The Red Hen

With the plethora of restaurants opening around the city, it's hard to keep up.  It feels like as soon as we try one place, five more have opened.  But we do what we can without having to crack open the piggy bank (well we crack it open sometimes and patch it back together!).  So on a beautiful Saturday night, with a looming super moon overhead, we found ourselves at The Red Hen, the newest spot in the up-and-coming Bloomingdale neighborhood.

As we walked up the block we noticed the giant red hen on the side of the building, and knew immediately this must be the place.  For all the skeptics out there thinking, "exactly what DC needs, another Italian-influenced seasonal, farm to table, hip restaurant", The Red Hen is the real deal.

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From the moment we walked in, we were greeted by friendly staff.  We weren't sure what to expect since it is kind of a hot-spot at the moment, but the vibe is extremely laid back.  The large inviting bar in the center of the restaurant is certainly a focal point.  This is a place where you want to hang out.  The decor is a really rustic cool, from hanging potted herbs and art on the wall, to interesting light fixtures and tons of exposed brick.  While these are nice accents, the real star of the show is the open kitchen.  You see the line at work, preparing food on the signature wood-fired hearth.

And that's all before our drink order even came.  Speaking about libations, The Red Hen has a very cool cocktail program that puts some new spins on classic cocktails.  Even the names are great.  I had the "Take the Easy Way and Give In", consisting of gin, cherry shrub, lime, and soda.  If you're not familiar with shrub, it's a sweetened, vinegar-based syrup, becoming more prevalent on cocktail menus these days.  Justin got exactly what he asked for, the aptly named,"You Get What You Ask For", a mix that will turn the heads of cocktail buffs, consisting of grappa, limoncello, and the bitter, spicy, somewhat uncommon, cocchi americano.  While we enjoyed the first few sips of our cocktails, we were presented with some bread brushed with olive oil and a delicious olive tapenade.  The bread could've used a quick toast, but the savory tapenade was a delicious topping, not overpowered by salt.

Next, it was on to the appetizers.  By now you are probably aware of Justin's affinity towards anything with truffles, so the crostini of smoked ricotta, balsamic brown butter & truffle honey was a no-brainer.  The smokiness was subtle, but just right, and was nicely balanced by the savory sweetness of the truffle honey.  We also enjoyed grilled octopus served with pesto and a potato puree.  The octopus had a nice char on it, and was incredibly tender.  I was surprised that they mixed the pesto and potatoes together; it had lost some of its flavor, but it was a nice complement to octopus.

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Are you drooling yet?  We haven't even touched on our entrees!  So let's dive in.  I went with the roasted lamb leg sandwich, served with grilled rapini, smoked onion, and a saffron aioli.  There was also some pickled fennel on the side, which was a nice acidic bite.  The lamb was cooked perfectly, and sliced thin on a nice, chewy roll. The aioli was awesome, and the saffron stood up to the richness of the aioli.  It was a smoky, savory, and delightful topping that brought all of the components together.  Justin opted for the veal sweetbreads. Sweetbreads are glands including the thymus, pancreas, and sometimes parts of the neck, and cheeks.  They are a protein that take quite a bit of finesse to perfect.  So did The Red Hen miss the mark?  Absolutely not--they were delectable.  Not a tinge of iron taste, they were cooked perfectly, not to sticky or fatty, and they had a delightful crispness.  The dish was rounded out with pea shoots, hearty bacon, a perfectly fried egg, and some extremely creamy and well-seasoned polenta.  Justin stuck with breakfast notes and ordered himself an imperial stout to act as the cup-o-joe to go with his bacon, eggs, and grits.

Somehow we managed to save room for dessert.  The basil panna cotta jumped right out at us, and we knew we had to order it.  It's not a flavor you typically see, and it certainly lived up to our expectations.  The panna cotta had a nice, refreshing basil flavor, really highlighting the herb itself.  It was accompanied by strawberry preserves, giving the dish a bit of sweetness and a delicious jammy texture to go with the creamy panna cotta.  The other dessert that we couldn't resist was the egg cream.  For those not in the know, an egg cream is a local favorite from Brooklyn that utilizes neither egg or cream.  Our server assured us that this recipe used Fox's U-Bet Chocolate Syrup.  So what's better than an egg cream? One with a lump of malted chocolate gelato in it!

If you couldn't tell, we love the place!  We plan to go back on another Saturday to take advantage of their Saturday night special; any crostini, pasta, and a glass of wine for only $22.  We've read rave reviews about the pastas, and if they're anything like the dishes we've already tasted, we're in for quite a treat!

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.