Del Campo

We first tasted Victor Albisu's cooking back in the winter when we visited his Taco Bamba pop-up.  Since then, the brick and mortar version has opened, as well as Del Campo, a more upscale eatery that still harkens back to his Latin American roots.

The first thing you'll notice is that everything the restaurant offers touches the grill.  Even components of their cocktails have a nice, smoky char to them.  I opted for the pisco sour, a classic Peruvian cocktail.  It's a refreshing drink on a hot summer night, due to the citrusy tang of the lemon and lime, and light foamy egg white that floats on top.  Justin wanted the Tank 7 farmhouse ale since we were meeting friends for beers afterwords.  About 10 minutes later he was informed they were out of the Tank 7, and it took awhile longer to get another beer. Since we there during the first few weeks of them opening, we weren't too surprised they were working out some kinks in service.

Source

Then we came to the food options.  While perusing the menu we were presented with freshly baked bread, served with smoked olive oil and smoked salt for dipping.  I think I could've drank a cup of the smoked olive oil on it's own, it was that tasty!  The menu is broken down into appetizers & ceviches, asados (essentially all the meat options), house specialties, and del mar (the seafood options).  Your best bet is to share everything so you can try a variety of food.

Source

For appetizers, we chose the roasted beet salad with goat cheese, the chicharones (because we can't resist crispy pork skin!), and the yellowtail ceviche.  The beets and goat cheese was one of my favorites, both in taste and visual appeal.  There were golden beets, striped beets, and the traditional red beets, all with a nice sweetness that was balanced out by the tangy goat cheese.  But we can't forget the chicharones.  You may be envisioning a pile of crispy pork rings on a plate, but this dish was way more than that.  It was more of a pork tasting plate, offering up some crispy skin, a rib, and a slab of pork belly.  The salty, delicious pork was balanced out with a sweet potato puree.

Source

Now, onto the entrees!  Ideally, you'll want to try a variety of meats.  I opted for the lamb shank, which was grilled perfectly and arrived at the table, falling off the bone.  The portion was a bit on the smaller side though.  Justin went with the short ribs.  The most common preparation for short ribs is to braise them for hours on end so they're falling off the bone when you eat them.  But in keeping with the theme of the restaurant, these bad boys were grilled.  If you're a bit hungrier, these are a good option because you're served three strips of short ribs.  Our dining companions chose the hangar steak and teres major steak, both of which were cooked to a perfect medium rare, as well as the grilled salmon.  We also received a complimentary serving of roasted bone marrow.  Now, if you remember back a few paragraphs ago, I mentioned sharing the food.  That's because all of the meats were served on one large wooden board, to really encourage sharing.  They also came with four sauces; two chimichurris (a traditional South American herb-based condiment), a Malbec sauce, and a salsa.  For the amount of meat we ordered, I think we could've used slightly larger quantities of sauce.

Source

The sides are a la carte, as in most steakhouses.  To accompany our meats, we ordered the fried yucca and grilled polenta for some starch.  Like any great french fry, the yucca was perfectly crisp on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside.  They were served with a salsa criolla, and I easily could've eaten an entire basket of these fries.  The sauce was addictingly good, and although we were stuffed, we kept going back for more fries.  The grilled polenta had a nice, charred outer crust, yet was still fluffy in the middle.  But they weren't very memorable.  Next time, I may opt for one of the vegetables.

Overall, it was a great meal, and delivered exactly what it promised; deliciously grilled meats.  It would definitely be worth a trip back to try a few other cuts and the uni ceviche and some desserts (assuming we don't stuff ourselves on delicious meats again!).

Soup & Salad Snowquester

For those of you living outside the District, the meteorologists/media dubbed today's storm, "Snowquester".  To our dismay, snowquester was more of a rain-quester, but Justin had the day off, and I was able to work from home, so it wasn't all a loss.  But with the cold, windy rain, it was a perfect day for a big bowl of soup and a nice fresh salad.

Since we picked up a ginormous butternut squash from yesterday's share, we turned him into soup, using the recipe we posted about here.  Rather than crumble bacon on top, we seared up a couple pieces of pork terrine.  These went on the bottom of each bowl, and we ladeled the soup over it.  That way, when you dug in for a spoonful, you'd get a bit of the terrine.

The real star of tonight's meal though was the salad with a strawberry balsamic reduction.  We started by toasting up some walnuts and pecans, and by crisping up some pancetta.

 Then we chopped up a granny smith apple, and some radishes we had on hand.

Then it was time to make the dressing.  We chopped up about 6 strawberries and threw them into a saucepan with enough balsamic vinegar to cover them.

As the vinegar reduced, and the strawberries broke down from the heat, it started to thicken, and the sweetness of the strawberries started to come through.  It developed a smell, much like strawberry jam, but still had a bit of a tang from the vinegar.  Once it had reduced down to a thick syrup consistency, we whisked in a bit of olive oil.

