I went back here again and as my text message update below indicates, I tasted another good dish. I actually ordered the Medalhao de File for myself, which is a medallion of beef tenderloin rolled in bacon with a wine mushroom sauce. The Medalho de File was absolutely devine and better than I remembered. It is one of my favorite D.C. dishes. My date's Bobo de Camaro, which I ate a good amount of, was good as well. It is hard to compare to the Medalho de File, but the Bobo id a solid option if you're feeling like a seafood soup-like curry dish. Again, the drinks were good, but nothing to come back for on their own.
Bobo de camaro @ Ipanea Grill, good, like yellow curry, shrimp, quite large, drink batida de coco - solid, not spectular
For more on the Grill from Ipanema see my Brazilian section
Friday, June 25, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
La Tasca (Clarendon location)
I went here with a large group. We ordered the least expensive group plan (I was late and did not do the ordering.) The food was rather good. Some cheese bread was pretty good. The fried eggplant was great. Some meatballs in red sauce were pretty good, but nothing special. The desserts were quite good as well. The sangria was acceptable, but I've certainly had better. Overall, the food was decent and it wasn't too expensive for a large party. We were up on the 3rd floor, which was quite noisy, but had cool decor.
Cheesetique
2411 Mt. Vernon - also see update HERE
This is a cheese store with a small restaurant & wine bar in back.
On a Thursday, there was long wait for a table or spot at the bar for only two people. Fortunately, we spent the time looking at the cheese and buying some.
We ordered 3 cheeses with the Orange Fig Spread as an optional "Accompaniment". We had one soft cheese, one salty, and one fruity. They were pretty good, but not great. I prefer them being stronger. After that we got some flatbread or crostini or something. It was covered in cheese and it was pretty good. The wines - I had two white wines were solid, but not great. (Sauvignon Blanc Ponga ‘09 White Burgundy Vigneron Réunis ‘07 France).
Price wasn't too bad as cheese platters tend to be expensive.
Overall, it was a nice place, something a bit different and intimate, but not a top favorite - although I was pretty impressed by the cheese on sale, so I'll go back for that.
This is a cheese store with a small restaurant & wine bar in back.
On a Thursday, there was long wait for a table or spot at the bar for only two people. Fortunately, we spent the time looking at the cheese and buying some.
We ordered 3 cheeses with the Orange Fig Spread as an optional "Accompaniment". We had one soft cheese, one salty, and one fruity. They were pretty good, but not great. I prefer them being stronger. After that we got some flatbread or crostini or something. It was covered in cheese and it was pretty good. The wines - I had two white wines were solid, but not great. (Sauvignon Blanc Ponga ‘09 White Burgundy Vigneron Réunis ‘07 France).
Price wasn't too bad as cheese platters tend to be expensive.
Overall, it was a nice place, something a bit different and intimate, but not a top favorite - although I was pretty impressed by the cheese on sale, so I'll go back for that.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Sei
444 7th St. NW.
Original review:
About a week ago I dined at Sei, a sushi restaurant recommended by both a former coworker and the Washingtonian, which listed Sei at #68 in its top 100 restaurants.
My experience was quite good. In fact, I am willing to proclaim Sei my favorite DC sushi restaurant. Sei has several unique and creative offerings in both their sushi and their drinks. The execution of these creations is also quite good. Meanwhile, the price is not exorbitant with most rolls close to if not at $10. My date and I had 5 rolls and we didn't finish them, so you should be able to satisfy your sushi craving for about $40 of rolls. The drinks are pricier and have a temptingly long list of expensive wines and cocktails. The cocktails are worth trying, even if many of them are heavy with cucumber.
The decor is nice, upscale, and dark. Sei is a larger restaurant, but breaks the spaces into subsections to create a smaller feel. The downside is the noise. We had a window seat and even though it was probably on the edge of the noise, it was still noisy and difficult to hear our server.
