Rasika West End

This is the seventh and final post in the new series about my recent trip to Washington DC right on Julia Child's 100th birthday (Series overview: Happy Birthday Julia Child): Other posts in this series include Wolfgang Puck's The Source, Ben's Chili Bowl - an Inside Perspective, Exploring Little Ethiopia, Jaleo, The Federalist, and Peregrine Espresso. I hope you enjoyed the series!

I hardly ever eat Indian.

It's the one cuisine that Bryan refuses to eat. Even though he's not the biggest fan of Korean or Southeast Asian food (ever notice the death of posts for those types of restaurants on this blog?), at least he willing to occasionally try those two cuisines.

But Indian? Forget it. He tried it once in college, absolutely could not stand it, and has refused to set foot inside an Indian restaurant ever since.

So if I want Indian, I basically have to fend for myself.

Of course, this also means that my knowledge of Indian food is woefully elementary. I hardly am aware of the "basic" Indian dishes, (e.g., tikki malasa, samosas, and saag paneer), let alone some of the more exotic stuff.

Which is why I was all the more excited when I found out that we would be visiting one of the hottest Indian restaurants in Washington D.C.

Palak Chaat Crispy baby spinach / sweet yogurt / tamarind / date chutney

Rasika West End just opened in March of 2012. It's the sister restaurant of Rasika, Ashok Bajaj's wildly successful and very popular first Indian restaurant, which he opened in 2005. Bajaj has been nominated three times for the James Beard Award for "Best Restauranteur" due to the incredible success of Rasika, which focuses on modern upscale Indian cuisine.

Reservations are always hard to get at Rasika, so Rasika West End is a great alternative. Although the meus are not exactly the same, there is some overlap of the most popular dishes, such as their signature dish Palak Chaat, shown above, which, by the way, is absolutely incredible.

This dish is like no Indian dish I'd ever had before and I loved it. Baby spinach is coated in chick pea flour and flash fried into crispy, delicate leaves, which are served tossed with yogurt, tamarind sauce, and date chutney. The mix of flavors is vivid and intense. I would come back just to order this one dish.

Cauliflower Bezule Mustard seeds / curry leaves / green chilies / lemon juice

A portion of the menu is different from the original Rasika menu. This menu offers a lot more vegetarian options plus a brand new section called "Nosh Farmana" (translation: to eat or to drink) which includes dishes such as the Cauliflower Bezule shown above. Furthermore, the new, trendy modern decor (from James Beard winner restaurant designer Martin Vahtra), is a great place to relax with a cocktail (of which they have many) or a wine from their international wine list.

 Fish Chutneywala Sea bass / cilantro / mint / coconut

Having only tried Indian food a handful of times (mostly at cheap Indian buffets around Boston), I was floored by the variety of flavors and textures available here. One of my favorites was the Fish Chutneywala, which I really thought even Bryan would enjoy. Sea bass is cooked inside of a huge leaf and slathered with a rich pesto full of cilantro (Bryan's favorite) and mint. It really reminded me of the cilantro dipping salsa that comes with the bread at The Helmand in Boston (which Bryan really likes).

I wish I knew more about Indian food so I could talk more in detail about these dishes. Unfortunately, this was my first time ever sampling a lot of these flavors. In general, I loved the restaurant. Virtually all of the dishes were multi-dimensional and full of complex (and very good!) flavors. For me, most of it was quite foreign, and therefore delightfully surprising and totally fun.

Because I'm less familiar with Indian food in general, I had a harder time keeping track of the names of all these dishes, for forgive me if I don't label everything correctly. I think I'm reasonably accurate, but I'm much less "sure" about this set compared to if all these dishes were Chinese!

Paneer of some sort?
Malai Fish Curry was made with halibut in a creamy and fragrant sauce made of coconut milk, onions, bay leaf, and lots of curry.
The Mixed Grill was a great way to sample three of their meat entrees, such as the Kali Mirch Salmon, Scottish salmon with pink & black pepper and green pea chutney; Coorgi Murgh Tikka, chicken flavored with balsamic vinegar, black pepper, and cumin; and Seekh Kebab, minced meat mixed with spices.
I cannot for the life of me remember what this was - maybe sweet potato? Or carrots?

