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Dec. 2nd, 2007 04:24 pmWorld's shortest review of 2941: ZOMG. *thud*
I felt like splurging on a really nice dinner this weekend, and my original plan was to go to Willow. Unfortunately there wasn't a single table available on Saturday night, so I poked around OpenTable for a bit to see if I could find a decent alternative. I'd heard more than a little favorable mention of 2941 before and they had a table available at 9:30, so I was game to check it out. Scott Bryan is currently guesting as executive chef, after Jonathan Krinn decamped in order to (apparently) open a new restaurant in Tyson's Corner; when his temporary residence is up in January, he'll be replaced by Bertrand Chemel.
The restaurant is tucked away in the Fairview Park office park, on the bottom floor of an office building housing General Dynamics. You wouldn't expect much atmosphere from that description, but you'd be wrong. We didn't have much of a view outside since it was long-since dark, but stopped to admire the waterfalls and koi pond on the way out. We got there around 9:15, but a table was open and we were seated within about five minutes. We took a peek at the wine list -- 53 pages with options ranging from around $30 to $4000 for the 1959 Château La Mission Haut-Brion, Grand Cru Classé -- but decided in the end to just go with a couple of glasses of Sangiovese, which neither of us had tried before, since we were unlikely to finish an entire bottle of anything. (Note to self: 2001 Villa la Selva Felciaia) It didn't end up matching terribly well with the entree I eventually decided on, but it was perfectly enjoyable on its own. First, we were presented with an amuse consisting of a single jumbo shrimp on a fennel puree with a lemon vinaigrette. For the first course we had the Maine lobster salad with fava been puree, white asparagus, and rainbow greens (I confess I'm still unsure what they actually are) and the roasted beet salad with toasted walnuts, Roquefort, aged sherry vinegar and frisee. The beet salad was awarded the "reality-shifting dish of the evening" honors, as I don't like blue cheese and my dining companion doesn't like beets, but surprisingly we both really enjoyed the combination of beets/walnuts/cheese/vinegar. Our main courses were honey and soy marinated Chilean sea bass over seared spinach, topped with braised squash and green papaya, and braised veal with potato puree, bacon, crimini mushrooms, pearl onions and a Bordelaise sauce. I liked my fish well enough, although to my taste it could've been cooked for about a minute and a half longer than it was. The veal, however, was absolutely amazing. I always feel bad about liking veal and don't order it on my own anymore, but oh my god was the taste incredible. (I also had a small bout of guilt over having the fish, since I remembered that it's on the seafood watch list.) Neither of us really had room for dessert after that, although the roasted pineapple with muscovado ice cream looked really tempting. At the end of your meal, they bring out a bowl containing a giant heap of cotton candy. Some of the Yelp reviews mention not being terribly pleased by the service, but I thought it was perfectly fine. Not stellar, not bad.
I certainly foresee going back there again, even if they'll have changed chefs at least once by the time I manage to get back. It's not going to be a regular occurrence, but for special occasions it's definitely staying on the options list. Maybe next time I'll really splurge and try the tasting menu and wine pairings.
I felt like splurging on a really nice dinner this weekend, and my original plan was to go to Willow. Unfortunately there wasn't a single table available on Saturday night, so I poked around OpenTable for a bit to see if I could find a decent alternative. I'd heard more than a little favorable mention of 2941 before and they had a table available at 9:30, so I was game to check it out. Scott Bryan is currently guesting as executive chef, after Jonathan Krinn decamped in order to (apparently) open a new restaurant in Tyson's Corner; when his temporary residence is up in January, he'll be replaced by Bertrand Chemel.
The restaurant is tucked away in the Fairview Park office park, on the bottom floor of an office building housing General Dynamics. You wouldn't expect much atmosphere from that description, but you'd be wrong. We didn't have much of a view outside since it was long-since dark, but stopped to admire the waterfalls and koi pond on the way out. We got there around 9:15, but a table was open and we were seated within about five minutes. We took a peek at the wine list -- 53 pages with options ranging from around $30 to $4000 for the 1959 Château La Mission Haut-Brion, Grand Cru Classé -- but decided in the end to just go with a couple of glasses of Sangiovese, which neither of us had tried before, since we were unlikely to finish an entire bottle of anything. (Note to self: 2001 Villa la Selva Felciaia) It didn't end up matching terribly well with the entree I eventually decided on, but it was perfectly enjoyable on its own. First, we were presented with an amuse consisting of a single jumbo shrimp on a fennel puree with a lemon vinaigrette. For the first course we had the Maine lobster salad with fava been puree, white asparagus, and rainbow greens (I confess I'm still unsure what they actually are) and the roasted beet salad with toasted walnuts, Roquefort, aged sherry vinegar and frisee. The beet salad was awarded the "reality-shifting dish of the evening" honors, as I don't like blue cheese and my dining companion doesn't like beets, but surprisingly we both really enjoyed the combination of beets/walnuts/cheese/vinegar. Our main courses were honey and soy marinated Chilean sea bass over seared spinach, topped with braised squash and green papaya, and braised veal with potato puree, bacon, crimini mushrooms, pearl onions and a Bordelaise sauce. I liked my fish well enough, although to my taste it could've been cooked for about a minute and a half longer than it was. The veal, however, was absolutely amazing. I always feel bad about liking veal and don't order it on my own anymore, but oh my god was the taste incredible. (I also had a small bout of guilt over having the fish, since I remembered that it's on the seafood watch list.) Neither of us really had room for dessert after that, although the roasted pineapple with muscovado ice cream looked really tempting. At the end of your meal, they bring out a bowl containing a giant heap of cotton candy. Some of the Yelp reviews mention not being terribly pleased by the service, but I thought it was perfectly fine. Not stellar, not bad.
I certainly foresee going back there again, even if they'll have changed chefs at least once by the time I manage to get back. It's not going to be a regular occurrence, but for special occasions it's definitely staying on the options list. Maybe next time I'll really splurge and try the tasting menu and wine pairings.