Anyway, the specific dishes I had were:
Triple Tuna Roll: not unique, but a very good rendition
S.O.S. Roll: very fruity with strawberry & oranges and such. Good, but hard to tell it was sushi.
Fish & Chips Roll: Very good.
Snow White Roll: Eel and roasted apple, very good.
Smokey Eel Nagati: good, but nothing special.
Between us we had two drinks, the Silver Samurai and the Liquid Wasabi. Both were quite good, with the Samurai a refreshing cucumber based drink that seemed more appropriate for summer and the Wasabi having a lovely kick. I'd recommend the Wasabi.
For more sushi places see my Sushi post
Update: I dined at Sei again recently and I again came away impressed. The Snow White and the Fish & Chips rolls were excellent again, as was the other roll we tried, but the name is escaping me at the moment. I believe it was a less original roll though. My drink, some kind of blueberry concoction, was very, very good.
Update: Yet another trip to Sei, and again a good time. The restaurant was practically empty around 6pm on a Saturday, but had filled up by the time we finished dining. I definitely enjoyed the lower noise levels and less burdened servers. The selections this time were:
Surf N. Turf Roll, Albacore Roll, Snow White Roll, and Fish & Chips Roll.
I had not had the Surf N. Turf and Albacore before, but both were quite good, especially the Surf N. Turf, which, if I remember right, was lobster and kobi beef. The drinks (Japanese Mojito and Zen Collins) were quite good as always at Sei.
Original review:
About a week ago I dined at Sei, a sushi restaurant recommended by both a former coworker and the Washingtonian, which listed Sei at #68 in its top 100 restaurants.
My experience was quite good. In fact, I am willing to proclaim Sei my favorite DC sushi restaurant. Sei has several unique and creative offerings in both their sushi and their drinks. The execution of these creations is also quite good. Meanwhile, the price is not exorbitant with most rolls close to if not at $10. My date and I had 5 rolls and we didn't finish them, so you should be able to satisfy your sushi craving for about $40 of rolls. The drinks are pricier and have a temptingly long list of expensive wines and cocktails. The cocktails are worth trying, even if many of them are heavy with cucumber.
The decor is nice, upscale, and dark. Sei is a larger restaurant, but breaks the spaces into subsections to create a smaller feel. The downside is the noise. We had a window seat and even though it was probably on the edge of the noise, it was still noisy and difficult to hear our server.
Anyway, the specific dishes I had were:
Triple Tuna Roll: not unique, but a very good rendition
S.O.S. Roll: very fruity with strawberry & oranges and such. Good, but hard to tell it was sushi.
Fish & Chips Roll: Very good.
Snow White Roll: Eel and roasted apple, very good.
Smokey Eel Nagati: good, but nothing special.
Between us we had two drinks, the Silver Samurai and the Liquid Wasabi. Both were quite good, with the Samurai a refreshing cucumber based drink that seemed more appropriate for summer and the Wasabi having a lovely kick. I'd recommend the Wasabi.
For more sushi places see my Sushi post
Update: I dined at Sei again recently and I again came away impressed. The Snow White and the Fish & Chips rolls were excellent again, as was the other roll we tried, but the name is escaping me at the moment. I believe it was a less original roll though. My drink, some kind of blueberry concoction, was very, very good.
Update: Yet another trip to Sei, and again a good time. The restaurant was practically empty around 6pm on a Saturday, but had filled up by the time we finished dining. I definitely enjoyed the lower noise levels and less burdened servers. The selections this time were:
Surf N. Turf Roll, Albacore Roll, Snow White Roll, and Fish & Chips Roll.
I had not had the Surf N. Turf and Albacore before, but both were quite good, especially the Surf N. Turf, which, if I remember right, was lobster and kobi beef. The drinks (Japanese Mojito and Zen Collins) were quite good as always at Sei.
