800 Connecticut Ave. NW
Type of Cuisine: Traditional Continental
Neighborhood: Midtown
Nearest Metro: Farragut West
Well, everyone knows it's Restaurant Week season again. I think after so much time in doing Restaurant Week so heavily, I've figured out what places do a good job for it and what places aren't quite as good. Having been no stranger to recommending restaurants that I enjoy for restaurant week or visiting them again myself, I think that restaurants should put their best foot(d) forward for Restaurant Week. Some of these places that I went this year put out many items from their normal menu and some did not quite go that route. That said, most of the places I went this year did post items that if not on the menu, were carefully planned by the executive chef to provide a good view of the actual menu.
This was the case with the Oval Room. Normally I would shy away from the DC power restaurants like Oval Room, Zola, Williard and Caucus Room, but I was intrigued by Washingtonian Magazine's ranking this restaurant at #9 on its list due to relatively new Chef Tony Conte's designs (he's been there like 2 years or something). If it's ranked that highly, it couldn't be a restaurant purely based on who eats there and not on what the food was like. So a friend of mine and I met there for a very nice, very crowded and little bit rushed lunch. I couldn't have made a better decision since they had the same menu available for lunch and dinner with only a few small adjustments (I can only assume the same portions too since they were HUGE). One thing to note was the "sweet" theme of everything. All of the items on their menu had a sweet flavoring to them which was quite good on some dishes.
Menu:
Appetizers: They put out a wonderful set of five available appetizers.
Me: Mozzerella with sweet chili dressing
Friend: Roasted Beets with fruit
Entree:
Me: Flat iron steak in a red wine sauce with Salsify (a root vegetable)
Friend: Salmon (not sure how it was cooked, but it was served in a bowl over what I think was grits)
Dessert:
Me: Peanut butter cheesecake and boisonberry parfait.
Friend: Dark chocolate brownie
Sweet:
Peanut Butter Cheesecake Parfait: Okay, this was the best part of the meal. It was such a unique combination. The "cheesecake" was extremely smooth and creamy while not super sweet. The peanut butter flavoring was definitely there so that you have to like peanut butter to like the dessert, but it was still relatively subtle and didn't overpower the dessert. The hint of chocolate crust was delightful. The strongest taste to the dessert was actually the boisonberry (sp?). There was a little too much berry in it, but the taste actually melded quite well with the peanut butter, a combination I wouldn't expect.
Roasted beets: Unfortunately I don't remember entirely what it was served with, but the roasted beets were fantastic. There were three different kinds of beets in different shades of red, yellow and orange. Each of them had a sweetness to them that mixed well with the tartness of the beet. It was a textural delight as well.
Mozzerella with Sweet Chili: This had another nice tang to it. The mozzerella was of fantastic quality. It was fresh and a little sweet itself. It was cut into bite sized pieces. I would have wished for a little bit more spice to the sauce, but otherwise, it was delicious.
Flat Iron Steak: Although I was eating at such a nice restaurant, I was still pleasantly surprised by the quality of the flat iron steak. It was much more tender than I am used to from a flat iron steak. I thought it was a bit pretentious that they didn't give me a steak knife to cut it, but I was wrong. The sauce, again had a little bit of sweetness to it, which was a bit overpowering, but the tenderness of the meat and the way it was cooked (perfectly rare) was incredible. Although, the salsify, which I had never heard of before, was the best thing on the plate, and may have challenged the dessert. It was a stalky root vegetable that had the look of asparagus and the consistency of a beet. It seemed to absorb the sauce better than the steak did.
Lunch Service: I found the server to be very in tune with the needs of the lunch crowd. A lot of this is probably due to the location and reputation of the restaurant. We got there a little bit before our reservation and had to wait a little, but we still sat down before our 1:30 time. The server, while a little bit businesslike was nonetheless very helpful and attentive. She did know to leave us alone when needed, but was very efficient and quick with the check. She managed to allow us a relatively quick meal (probably just over an hour) without ever feeling rushed. That is quite a talent which I will attribute largely to the restaurant and probably less to the server.
Bland:Salmon: Didn't hear too much about it. I had a taste of it and the salmon was quite well prepared, but I think that the sauce was a little bit too sweet for the flavor of the salmon. I think it was better if you just had the salmon plain. Despite that, it was a very good piece of salmon cooked to the perfect temperature and texture. I think the lack of commentary could have hurt this piece a little bit.
Atmosphere: The atmosphere is probably something that most people love. I call it bland because, while I thought it was exactly what it should be and what was intended, I don't know if I love it. Make no mistakes, Oval Room is a DC power establishment. While your meal may not be rushed, the room is quite rushed. It is oval shaped, to make you think of the office a few blocks away. It is infused with busy, fast-moving Washington insiders and packed to the brim. Diners can relax in the plush red, leather chairs, probably like most of the clientele have in their office so they can feel like they haven't left. It had surprisingly good acoustics for how crowded it was. I was able to hear my friend across the table pretty well. I would say that if you like comfortable but crowded, busy and undoubtedly pretentious, you would enjoy Oval Room.
Dark Chocolate Brownie: This was definitely the loser among the food. It was good, but it was nothing special and definitely compared negatively to the peanut butter cheesecake parfait. It was still sweet, but seemed a lot like a Corner Bakery brownie only a little lighter (not that there is anything wrong with a Corner Bakery brownie). For some reason I'm not expecting light when I go for a chocolate brownie.
Bitter:Menu Planning: The menu itself I enjoyed. It was not pretentious, everything made sense (if I had known what Salsify was, but it was no creative name, that's just the name of the vegetable). The planning of the restaurant week menu and likely the whole menu has a strong tendency towards the sweet. All six dishes on the table were sweet and I really wanted something more savory or spicy to go along with it. I thought that it was poorly planned. Other than that, there was nothing terribly bitter about the place. I suppose that consistency is what makes this a top 10 restaurant.
Ratings:
Quality: ***1/2 I thought that it was very consistent and bordering at some times on very good. There was nothing at Oval Room that truly wowed me with the potential exception of my dessert. It is definitely still a power restaurant, but likely the best of the power restaurants by leaps and bounds. The Chef does a wonderful job, I just wish he'd vary his menu a little bit more.
Value: $$ Okay so it's a place that is frequented by lobbyists, GS-15s, SESs and expense account lunches. It's not the most affordable place to go, but it's not as expensive as I thought it would be. Afterall, they did do restaurant week and not too many of the really expensive places do.