Sweet Potato and Sago Tikki was flavored with cumin, green chilies, curry leaves, and served with pineapple chutney.

The Roti Pe Boti with grilled lamb, onion, tomato and tawa paratha (a soft tandoori bread) was one of my favorites. It totally reminded me of the Singaporean version of this dish, which I always order.

Here are both types of bread - Naan (Indian flat bread) on the bottom and Mint Paratha (the soft layered bread) on top. These were both fantastic!

A lovely plate full of a little bit of each one of the dishes on the table!

Desserts
Although the meal was fantastic, we thought that the desserts were only OK. I did appreciate the fun use of certain types of "modern" food techniques (such as spherification) to achieve some of the unusual textures in a subset of the desserts.

However, by-and-large, I still stand by my original opinion about Indian desserts: I just don't like them that much. I think it's largely personal preference. In general I dislike cardamon, cloves, and similar flavors. I'm also not a huge fan of rose water.

In spite of all that, the desserts were beautifully plated and hit that spot (you know, that sweet craving you get at the end of a meal?).

Coconut and Lemongrass Panna Cotta
Cardamom ice cream with honey soaked cake
Rice Kheer - saffron and green cardamon
Mango and Jasmine Sorbet
Rose Compote Ice Cream

Overall Thoughts
Like I mentioned earlier, this restaurant had really good food. Washington Post gave it 4 stars, the highest score you can get. Definitely try their signature Palak Chaat, which is pretty incredible. Seriously, though, you can't go wrong with the rest of the menu. Try an assortment of different little dishes with friends, and get lots of naan. It's the most fun way to eat, and you get to try more dishes that way.

Personally, I think it's fine to skip dessert and just save more stomach space for the awesome food. However, if you really have a sweet tooth, my favorites were the cardamom ice cream with honey soaked cake or the coconut and lemongrass panna cotta.

Washington D.C. is super fortunately to have such "cutting edge" Indian food. It's a far cry from the Indian buffets I've tried in Boston, and definitely something I enjoyed a lot more.

Heck, I seriously even think I could convince Bryan to like Indian food if he tried this.

Rasika West End
1177 22nd St NW
Washington, DC 20037


Disclaimer
This trip was part of a media tour of Washington DC paid for by Destination DC, a non-profit organization that supports the DC travel and tourism sector. 

Peregrine Espresso

This is the sixth post in the new series about my recent trip to Washington DC right on Julia Child's 100th birthday (Series overview: Happy Birthday Julia Child): Other posts in this series include Wolfgang Puck's The Source, Ben's Chili Bowl - an Inside Perspective, Exploring Little Ethiopia, Jaleo, and The Federalist.

Oh coffee, how I tried so hard not to become an addict.

Strangely, even though I have been drinking some version of coffee since I was pretty young (my mom used to give me tastes of the free coffee from our local grocery store, diluted with TONS of cream, hot water, and sugar, of course), I was never addicted to coffee.

Throughout college, as other students at the 'Tute (affection way by which we refer to MIT) lived off of intravenous coffee drips into the week hours of the night with their problem sets, I never needed it. Sure, I drank my frappuccinos "socially", but it was never a daily occurrence.

It was the free, available coffee at work that did me in.

For years, I only drank coffee in the afternoon, convinced that I "wasn't really addicted" since I didn't need it in the morning to wake up. It wasn't until I noticed this dull, throbbing coffee headache  whenever I skipped my afternoon cup, that I realized just how physically addicted I was.

So what did I do? Embrace the addiction, of course!

Now I drink a lovely cup of cappuccino that I make at home every morning. After lunch, I brew yet another cup at work. Yes, I have a coffee maker in my office so I can make a fresh cup (even though there's free coffee in the kitchen). Yes, I'm a wee bit obsessive.

