DC Restaurant Week: Dining at Dino

by Erin

A few weeks ago, I went down to DC to participate in DC Restaurant Week with my dear friend Rachel. Now, I did not participate in Baltimore's RW this summer because I have not had the best experiences when I go out for RW. Yes, it's a great deal, and yes, it's an excuse to try restaurants you might not otherwise try. But for me, the limitations on the menu always make me feel like I've got my hands tied and I can't try what I want to try. In turn, I feel like I am not really experiencing what the restaurant has to offer on any other week of the year.

Knowing this philosophy of mine, Rachel picked out a restaurant in Cleveland Park called Dino, which boasts itself as having its full menu available for RW! Huzzah! Not only do we get the great deal ($35.08 for three courses), but we get the run of the place! Er, I mean, the menu.

I was very excited to see Rachel and try Dino's Italian fare, which Rachel highly recommended. We arrived and were seated in the sunny dining room overlooking the hustle and bustle of Connecticut Avenue. (I happened to be facing out to the street, and I managed to spot THREE different people I knew walking by! I don't even LIVE there and I'm people who know people.)

Salt and pepper grinders, PLUS fleur de sel on the table - they love their salt at Dino

We immediately ordered some Prosecco, noshed on the nice bread they brought, and began to peruse the menu.

Typically, the RW deal is that you get an appetizer, main course, and dessert for a particular price. At Dino, however, they allowed you to order two starters and a main as your three courses, in case you weren't into dessert. Rachel and I, geniuses that we are, decided to have one person get the traditional RW plan, while the other got two starters. This resulted in three yummy appetizers to share, two mains to share, and one dessert to share. And as you loyal readers know, I love sharing!

For our first course, the three antipasti we ordered were the Burrata, the Fiori di Zucca, and the Polenta ai tre Formaggi con Funghi. The burrata looked like a ball of fresh mozzarella, but it was actually fresh mozz on the outside, and then fresh curd and cream on the inside - very nice, indeed. It was rich and creamy but very tender, and it went great with the olive oil and three tapenades that came with it: red pepper, traditional olive, and oven-roasted tomato. A very nice start to the meal!

The menu says the burrate are air-freighted in from Campania twice a week! Not good for their carbon footprint, but delicious

Cross-section of the burrata

The fiori di zucca were fried squash blossoms, one of my new favorite things to order! The blossoms were filled with fresh mozzarella and a sliver of anchovy, and served with a spicy tomato sauce. Yum! These were obviously freshly made and had a lot of great flavor from the fried goodness, the cheese, and the slight hint of the anchovy. The tomato sauce was excellent as well.

My favorite of this course, however, was the polenta ai tre formaggi con funghi (translates to polenta with three cheeses and mushrooms). The chef used a white cornmeal to make the polenta, and added asiago, gorgonzola, and fontal (same as fontino, I wonder?) cheeses, then topped the whole thing with assorted roasted mushrooms. Absolutely fantastic! The polenta was very creamy and the mushrooms had a really intense flavor and added a nice contrast in texture. I wanted to eat this as my whole meal!

But, I couldn't! We had to move on to our main courses, which were technically primi (pasta), but we made them our secondi (main dish). Rachel ordered the Fusilli con Ragu d'Anatra "Bolonese", and I ordered the Pappardelle ai Cinghiale. Luckily, we were on the sharing plan, since the fusilli won hands down! The spiral-shaped pasta was covered in a ragu made of ground duck, pork, and veal that had been cooked with veggies, herbs, garlic, cream, white wine, nutmeg, and grana cheese. Holy crap this was amazing! We could not stop eating this dish, and we sort of gave the pappardelle the cold shoulder. Not that that it wasn't good, but the duck ragu was completely addictive.

Duck ragu - secret ingredient: crack

But let me quickly describe the pappardelle: I was interested in this dish because I had heard such great things about dishes involving cinghiale (wild boar) at restaurants like Babbo in NYC and Cinghiale (go figure) in Baltimore. Unfortunately, the pasta was sort of stuck together, like someone had forgotten to stir the pot, and the boar was in really large chunks, not really comfortable to eat in one easy bite. It had some rich flavors from the meat, tomato, onions, and garlic, but it was completely outshined by the duck ragu pasta.

