D.C. Report
My SO and I visited D.C. toward the end of Oct. I used this forum extensively in planning our dinners. I’m near Los Angeles, so I was looking for restaurants that would be different from what I could get here. For example, LA has good ethnic restaurants, such as Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Mexican and Ethiopian. Also, I was looking for restaurants that were close to metro stations. Here is where we ended up going:
Komi: This was our anniversary dinner, so we splurged. This was an excellent all around experience. Though all good, the dishes that stand out are the scallops, stuffed dates, spanakopita and the roast goat. I was surprised on how ungamey the goat tasted. The meat was so tender, yet the outside had a very pleasant crunch.
Ooh and Aahs: The entire package, from the woman who took our order, the food served in take out boxes, the cozy upstairs dining room, to the oldies R&B music make this a stand out experience. The Google map I had showed we had to cross a couple streets from the metro station to reach it. Of course we walked in the wrong direction, and I have to admit the neighborhood was starting to look dicey. We very soon saw our error. The restaurant is directly across the street from the metro station. I was going to order the broiled crab cakes, however the order taker warned it would take 30 min. I had the fried crab cakes instead, not wanting to hold up my SO’s order. The fried crab cakes were very good, not oily at all. The collards and rice w/gravy were also good. SO had the special of marinated fried chicken breast, also very good. It was served butterflied, the meat was moist, and not greasy. His sides of green beans and mac n’ cheese were OK.
Matchbox: There was a Caps game, so I think that lent to how crowded this place was. The server was very pleasant and helpful. For appetizers we had the sliders and shrimp with grits. The shrimp with grits was a real stand out. I could have eaten a lot more of this. We then had a pizza, which was good. Though the outer crust along the edge was pleasantly scorched, I found the crust toward the center too soggy. SO had the molten chocolate cake for dessert. He said it was good, but had had better. I was too full for dessert.
Proof: Another pleasant server. The spread served with the cracker bread was delicious. It consisted of yogurt, fresh herbs, lemon and olive oil. I’m going to try to make this at home. We had the Plate of House Made Pates & Terrines, which consisted of a duck liver and a chicken pate and a terrine of which I don’t recall the details, but liked the best. SO liked the duck the best. For my entrée I had a special of halibut was Indian spices. SO had the duck breast. Though I liked the halibut, SO had the better entrée. SO had something chocolate for dessert, I had the apple crumble, which was very good.
Jaleo: This was my next favorite, after Komi. Though Jose Andreas has a restaurant in LA, I decided to give this a try anyway. I’m glad I did. The server was very helpful with suggestions. We had the Jamon Iberico, wrinkled baby potatoes, shrimp with garlic, scallops with butternut squash purée, fried squid that was on the specials menu, and rice with duck confit, duck breast and foie gras cream. Though all very good, the standouts were the Jamon, shrimp, and duck breast. For dessert we shared the chocolate hazelnut mousse cake, which was good.
Lunches consisted of whatever cafeteria was in the sight we were visiting or skipped because our schedule was so filled, but I have to mention the mac n’ cheese at the Capitol Building cafeteria. This was very good, even better than at a number of sit down restaurants I’ve been too.
Thanks for everyone’s postings in helping me plan this trip. Washington D.C. is a wonderful city.
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Komi
1509 17th St NW Ste 1, Washington, DC 20036