While in DC on this food trip, we soon found out there were several members in our group who were just as addicted as I was to coffee. We all politely requested (or more like begged) that a coffee shop be our first stop.

Our host, Katie, couldn't have picked a better place in DC for us to try.

Peregrine has definitely received its share of accolades. In 2009 Bon Appetit named Peregrine one of the 10 best boutique coffee shops in America. Their founder/barista Ryan Jensen won the Southeast Regional Barista Competiton in 2005. It's constantly being named "Best coffee in DC" on numerous lists. Clearly, it has a strong following here in DC.

Those who are willing to wait a few minutes for great coffee can order a gravity drip "microbrew" pourover coffee, where you can slowly watch your coffee being extracted right in front of you. The menu has many unusual and exotic choices, including a rotating variety of single-origin coffees.

Of course, if you're in a huge rush, you can still grab a piping hot cup of their "macrobrew" single origin coffee, although it is only available in the morning (when there are enough people to ensure that the coffee remains as fresh as possible).

You can order a cappuccino and enjoy some gorgeous latte art (see top picture). It was tough to choose between them, but eventually I opted for the cappuccino, which was awesome.

Thanks Kate for taking care of our coffee-deprived bodies that first morning in DC. I can't imagine a better way to start in the morning.

Peregrine Espresso
660 Pennsylvania Ave SE
Washington, DC 20003


Disclaimer
This trip was part of a media tour of Washington DC paid for by Destination DC, a non-profit organization that supports the DC travel and tourism sector. 

The Federalist

This is the fifth post in the new series about my recent trip to Washington DC right on Julia Child's 100th birthday (Series overview: Happy Birthday Julia Child): Other posts in this series include Wolfgang Puck's The Source, Ben's Chili Bowl - an Inside Perspective, Exploring Little Ethiopia, and Jaleo. 

These are exciting times for DC.

The presidential race is going full force, and pretty soon the inauguration will take over the nation's capital. Droves of people will swarm upon the city to enjoy its incredible museums, lively food scene, and excellent hotels (many of which have a rich history of hosting dignitaries over the years!).

Take the Madison Hotel, for example, which has been around for nearly 50 years and has housed countless dignitaries in its presidential suites, including President Kennedy, one of its first guests back in 1963. I had the pleasure of staying in the Madison Hotel during my short DC food trip back in August. It had just undergone an extension 22-million dollar renovation.

After arriving in DC that first night, it was nice not having to worry about trying to head out somewhere for dinner. Our group met at The Federalist, a new restaurant adjacent to the Madison that opened as part of the massive renovation of the hotel. The Federalist takes local Mid-Atlantic ingredients and creates dishes inspired by recipes from the 18th century.

We started out with cocktails in the restaurant's lovely outdoor terrace. The weather was surprisingly not too hot, even though it was the middle of August!

Here are the fun cocktails we sipped on while people watching on the terrace: upper left is the Twin Leaf, which is made of Hangar 1 vodka, chamomile tea, and sake with elderflower & lavender. To the right is the Smoked Strawberries, which tasted surprisingly (and pleasantly) smoky (presumably from the 'smoked' limoncello). There's also Three Citrus Vodka and local strawberry preserves,  Five on Rye consists of (ri)1 Rye, peaches, rhubarb shrub, pink peppercorn, and sugar.

We asked the chef, Harper McClure, to tell us his favorite drink. He picked an off-menu drink called Trade Winds, which has candied ginger, lime, lemon verbena vodka, and vermouth. Of course a couple members of our party just had to try it (and they liked it!).

I had the Twin Leaf, which was quite nice, and I sampled the Smoked Strawberry, which was very interesting and fun.  Everyone seemed to enjoy their drinks as well.

As the sun began to set, we headed on inside. After some discussions with the chef, we decided to keep the entire meal a surprise. After all, isn't it best to let the chef choose what you eat? Sort of like an American-style omakase?