Then it was time for dessert! We were very full from all of our many courses, so thankfully we were only on the hook to order one dessert. We ended up choosing the Gelato Affogato, which was their housemade vanilla gelato "drowned" in espresso. Who knew a dessert named after a form of homicide (or suicide, I suppose) would be so delicious? The gelato was sweet and went beautifully with the bitter and intense espresso. So good! Then again, these are my two favorite things: coffee and ice cream. What could be bad??

Drowning action shot

Another great thing about Dino was that our RW meal included a half-glass of either grappa, limoncello, or moscato with our dessert. Very classy of them. Rachel got limoncello and I got the moscato. Mine was sweet and delicious; hers was sweet and really strong.

Moscato with the limoncello in the background

What a great meal at Dino! The food was great, the service was wonderful (attentive but not overbearing), the atmosphere lively, and best of all, the full menu availability made me feel like it wasn't Restaurant Week at all! I highly recommend this place for a great, well-executed, delicious meal should you find yourself in the DC area.

And thanks to Rachel for picking it out and for being such lovely company! Love you, lady!

EP

King's Contrivance, We Hardly Knew Ye

by Xani

As our regular readers know, EP and I grew up in Columbia, MD, and our folks just recently moved out to the Eastern shore. For all those many years that the BCD family lived in Columbia, the King's Contrivance Restaurant, which has been around since the 70's, sat quietly in the neighborhood of Macgill's Common (oh, Columbia with your CRAZY planned community neighborhoods), minding it's own business, never crossing our minds. Sure, BCD Mom and Dad used to spend New Year's Eve there back when EP and I were babies, and I went to a couple of bat mitzvahs there in the early 90s, and EP sang there once with her high school Madrigals troupe. But, for the past ten years or so, KC has been like that one dress in the back of your closet-- sure, it still fits, but last time you put it on it seemed kind of outdated, or maybe you needed to get it hemmed or whatever, so you just shoved it back in there and forgot about it. For 10 years.

So how WEIRD is it that, just this week, the whole BCD family ended up there for a random Wednesday night dinner? None of us even live in Columbia anymore! But it happened, and you know what? It was a really good dinner-- apparently that old dress is back in style again.

First, many drinks at the bar (makes any outfit look better!). They have an extensive selection of liquor, including BCD Dad's favorite gin (Hendrick's) and my new favorite bourbon (Woodford Reserve). Then, for dinner, we decided to share an array of appetizers, to taste as many of their delicious-sounding offerings as possible. They also offer a pre fixe menu, including appetizer, entree and dessert for a very reasonable $29! Next time....

We ordered SEVEN appetizers, which might sound excessive, but ended up being just right (and left a little room for dessert). They were: Shellfish bisque (lobster, shrimp, and crab meat in a creamy bisque with sherry), House made fresh mozzarella with tomatoes and basil, eggplant and pine nut fritters (with pomodoro sauce and olive butter), deep-fried softshell crab, seared sashimi-grade tuna with lump crab and avocado salad, duck pate with toast points, and fried oysters. I'm looking at this now and realizing we had an entirely vegetable and fish-based dinner! No meat! Has that ever happened before, ever? Oh wait, is duck a meat?

Anyway, onto the details. All the dishes were tasty, very fresh, and quick out of the kitchen. The soup was many, many steps above the crab bisque I attempted a few weeks ago (it was so thick it was more like crab dip! I was too ashamed to blog about it). This was super-rich, and bursting with seafood and sherry flavor. Lots of big chunks of lobster and crab, and some shrimps too. Does anyone know why the bisque has this dark color?

The pate was very good, more of a rustic style than completely smooth. EP felt it was a little too game-y but I enjoyed it. I wished there had been more cornichon alongside, so cute!

The oysters-- now these were a major hit. Perfectly fried and crunchy, not too wet in the middle, just lots of concentrated oyster taste. We think they were panko-breaded. We'll be trying that technique next time we make our own. Serious oyster season is right around the corner!!

House-made mozzarella: this was one of the best caprese-style salads I've had all summer! Tomatoes are at their peak and the cheese was tender, a little salty, and just damn good. Made me want to make my OWN house-made mozzarella, because that's a normal impulse, right??

Tuna: ok, so this one wasn't a grand slam. The tuna was just ok. Also, I am a big snob and think the seared tuna appetizer is played out. I will say that the lump crab and avocado salad was to die for. BIG lumps of crab, soft, ripe avocado-- what more could you want?

