Post Moderne Brasserie (American/モダンアメリカン, Washington DC) - ★★★(1/2)

Restaurant - Post Moderne Brasserie (American/モダンアメリカン)

Location - Washington DC (ワシントンDC)

Score - 3-3.5/5

Dish of recommendation - Nothing in particular

Comment - Well, I am still debating whether I should score the restaurant 3.5 or 3. I had an overall good experience at the restaurant. Service was sophisticated. The waiter was friendly and gave good advice on food and wine. He was very enthusiastic about his favorite dishes and wine. I basically followed his advice on wine and dessert, two of which I didn't have any preference.

The wine - Maysara Pinot Noir "Jamsheed" 2005 - was clearly expensive ($18) for its retail price, but had an elegant tannin, more Burgundish flavor with nice ending. A bit tasted like raspberry. One of the buys at retail! I enjoyed all the dishes I have chosen. But I found one issue with this restaurant. Portion was too much in two ways - each plate and each piece of food. Escargots were bigger than usual, and pies on top of each escargot were just overwhelming. Same for scallops and pork jellies. Pork jellies lied under scallops like "Zabuton"(cushion) !

Poste's interior and outside courtyard are particularly noteworthy. It is adjacent to the original sorting room of the 1841 General Post Office. This restaurant embraces both history and modernity (particularly at the bar area). It is a kind of hidden in the busy Penn Quarter. Nice hang-out place.

感想 - 昨日、DCのPenn QuarterにあるPost Moderne Brasserieに行ってきました。1841年建設の郵便局を使用したHotel Monaco内にあり、Penn Quarterの喧騒から隔離された、非常に素敵な中庭に面したレストランです。入り口がわかりにくいので、こんなところにレストランがあるのかと驚いたのですが、入ってみると150席以上あるような大型レストランです。入口近辺はポップなラウンジといった感じですが、奥には静かな席もあり、色々な使い方が出来そうなお店です。

Truffle Fritsがおいしいという友人の薦めで行ってきました。私がこれまでに訪問したDCのモダンアメリカンレストランの中で、メニュー自体はEscargots, Steak Tartare, Beef Bourguignon, Steak au Poivreと最も正統派のフレンチブラッスリー・ビストロに近く、だからこそ珍しくEscargotsを前菜にオーダーしてしまいました。

料理は全般的になかなかおいしかったのだけど、なにせ量に問題がありかな。Escargotsは本当ならばエスカルゴ専用のお皿に6個だけ入っているはずなのに、なぜかそれぞれのエスカルゴの上にパイ生地が。Scallopsにいたっては、人差し指の2節分は直径があるScallopsが３つ出てきて、それぞれの下にPork bellyが座布団みたいな感じで敷かれていました。最もあっさりしているとウェイターの人が薦めてくれたPassion Fruit Sabayonはbasil sirupとpassion fruitの組み合わせがぴったりだなと思いながらも、大型ウィスキーグラス一杯に出てきた日には・・・。

料理が適量だったら、再訪してもいいお店リストに入るのだけど。Verizon centerの前後で一杯飲みたいときに、バーを利用するかもしれません。



Escargots garlic-lemon butter

Seared Sea Scallops slow-smoked farmhouse pork belly, parsley root, dandelion

Truffle Frites

Passion Fruit Sabayon - blue curacao meringue, citrus fruit, basil syrup


Poste Moderne Brasserie

555　8th Street, NW　Washington DC 20004

202.783.6060

★- 3 or 3.5/5 お店の雰囲気、サービスはいいので、メインとデザートぐらいと量を調節すればOK。

MIO (American/モダンアメリカン料理, Washington DC) - ★★★1/2

Restaurant - Mio (American/モダンアメリカン料理)

Location - Washington DC/ワシントンDC

Score - 3.5/5

Dish of recommendation - Duo of dry aged beef & pork burger, dill-potato salad

Comment - My friends are all nice enough to bear with me for my food pursuit. Some of them even take me to good restaurants that I never heard of. Mio is one of these restaurants. It's in a very cool, glass-facede building, which is still rare to find in the DC area. We got to the restaurant shortly after 1pm but could get seats at the counter. It's a good start, isn't it? I'm not being sarcastic. This already shows this restaurant's popularity.