The Chef McClure was excited by our proposal, and ran back into the kitchen to get started our our tasting.
Our first course was an amuse - Yellowtail and Watermelon Sorbet, which was served alongside some finely chopped pickled root vegetable (maybe daikon?). I actually really liked the tart and bright flavors of the pickle. However, I found the yellowtail to be quite average. It was just a tad fishy and not quite as good as most yellowtail I've had in sushi restaurants. The watermelon sorbet which accompanied the yellowtail was delicious on its own, but I felt like the overall concept of the dish just didn't quite work. The yellowtail, which was a bit warm, was weird when paired with the cold, fruity sorbet.
The next dish, Heirloom Tomato Panna Cotta ($12), was both stunning in its presentation, creative in its execution, and enjoyable to eat.  It's served with a horseradish tomato consomme, roasted cherry tomatoes, white anchovies, and opal basil. I loved the lovely sweet concentrated tomato flavor as well as the fragrant melon essence in the consomme. The Grilled Judith Point Calamari  ($13) was served with seared potato gnocchi, roasted garlic puree, pearl onions, and scallions. I liked the pan friend gnocchi, though I thought the calamari was only average. It was just a tad rubbery and could have benefited from being cooked just a hair less.Ipswich Clam Chowder came topped with braised pork belly, poached Ipswich clams, cabbage, Yukon gold potatoes, and sweet corn.  Though the dish was creative in design and gorgeous in presentation, I still found the chowder itself to be lacking in "clam" flavor. Perhaps it was a bit undersalted? The chowder was creamy, but had some other strong flavor I did not like, almost like a stinky clam?? I don't want to assume that it was a bad clam, since others at the table actually loved this dish. I found the pork belly to just a tad tough, though decent in flavor. The Lobster and Corn Fritters ($12), served alongside a warm vermouth cream, are pretty popular, and it's not hard to see why. How can you go wrong when you combine these two awesome ingredients? These were well-executed and would make a great bar snack. The Roasted Gulf Shrimp ($27) consisted of jumbo shrimp served with baby bok choy, snow peas, and bell peppers with a bergamot broth. This dish was nice, simple, and pretty good. The Virginia Black Bass was a special that day and came highly recommended. The seared fish came on top of a gorgeous pile of sweet summer corn, chanterelle mushrooms, fried fresh link chiles (they look like hats!), over a paprika-live oil emulsion.  I really enjoyed this dish. The sea bass had a lovely crispy skin, and the farm fresh ingredients, especially the corn, were a joy to eat. The interesting link chilies (the green looking hat-like things) were spicy and smoky, yet not overwhelming tear-inducing hot either.  The Seared Raw Tuna Loin ($30) was served with a Rappahanock (local to Virginia!) oyster veloute amd baby summer squash blossoms.  The oysters were soft, fresh, and pretty tasty. The tuna was reasonably fresh and seared to a perfect "rare", but just did not inherently have that much flavor. The Heritage Pork Chop ($32) came with a summer bean ragout, pearl onion, and cornbread puree. I thought the Marsala sauce that accompanied the pork chop was deep and flavorful, definitely adding to the complexity of the dish. Though I am not a duck person, I can still be objective in picking out a good duck dish. The Roasted Moulard Duck Breast ($29) was excellent. It was cooked absolutely perfectly, and was soft, tender, and very flavorful. Alongside the duck were grilled white peaches, Lacinato kale (which has a gorgeous deep umami flavor from the Sarsaparilla jus), and an absolutely lovely macadamia nut butter, which I loved. I thought this entree was the best of the bunch.  Similarly, I thought the Martin's Angus Beef Flatiron ($28) was also very good. The lovely summer roasted heirloom tomato were delicious, and I really liked the cute little marble potatoes, each perfectly formed sphere seared to a nice golden brown on each side. The steak was fabulous when paired with the rosemary-lavender-garlic butter.  The desserts were good. A la Minute Chocolate Cake $9 came with poached cherries and a sprinkling of cocoa nib. I thought I would just try one bite but found myself reach back for more . . . and then more . . . and then more. I think there's something about cherries that just matches perfectly with chocolate.
I love panna cotta and Greek yogurt, so it wasn't a surprise that I liked the Greek Yogurt Panna Cotta $9, which came with blackberries and shortbread cookies. What I found unique and surprising was the black pepper syrup, which actually worked really well! I loved the peppery kick that it added to the dessert.  

