We are off to Scotland in just a few weeks and I am definitely looking forward to spending some time tramping about the Highlands and on the Isle of Skye. While on Skye, we're signed up for the tour at Talisker distillery. My sister and I will get to sample five whiskies at the end of the in-depth tour, while Leslie, at least for the moment, will not. I say for the moment, because at our scotch on the ribs night last weekend (see my post on it), she actually liked the Glenkinchie. She said she might well want to try the Taliskers, but actually told me to get some Talisker for her to try before we leave so she can decide whether to partake. This is a big deal after the bare tolerance of my Scotch habit Leslie has shown to date.
So I headed to one of the best places in the Washington DC area to find Scotch (link is on the links side of this page) and bought a bottle of 18 year old and one of the distiller's edition (which is a 13 year old bottled in 2005). The latter is "double-matured", whatever that means. We'll see whether Leslie likes them -- they at least are less forthright than the Islay malts.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Komi *****
You will note that I have added some asterisks to the title of this posting. I have decided to start adding a rating system (out of five stars) to my restaurant reviews. For Leslie's birthday recently we went to Komi Restaurant in DuPont Circle, and fittingly for the first restaurant I rate, it garners five stars out of five.
Komi is the restaurant of Johnny Monis in a converted row house on 17th street, just above Massachusetts Avenue. We originally thought Saturday would be good, but more than a month out, only 9:30 pm was available. So we went with Leslie's actual birthday on Tuesday for a 6:30pm reservation. And that was a lucky turn of events. The dining room is spare -- I would call it farmhouse chic because of simple tables combined with very little decor and a bare, distressed dining table used to hold open bottles of wine and a tall server along the wall. The menu is simple, but deceptively so. We opted for the dinner (mezze, pasta, main course and dessert for $84) with wine pairings.
Komi's cuisine is mediterranean, though there is some emphasis on greek. Half of the wine list is greek wine, but by some circumstance, all of our wine pairings were either Spanish, Italian, or American (a pinot noir from the Finger Lakes). We had a spanish sparkling white similar to a blanc de blanc with our mezze, all of which were wonderful with only the odd off note. A medjool date stuffed with creamy mascarpone was divine, once the excess salt is taken off. A whimsical cone filled with beef tartar and topped with a parmesan foam, quail egg, and a bit of parmesan at the bottom was excellent. We also had a small gyro like no other. I was worried we would get too full just on mezze, but luckily we moved on to the pasta course. I had beet ravioli with feta, candied pine nuts and maple, which might have been too sweet but for an excellent pairing with a cabernet franc. Leslie had fava bean caramella with charcoal grilled octopus. When I tried it my mind immediately screamed "flamed broiled Whopper." It was very smokey, perhaps a bit too much.
Our main courses were monkfish with fenugreek (the flower, not the seed) for Leslie and local Iberian pig done three ways for me. I had the pinot noir with the pig, which came as a trio: delicate tenderloin, blood sausage with clove, coriander, and fennel, and pork cheeks in the style of pork belly. The pork came with fresh, crunchy peas and carrots, including a carrot puree. My dish was delicate and rich at the same time, while Leslie's monkfish was delicate and lightly sweet, making me realize that monkfish really can be the poor man's lobster when done right. The gruener veltinger from Tirol was light and short-lived on the tongue.
Finally for dessert I deferred to the birthday girl, letting her have the bittersweet chocolate mousse. Leslie had ordered a port, but the sommelier felt bad when we pointed out that we had not tried any greek wines, that he changed her order to a greek vin santo that paired well. I had a white port with my basil panna cotta with a rhubarb compote (firm and crunchy, almost halfway to a candied rhubarb) and shortbread.
Overall, this was a wonderful experience (minus the woman who brought up her gynecologist in conversation with her husband loud enough for the whole room to hear) and service was attentive without being overbearing. I have read reviews on-line from people who felt slighted on service (though on a busy Friday) and that the portions were tiny. I left the restaurant very satisfied, but not bloated and full, which I appreciated. Komi is highly recommended, particularly during the week when it is not packed.
Komi is the restaurant of Johnny Monis in a converted row house on 17th street, just above Massachusetts Avenue. We originally thought Saturday would be good, but more than a month out, only 9:30 pm was available. So we went with Leslie's actual birthday on Tuesday for a 6:30pm reservation. And that was a lucky turn of events. The dining room is spare -- I would call it farmhouse chic because of simple tables combined with very little decor and a bare, distressed dining table used to hold open bottles of wine and a tall server along the wall. The menu is simple, but deceptively so. We opted for the dinner (mezze, pasta, main course and dessert for $84) with wine pairings.
