What's Good Now in DC

[joethefoodie]

If you find yourself in Adams Morgan, my buddy Chris's new cocktail/food place is opening this week. The Green Zone will feature cocktails and food with a Middle Eastern focus, and it's open late, with food served almost until closing time.

 

The Green Zone

 

The former World Bank contractor, who is half Iraqi and well traveled in the region, assembled a menu of classic and original libations and bar snacks like falafel; mana'ish (flatbread) with a variety of toppings; chicken wings brightened by lemon and za'tar seasoning; and fries dusted in hot pepper, coriander, and garlic. Chef Gustavo Fuentes, who has a background in cooking Lebanese food, is leading the kitchen.

 

 

It's probably a good thing Significant Eater and I no longer do the commute to DC, as our apartment was literally right up the block from The Green Zone.

[Anthony Bonner]

Pretty unimpressive meal at the dabney Saturday night

[Anthony Bonner]

Pretty unimpressive meal at the dabney Saturday night or as my wife said of a scallop crudo Whit so much fresh red Chile it annihilated the dish "this is fucked up exactly the way you'd fuck it up".

 

Not bad, but just not noteworthy absent chicken fried blowfish tails which were great. Our bartender/server made me want to ask her to please stop talking.

[splinky]

If you find yourself in Adams Morgan, my buddy Chris's new cocktail/food place is opening this week. The Green Zone will feature cocktails and food with a Middle Eastern focus, and it's open late, with food served almost until closing time.

 

The Green Zone

 

The former World Bank contractor, who is half Iraqi and well traveled in the region, assembled a menu of classic and original libations and bar snacks like falafel; mana'ish (flatbread) with a variety of toppings; chicken wings brightened by lemon and za'tar seasoning; and fries dusted in hot pepper, coriander, and garlic. Chef Gustavo Fuentes, who has a background in cooking Lebanese food, is leading the kitchen.

 

 

It's probably a good thing Significant Eater and I no longer do the commute to DC, as our apartment was literally right up the block from The Green Zone.

oh damn, i meant to try this while i was down there

[Rich]

Are we talking restaurants?

[joethefoodie]

Are we talking restaurants?

And cocktail places.

[AaronS]

I had really nice meals at q by peter chang and little serrow a few weeks ago.

 

q’s menu is split between the sezchuan classics and stuff that’s not familiar to me, we mostly ordered the former and did really well. the cumin lamb chops are decent pieces of lamb that are fried with some actual skill (unlike the dongbei place in flushing) and we had some really nice shrimp dumplings that had some kind of sesame based sauce on them. (one of the nice things about chang’s restaurants is the sauces are usually unique to each dish, we also had dan dan noodles and the sauce was different.) the food I had isn’t as refined as what you get at guan fu but I think it would be an above average sichuan place here and I’d be thrilled if one opened nearby.

 

little serrow was even better than usual. the menu still follows the same format, there’s a relish to start, some salad, a larb like dish, and you end with whiskey braised ribs and a bite sized dessert. this was my fourth meal there I think and I’d had some of it (an excellent tofu dish) before, but this meal was much less spicy than the other three and it really let me appreciate what they’re doing even more. I think the food is supposed to be northern thai, but with the exception of a sausage that you can get at ayada the food I had isn’t really like the issan places here. I can’t make any claims about authenticity, but this is my favorite thai restaurant.

[joethefoodie]

Two meals this week. First was at A Rake's Progress, from James Beard award winner Spike Gjerde (not that Spike), in the Line Hotel, Adams Morgan. The hotel's lobby and public spaces are pretty gorgeous, a renovation of a 100-year old church on Euclid at Columbia Road. The restaurant is above and overlooks the lobby and is also pretty stunning.

 

If only the food were so stunning, it would be a must-visit.  But everything (at least the 4 dishes we had) was so salty, it was hard to finish. That, and each of the 4 dishes had asparagus in it, not cooked enough for my taste. I get it, local, blah blah blah, but jeez, learn how to season.

 

And the next night we went to Dino's Grotto, Dean's Shaw restaurant which has now been in Shaw after relocating from Cleveland Park, for 5 years. Good enough food, prepared properly, especially the fresh, Maryland soft shells I had.  And all wines over $60 (he has an extensive Italian list with age) were half price, and are half price, every Sun, Mon, Tues.

 

I had lunch at a place in Union Market - don't remember the name, but it was fine for what it was. And that market is doing a bang-up job - it was packed, and it's not exactly close to places where people work.

[Nathan]

yeah, the Rake’s Progress is more concept than execution I think. Lovely space.