Represented from left to right: The Daily Meal, Destination DC, The Madison Hotel, Messy & Picky.

Thoughts
The Madison Hotel is a gorgeous place to stay, and I enjoyed every minute of sleep on their oh-so-comfortable beds. The Federalist is a lovely space and seems like a great convenient location for business meals. The dishes are generally "safe" (meaning they are not so exotic that a client may not like the cuisine), and the overall ambiance of the place is really nice.

Although some dishes were disappointing, others surprised me with their creativity and quality execution.The menu is constantly changing depending on what's seasonal, which is part of the fun.

We had a wonderful meal in this gorgeous space adjacent to the Madison Hotel. After dinner, we were really glad that we were staying right upstairs because, frankly, we were probably too stuffed to move very far!

The Federalist
1177 15th St NW
Washington, DC 20005



Disclaimer
This trip was part of a media tour of Washington DC paid for by Destination DC, a non-profit organization that supports the DC travel and tourism sector. 

Jaleo

This is the fourth post in the new series about my recent trip to Washington DC right on Julia Child's 100th birthday (Series overview: Happy Birthday Julia Child): Other posts in this series include Wolfgang Puck's The Source, Ben's Chili Bowl - an Inside Perspective, and Exploring Little Ethiopia.

Welcome to the totally redesigned Jaleo.

This Jaleo, which resides right in Penn Quarter in DC, is the original Jaleo, which has been open for nearly 20 years. Deemed by some to be the "DC restaurant most overview for a facelift," Jaleo closed its doors in the winter of 2012 for close to a month to revamp the entire space.

The design of the new space is stunning. Designed by Juli Capella of Barcelona, who also helped Andres design his Las Vegas Jaleo, this new dining space is colorful, whimsical, and fun. The bar is covered with colorful foam hexagons, which double as sound absorbers, significantly reducing the noise levels in the entire restaurant (upper left photo). Tiny fun spaces, such as the hidden "date spot" near the window (lower left photo) offer a romantic semi-private dining area that's great for people watching. Even the front hostess table is shaped like a flower pot, with a huge flower lamp hanging above.

With the new renovation, Jaleo also revamped its menu a bit. Although many of the dishes are the same as before, about 20% of the menu has changed, including more "playful" interpretations of traditional Spanish fare, a few more dishes incorporating Spanish Iberian ham, as well as a slew of new cocktails.

As part of our DC tour, we visited Jaleo in the afternoon to focus on cocktails. According to the schedule, we were to enjoy a one hour "cocktail class" at Jaleo.

It turned out to much more than that. Not only did we learn about (and sample!) several cocktails from Jaleo's new bar, we also muched on a variety of mouthwatering small plates, along with a fun dessert that incorporates some cool molecular-gastronomy techniques.


After getting a tour of the new space, we sat down to learn all about the perfect gin & tonic. According to our host, general manager Jorge Figueredo, gin & tonic is huge in Spain. With this new renovation, Andres decided he wanted to focus on this almost "national" drink by offering six different versions of it.

We started with José’s Choice, José’s own personal favorite recipe for a gin & tonic.
  We start with Hendrick's gin.
and then add Fever Tree tonic.

There's some other ingredients in there, like kaffir lime, lemon, and juniper. I can definitely see why this is José’s top choice. Quality ingredients make a ton of a difference in a simple drink like this one. It was bright, refreshing, and my eyes were certainly opened to a drink that I used to think was only OK.

What better "bite" to enjoy the drinks with than some exquisite, delicate salmon tatare with trout roe and sheep's milk cheese cones (one of the new menu items) from the kitchen?

