foie gras – Eat Now Run Later

At 8:30 on a Wednesday night, Marnay and I and six of our friends had the incredible fortune to dine (with reservations!) at one of the best restaurants in DC for a five course pre-fixe meal.

All eight of us started the night off with a cocktail, the best way to start a meal at Rose’s. Since the food options were decided ahead of time, we sat back and let the talented staff put on a show. The first hit of the night was Rose’s whimsical bread course, a take on a baked potato with potato brioche and a side of whipped sour cream butter topped with chives and crumbled potato skins. After devouring the bread, the staff brought over a single-bite amuse bouche: a potato chip with crème fraiche and salty orbs of trout roe, or, for the vegetarians, capers.

Our first full course was foie gras and chicken liver pate with plum mostarda and slices of toasted brioche on a bed of plums. While the rich pate was great on the toast, one of our dining companions noted that it was even better on the soft potato brioche.

Next up was grilled romaine heart with hard-boiled duck egg, crispy potato, herbs and creamy buttermilk dressing. The strong flavor of the grill on the romaine made this dish a winner. It tasted like we were all hanging out at someone’s backyard barbecue.

The servers and staff at Rose’s Luxury want to make sure that you are having fun. They are extremely skilled and knowledgeable, but they are equally laid back and funny. While the restaurant has received numerous accolades (2016 James Beard Award Best-Chef Mid-Atlantic Aaron Silverman, Bon Appetit Best New Restaurant), and its heart Rose’s is just a neighborhood restaurant. It just happens to have incredible food and be nationally recognized.

Anyway, our next dish was their signature dish and the one that I was looking forward to the most: Pork sausage, lychee and habanero salad. The salad comes in a bowl topped with a poof of coconut milk cream, which acts as the dressing. As our server explained, the fifteen-ingredient salad tastes best when all of the ingredients are mixed together so that the disparate salty-sweet-spicy components become one. While I loved this dish, if you are not a fan of very spicy foods, like one of our companions, this is not the dish for you at Rose’s.

My favorite dish of the night was the confit goat with BBQ Sea Island red peas, creamy Carolina Gold rice and garlic bread crumbs. This dish received universal praise from everyone at the table. It was layered together with the confit goat on top, the BBQ peas and breadcrumbs in the middle and the rice on the bottom soaking up all of the umami-flavor.

Now I know that this seems like a lot of food, but we still have four more courses! The pasta course of bucatini with sungold tomato sauce, basil and parmesan was one of my surprise favorites. Best parts: the texture and chew from the housemade bucatini and the sweetness of the fresh tomatoes. Our main course was smoked brisket, better than at any barbecue restaurant I have ever been to, with Sunbeam white bread, horseradish cream and slaw. We had this the only other time we were at Rose’s and I thought it was better this time, more tender.

Dessert was two courses—first up, a deceptively simple bowl of vanilla ice cream with sea salt and olive oil. This was another dish that received universal praise at the table. Finally, our last course of the night was coconut ice cream with kiwi, lime zest and edible flowers on top of a caramel sauce with what I think were pieces of sugar cone. This was a good dish, no doubt, but I think we all would have been fine without it.

Out of all the meals we have reviewed on this blog, I would put Rose’s in a tie with Vernick Food & Drink in Philadelphia for the best meal ever. A truly special experience.

Best Bite
Paul and Marnay: Goat confit

Address
Rose’s Luxury: 717 8th Street, SE Washington, DC 20003
Closest Metro: Eastern Market

We made reservations a month out for dinner at Kinship, the new restaurant in Mt Vernon Triangle from acclaimed chef Eric Ziebold (James Beard Award Best-Chef Mid-Atlantic, 2008).The menu is separated into “Craft”, “History”, “Ingredients”, “Indulgence” and “For the Table.” This is one of the few restaurants where an introduction to the menu from the server is actually necessary.

The restaurant feels like it is in someone’s narrow rowhome, with brick walls and low lighting. We knew going in exactly what we wanted to eat so we ordered drinks and food and the same time. I started with the Kinship Spritz (Cocchi Americano, Dolin Blanc, Blanc de Blanc Sparkling Champagne) and Marnay got a glass of French Chenin Blanc. For some reason, my drink came at least five minutes before Marnay’s. When it finally arrived, her glass of wine was brought by the manager of the front of the house (who happens to be the chef’s wife) instead of our server. The exact same thing happened when we ordered a second drink. There is no doubt that we received great service at Kinship and we left feeling like VIPs. There was just a lot of duplication of effort among the staff. Not really a critique, just something that we noticed.

Our meal started with the torchon of white mushrooms from the “Craft” section, a riff on a torchon of foie gras, with baby beet and wild mushroom salad served on top of a huckleberry gastrique along with slices of toasted brioche. The torchon was rich and earthy on its own but it was transformed when spread on the toasted brioche along with the gastrique.

We also ordered Kinship’s famous roast chicken, from the “For the Table” section. We got a little hungry waiting for it to be made (it takes at least an hour) but I am glad we did not order another dish because the chicken is a lot for two people. When the chicken was finished, the server presented it to us (perfect picture opportunity!) before bringing it back to the kitchen to cut into pieces. The garlicky, buttery skin was the best part of the dish. Second best was chef Ziebold’s famous Parker House rolls, pillowy and soft. Last, but certainly not least, was the well season fried potatoes.

Kinship is a cozy neighborhood restaurant with James Beard Award quality food at reasonable prices. The roast chicken, for example, cost less than two individual entrees. While we had to make our reservations a month in advance, the full menu is offered at the bar and there was no one sitting there when we arrived at 7:00pm on a Tuesday.

Now go and try it!

Best Bite
Marnay: Torchon of White Mushroom
Paul: Torchon of White Mushroom

Address
Kinship: 1015 7th Street, NW Washington, DC 20001
Closest Metro: Mt Vernon Square