After a little over a year we returned to The CURIOUS GRAPE (www.curiousgrape.com)
in Shirlington and for the most part, the food was very good. However,
it seems that Chef Joe Hornbeck who had just started there in the spring
of 2013 has departed and was replaced about a year a go by Chef Delian
DiPietro, who has many good ideas, but perhaps needs some more guts.
Wines
and cheeses here are stars and we started with a delicious white
Grenache 2013 Chapoutier Cotes de Luberon "Le Ciboise." The glass come
in full or halves, so you can try many tastes. We moved on to a bottle
of red (also available by the glass) from Bodegas LAN 2005 Gran Reserva
which was decanted and oh so wonderful on the chilly cold night. We did
have to ask for the wine several times after the order was placed, and
this was the other big issue. Our server, Jon, was most helpful, but it
seemed that the completely full restaurant was desperately understaffed
with servers.
The warm focaccia and olive oil for dipping was nice as well.
Three
of us started with the wonderful sounding on a cold night POTATO LEEK
SOUP with Crispy Potatoes, Fried Shallots, Baby Arugula & Mustard
Oil with Kymac, which Jon explained is a Turkish double cream! The
crunch from the shallots was great, the soup creamy and rich, but not
really hot enough, and sadly, OH SO BLAND. I asked Jon for pepper which
came fast, but one of our friends who asked for salt never got it. We
were asked about the dishes we liked and disliked and mentioned that it
needed crispy bacon or white pepper or something.
The special
starter was MEATBALLS PUTTANESCA which was a winner for sure. Indeed we
all chose, smaller plates for our meal so as not to fill up before the
theater.
My next course was a big winner: Seared OCTOPUS with
Black Hummus, Fresh Chick Peas, Cucumber & Fried Capers. The hummus
was very different from the thicker manila brand and very vinegary which
worked so well as a dressing for the perfectly charred and tender
octopus. The dish also was loaded with crunchy pomegranate seeds for a
burst of flavor.
The other winner was the CHICKEN ROULADE
which was a breast rolled with mascarpone, marcona almonds and marsala
jus. Opposite were local mushrooms on a square of date paste that was
just as yummy.
The loser was the PORK RAGU which had a scant
amount of Virginia pork shoulder on pappardelle with piave vecchio
cheese and herbed panko. It too arrived lukewarm.
We tried
some of the cheese plates and they were both quite good with some odd
additions to be sure. The FALL Cheese plate had pumpkin chevre,
cranberry Wensleydale and a maple smoked cheddar with apples chips and
the most divine port-infused cranberries. The TRUFFLE Cheese plate had
TREMOR Truffle cheese, which could have been a shade riper and BOSCHETTO
al Tartufo with Truffle Toast, Truffled Salami, a swath of divine Thyme
Honey which went great with the two cheeses and a pile of Preserved
Mushrooms which were quite odd. The small pile of micro greens had a
glop of gooey balsamic that I thought was worms at first; need I say
more.
So, while we had some good dishes, THE CURIOUS GRAPE no
longer holds top billing for us and boy does Shirlington need some more
fine dining for those of us that love going out to eat before or after
attending our beloved Signature Theatre down the street!
