DC Resturant Week is coming! And Art and Soul.

DC Restaurant Week is August 16-22, 2010.

If you have never been to DC Restaurant Week - it's interesting. It's really a mixed bag on service and, to a lesser degree, quality of food. If there is a restaurant that you've been dying to try but your wallet can't handle it, by all means this would be the time to go and eat. In most other cities, Restaurant Week is seen as a time for restaurants to woo new regular patrons. In DC, it seems like the restaurants treat it as a marketing gimmick and the servers give up on any possibility on getting a good tip.

So the good and the bad ... a case study on Art and Soul.

A little background on Art and Soul for those that have been living under a rock or just don't care about food. It’s run by Art Smith - Oprah’s former personal chef, but more importantly, he was also one of the competitors in season 1 of Top Chef Masters and one of the judges on Iron Chef America. He is very well known for his southern cuisine. And because of Paula Dean - southern cuisine now congers up images of mounds and pounds of butter. And their bread pretty much just a mode of transportation for butter. It’s a pull apart bread that’s basically baked/fried in a cast iron pan. Just thinking about it is making me drool.

They have shrimp and grits (nothing amazing), Chesapeake Bay fry basket (comes highly recommend by many - but it‘s just another assorted fried seafood basket), mussel (good but once again nothing special) were the appetizers that I’ve had there. The Capital Hill salad was tastey, but it’s just a classic salad with fruit, cheese, and nuts.

But outside of the starter bread, the hoecakes there are just amazing. I’ve had them all and they are all good. The oyster po’ is one of the more popular ones, but salmon and caviar was my favorite. Seriously skip the appetizers and just order another hoecake. I was disappointed that during Restaurant Week in Feb, the hoecakes were not an option.

The main dishes that I’ve had there were very tastey - but not amazing, once again. And during Restaurant Week, the choices made me feel like I was at a wedding - with a choice of chicken, fish (salmon), or pork. The gumbo there was deemed amazing by one of my dinner partner that is a southern.

The side dishes of fried green tomatoes and macaroni casserole (aka baked mac and cheese) were amazing as well, and classic southern food. The pecan pie, chocolate terrine, and strawberry cheesecake - were amazingly executed.

But on the service side of things, going during Restaurant Week and non-Restaurant Week was like night and day. I went in December as an early Christmas gift from a lovely couple and we had a funny waiter that made sure that our drinks and water never goes empty. He brought out extra bread with a smile when he saw us inhale it. And he just paced the meal well. During restaurant week, we were seated right next to a service station and kitchen entrance, even though the restaurant was filled to 50% of capacity when we left. We had to flag down the bus boys to get more water, got sneered at for asking for more bread, and then a search party was sent out when the coffee didn’t come out with the dessert after it not showing up for the 10 mins after reminding the waiter as the desserts came out. I think that if I didn’t go during Restaurant Week, the rating for this place would be higher. But when I saw our server doting on another table while arguing with me that my cocktail choice is wrong. I find that annoying.

So just on the food side of things, I would go back in a heart beat for the bread, hoecakes, and dessert. But also for their cocktails. Whoever came up with their drink menu is an alcohol god. And during the summer they have snocone cocktails to help deal with the heat as well. I would go back to eat at the bar and fest on hoecakes and bread. But I don’t think that


DC Restaurant Week
Lunch: $20.10 for a three-course fixed-price meal
Dinner: $35.10 for a three-course fixed-price meal
Beverages, gratuity and tax are not included.
http://washington.org/restaurantwk/

Art and Soul
http://www.artandsouldc.com/
415 New Jersey Ave., NW
Washington DC 20001
202-393-7777
Food: B+
Service: C
Value: B
Price: $40 to $60 a person
Overall: B

The Burger Joint

Last night after my first yoga class in years – my friend, Sarah, and I went to the Burger Joint in Dupont Circle for dinner. Yes, after downwards facing dog and all that, we should have gone next door to Sweet Green. For lunch I was suppose to go to Ray’s Hell Burger but the stars weren’t aligned for that to happen. So after daydreaming about those juicy burgers that Obama has made famous (bastard for exposing this local burger joint to the touristing masses) and being denied, I couldn’t imagine having anything but a burger for dinner.

She had a classic cheese burger, I had their burger of the month “In Guac we rock,” and we split an order of their onion rings.

I am one of the most easy going picky eaters that you will ever meet. If there is something that I don’t like, I will just eat around it. My hatred of all things onion is pretty legendary, but I love the flavor of onion brings to everything. So how does a hater of onions eat a onion ring? One bites into the ring and then slide out the onion. And BGR Vidalia onion rings are perfect for that. It’s cut and battered like you would get in a steakhouse, not like Burger King. They were quite tasty and I do like them a lot.

I love they fact that they ask how you would like your burger done, but it would be nice if my medium rare didn’t come out as medium done though. Sarah’s medium was actually medium. The “In Guac we Rock” burger is basically a burger with guacamole, tortilla strips, tomato, and a “hint of lime.” I asked them to add lettuce to it. It was just okay though. The meat was a bit over cooked so the guca balanced out the lack of juiciness. I couldn’t taste the lime. And the tortilla strips were just in the way. I think for the price tag of $9.99 – vs the hamburger $6.99 – there wasn’t enough guac to make it worth it. I’ve eaten at the Bethesda location before – their famous “The Greek” burger – and I kinda felt the same way there as well. Good but not worth the price tag.

Though a common snack that I have at this join is their roasted corn. But then again, I have an unnatural love of corn. And it just kills me that in DC 6 ears for $1 is considered a good deal. But it’s just a simple snack of an ear of corn that’s roasted with a brush of oil and sprinkle of salt. Nothing fancy but I love eating it while waiting for the Georgetown University shuttle.

I would go again, mostly because of the convenient location and the decent food. Good burgers, but I’ve had more amazing ones.



The Burger Joint
http://www.bgrtheburgerjoint.com/
locations in Bethesda, Dupont Circle, Alexandria, and Arlington

Food: B
Service: B
Value: C
Price: $10 - $25
Overall: B-