As you know yesterday was the benfit evening for Food and Friends called DINING OUT FOR LIFE. We first tried to get into the new hot spot on 14th Street, POSTO, sister bistro to Tosca downtown, but it was jammed by 545pm since they had graciously decided to donate 100% of proceeds to F&F. Since we had a 730pm curtain on the block we headed to CORK WINE BAR (www.corkdc.com) at 1720 14th St NW and found the place relatively empty and quiet at 6pm--BOY were we wrong!
We were seated not far from the front door in a large cozy front room with a huge "wine" bar taking up almost all the room save from some tables at the front, a host stand next to the door and a line of tables up the narrow right wall to the right of the bar. I noticed that each time the door opened a huge draft descended on us, and this could so easily be alleviated by having a second doorway constructed as the entry has a narrow outside vestibule!
We were qute excited by the menu of small cols and warm plates, cheeses and charcuterie and ask our server for his suggestions. He then headed to a table up front where he seemed to linger for about 4-5 minutes chatting and we finally had to hail another woman over to take our order as we needed to get to our show. The wine list is long, varied, exciting and reasonable, by the glass or by the bottle. We chose (on her excellent recommendation) a subtle deep red Tempranillo from Ribera del Duero 2005 VINA SASTRE CRIANZA which we adored and went so perfectly with everything we tried.
Sadly, almost all the dishes came at one time with some getting cold and most of them so large they could not fit them all on the table. If a restaurant wants to serve tapas style with small tables, they need to rethink their plate sizes! By this time the bar was heaving and people were stepping into my back constantly. AT one point, well known DC Gay activisit and previous director of Whitman-Walker, Cornelius Baker dashed by and slammed his backpack into my aching back! This was obviously not done on purpose, but the space is so narrow and uncomfortable, I could not help thinking why they did recommend we take a table in the rear when we arrived as the place was virtually empty! We did not know there was rear seating as well.
We did enjoy most of the dishes, but the AVOCADO, PISTACHIO, Toasted Pistacio Oil, Sea Salt on Grilled Bread (read: Bruschetta) could have used a tad more avocado (the slices were tasty and slim, but chincy). A delicious choice is the creamy rich ROSEMARY CHICKEN LIVER BRUSCHETTA with its superb SHALLOT MARMALADE and a useless three bite "herb" salad, which is really just mache.
Our server, York V (as indicated on the charge receipt), recommended the FRENCH FRIES with parsley, garlic and housemade ketchup, which were no great shakes...indeed, while the fried may have come out warmish, they were cold by the time we got to them. Oddly enough, the ketchup was like an ice cube and had no taste until it later came to room temperature and was indeed superb. By this time, the fries were truly cold.
The two hit dishes were the veggies. SAUTEED WILD MUSHROOMS with MADEIRA and Marjoram was a superb buttery concoction and the excellent ROASTED BRUSSELS SPROUTS with Pancetta in BROWN BUTTER and Thyme were a treat, although we found no more than three or four tiny specs of pancetta. Another hit was the DUCK CONFIT with SAVOY CABBAGE SLAW, Roasted Baby Beets and Beet Vinaigrette, a dish that is not too hard to split, but harder than others and worth every bite.
We had some time left and decided to try three varied cheeses and hit the jackpot here with all three that came with raisin bread and a variety of candied/spiced nuts that were superb. MIDNIGHT MOON was a hard goat from Holland that had a spicy bite, CANA DE OVEJA a superb and slightly creamy in the center sheep from Spain and the heavenly COWGIRL CREAMERY RED HAWK (cow) from California that is a rich triple creme style yet tangy treat.
We left feeling that the crowds and lack of good service would not bring us back again, especially with so many new spots like this opening all over like ENOLOGY near the Cathedral where we have had great wine and need to go back for more!