Then it was time to build the salad.  We used the bibb lettuce from the share as our base.  Then layered in the apple and radishes.  The panchetta and nuts were sprinkled on top, along with some crumbled goat cheese.  Then we drizzled the dressing on.

All of the components worked really well together.  The apple was tart and crunchy, while the radishes added a bit of peppery spice.  The nuts also added a nice crunch, and the panchetta added some saltiness.  There was the nice tang and creaminess of the goat cheese, balanced out by the sweetness of the strawberries and reduced balsamic.

All in all, it was a great, hearty meal to warm us up through the rain/snow-quester!

Valentine's on the Range

If you're anything like me, Valentine's Day is just another day on the calendar.  Personally, I think you should tell/express your love for the special people in your life EVERYday...not when Hallmark tells you to, once a year.  And fellas (if there are any fellas out there reading this), don't be like every other dude out there and send red roses.  That takes no thought whatsoever.  What's more impressive and more meaninful to us women, is if you've paid attention, and know what our favorite flowers are, and send us those.  Even better is if you just surprise us on a random day with a few fresh blooms.  Those thoughtful gestures go a much longer way throughout the year than a dozen red roses from the guy on the corner on February 14th.

Anyway...I'll step off my soapbox, and get back to the food.  Justin surprised me with reservations at Range, the newest restaurant by Bryan Voltaggio.  It's unique in its location (within a mall), and it's size (it used to be a Stein Mart), but the decor and ambiance within the restaurant make up for it.  We were seated near one of the many open kitchens, where you can sit at a counter and watch the chefs prepare food.  It's a small plate concept, but the dishes are larger than your typical tapas, and there is quite the range of food to choose from.  I guess that's where the name comes from?  We'd dined at his more casual spot, Family Meal, back in August when we made a road trip out to Frederick, so we were expecting another delicious meal, and that's exactly what we got.

We started at the bar since we arrived early, and found a menu of unusual ingredients and combinations.  I started with the "Wonder of Neglect", a gin-based drink that included pineapple shrub, vermouth, and oak.  Now when I saw "shrub" as one of the ingredients, I assumed that just meant it was part of the pineapple...maybe some of the green leaves, or the pith?  But the bartender explained that shrub is a vinegar-based syrup.  He likened its unique flavor and tang to kombucha.  Justin also opted for a gin-based drink, though his included kombu broth, st. germaine, and hellfire bitters.  Both drinks were unique in their flavors, but really tasty. 

Once we were seated, our server guided us through the menu, recommending how many dishes to order, etc.  There is so much to choose from, and it was a bit overwhelming when we first sat down.  We started with the bread basket & spreads, which offered a skillet cornbread with bacon marmalade, cheddar chive biscuits with pepper jelly, flat bread with some hummus, and a couple other standard breads with smoked cream cheese and rosemary lardo, as additional spreads.  The bacon marmalade was the standout favorite.  It was so smoky, with a hint of sweetness.  I could've eaten jars upon jars of it.  I was expecting some heat from the pepper jelly, but instead found it to be on the sweet side, which I enjoyed with the cheddar biscuits.  Next time though, I think I'll just stick with the cornbread.

Next up was the rockfish collar.  You may be familiar with himachi cheek, which you can sometimes find at Japanese/sushi restaurants.  This is similar.  It was roasted and served with some sofrito and lemon.  Shout out to our server who put the order in first so we could score one of the 3 remaining collars!  Thank you, Sam!

The fish was followed up by the kimchi linguini with uni and scallops.  I know Justin had had his eye on that dish ever since news broke about the restaurant.  Sadly, the pasta lacked any kimchi flavor, and probably could've used another minute to cook, but the rich, brininess of the uni, and the perfectly cooked scallops brought the dish around.  The nasturtium on top added a nice freshness to the dish as well.

Then came the "main" courses.  We went with venison, served with espresso spaetzle, and the pork cheeks on celery root puree.  The venison was cooked perfectly, and the spaetzle had a nice, subtle espresso flavor that paired nicely with the meat.  The pork cheeks just melted in your mouth, and the puree was so smooth and creamy, yet still had a fresh, celery flavor.

For sides/vegetables, we went with roasted cauliflower with almonds, golden raisins and zhatar, and the roasted salsify that was served with hazelnuts, and some crispy citrus bits on top.  The cauliflower was a bit forgettable, but I really enjoyed the salsify.