I liked their lunch menu in that they do offer both pre-fix and a la carte. I chose the pre-fixed menu straight away because the burger was included only in the pre-fix menu. My dishes were

- Mixed greens with radish, Pecorino cheese, pomegranate citronette
Good amount of pecorino cheese (unlike most of the restaurants that put too much). Refreshing dressing. I usually can eat a large salad, but I found it a bit too large.

- Duo of dry aged beef & pork burger, dill-potato salad

It was a dish of two mini-burgers - beef and pork. I found beef burger more juicy. Pork burger was clearly something unique - probably because of both the meat and sauce. I enjoyed each piece, but I don't know if it is a good combination, from the point of not only taste also of quantity. I felt guilty about leaving a chunk of very tasty buns (as good as the ones at Westend Bistro!).

- Key lime pie

Not too sweet:) Cream complemented the pie well. I also liked the butternut pot de crème that my friend ordered. Both choices will not be a failure!

Also two delightful things of their food are bread and acai juice. Bread, baked crisp and dipped with extra virgin oil, was more than enough enough to have with cheese, prosciuto and wine for a meal. Acai juice (with lemonade) was very refreshing, matching burgers well.

Friendly service and pleasant food made me do some research on the restaurant as soon as I got home. Mio's executive chef, Stefano Frigerio, was a former sous-chef at Maestro in Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner before its close down. A couple months ago, I was deeply disappointed about the close-down when I found it out. At least I could taste some of their food surprisingly.

According to a waitress, this restaurant offers modern American cuisine with Italian influence. Next time, I would like to see more influence from Italian cuisine (though the chef seems to resist to typical dishes of Italian food, according to Tom Sietsema's review)!

感想 - 本来ならばOlivesに行く予定だったのが、場所を選んでくれた友人の気が急に変わって連れて行ってくれたのがMioです。DCのレストランは名前レベルでは相当知っている気でいたのですが、Mioの名前すら聞いたことがなく、やはりまだまだ勉強が必要と恥ずかしく思いながら、DCでは珍しいガラス張りのビルの1階にあるお店に入りました。(2月中旬にPostのレビュー記事が部屋の片隅にあることを後で気づいたのでした。)

友人はイタリアンっぽいお店と言っていたけど、メニューを見て？。どうみても、モダンアメリカンにしか見えず、確認したところイタリアンの影響を受けたアメリカンということ。おいしければ何でもいいので、気にせずにオーダー。

ランチでプリフィックスメニューを見るのは久しぶりだし、最近はまっているハンバーガーがあったので、以下のプリフィックスをオーダー。

- Mixed greens with radish, Pecorino cheese, pomegranate citronette

- Duo of dry aged beef & pork burger, dill-potato salad

- Key lime pie

最も印象に残ったのが豚肉と牛肉をそれぞれ使ったミニバーガー。特に牛肉の味付けが面白いなと思ったのと、バンが普通のバンとブリオッシュ的なバンの中間みたいな感じでkey lime pieがなければ絶対に食べきっていたはず。あと、アサイを使ったレモンスカッシュとかパリパリに焼き上がっていたパンなど、全ての食事に好印象が残ったのでした。

私の勤務先のすぐ近くにある、Ritz-Carlton Tysons Cornerで有名だったレストランMaestro(現在休業中)のsous chefがMioのシェフと聞いて、もともとMaestroで食事をしてみたかった私は更にいい気分になったのでした。

Mio

1110 Vermont Avenue, NW Washington DC, 20005
202-955-0075


★ - 3.5/5 　料理は多分どれもおいしいはず。最近のDCのモダンアメリカンレストランブームに多少飽きている私は、もう少しイタリアン的なメニューだったらなあと思います。

Vik Chaat Corner (Indian/インド料理, Bay Area, CA) - ★★★

Restaurant - Vik Chaat Corner (Indian/インド料理)

Location - Berkeley, CA/バークレー、カリフォルニア

Score - 3/5

Dish of recommendation - Paneer kathi roll?

Comment - My first comment on the Bay Area restaurants! It's funny to start with Vik, because there are other restaurants in the area that I know much better. Maybe I'm overall missing Indian food?!

During my visit to the bay area over the President Day weekend, my friends and I stopped in Berkeley on the way from Sonoma to SF. One of the reasons I suggested to my friends about stop-over at Berkeley was food:) Berkeley has quite a few noteworthy restaurants from top-notch places like Chez Panisse (gosh, why it's so hard to book a table there!) to casual daily-use restaurants. Missing Indian restaurants in the Bay Area (which clearly has far better choices than DC), Vik was on one of my wish lists.

