The Lamb Lies Down on…22nd Street or Dries Lane?

19-21 October 2021

Lamb seems to signify many things, and in my case, it was both an end and a beginning…

This past Tuesday was a strange day as I turned over my electronic key to my landlord, bidding farewell to where I called home in Alexandria for almost the past five years. This is the longest I’ve lived in the same place without moving in my nearly half century of existence, which says quite a lot.

So before I departed NoVA for the final time, I decided to drop into a place I’ve not been for goodness knows how long, perhaps even the first few weeks of me first arriving in the area 26 years ago — Athena Pallas. That unique stretch of 23nd Street in Crystal City has changed little over the years, one of the more comforting consistent sights of the rapidly changing area.

I dropped in and chilled out in a booth, enjoying a nice white as I ordered. Old-school service just as I remembered, comforting as I close out this chapter of my life. Soon my starter arrived, an excellent grilled octopus.

Delicious, very well sourced and cooked. You can always rely on a long-standing Greek place to do octopus well. I could have eaten the other 7 tentacles easily. Then the main course, the lamb.

Not bad at all, I love it when lamb tastes like lamb. I can’t imagine an old-school Greek place messing this up or source boring lamb, so this was quite a wonderful way to celebrate my departure. And I just had to have a wee dessert…

I remember living above a Greek restaurant during college, so Greek food has always been comforting for me, and this was the best way to wind down this 26-year-on-and-off adventure in NoVA…of course, and perhaps a little too much ouzo…

A not so nice 3am wake-up for my flight to Chicago and connection to Peoria started the next day, as well as endless errands. Again, got plenty done, and my job was then to catch up on some sleep. Stuck at an Airbnb for a few weeks as my apartment is not ready yet, so…

The next day, having completed all necessary errands early, I spent a bit of it exploring area cemeteries (you can take the boy out of NoVA but you can’t take the cemeteries out of him), and decided to treat myself to a nice early dinner at one of the city’s best restaurants, Connected.

I sat at the bar and was greeting by a gem of a bartender who brought me a much-needed martini. Refreshing, and relax…

I looked over the excellent menu choices and it’s always a pleasant sign when I am stuck with too many good choices. And I saw the lamb, so thought this would be an excellent linkage to my departure from NoVA, so…

I relaxed with the martini until the last drop soothed my parched throat. Switching to a nice juicy red we have the carpaccio.

Good quality, sizeable portion, so that was quite nice. Very enjoyable, and I relaxed even more as I await my main course…

And this lamb was fantastic, again tasting of lamb and not some imitation of lamb that too many breeders prefer these days for unadventurous “lamb” eaters… Lovely aroma, cooked perfectly. Just what I needed to start my Peoria adventure!

I have to say it is certainly nice to find a place I can come back time and time again in the future! I decided on a wee grappa to celebrate my new hometown, and that always hits the spot. Not had a grappa in ages, and I closed my eyes and remembered being back in Italy — where I always relax the most. And for now, this will have to do, and I relaxed…

So thanks to two excellent renditions of lamb, a very long chapter is closed and a new one starts. For now, the Lamb Lies Down on…Dries Lane?

Not Drury Lane mind you — an insider joke for those of you Genesis fans.

Both highly recommended!

Athena Pallas
556 22nd Street
Arlington, Virginia

Connected
3218 North Dries Lane
Peoria, Illinois

Review: Rooster & Owl

13 October 2021

One of the things about leaving the DC area is I will miss dining with friends. Although I admit I am not one of the biggest champion of the direction the culinary culture of this area has taken recently, there’s still something nice about dining out with fellow food connoisseurs.

With this one food friend, we’ve had a few good dinners in recent months, from the excellent Trinidadian feast at Cane to the over-rushed session at Thip Khao, and tonight — to mark my imminent departure — we decided to visit Rooster & Owl. Although granted a single Michelin star in the rather suspect DC guide (one of many dodgy guides these days, sadly), they had a very honest take on their website: “The mission is simple: survive the pandemic with our business intact” — an appreciated candor.

We were seated at the opening hour, and relaxed. I enjoyed a nice smokey cocktail as we examined the four-course selection. We decided to share all the dishes anyway, so that gave us an opportunity to try half of the items on the menu. We placed our order and relaxed with some of the delicious bread.

It was slowly getting busy even at this early hour, and not long after our first items arrived…

The octopus ceviche was fabulous, excellent quality. The passion fruit vinaigrette added a very nice touch, showing this kitchen is very skilled with creating inviting flavour profiles. The fluke tartare was also quite nice, helped on by some apples.

The first course was a pair of very nice items, we were heartened by the quality of the dishes — especially its excellent flavour profiles. We were eagerly looking forward to the next set of items, and it arrived soon.

The gnocchi was okay, cooked well; but what had excited me seeing the menu was a little less promising when it arrived, as the methods used did not bring out the best of the nice mushroom selection. But a good dish. The dirty duck rice was a little acidic from the pickled red onion and its essence dripping down, and the confit was a little overcooked — a shortcoming that would come back to hit later. But in general okay, not as good as the first set.

We relaxed a little as it took a little longer for the main courses to arrive. Both of the items were new on the menu, and we were asked to provide some feedback.

