Restaurant Week

[geekchick]

I managed to snag tables this week at two restaurants I was very interested in trying out. I had wanted to go back to Corduroy, but the earliest table I could get at any time during the week was 10 PM, which is a bit too late for me to be starting dinner downtown on a school night. =( Since I was originally planning to be out of town starting about now, I didn't try for any more reservations. All things considered, that's probably not a bad thing. (If you're not familiar with Restaurant Week, the deal is that participating restaurants offer a three-course dinner for $30 and lunch for $20; they do it once in January and usually again in August. Depending on the restaurant, it could be a special limited menu, or you could be able to choose from their usual menu with perhaps an upcharge for some of the items.)

Anyway, the two places I ate this week were Willow and Ten Penh. I've been wanting to go to Willow for ages, and tommx speaks highly of Ten Penh, so I grabbed a Tuesday reservation at Willow as an anniversary date with one of my partners and a Thursday table at Ten Penh as a spiffy date night with another.

Willow offered a special Restaurant Week menu as an alternative to their standard menu. I had the seared shrimp with butternut squash ravioli, the tournedos of pepper crusted filet mignon, and the chocolate orange tart with blood orange sorbet and orange sauce. The appetizer was okay, but I didn't think it was anything particularly special; the smoked tomato sauce was creamy, and I guess I just wasn't in the mood for it. The filet was fantastic though, cooked perfectly. The gouda potato tart (sort of potatoes au gratin in a small pastry shell) accompaniment was also very good, although I left about half of it since I was getting full. The chocolate tart was very, very rich. I managed about a third to a half of it before I decided to devote the very small remaining space in my stomach to the wonderful blood orange sorbet. We also decided to go with the wine pairings; I very much liked the appetizer accompaniment (Blanc de Blancs, Charles de Fere "Cuvee Jean Louis Brut," France, NV), and the tempranillo was nice enough, but I think I'd have preferred something a little spicier with my steak. If we'd stopped at the appetizers, I think I'd have been underwhelmed, but after the rest of the meal I was pretty happy that I'd made it one of my limited choices.

Ten Penh was last night. I toyed with the idea of cancelling because of crappy weather, (I hate driving downtown even when it isn't slushy and raining/sleeting) but the restaurant is close enough to a couple of Metro stops that we decided to just take the train in. Ten Penh's Restaurant Week menu consists of a choice from a specific set of appetizers and desserts, but you can choose from any of their entrees on their regular menu (with an upcharge for the lobster or the whole fish). I had the soup of the day, which was a shrimp dumpling soup, and a yuzu and citrus curd tart for dessert. For the entree, I splurged and spent the extra $12 for the "Chinese style smoked lobster" with stir-fried vegetables and crispy spinach. Honestly, I thought the food was okay, but nothing really to write home about. The lobster was good, the spinach was good except that it was a bit too salty from marinating in the soy sauce pooled on the plate, and the tart was good, but essentially just a lemon curd tart. This is the first Restaurant Week meal that I think I've ever come out of feeling fairly neutral about. It wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, but neither was anything outstandingly good. I'd probably order the lobster again, except that it alone costs as much as my entire three-course meal and while I didn't leave the table still feeling hungry, neither was I as stuffed as you'd expect after having an appetizer, an entree and dessert.

What really underwhelmed me about Ten Penh though was the service, the quality of which rapidly declined over the course of the evening. It was fine when we sat down, but not so much by the end of dinner. I finished my glass of wine while eating my entree, and I was not offered another glass. Our dessert plates were picked up and the check was nearly immediately set down without an offer of coffee (which I actually wanted last night, since I didn't have to get up for work today) or an after-dinner drink, or any words at all for that matter. There was also no acknowledgment of me at all when he picked up the check, he simply picked it up as he walked rapidly by the table. I don't like waiters who hover, granted, but I also can't remember ever feeling so much like it would be most appreciated if we'd pay up and leave, at least not at someplace that wasn't a diner that needed the table freed up. So, let's call Ten Penh "neutral at best".


Willow, by the way, is extending their Restaurant Week menu through January 26, so if you missed it this week, you've got another shot. DC Foodies has a list of restaurants that are extending their Restaurant Week offerings for periods ranging from one extra week to the entire month of January. Oooh, Corduroy is one of the one-week extensions. Bet I'm still out of luck on useful reservation times though.

Comments

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Mmmm... Corduroy was where we went for your birthday last year, right? :)

[geekchick]

Yep!