Komi's cuisine is mediterranean, though there is some emphasis on greek. Half of the wine list is greek wine, but by some circumstance, all of our wine pairings were either Spanish, Italian, or American (a pinot noir from the Finger Lakes). We had a spanish sparkling white similar to a blanc de blanc with our mezze, all of which were wonderful with only the odd off note. A medjool date stuffed with creamy mascarpone was divine, once the excess salt is taken off. A whimsical cone filled with beef tartar and topped with a parmesan foam, quail egg, and a bit of parmesan at the bottom was excellent. We also had a small gyro like no other. I was worried we would get too full just on mezze, but luckily we moved on to the pasta course. I had beet ravioli with feta, candied pine nuts and maple, which might have been too sweet but for an excellent pairing with a cabernet franc. Leslie had fava bean caramella with charcoal grilled octopus. When I tried it my mind immediately screamed "flamed broiled Whopper." It was very smokey, perhaps a bit too much.
Our main courses were monkfish with fenugreek (the flower, not the seed) for Leslie and local Iberian pig done three ways for me. I had the pinot noir with the pig, which came as a trio: delicate tenderloin, blood sausage with clove, coriander, and fennel, and pork cheeks in the style of pork belly. The pork came with fresh, crunchy peas and carrots, including a carrot puree. My dish was delicate and rich at the same time, while Leslie's monkfish was delicate and lightly sweet, making me realize that monkfish really can be the poor man's lobster when done right. The gruener veltinger from Tirol was light and short-lived on the tongue.
Finally for dessert I deferred to the birthday girl, letting her have the bittersweet chocolate mousse. Leslie had ordered a port, but the sommelier felt bad when we pointed out that we had not tried any greek wines, that he changed her order to a greek vin santo that paired well. I had a white port with my basil panna cotta with a rhubarb compote (firm and crunchy, almost halfway to a candied rhubarb) and shortbread.
Overall, this was a wonderful experience (minus the woman who brought up her gynecologist in conversation with her husband loud enough for the whole room to hear) and service was attentive without being overbearing. I have read reviews on-line from people who felt slighted on service (though on a busy Friday) and that the portions were tiny. I left the restaurant very satisfied, but not bloated and full, which I appreciated. Komi is highly recommended, particularly during the week when it is not packed.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Ardbeg Recovery
You will recall my disappointment when I discovered that Ardbeg's Still Young and Almost There are not available in the United States. Luckily on a recent trip to Europe I spied a bottle of Still Young in the window of a tobacconist just of the Grand Place in Brussels. Some 57 Euro later and much careful wrapping to survive three C-130 rides and a transatlantic flight, the bottle survived to stand on my whiskey table at home. I haven't tried it yet, but will likely do so as soon as I have finished off a couple of bottles that have been around a while.
Scotch on the Ribs
Last night's dinner and scotch-tasting was a rousing success, I would say -- everyone seemed to have a good time and enjoyed the food and companionship. After a slight hiccup with some of the ribs (my normal source was completely out on Thursday evening, so I went to Whole Foods, which besides charging a lot for ribs ($7.99 a pound for baby back), also sold me one rack that turned out to be past its prime. Don't worry, I took it back for a refund and went to Snider's to get some replacement ribs.) Leslie had the weekend off too, so she was able to help out by making her three-bean salad and a pasta salad (with which she was dissatisfied).
After a satisfying dinner of smoked baby back ribs, salad, chips with home-made guacamole, we dove into a tasting of three scotches. I had pulled out the map of Scotland and placed some bottles on it to show the diversity of regions. We tasted the following:
Glenkinchie 10 year old from the Lowlands
Glenfarclas 12 year old from Speyside/the Highlands
Laphroaig Quarter cask from Islay.
A diverse group indeed. Many people were surprised by how good the Glenkinchie was -- even Leslie liked it, though she has never liked scotch before. The Glenfarclas was also well-received, probably due to the sherry cask finishing that gives it a sweetness, honey-like finish. And of course opinions on the Laphroaig were at both ends of the spectrum -- comments like "I feel like I just licked a wet cigarett butt" and "wow, that's got some power to it" were indicative.
We rounded out the evening with some strawberry-rhubarb pie (Whole Foods does this quite well) and good conversation.
After a satisfying dinner of smoked baby back ribs, salad, chips with home-made guacamole, we dove into a tasting of three scotches. I had pulled out the map of Scotland and placed some bottles on it to show the diversity of regions. We tasted the following:
Glenkinchie 10 year old from the Lowlands
Glenfarclas 12 year old from Speyside/the Highlands
Laphroaig Quarter cask from Islay.
A diverse group indeed. Many people were surprised by how good the Glenkinchie was -- even Leslie liked it, though she has never liked scotch before. The Glenfarclas was also well-received, probably due to the sherry cask finishing that gives it a sweetness, honey-like finish. And of course opinions on the Laphroaig were at both ends of the spectrum -- comments like "I feel like I just licked a wet cigarett butt" and "wow, that's got some power to it" were indicative.
We rounded out the evening with some strawberry-rhubarb pie (Whole Foods does this quite well) and good conversation.
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