Softshell crab: another little seasonal delight. This was actually one of the best softshell crabs in recent memory. I cut it into quarters for easy sharing, then ate my quarter, then immediately wanted to eat the three other pieces. You know how usually a softshell crab is just like a lot of fried batter (not that this is a bad thing) and shell and not much else? Not this one-- even my meager quarter was bursting with crab meat and the flavor of the crab "mustard." The texture of the shell and batter was highly enjoyable as well. Maybe I haven't had that many softshells this season, but this one was particularly tasty.

Finally, the pine nut and eggplant "fritters." So first of all, it should be called "fritter" because there was only one. And secondly, I think "fritter" is pushing it because this was more like a large, round, fried cake, with eggplant stuffing. But, semantics aside, this was a great dish. The cake was light and crisp, like a beignet-type texture, and the eggplant was intense and almost meaty-tasting. A very substantial vegetarian dish, and again, something I did not want to share!

fritteR, singular

Then we moved onto dessert and coffee, and I just want to say here that I loved our waitress-- she was sweet and friendly and when we said we wanted to share a bunch of appetizers she didn't even blink, and I don't think KC gets a request like that too often (let's just say that 90% of the other patrons were... older. Many requiring walkers. This is not exactly the kind of place that is doing the "small plates" trend-- although they have given in to the elaborate fruit-based martini craze, blech).

Anyway, dessert: I had the strawberry shortcake with a pecan biscuit, EP had the key lime pie with coconut ice cream, and Mom had the Hazelnut Obsession (milk chocolate mousse with a crunchy hazelnut center covered in milk chocolate ganache with an orange grand marnier sauce-- that's a mouthful!)

Shortcake

Key Lime Pie

Hazelnut Obsession

Nothing like a little something sweet and a cup of good coffee to end the evening. All the desserts were good, with EPs taking the cake. Mom's was just waaay too rich for me, and I enjoyed my shortcake until the biscuit got all mushy from sitting in the strawberry sauce. The key lime pie was just tart enough, just sweet enough, and plenty light. And I love coconut anything, so that dessert was the big winner for me.

So just like that, an old place has new life! I hope it's not another 10 years before I return-- I'll kick myself if the next time I'm there it's for one of my friend's kid's bar mitzvahs!

X

Delis Across the East are Deli-cious

by Erin

Over the past week and a half, I have had the pleasure of eating at two of my favorite delis of all time: The Parkway Deli in Silver Spring, MD, and Rein's New York Style Deli in Vernon, CT. Here is their story (cue Law & Order music):

Deli #1: The Parkway Deli, Silver Spring, MD

The Parkway Deli is a place the BCD fam has been going for at least 10 years. One of the reasons it's great is because it has a huge menu, which includes lots of traditional Jewish eats that you can't find every day. These include latkes, blintzes, knishes, borscht, stuffed cabbage, kasha varnishkas, herring, and chopped liver. (Bonus points if you know what all those things are!) Since the BCD parents come into DC a few days a week for work, I met them in Silver Spring for dinner one night, and we were all in the mood for some good MOT (Member of the Tribe) fare. The place was hopping at 7:00 on a Tuesday night, but thankfully there was no line. (We've gone for brunch before and had to wait in a line that snakes through the little deli in front of the restaurant for 30 minutes or more.)

Mom got us a sweet table in the back corner and we were immediately given sodas and menus. Another good thing about our table: it was right near the pickle bar! The pickle bar is one of the best things about The Parkway - great variety of pickled veggies, all of them delicious. We got some half-sour pickles (Mom's favorite), full sours (my favorite), and pickled tomatoes (Dad's favorite), along with some sauerkraut and pickled baby corns (so tiny!) to nosh on while we waited for our food.

We ordered some latkes (potato pancakes) as an appetizer. They were made with cooked potatoes (not shredded raw potatoes, as we sometimes use when we make them at home), so they were soft and creamy on the inside, but really crispy on the outside. They were served with BOTH sour cream and applesauce - just how we like them.

Blurry Latkes

Then we each ordered sandwiches. Traditionally, deli sandwiches are so large, so tall with layers of meats, it's laughable. Mom got the "Deli Twins," a "small" corned beef sandwich on an onion roll, and a "small" pastrami sandwich on an onion roll. Dad ordered his usual: hot corned beef on rye with mustard.

The Twins

The Classic: Corned Beef on Rye

And I got my usual, one of my favorite sandwiches ever: the Reuben. I don't remember ever ordering the Reuben at The Parkway before (it's been so long I don't think I liked Reubens the last time I was there), but I knew it'd be good because I knew they had good corned beef. I was right: the sandwich had lots of delicious, salty corned beef, topped with crunchy sauerkraut and Russian dressing, and a generous portion of melty Swiss cheese. The whole thing was sandwiched (haha) between two pieces of crispy, griddled up pieces of rye bread. Mmm...heart attack on a plate.

