main complaint about my visit in 2008).