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AJC- A weekend in Washington, DC
February 16, 2012
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A weekendin Washington, D.C.
February 15, 2012, by
It has beenten years since I last visited Washington, D.C., and to me it felt a lotdifferent back then. The city seemed vastly more residential with small,concentrated pockets of hip commercial activity in neighborhoods like AdamsMorgan, Dupont Circle, etc. Simply put, it just seemed real chill for a majormetropolitan city. After spending this past weekend there, I no longer havethat impression.
Commercialactivity has seemed to really taken off in D.C., giving it an energetic pulsereminiscent of Lower Manhattan’s East Village. I also discovered that thehoopla over the city’s restaurant renaissance is certainly merited.
On my firstevening, my friend and I participated in the prix fixe experience at Palena located in the Cleveland Parkneighborhood. In hindsight, choosing to start off our weekend in Palena’sformal dining room, as opposed to its more casual cafe, was probably a stuffychoice for two beer-loving dudes who haven’t seen each other in a while.Regardless, we enjoyed our Italian-Mediterranean inspired meals highlightedwith some rabbit terrine (”porchetta”) and hen breast containing a crisp,golden crust. Although, I didn’t care for a serving of seared tuna served witha pasty, tomato coulis that overpowered the fish’s flavor.
Afterspending the next morning at a nearby pub to watch some soccer (and get ourhearts broken by our teams in the process), we made our way to brunch at the Blue Duck Tavern located in theground floor of the Park Hyatt Hotel. Everything here was outstanding. I had thesteak and eggs with a side order of röesti (Swiss hash browns),which came out as a perfect rectangular nest of crispy, grated potatoes. Myfriend struck gold with an order of short rib hash topped with a poached egg.It was a gooey delicious mess that I enviously watched him swab warm breadthrough over and over.
A few hours,beers and Bloody Marys later, we made our way over to Hotel Tabard Inn and slowly passedour day in its cozy lounge. We made friends with the bartender who recommended Sushi Taro for our dinner plans that night, which weluckily got last minute reservations for. Sushi Taro sits above a CVS pharmacyin the Dupont Circle neighborhood, and offers diners an authentic peak into theJapanese kaiseki experience.
Kaiseki is amulti-course traditional Japanese meal served to diners in a predeterminedorder. Sushi Taro offers a sushi tasting, a traditional kaiseki tasting mixingin hot and cold dishes that may not involve fish, a tasting prepared withsuppon (sea turtle) and an expensive one using taraba (red king crab) andlobster.
I chose toparticipate in the traditional kaiseki paired with flights of sake. The kitchendazzled my taste buds with artfully prepared morsels of seafood, tempura, soup,sashimi, sesame tofu soaking in dashi and miso-marinated beef sizzling on topof a miniature binchōtan charcoal grill. I wish I could give you all a clearerpicture of each dish that I had, but blame the sake (which they give you a lotof).
The nextmorning, I begrudgingly left Washington, D.C. in the same fashion that I came —late for my train and running quickly to my departure gates. I’ll make a noteto be a little more prepared on my next visit.