Instead of getting regular fries (though they did look good), we ordered something that looked tasty and different: the "eggplant fries." These turned out to be strips of eggplant that had been battered and fried, much like french fries. They were crispy on the outside (though probably could have been crispier for my taste) and soft on the inside, but not mushy. I'm not a big eggplant fan but these were good and a nice alternative if you are not in the mood for fries (c'mon, like that's EVER happened).

Eggplant Fries

Deli #2: Rein's New York Style Deli, Vernon, CT

Last weekend, Xani and I visited our grandfather up in Manchester, CT, where BCD Dad grew up. It was great to see Grandpa and rehear all the wonderful stories about our grandmother and BCD Dad and his siblings when they were growing up (e.g., Grandpa bought Grandma a brand new sewing machine for their anniversary; BCD Dad (then about 3 years old) somehow got an ice pick (!) in hand and destroyed the sewing machine). While up in CT, we had to stop at Rein's New York Style Deli, a stop we've made on almost every trip to Connecticut since we were born. Rein's bills itself as a NY style deli and while I am no Brooklyn-ite like the BCD parents, I would have to say it's pretty good deli. Like Parkway, Rein's has plenty of Jewish eats on their menu (including a smoked fish platter, a favorite of the family), along with a deli/bakery in the front where you can buy treats to go. Also like Parkway, Rein's is usually packed at all hours of the day (especially around brunch when we used to go), and this day was no exception. It was about 3:00 on a Saturday afternoon, and while we were able to get a table right away, there were only a few tables open in the large restaurant.

We were STARVING at the time, so we noshed on the pickles our waitress gave us and quickly ordered a few starters while we decided what we'd have for the rest of our lunch.

Half sours, fo sho!

We ordered latkes (can you tell I like latkes?) with sour cream and applesauce (of course) and pickled herring in cream sauce.

Pickled herring in cream sauce

As the story goes, when Xani was a baby, our Grandma Claire (Mom's mom) would bring us a jar of this stuff and Xani LOVED it. Yes, the baby loved pickled herring, what can I say? She still loves it and so we ordered it. I, on the other hand, had never even tried it (sounded too weird and gross) until that day, but since I am starting to really like fishy things, I gave it a go. And you know what? It was good! It was not too fishy at all, and it was salty and sweet and the fish was really tender. I guess that 3-year-old Xani knew what she was doing after all!

After our starters, we ordered our traditionally humongous deli sandwiches. Xani got a Triple Decker sandwich with pastrami, corned beef, and chopped liver on rye and I got (shock of shocks) a Reuben!

Triple Decker

The Reuben

Xani's sandwich was great with the two cured meats along with a pretty good chopped liver (not as good as BCD Mom's though!). My Reuben was also excellent due to the high quality of the corned beef and of course, because of the fried up rye bread! To be honest, I can't say whether the Parkway or Rein's has the better Reuben - they were both really awesome and I don't see why they both can't be winners (cue After School Special music).

Two great meals in two great delis with my wonderful family. What could be better? More latkes, perhaps.

Latke + applesauce + sour cream = DELI-CIOUS!

Happy MOT eats,

EP

Happy Anniversary BCD Mom and Dad!

Thirty-six years and counting. You are an inspiration to us! Wishing you many more wonderful, delicious years together. We love you!

Love,
Xani and EP

xxxooo

Happy (Belated) Birthday To Me!

by Erin

I celebrated my 26th birthday a few weeks ago but we were so eager to get our NYC posts up, I hadn't had the chance to tell all five of you loyal readers about all the birthday festivities. On the Saturday before my birthday, friends gathered in Baltimore for dinner at Dionysus, a greek-ish place in Mt. Vernon, followed by delicious beers at The Brewer's Art, one of my favorite bars in the city. I was so glad to see so many folks come out to celebrate with me! Or perhaps they couldn't resist Brewers' beers? I'd like to think it was a little of both.

This being a food blog, however, I will focus on the fabulous meal Xani and I had on the evening of my birthday (July 28 - best day ever!) at Salt, a place that's been on our list since the list was written!