I was very lucky to go to Vik with three Indian friends, who chose all the dishes for me:) On the various gourmet websites, Vik seems like one of the most popular Indian restaurants in the area of plenty of Indian/Pakistan places. Vik's exterior/interior soon reminded me of the college cafeterias for undergraduates, and its counters of three people taking orders were like McDonald's. It's not a pleasant feeling, is it? Still, seeing so many Indian people in the restaurant convinced me that Vik is at least a fair choice. What my friends ordered were:

Dahi Papdi Chaat
Crisp flat puris with potatoes, garbanzos and lentil dumplings covered with yogurt, tamarind and mint

Dahi Batata Puri
Crisp puffed puris stuffed with potatoes and garbanzos covered with yogurt and tamarind

Dhoka
Steamed chick pea flour cake mildy spiced served with mint chutney

Idli Samber
Steamed rice and lentil cakes served with lentil soup and coconut chutney

Chicken Kathi Kabab
Cubes of boneless chicken with onions and cilantro rolled in a bread served with yogurt and mint chutney

Paneer kathi roll
cottage cheese

And I may be missing the name for lamb plate in the photo.

My favorite was Paneer Kathi roll, followed by Chicken Kathi Kabab. I wasn't sure if I would like Paneer Kathi roll - I don't know the exact description, but it was made in the similar way to chicken kathi kabab with cottage cheese - because I am not neceesarily a big fun of cottage cheese. But once I had a small bite at this Paneer Kathi roll, I literally digged into it (I'm sorry for my friends who couldn't eat much of this!). The cottage cheese's soft texture matched the crispy texture of the bread, and curry flavor harmonized the cottage cheese well. I can eat it once a week for my lunch.

Among the other dishes, Dhoka had a very interesting texture. It was made of chicken pea, but tasted more like dry rice or couscous. Both Dahi Papdi Chaat and Dahi Batata Puri were yummy, with light yogurt flavor.

Overall it was a nice "premium Indian fast food". I wouldn't go all the way to Berkeley for Vik, but if I live there, I'd do take-out often (we don't need to eat there. It's too crowded and messy).



Vik Chaat Corner

724 Allston Way Berkeley CA 94710

510-644-4412

★ - 3/5 とにかく安い！で、これだけの味を提供するのだったら、混んでいて当然かな。まさしく、｢インド料理の高級ファーストフード店｣です。

Dobbin House Tavern (American, Gettysburg, PA) - ★★★

• Restaurant - Dobbin House Tavern (American)
• Location - Gettysburg, PA
• Score - 3/5
• Dish of recommendation - Pecan Pye
• Comment - Recommended by a few receptioninsts at Gettysburg's tourism office. Although I usually find the local's opinions very helpful, I was a bit doubtful about the restaurant this time because the landmark restaurants tend to be known more for the atmosphere than quality of food. Dobbin House Tavern, of which buidling was built in 1776 (200 years before I was born!), actually offered good-quality of food and great atmosphere at great price. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the restaurant had rather a simple exterior decoration. However, once going underground, its kind of homy, kind of romantic with candlelit tables, made me feel sure that this place would be a hit. The restaurant actually offers different types of menus - delis, elegant lunch or dinner -.

I ordered a freshly ground dobbin's humberger, although a waitress recommended different dishes among which is corn beef sandwich. That's why the humberger was just fine, nothing spectacular. However, the pecan pye, that she recommended for a dessert and I listend to this teim, was AMAZING. This pecan pye, with a very melting corn syrup/butter? and a well-toasted pecan, totally changed my perspective on pecan pies.

- FRESHLY GROUND DOBBIN'S HAMBURGERS 5 oz. freshly ground hamburger char-grilled to the strength of fire you prefer and served up on a hearth baked roll. Choice of Potato Sallade, Cole Sla, or Potato Chips with sauteed onions

- PECAN PYE

Dobbin House Tavern

89 Steinwehr Avenue Gettysburg, PA 17325
(717)334-2100

★ - Great lunch/dinner spot to enjoy the food as well as one of the most historical moments in American history. Don't forget ordering the Pecan Pye

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.