People who are confused about what drinks to get can request one of the many iPads, which is loaded with tons of information about all the drink offerings.

You could try the Coriander blossom, a lovely cocktail made with lemon and lime  . . .
or Or the Vegetal, an interesting cocktail that is both beautiful and surreal, filled with floating fennel, radish, cubeb, and kumquat.

How about the Barrel Aged, made with Old Tom Gin (whisky barrel aged) with pickled ginger, allspice, orange, and lemon?
Q Q Tonic (which is made with agave syrup) is used in the New Western, made with Silvertin gin, Fever Tree tonic, tarragon, lemon, lime, and borage.
 The staff brought all kinds of little bites for us to enjoy with our cocktails. Pan de cristal con tomate ($8.50) was absolutely fantastic. Pan de cristal (literally "crystal bread") is an extremely light, airy, and crispy bread from Spain. It's a ton of work to make the bread. In Spain, they have these special machines that stretch the dough like bubble gum over and over again. The constant stretching causes the dough to incorporate tons of air pockets, which really gives it a unique texture.

At Jaleo, they ship the bread directly from Spain because they could not find anyone in Boston who could make this incredible bread.

I loved this bread and took multiple helpings. I especially liked how the unique, crispy bread absorbed all the tasty flavors from both the cheese and the fresh tomatoes. The airy, crispy, yet elastic texture is something that's quite unique and definitely worth trying. I would order this again in a heartbeat if I ever returned.

We asked multiple people who worked there, "what is your favorite thing to eat here? What is a must have?" Surprisingly, we continued to hear "you have to try the Croquetas!"

Croquetas are deep fried breaded mashed potato "balls" that typically include some kind of meat (in this case, chicken). It's a tradition for José Andres' croquetas to be served inside of a shoe. In some states, it actually comes in a real shoe. However, D.C. food regulations wouldn't let them do that, so they had to come up with a glass sneaker, instead!

These were hot, savory, crunchy, and oh-so-satisfying.

I wouldn't necessarily say it blew me away as being the most unique or "must-get" thing the restaurant offered (my mind was still on that pan de cristal) but I did enjoy the bite quite a bit.

Ostras ‘Gin & Tonic’ ($15) - This was a cute take on gin & tonic, raw oysters that are actually served with a bit of lemon, gin, and tonic!

Refreshing and light, they were tasty, though I still prefer eating really good raw oysters pretty much plain.

 We also sampled some lovely Mejillones Vinagreta, mussels served with pipirrana (a Spanish salad with tomatoes, potato, and peppers), sherry dressing and honey ($9). 
The theme continued as we enjoyed our dessert, also called ‘Gin and Tonic’. It consisted of gin and tonic sorbet, a fizzy tonic "espuma" (foam), lemon and aromatics. It was fascinating how they emulated the fizziness of tonic with the foam. The manager told us that there was a special type of molecular gastronomy compound that could make foams appear to taste fizzy, even though there's no actual carbon dioxide inside.

It was an illusion, but I was totally fooled!

Jorge Figueredo, General Manager and one of the chefs with whom we spoke. They were fantastic hosts.

Here's the whole crew, sitting at the funny fooseball table (yes, look underneath the glass, you can actually play during dinner!)

It was definitely a fabulous way to spend an afternoon. Not only did we learn a lot about the art of gin & tonic (I personally became a new fan of this drink!), we also had a chance to sample some fantastic bites from the restaurant.

Getting just a small taste of their menu totally peaked my curiosity as to what the rest of the food tastes like. I loved José Andres' food the last time I had it at SAMM inside Bazaar in Los Angeles. I'm also a huge fan of small plates in general. This is why I'm pretty certain I would really enjoy a full meal here at Jaleo.

Definitely the next time I'm in D.C., I'll have to take Bryan here again. I'm pretty certain he'll love the new Jaleo.

Jaleo 
480 7th St NW
Washington, DC 20004


Disclaimer
This trip was part of a media tour of Washington DC paid for by Destination DC, a non-profit organization that supports the DC travel and tourism sector.