This was the perfect amount of food, but we couldn't resist the desserts, and the rolling cart of confections that had passed us by throughout the meal, filled with jars and cloches or sweet treats.  I'm not a big sweets person, so we opted for the goat cheesecake for dessert.  Out came 4 little squares of cheesecake, 2 topped with blood orange, and 2 topped with kumquat, with a cannele of meyer lemon sorbet.  The tang of the goat cheese really came through, but it was balanced out by the sweetness of the blood orange and kumquat, and by the tartness of the sorbet.  And of course, we had to get a close-up look of all the delicious confections.  There were 13 kinds of truffles, brittle, biscotti, cookies, rice crispy treats, oh my!  There was so much to choose from.  The nice thing was you had the option of eating it there, or having it wrapped up to take home.  So we came home with 2 pistachio yuzu truffles, a gingerbread spiced marshmallow, and some smoked cashew brittle.  While finishing up this post, we decided to bit into the brittle.  It's nice and smoky, but not overpowering, with the sweetness from the brittle to balance it out.  The marshmallow was light, and fluffy with a nice gingersnap taste.

The other nice thing about this venue is that it is so big that it wasn't jam packed with people.  I don't know if they did that on purpose, but there were a few empty seats and tables scattered throughout the restaurant, so it didn't feel like you were being rushed out of there so they could turn the table.  The bartenders, servers, and sommelier are super knowledgeable and very friendly.  It was just great food, great service, and great company!  We will definitely be back to try some of the many, many dishes still awaiting us on the menu.

Yes, Soup for Us!

Winter is always a great time to cozy up with a warm bowl of soup, and tonight was no exception.  We put together a tasty butternut squash soup, and it couldn't have been easier. 

We halved our squashes and threw them into the oven to roast.  While those were cooking up, we put together a proper mirepoix...onion, carrots, and celery, all sauteed in some butter.  We also threw in a little thyme and some sage.

Once the squash was roasted, we let it cool a bit before scooping out the meat of the squash.  Into the pot it went to mix and mingle with the mirepoix.

We also threw in some cream and chicken broth and just let it simmer.  Because we didn't have any meat in this meal, we decided to cook up a few strips of bacon to crumble over the soup.

 

While the bacon crisped up, and the soup came together, I put together a nice little salad.  We spooned some goat cheese into a couple radicchio leaves, and put them into the oven, along with some mushrooms, to top off the salad.

By the time the mushrooms and cheese were done, it was time to puree the soup.  I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but my immersion blender is one of the best kitchen tools.  It easily pureed everything together, and gave us a rich, thick soup.

The salads were topped with the mushrooms, radicchio, and goat cheese, and dressed lightly with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  The soup got a light drizzle of truffle oil, and cream, a sprinkling of parsley, and a nice little pile of bacon.  This soup was even better than a certain mulligatawny.  Despite the minimal amount of meat in tonight's dinner, it was still a filling meal that definitely warmed me up!

Sunday Night Steak Out

Ahh Sundays...since my Pittsburgh Steelers failed to make it to the post-season, I have even more time on my hands where I can either mope around that I have to get up early the next day or make something delicious to eat.

Today Kara and I were looking to use up few items from our last share.  Originally we were hoping to grill our steak since the weathermen promised us a sunny and 70 degree day, but yet again we were led astray by a weather forecast fail; so that was out of the question.  Instead, we decided to work around this by sous-viding our buffalo strip steak. We're not fortunate enough to own an immersion circulator, so we simply threw our vacuum-packed steak into a dutch oven filled with water heated to about 130 degrees for about 40 mins.  Once it was cooked through to a nice medium, I removed it, seasoned it with a little roasted garlic salt and black pepper, and seared it in a grill pan for about two minutes a side.

 

Next up was the kohlrabi.  We were simultaneously thinking "awesome" and "WTF?!?!" when we learned we were getting kohlrabi this week.

A brief search through the interwebs led us to this fritter recipe .  We subbed the besan for good old-fashioned flour.  One tip when squeezing out the excess water from the shredded kohlrabi...place it all in a dish towel, and just wring it out.  You'll be able to squeeze a lot of water out without losing any kohlrabi down the drain.




The fritters were pretty easy to put together...shred the kohlrabi, chop up some scallions, mix in the spices, and you're good to go!

What about those greens? Why we sauteed them with some garlic, shallot, and the rest of our spinach.

The meal was really starting to take shape, but rich steak and starchy pan-fried fritters needed to be paired with a fresh component.  Luckily, we had lettuce from our CSA and decided to throw together a little salad.  During a quick jaunt to Trader Joe's, we picked up some mini portabella caps, which we roasted with some goat cheese, and some orange muscat vinegar to round out the salad...plus some decent $2 beer to boot.

We were only missing one thing...a tasty sauce to compliment our greens and meat.  I'm a huge fan of red meat and Bearnaise sauce, and I like putting my own spin on this classic sauce by subbing the tarragon for other herbs, deglazing with liqueurs etc.  Since we had the dill, I simply used it in place of the tarragon.

It all came together quite nicely, and we truly made the best of an otherwise dreary day by relaxing with some quality food and drink.