Having loved our visit to PS 7's (777 I St, NW) earlier this summer, we felt a return for heavier fare in the wintertime was due. Friday night, four of us headed over in the cold rain and were as pleased as we were before. Chef Peter Smith is doing an outstanding job, and while he has lost his pastry chef Naomi Gallagher(now at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, Texas), many of her dishes still remain (although I did sorely miss the amazing biscuits!).
The wines are still wonderfully eclectic and we started with a 2006 ULACIA HONDARRUBI Txakolina Basque wine from Spain that has a limey effervescence and is reminiscent of a sauvignon blanc. It made a very nice aperitif, and we moved on to a bigger and creamier FAR NIENTE 20005 Chardonnay and then with our entrees another eclectic wine: 2005 COTURRI "Albarello" from Sonoma which is 60% Zinfandel and also has Petite Sirah, Carignane, Barbera and Alicante-Bousquet--how's that for off-the-wall? It was a medium bodied wine and we really wanted more by the time we had our meat, so we returned to the wonderful 2003 SARAH's VINYARD Zinfandel from Gilroy, California that has a huge cherry nose and taste and is wonderfully warm and intense in the mouth.
While the wine is good, the food is superb and our amuse was a MAYTAG BLUE Cheese FONDANT with TOMATO CONFITURE. The blue is medium level intensity and the amuse did its assigned job of tantalizing the palate for more. Our wonderful server Nick guided us in choices and we opted to share a portion of the TUNA SLIDER's to start which was another brilliant amuse and amusing idea. The very SPICY TUNA (a Sararcha Aoili is the secret spicy ingredient)TARTARE is on Naomi's Parker House mini rolls with cilantro and cucumber salad on the side with a sesame, tuna, cilantro vinaigrette--it's a great taste option for 2 or
4 to share.
Will returned to the BABY BEET MOSAIC and I wandered to a new salad called CARPACCIO of ROYAL TRUMPET MUSHROOMS which had Tempura Battered and Fried HARICOTS VERTS drizzled with LOBSTER AIOLI, Frisee and Candied Shallots. It was a wonderful, exciting and different salad (not really a salad at all!) and a big hit with the whole table, as it was large enough for everyone to taste.
The PETITE HOME MADE HOT DOGS are really thick juicy wieners on buns with condiments of ketchup, mustard and relish on the side and a paper cone of thinly julienne fries.
Entrees included a tasty Pan Seared KING SALMON with Sherry Vinaigrette, the same excellent VEAL BREAST with SWEETBREADS that Will had in July which has got to be one of the star dishes here and the PAN ROASTED STRIP LOIN Pave with Wild Mushroom Mac & Cheese Ravioli, Spinach and Cabernet-Mushroom Jus.
My OAT & BROWN BUTTER CRUSTED PORK LOIN was delish and served with super sides of Glazed Apples, Butternut Squash Parisienne & Braised Mustard Greens, all with a Brown-Sugar Rosemary Gastrique. Some though the sweetness too much for the dish, but I liked the crunchy slightly sweet topping that was like pork loin brown betty crumble! Of course, you could always remove the crust if you think it too sweet, but I loved it.
You can't skip dessert at PS 7's, but two of us opted for the cheese which is always a treat: THOMASVILLE TOMME, HUMBOLDT FOG Goat and MONA's (cow & sheep) from VIRGINIA were American treats. Will went for the CHOCOLATE PRALINE BOMBE with Milk Chocolate Mousse, Flourless Chocolate Cake and Wattleseed Ice Cream with Mango Foam (WOW) and I adored my "Meyer Lemon" SIN which included Lemon Yogurt, Candied Meyer Lemon Ouzo Almond Cake, and more...it was a ll so yummy.
After dinner, the treats are just as fun. Chocolate seems to be the theme this winter and there were four each of four types of bonbons:
Mocha Milk Chocolate
Dark Chocolate Cognac
Milk Chocolate Peanut Clusters
and the truly tantalizing WHITE CHOCOLATE PASSION FRUIT
Needless to say, we were full and went home VERY happy.
A small note of kindness goes to Chef Smith, who, upon hearing that we adored the veal breast, wrote down the entire recipe and sent it out for us to take home and try (with a phone number in case of technical assistance!).