Salt is located on Pratt Street in Butcher's Hill, a cute part of town with hard-to-find parking. Once we'd found a space, however, the rest of the evening went swimmingly. Xani and I took a seat in the dining area, separated from the funky bar area, and took note of the exposed white brick walls and the cool artwork hanging from them. The dining room also had huge green lights hanging over many of the tables, giving us a challenge as we chose the light settings for our cameras.

Our knowlegable and friendly waiter brought us some delicious bread and tomato-y spread, and we ordered glasses of wine.

Then, we consulted the much heard about awesome menu of Salt. As is typical when Xani and I dine out, we are often more excited about the appetizers/starters/small plates than the entrees since they are usually much more interesting. In addition, since the apps are always smaller, you can order more of them for the table than you would entrees, and more apps means more things to try! I love being able to try as many things as I can. Maybe it is the blossoming food critic within, but I think this preference goes WAY back to when I was little, because when I ordered Chicken McNuggets, I got ALL the sauces. Yup, all of 'em, whatever they had (usually sweet n' sour, BBQ, honey mustard, and honey), even if it cost the BCD parents extra.

Anyway, per our usual, Xani and I were more excited about the apps than the entrees, so with the guidance of our waiter, we selected five starters, which came out in three courses.

For our first course, we ordered the Trio of Gazpachos. The three flavors were Amish tomato, watermelon chili, and mango jicama. They were all served cold (very important on a hot July evening) and were all very interesting. Each had its own little garnish on the top (chives, parsley, etc.) in a super-fine dice. Nice knife skillz!

The best was the Amish tomato gazpacho, a traditional version of the soup with great tomato flavor, bits of fresh vegetables floating around, and a bit of a kick from some sort of pepper. Our next favorite was the watermelon chili gazpacho, which was sweet in the beginning but then hit you like a punch in the mouth with the heat. Yowza! It was hot, but good, and unlike the traditional gazpacho, it didn't have veggies floating in it and was pretty uniform throughout. Last on the list was the mango jicama gazpacho, which had a lot of good flavor but was a little too sweet for our tastes. Plus, it was a little on the thick side. Still, all three were very tasty, and beautifully presented.

For our next course, we enjoyed the Eastern Shore Corn Salad and the Tuna Poke. Both of these dishes were really fabulous with interesting and totally delicious flavor combinations. The corn salad was accompanied a "spicy crab and avocado ball and a sweet onion vinaigrette." The corn salad was sweet from the fresh corn and had lots of cilantro and mint, in addition to a cilantro puree alongside the salad. PLUS there was the crab ball. Fresh, spicy crab meat covered in thin slices of perfectly ripe avocado, topped with a sprinkling of sea salt. Hooboy, this was good!

The tuna poke was also a great dish. Poke is the hip, Hawaiian name for tuna tartare, and it was quite delicious. It was served with a "cucumber ginger granite and spicy peanut brittle." The poke had a delicious spicy sauce on the fish, and then the granita was sweet and hot, but icy and cold. The brittle added more spice and some crunch to the dish. Not only were these dishes amazingly tasty, they were amazingly interesting and unique, and we so appreciated that.

For our last course, we ordered the Duck Fat French Fries and the Foie Gras & Kobe Beef Slider. The fries were excellent (though, unfortunately, still not as good as Xani's!) and were served with a trio of aioli: chipotle, malt vinegar, and truffle. The aiolis were excellent, the truffle being my favorite, of course. Though the malt vinegar one was a great throwback to our days walking the boardwalk!

The best dish all night, however, was the awesome, decadent slider. It was a perfectly cooked kobe beef mini-burger topped with an equally-sized seared piece of foie gras on a grilled bun with truffle aioli and red onion marmalade. Holy crap. Xani and I split this tiny burger (with a big price tag: $15) and it was sooo rich, it was just the right two-bite amount. So good, it was like a (birthday) party in my mouth!

After our meal o' appetizers, we decided to get a little dessert to celebrate the birthday. We got a dessert I'd heard about from my friend Nicole: three mini ice cream cones! The three flavors were espresso, cookies and cream, and dulce de leche. Ice cream being my favorite dessert, I was a very happy birthday girl, plus I got to blow out a candle!

It was a great meal and I can't wait to get back to Salt to try more of their wonderful, creative dishes. Thanks to all who made my birthday one of the best ever! I love you all!

EP

ps. Here are some pics from our evening out at Brewer's:

My birthday gift from Craig, Mark, and Rachel was an apron embroidered with the BCD logo!!! Order yours today!

Mark & Craig

The Wash U crew!

Xani and Mark and their beers