Eat First
I stopped for lunch at Eat First, another one of the many H Street Chinatown Chinese places. I ordered General Tsao's Chicken, which is not really the best dish to judge an authentic Chinese restaurant on, but nonetheless, it was decent to solid, but not special. The main selling point was that it was very inexpensive, just $4.50 or something like that, with other lunch options as low as $3.25. The portion size was ample with plenty of rice and free tea. The atmosphere and decor were pretty typical of a cheap Chinese place. Service was quick. I've had better Chinese on this block, but if you want a cheap lunch, Eat First isn't a bad option.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Lauriol Plaza
1835 18th St. NW
As I stated in my "restaurants I should note here", almost everyone I've talked to in D.C. is familiar with Lauriol Plaza. So much so, that I need not go on and on here, but seeing as I just reviewed Alero, I should note Lauriol. Most conversations about D.C. Mexican food quickly arrive at the same conclusion: Mexican in D.C. is disappointing, except Lauriol.
Lauriol is usually packed; however, Snowmageddon served as excellent cover for me to sneak an out-of-town friend into Lauriol. It also helped that his hotel was nearby. Lauriol was not busy at all. Not dead, but not busy.
First, the chips were rather good. Not spectacular, but slightly better than Alero's. My swirl margarita was good, but not as good as whatever crazy specialty margarita I ordered at Alero the week before.
I ordered beef fajitas with cheese and sour cream (extra). Our food arrived almost as soon as we had ordered it. I guess when you're used to being packed, you can whip it out quickly when the house isn't even close to full. Quality did not seem to be sacrificed as the fajitas were delicious. They are comparable to Uncle Julio's Chicago location, although the edge goes to Uncle Julio's as still the best restaurant fajitas I have ever had (also known as Rio Grande here in D.C., although I have not yet been to a D.C. location). My friend also had beef fajitas. Prices were good, with most in $10 to $17 range.
As for decor and atmosphere. We sat on the first floor by the windows on the far end. My back was to the windows, but my friend really enjoyed the view of Snowmageddon's early stages. Although I really like the 3rd floor, I really liked the atmosphere and decor of the first floor as well.
Alero
Although I did not think to review it on here at any point prior to this, I have eaten at 3 of Alero's D.C. locations: Cleveland Park, U Street, and Dupont Circle. As one might guess, my not remembering them means that they were not especially memorable, although the company in each instance was.
Alero (Dupont Circle location) - 1724 Connecticut Ave NW
Recently I ate at the Dupont Circle location. The chips and salsa were good. Nothing special, but not bad. I started with some kind of specialty frozen margarita with some blackberry liquor or something in it. I can't find it in their on-line menu. It was very good and others followed suit.
The meal itself was disappointing. I ordered beef enchiladas. They weren't bad, but they were bland and almost watery tasting. No zing from any spiciness, not much flavor from the cheese, no savoriness from the meat. Just kind of unobjectionable enchiladas.
The scene and ambiance pretty good. The Dupont Circle location is a long, somewhat dark, narrow room with interior brick. Our party sat in a somewhat hidden enclave at the back of the restaurant. The enclave was a bit tight, not just for a party of our size, but for anyone who wants to sit across from each other. Still, it was nice.
The other locations:
Alero (U Street location) - 1301 U Street NW
It has been a while, but I remember ordering something a bit more interesting and less common than an enchilada. I believe that I remember a similar result though: acceptable, but not exciting food. Also, I think that my margarita was pretty good. Again, the physical restaurant was pretty good. We ate outside in Alero's large enclosed area out front and it was fun. Based on this location's proximity to me, the good margaritas, and the outdoor area, it seems like a fun place to get together for a happy hour during the summer - but perhaps not to impress anyone with the food.
Alero (Cleveland Park location) - 3500 Connecticut Ave NW
Okay, I last visited this location 3 years ago. I don't know if I had anything other than the free chips and a margarita. Again, the margarita was good and the chips were solid. The location is smaller and less done-up than the others. It's more of a niche.
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