Vidalia (American, Washington DC) - ★★★★

• Restaurant - Vidalia (American)
• Location - Washington DC
• Score - 4/5
• Dish of recommendation - vidalia’s lemon chess piebuttery crust filled with rich lemon custard garnished with berry compote and chantilly cream
• Comment - Finally I had an opportunity to visit Vidalia, one of the most popular restaurants in DC! All the people I know who've been to Vidalia appreciated the restaurant, so leaving DC without Vidalia was unthinkable (another restaurant was Zaytinya, which I also visited recently:). Seriously, I was so excited that I got to the restaurant 20 min in advance. This turned out to be a good decision - on the way to the restaurant, I found in the Washigton Post article that Vidalia offers wine-tasting in the early evening. That night, I enjoyed the three different types of spanish red wine and the conversation with several wine-lovers. I could have an interesting conversation with Doug Mohr, the sommelier at Vidalia during the tasting, heading for dinner with higher expectation for the dinner (It's a shame that he's leaving Vidalia soon).
  

The menu is very unique - the restaurant calls itself as an American restaurant with a subtle Southern influence. To me, the influence was not subtle. Maybe the portions and cooking style were more contemporary American, but at least the ingredients were clearly influenced by southern cuisine (shrimps and grits, cornbreads, crab roulade etc). It was also noteworty for its customer-friendliness in that they do offer five courses: two appetizers, two mains and one dessert. But I think it'll be ok to just order two appetizers, instead of choosing one appetizer and one main dish.

I like the appetizer a lot (don't remember the exact name - tofu wrapped by roasted red peppers). My main dish, the Australian wagyu beef was very tasty, or I would say it had too strong flavor. I was impressed by the dessert - vidalia's lemon chess piebuttery crust. It reminded me of the great tarte de citron in France... I regretted for not being hungry enough to finish it all. Still, it was huge...

Great service. Great wine recommendation. I liked Vidalia's attitude towards wine that they do offer wine of decent price and two different prices for wine by glass - one for wine-tasting and one for a full glass.

Overall, food was great, though a bit blant in some dishes. Still, from the overall evaluation, now I can understand why Vidalia is one of the most popular restaurants in DC.

• Darling downs farm australian wagyu beef - a sampler of seared sirloin and corned brisket with path valley root vegetables, smoked potato purée and ginger beer essence
• brussels sprouts with vidalia’s jowl bacon and apples
• vidalia’s lemon chess piebuttery crust filled with rich lemon custard garnished with berry compote and chantilly cream
  

Vidalia

1990 M Street, NW Washington DC 20036
202-659-1990

★ - 4/5 Well, food was overall great. But for me, this is a place to go back for tasting more different types of wine and for enjoying high-level service.