It's All Greek to me? Zorba's Cafe

I went to have a quick dinner with a friend from college on Wednesday evening.  She works in Dupont Circle and wanted to do something close.  We headed over to Zorba's Cafe on Connecticut Avenue, just north of the Metro Station. 

The first thing I noticed was the spacious patio.   The real estate is prime for people watching; the street is filled with passersby to entertain you.  The best part about the patio, but sadly about the restaurant in general, is the flower and herb garden that surrounds it.  For someone as in love with food as I am, there is nothing more exciting than to see basil, rosemary, mint, sage, and Italian parsley being grown right in the middle of the city.  I hoped to get some of this fresh flavor in my food.  I am not so sure that I did.

It is important to note that Zorba's is a no-frills eatery.  The inside is full of tchotchke that may have been stolen from the prop room of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding".  There is no way for you to forget you are in a Greek restaurant.   There are menus by the door for easy access.  You order your food at the counter a few steps below the doorway and wait for your number to be called; there are no servers and the dining area is self seated.  There was very little way for me to know this if I had not gone with a friend who had been there before.

I was not as hungry as I should be around the eight o'clock hour, so I only ordered babaghannouj and a greek salad.  Easy order, right?  Wrong.  The babaghannouj was at first bite good.  As I continued to eat more and more I realized there was enough garlic in the dish to kill every vampire in the world, if only they had enough pita to share with me.  I love garlic as much as the next guy, but there is validity to the "Too much of a good thing" line.  Good food is all about balance.  Make your roasted eggplant dip with lemon juice, salt and pepper, olive oil, garlic, fresh herbs, a little tahini if you like it, but do not over do it.  If Zorba's put less garlic and some of that fresh parsley from the garden in it, I would have raved.

The Greek salad, I must say, was good.  I do not agree with some of the choices made with the salad, like thin half slices of tomatoes instead of diced or wedges, or cramming the salad into the smallest bowl they could find.  Yet the fact remains that the salad was exactly as I wanted it.  The dressing was herbaceous and balanced, the feta was salty and not piled on, the lettuce crisp, and just enough olives to make my mouth happy.

My friend got the dish she always gets, the chicken reganato.  An oven roasted half chicken basted in olive oil and crusted with salt, pepper, and dried oregano.  A roasted chicken is not to be taken lightly.  Simple dishes can be the hallmark of a menu.  This chicken was flavorful, albeit a bit dry. 

It was great to see an old friend that night.  I love nothing more than catching up over a good meal.  My mind is so food focused that I often remember the meal we had together as much, if not more, than the conversation we had.  Unfortunately Zorba's may be one of the exceptions.  As busy as it is and considering how long it has been around, maybe I was just there on the wrong night.  Perhaps when I visit D.C. next they can give me something a little bit more memorable.     

Cafe Deluxe: A place I once called home.

In the seven years of my life in District, I have only worked for three restaurant groups. One was a brew pub in Gaithersburg, Maryland. I opened the Tonic Restaurant in Foggy Bottom for the company and was the general manager of their Mount Pleasant location. But in between those two I worked for......Cafe Deluxe. I spent three years there running the bar, as well as helping to run the kitchen as a front of the house expediter.

I am well familiar with the food there, but it is always interesting to go into a restaurant you know intimately and reacquaint yourself with the menu. The offerings have not changed a lot over the years, which make the few changes I did see all the more noticeable. A ham and gruyere sandwich, beet and goat cheese salad, and fish tacos are among some of the new dishes gracing this already long menu. But I came in search of that which I know and love. My friend Julie and I did lunch on Wednesday afternoon and the order was easy. Julie saw the turkey pastrami reuben, and I always get the deluxe chicken cobb salad. We decided to go for an appetizer as well, the chicken spring rolls.

The spring rolls offer an interesting fusion of a typical Chinese crispy treat with a bit of Thai flavor. The diced chicken in the rolls is very moist and flavorful, with coconut milk and a bit of curry as the primary flavoring. The spring rolls are double wrapped, which ensures a crunchy bite without the roll getting overcooked or crumbly. The dipping sauce is simple, a sweet chili sauce with some added cilantro to round out the flavor. I have met a few people who do not quite like them, but I think that they are a tasty twist on what is a French bistro influenced American comfort food menu.

Julie's turkey pastrami reuben was outstanding. Butter toasted marble rye bread with warmed turkey pastrami, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Russian dressing. What is not to like on this dish? I love that Deluxe takes this classic and spins it a little bit with the use of pastrami of turkey instead of going with the typical beef. It makes for a slightly lighter lunch option, but with all the satisfaction of the fattier standard. Oh and did I mention it comes with french fries.

My chicken cobb salad, as usual, was too delicious for words. A light champagne vinaigrette glistens on the chopped iceberg and romaine. Ripe, juicy cherry tomatoes, grilled diced chicken, avocado and blue cheese round out this classic dish. It is very simple, but very good. The only note I have about the salad is that it needs to be salted and peppered. Too many restaurants ignore the fact that lettuce and greens needs aggressive seasoning, often more than even a great dressing can offer. A little salt and pepper tossed with the greens after dressing it can make the difference between a good salad and a great one.

