 |
| From Another Cook in the Kitchen |
The restaurant is separated into three parts. When you walk in, the first thing you see is a little seafood shop, with an impressive assortment on ice. I saw plenty of different types of fillets (even the hard-to-find monkfish), one type of whole fish and a lot of shellfish, including sea scallops (I think around $23/pound), which you can't find fresh in grocery stores right now, to my knowledge. They of course also have arrays of salts and a refrigerated shelf of less popular fish dishes (bacala was notable to me, which is apparently imported from Spain and called bacalao). Growing up, I remember my dad soaking and resoaking cod to get it just right for Christmas Eve, so if that's on your holiday menu, BlackSalt is an option.
In the next section is the bar/cafe, which looks exactly like a restaurant to me. This is where the happy hour specials occur. If you want to up the price a bit and expand the menu, you can walk even further back to the actual restaurant area.
Since there were quite a few of us, we ordered 1 1/2 dozen oysters (you have to order in half dozen increments). Additionally, all but one of the diners opted to also get the steamed blue shell mussels ($6), which come three ways: Addie's (tomato, garlic, lemon), Belgian (Maredsous ale, leeks, fumet) and Spanish (chorizo, romesco, marjoram). I opted for the Addie's, since I knew I'd regret smelling anything remotely Italian on someone else's plate and not being able to eat it. One of us decided to get the calamari ($9), which I didn't try but I'll trust her approval since she also has impeccable mojito taste.
When I got there, I wasn't sure if I wanted to spend the $8 on the mojito, which is one of my favorite cocktails. But the problem with mojitos is that most bartenders half-ass them. Not enough mint (it's too much work), not enough lime (stingy) and too much sparkling water (don't these people have any taste?). So when I arrived, I ordered the classic champagne cocktail ($5) with bitters, a sugar cube and a lemon twist. But as soon as I sipped it, even though it was good, I regretted that it wasn't a mojito. On the second round, I went for it, and I have to say this is likely the second best mojito I've had in the D.C. area behind Cafe Atlantico's. Served with a fairly generous amount of mint and limes, the drink also comes with a sugar crystal stick to sweeten it up.
First to come out was an assortment of breads (which is refilled upon request), focaccia, French and some sort of multigrain, served with a spiced olive oil. That was followed by our mussel dishes, which had a plentiful stack of mussels served in a delicious soup they were cooked in (which is why the bread refill is oh-so necessary). They were extremely tasty, and more than one of us kept eating the sauce after the mussels were gone as a soup.
The oysters were also an achievement, with three different types served on ice with lemon wedges and cocktail sauce. I wish I could recall all the types, but I do remember the Virginia oysters being hardy and meaty, and the smallest shell oysters had the most depth of flavor. Honestly, it's hard for me to find an oyster that I don't like, and who can argue with a $1 price tag? It'd have to be an oyster from the river offshore Three Mile Island for me to think twice.
 |
| From Another Cook in the Kitchen |
Although none of us got them, there is also another $1 item on the happy hour menu, cocktail jumbo Gulf shrimp. There was also talk at the table that their crab cakes ($9) are supposedly very good.
If this place was closer to a metro stop, I'd have some sort of oyster happy hour addiction. I'd withdrawl from friends, need a 12-step program. But as it stands, it's a delicious place to head out to every once in a while, and at least I know where to go if I want fresh scallops now.
Posts
