garlic butter and a shot of Worcestershire
sauce; and a seafood jambalaya risotto and
smoked red bell pepper sauce. You just
know they are not going to skimp on desserts here, from an ultradecadent praline
crème brûlée and warm white chocolate
bread pudding with salted macadamia nut
ice cream and butter rum sauce to Bananas
Foster and terrific, airy beignets with
chicory pot de crème.
Blue Duck Tavern, 1201 24th St., N. W.
(24th & M streets); 202-419-6755.
The idea is quite cunning: Remake
the traditional American tavern in a 21st
century form. Give it a Tony Chi design
of expansive glass and a shining open
kitchen, marry it to American woodworking and serve a menu of favorites that
have been refined by chef Brian McBride
to wave the flag in honor of what Americans have always done best—sumptuous
servings of fresh shellfish, crispy softshell
crabs and Carolina corn grits. Bring it to
the table in casseroles, Shenandoah trout
with pears, hazelnuts and sage, and serve
up a steaming roast prime rib on the bone
with garlic mashed potatoes, and finish it
all off with apple pie, cream cheese buttermilk cake and hand-cranked house-made
ice creams, and you make everyone very
happy to be at such a restaurant full of
good feelings.
VIRGINIA
Restaurant Eve, 110 S. Pitt St., Alexandria; 703-706-0450; restauranteve.com.
Restaurant Eve, in the lovely colonial town of Alexandria, is actually two
restaurants—a 34-seat Chef’s Tasting
Room and an adjacent bistro, both set
in a former historic warehouse. Here,
Dublin-born chef-owner Cathal Armstrong and his wife, Meshelle, provide a
highly personalized style of dining, showcasing in the Tasting Room what they call
“Modern American Cooking with Classical French Influences.” At the bistro, that
translates into bouillabaisse, braised short
ribs, salt cod fritters with rémoulade sauce
and prime rib-eye with potato galette and
lima beans. In the Tasting Room, things
get considerably more genteel, with dishes
in categories of “Creation,” “Ocean,”
“Earth and Sky,” “Age” and “Eden,”
always geared to the seasons. So, in spring
you might have a baby leek custard tart
and a lobster crème brûlée with baby fennel and a tarragon vinaigrette; in summer,
a superb butter-poached lobster with baby
fennel and tarragon; in fall, sweet pumpkin
risotto with rich Saint André cheese; and in
winter, wild Scottish pheasant with “
cheddar cheese cauliflower” and pears. As
Lord Byron once quipped, “Since Eve ate
apples, everything depends on dinner.”