The short rib, sigh, was overcooked for my taste. That’s always the problem with short rib, unless you do it cross-cut Argentinian or Korean style, you end up with something between pulled pork and pulled pork left overnight if you’re not extremely careful. Flavour was excellent, but the meat was a little weak. And even weaker, sadly, was the halibut. It was even more overcooked to the point of it getting a little “powdery” if you know what I mean. The flavour again was quite nice with the coconut curry, but the protein itself was the weakest part of the dish.

Sadly both of these new main courses need a bit of work, but have a lot of promise. They are great at flavour profiles, but when it came to executing the proteins we seem to have a bit of a timing issue this evening. Otherwise this would have been a fabulous duo.

After a short hiatus the desserts arrived, and they are quite nice I must admit.

The poached pear was delicious, with an excellent cardamom ice cream playing a wonderful starring-rather-than-supporting role here. Again, these guys know their flavours, no protein to overcook here. The triple cream cheesecake was also scrumptious, working perfectly with the sorbet.

I have to say this was a pretty good dinner, though I wish the proteins were executed a little better. Service had been smooth up to this point, but unfortunately that’s where it went pear-shaped — not a good way like the dessert. Once again, they brought the bill BEFORE we had a chance to ask for a coffee — the SAME problem as another of DC’s “hot” restaurants, Thip Khao. This is inexcusable, and again violated a basic sense of hospitality. What had been a safe night of Michelin-quality dining just crashed out for me here.

If this was in France or any other city with a REAL Michelin assessment system, this would have lost them a star. This would not fly in Lyon or Vienna, or even Warsaw.

I know FoH help is hard to find — especially during this era of staffing shortages — but this is pretty basic, and seems more of a FoH management decision/problem. Sadly there is this DC ethos now of “just get them the hell out of here” as quickly as possible after they eat, which is regrettable. Not the case in NYC or anywhere else, but it’s a pervasive DC “fine dining” problem. It’s like the sector really still don’t recognise it’s about HOSPITALITY.

Anyway, I headed out disappointed by that final act, but generally enjoyed the food. Not sure it’s worth a Michelin star — even in the dodgy DC version of the guide — but it’s one of those places that on a very good night it is about as good as it gets in DC. Just need to find a very good night. It was good tonight, but Michelin is about consistency in quality.

Worth checking out definitely, and I sincerely hope they survive this turbulent period and be one of the stars of DC dining going forward — as long as they tell their FoH to stop rushing people out the door prematurely.

Rooster & Owl
2436 14th Street NW
Washington, DC

Review: Tachibana

11 October 2021

One part of accepting moving to a quieter part of the country is the dearth of some of the more interesting food opportunities nearby. I know many of my readers have seen me bemoan the state of “Japanese” restaurants in the US, especially the DC-area. But my secret that I rarely mention has always been the old-school Tachibana in McLean.

I don’t go out there as much as I should, partly as it’s a bit of a drive and it’s always completely busy because it does classic, traditional Japanese cuisine so absolutely well. It shames most of the “Japanese” places in the area. You almost feel like you’re back in Japan there.

I relaxed for a quiet early lunch as I was in the area running errands, knowing this is likely the last time I’ll be in the area. I needed to have one final Tachibana fix, and finally write a review! One of those places I almost kept secret so it doesn’t get overrun by “special roll” people — please save a place for those of us that don’t eat maki!

I quickly ordered a selection of dishes and chilled with some tea. A long afternoon is also in the books, so decided against my usual beer. Soon the dishes started to appear, first up ankimo (monkfish liver).

Nice, I am gonna miss having these. I always enjoy ankimo more than foie, and these were pretty good. Then next up some shishamo.

My favourite thing to snack on, too bad these were not as plump and roe-filled as the ones I sometimes find in Japan. But delicious, one of those things I can eat for hours non-stop… Then next up, gindara (black cod) misoyaki.

Another “typical” dish but done perfectly, the sauce brings out the perfectly cooked fish so uniquely. So often this dish is messed up by just being a tiny bit overcooked or undercooked, but this was excellent.

As I was working on these dishes, my nigiri showed up…

An excellent selection (remember you can always click on the pictures to open larger versions). The hamachi (yellowtail) was excellent, as was the tako (octopus). The hokigai (surf clam) was especially nice today, the saba (mackerel) also although a touch salty. The toro was in fine form, a little fibrous but deliciously rich.

I kept working off of all of these items and as it drew to an end, I felt I needed one last go. So I ordered a little more and enjoyed more tea…

The uni was so-so, to be honest, but the unagi was excellent. Overall, a wonderful dessert for this lunch.

I thanked the efficient crew and headed out for a long afternoon of errands. It’s the last day I’ll be doing things in a car, so have to get plenty of stuff done.

I will miss Tachibana very much, and now I can let the secret out! It’s definitely worth a trek to McLean, but make sure you book — it’s very busy and popular! And you will feel like you’re in a short escape back to Japan, the service and food very much like being there. Aside from Nasime, the very best authentic Japanese place in the DC area — by far.

Highly recommended — and will be very much missed as I head west!

Tachibana
6715 Lowell Avenue
McLean, VA