Last Sunday night, Will & I headed to Iron Gate
where Chef Anthony Chittum reigns and we were quite wowed, not only by
the décor and renovations, but by the excellent service and the food, of
course (www.irongaterestaurantdc.com).
Hidden
on a quiet side lane off N St, NW & Connecticut Ave, NW the front
has a long zinc bar with what seem like church pews. There is a large
open courtyard where the a la carte/bar menu is also served in nice
weather and then the inner sanctum is in the rear, where only tasting
menus are available.The room has an open kitchen on one side, with
backlit jarred pickles giving an eerie feel! It is a simple menu but
loaded with options from the number of courses to the choice in each
category. There are 4 and 6-course menus at $60 and $80 ($40 &
$50 extra for wine pairings) as well as a Chef's Tasting for $110 ($90
extra for pairings). Chef Chittum was ill the night we were there, so we
thought we would start simple; I'm so glad we chose the
6-course option, because more on a summer's night might have been too
much!
We were offered our choice of in-house filtered water--AT NO COST; it needs to be this way in most places, really!
The menu is divided as follows
TASTE
GARDEN
WATER
PASTURE
PASTURE
CHEESE
& SWEET
Everyone gets the TASTE which is a selection of starters bursting with flavors and lots of fun. These may include what we had:
Marinated Olives with tasty lemon rind for flavor
Potato & Dill Fritters with a House-Made Yogurt-Olive Salad
Corn & Black-Eyed Peas with Tomato & Feta
Octopus Salas with Celery & Thai Chilis
Risotto Balls on Pesto
Taramasalata with Syros(an island in Greece) Fennel crackers that we fell in love with (both the crackers and the tarama)
Jimmy Nardeto Roasted Peppers with EVOO
Housemade pickles consisting of Okra, Radish & Carrots
A divine STEAK TARTARE with shaved Parmesan which had some tiny croutons embedded within for a cool crunch
These
dishes depend on which menu you order and how many people there are,
but I am sure you can mention something if you prefer it!
The
paired wine was a super dry 2013 ZINOS "AURELIA" N/V Sparkling Rose from
Epirus, Greece that worked amazingly with every one of these flavors.
We
all chose the GOAT CHEESE RAVIOLINI from the two Garden choices and
came with Roasted Baby Beets, Poppy Seeds and Walnuts 2 Ways. It was a
superb dish, but slightly salty. The wine fixed that as it was a 2013
Cantina del Taburno Falanghina from Campania. Our guest was leaning
veggie and she chose the other Garden dish for her next course-GRILLED
HALLOUMI CHEESE "Puttanesca" with petite Herbs and Croutons. The
"Puttanesca" was slightly spicy with olives, capers and tomato, but
vegetarian as it had no anchovies. This was served with a 2012 De
Angelis Piedrosso, Lacryma Chirsti also from Campania which was an
awesome red that worked well with the cheese and spice.
Our
second course was from the Water category in the form of a CRISPY
SOFTSHELL CRAB tempura-style with Shell Beans, Hothouse Tomatoes(Green
Zebra), Anchovy and an great dipping aioli. It was perfect and perfectly
paired with a 2012 Sella & Mosca "Terre Bianche" (Torbato grape)
from Sardegna. I forgot to mention the champagne came in Schott crystal,
while the rest of the wine is served in "The One" which is quite nice,
although not Riedel :-((.
While we moved on to the
Pasture, our guest chose the other WATER choice of GRILLED RARE AHI
TUNA "Salad" with Baby Fennel, Local Cherries & Torn Mint which was
another superb dish with lots of layered rare tuna and a pairing with
2013 Wine Art Estate, Malagousia from Macedonia that was intensely
citrus.
Will and I decided to choose one of each
of the PASTURE choices and my excellent and just -past rare PENNSYLVANIA
LAMB DUO was a rack chop and kefta kabob with Summer Squash, Almond
Slivers and House Yogurt paired with a 2008 (yes 2008!) Moratis Paros
Reserve from Macedonia that I could have kept drinking for days. Will's
OUR BERKSHIRE COTECHINO was a pork patty with Grilled Foraged Mushrooms,
Sherry Vinegar and "Dippy" Egg or fried egg atop that was also yummy
save for the mushrooms being grilled a bit to much to slight dryness.
His wine was a 2011 Tascante "Ghaia Nera" (Nerola Mascolese) from
Sicily.
Pairings had worked superbly to this point
and we did return to some of the wines we liked more. Our guest also
raved about the Iced tea! On the 6-course menu every gets the CHEESE
course of CAROMONT RED COW with Spring Radish, Lemon & Honey. The
Virginia cheese is a nice apple cider washed cow, but not super
exciting. The breakfast radishes were sliced super thin and went well
with it, but the "funky" 2012 Denavolo "Catavela" from Emiglia-Romana
that our wonderful server Mark explained was an oxidated "orange" wine,
was something none of us could stomach. He quickly whisked away the 3
glasses and we happily received more of the awesome reds!
Dessert
or SWEET is two choices and I went for the BITTERSWEET CHOCOLATE TORTE
with Eggplant (yes, eggplant) 2 Ways, Plums and Almond Tuile which was a
great creation of spiced chocolate torte with plum sorbet, poached
plums, yummy almond tuile that was really almond brittle and the awesome
eggplant which was bruleed and fried (the 2 ways); AMAAZING. This
paired with Kourtaki Mavrodaphne port-like wine from Patras in the
Peloponnese in Greece.
The others adored their BABA AU RHUM
with Roasted Peaches & Mascarpone Ice Cream served with 2010
UWC(Union Winemaking Coop) Muscat of Samos "Nectar" from the Aegean
Islands of Greece; need I say more.....??
Dinner
did not end here as Lukamades (orange honey blossom fried dough) arrived
along with Amaretti cookies with cherries imbedded. Mark knew we had a
bad taste from the funky orange wine, so he offered us a make-up, which
we did not need, with an amazing TREJE 2009 Bisceglia Agliatico
(Merlot/Syrah blend) which gets 2 years aging in oak. I think this was
offered as the red substitute with the cheese, but can't remember.....at
least I got the wine right, and everything else.
Even to Toto soft close toilets are welcome in the rest rooms!
Iron
Gate is a welcome change in that it offers many tastes in a very
satisfying setting with a small American twist entering into the
Greco-Italian vein. Bravo Chef Anthony!