Maybe I like Cafe Deluxe as much as I do because I used to work there. But the fact remains that the food is consistently good, the prices are excellent, and the service is often a lot better than you receive at other popular restaurants. If you have not been, you should visit.

Lunch at 2 Amy's... an old reliable.

Sunday I went to lunch at 2 Amy's in Cathedral Heights.  2 Amy's is one of D.C.'s best pizza joints, but do not go in expecting something greasy like "Jumbo Slice".  This is pizza napoletano, like you would get in Italy.  In fact, some of the pizzas do not have mozzarella, which is very typical.

The best thing about 2 Amy's in my opinion is everything but the pizza.  The pizza is great, but the rest of their menu is where they shine.  They make alot of their charcuterie themselves, and it is super affordable if you do not over order, which is hard to do...trust me!!

On this occasion I wanted to taste a lot of things, but there were plenty of left overs.  The pizza I got was with eggplant confit, olives, capers, and grana (hard italian cheese similar to parmigiano).  It was very good, not overpowered by the briny flavor of the pickles.  I also had the suppli (fried risotto balls filled with cheese).  These are a 2 Amy's must have.  You cannot go wrong with cheesy fried goodness.  The meatballs (polpettine al forno), oven roasted and topped with crumbled cheese, are always great.  These were particularly moist, with just a bit of over-browned crispiness on the tops of each, which makes the dish.   The rapini, simply blanched and served with vincotto (tastes like a mellow balsamic) and crushed red pepper flakes, is always good if you are looking for a flavorful green to offset the fat you get elsewhere.  The deviled eggs were also delicious.  They are made very simply, but served with a great salsa verde (parsley, anchovy, caper sauce).

If you haven't been to 2 Amy's, please go.  It is tasty!

Central Michel Richard--WOW!!

I had dinner Saturday night with my friends Ted, Addisu, and Shoshanna, all of whom I went to college with.  We were celebrating Ted's 30th birthday and my going away.  We decided to do it up at Central, the French bistro style offering from Michel Richard, owner of Citronelle,  a French fine dining restaurant.

We started out at the bar, and the first order was the cheese puffs (gougeres).  Puffy, cheesy and delicate, these are a must order.  We ate three orders of them.  We also got the frog legs, which were very good.  It was my first time having frog legs.  They tasted like chewy chicken with a slight flavor of the sea.  That might not sound good but they were.  The sauce they were cooked in and the accompanying frisee made the dish.

At the table we all order separately.  I ordered the brussel sprouts with bacon,  chopped salad, and country pate.  The brussel sprouts were delicious as you would expect, buttery and bacony.  They were also cooked slightly softer than you see at most restaurants, which I actually like.  They were also very small, which is a change from the medium sized ones you normally see in the prime of their season.  The chopped salad was superb.  A good salad is hard to find.  This salad had all the components I look for, small cut lettuce, tasty bits, and a simple clean dressing.  Every bite had good solid coating of dressing, bits of salami and cheese, and crisp lettuce.  Garbanzo beans were also in the salad, and while they are not my favorite, there were not enough of them to overtake the dish.  The country pate was outstanding.  The texture was coarse enough to maintain a good bite, but the pate was still moist, which is always appreciated.  I have had country pate that was too dry, which affects the flavor.

Ted had the bacon and onion tart.  It was good, but was more like a flatbread.  Delicious, but I expected something more in the rounded puff pastry vain.  Ted also had the lamb shank, which looked well braised and smelled exceptionally good.  Shoshanna had the tartare of filet mignon.  It came with cheese tuille crackers.  The presentation was outstanding, perfectly molded round and sprinkled with crispy bits that I could not identify.   Abu had the frisee aux lardon with poached egg salad, one of my very favorite salads.  For all those who have not had this before, it is a simple salad of frisee greens tossed in a simple red or white wine vinaigrette, with crispy bacon and croutons.   The crown jewel is the poached egg on top.  When the yolk is broken and tossed with the salad,  it creates a creamy, fatty dressing perfect to cut through some of the bitterness of the lettuce.

This was one of the better meals I've had.  Everything was cooked, dressed, presented perfectly.  Simple clean dishes stayed true to their roots, and longer, slower, more complicated offerings were given great attention to detail.  Central Michel Richard is a must visit.

 

Possible Last Brunch in DC??

Hey-o!!  I'm done with work now,  so I am actually off on the weekend.  So, I went to brunch this Saturday at Perry's in Adams Morgan. On Saturday they have a nice menu with lunch and brunch small plates, most items under nine dollars.

Three month old manchego on ficelle with a light fresh tomato sauce, very simple and tasty.  "Papas Bravas" fried potatoes with a tomato sauce and aioli.  It was good but nothing special.  Red and golden beet salad with citrus, which was good but definitely missing a necessary cheese component.  The big hit was the breakfast sandwich of manchego, serrano ham with a fried egg on soft potato bread.  The sandwich was delicious, and looked great with a round cut out of the bread so you could see the sunny-side up egg inside the sandwich.  Overall the food was great, and a great option for spending a Saturday eating and drinking on a roof deck.  

The First Posting

so.....um... This is my first posting. Its late at night, but I just finished the set-up so I have to write something. Just so you know, I am going to brunch and dinner tomorrow, so I will have restaurants to write about and food to discuss. I'm excited.