The Restaurant at Potawmack Farms

In another of our ongoing first Saturday of the month dinners out, Cyn and I took a one hour leisurely drive through the Virginia countryside to Lovettsville, VA and the Restaurant at Potowmack Farms. There, high on a hill overlooking the Potomac River, Chef Christopher Edwards treated us to what was, quite possibly, the very best restaurant meal we've had since moving to Virginia. Did you hear that Chef Patrick O'Connell?

Potowmack, named after George Washington's trading company and the local Indians of the time, is an real working farm, growing vegetables and herbs for use in the restaurant. They are committed to a farm to table, seasonal and certified organic dining experience. The menu reflects what is available from their own farm and from other local purveyors.

Before we get to the food, I need to mention one small but thoughtful touch that set the tone for the meal. When we arrived, we were greeted and seated by the owner, Beverly Billand, and presented with the evening's menu. Note the personalization at the top.

In keeping with the theme of serving what is locally available, the menus are printed daily and the chef offers a prix fixe menu (with paired wines optional), and a very nice selection of a la carte items. We both decided to go with the prix fixe menu although a few of the items on the a la carte menu were very tempting -- particularly the Briars Farmstead suckling pig. Maybe next time. Since we had the same meal (with one exception I'll note later), we'll both offer our individual comments on each course.

Amuse Bouche

Lobster beignet, sea urchin butter, jumbo crab, mustard vinaigrette

Al
Come on, really? A beignet? With lobster and crab? This was like a little bit of perfection, several bites to be more precise since the portion was very generous. The sea urchin butter added a deep richness without overwhelming the other ingredients and the whole mustard seed vinaigrette provided the acid needed to complete the dish. Oh look, there was a pretty little purple flower too. Simply stated, I wanted more of this.

Cyn 
Yeah, what he said. The beignet was piping hot and full of chunks of lobster. Crispy outside, creamy inside. The crab was succulent and sweet and topped the beignet after it was tossed in the urchin butter. As a gardener, I deeply appreciated the fresh flowers adorning certain dishes on a visual level and as an eater, they added a beautiful freshness to the dish.  Could have embarrassed myself by climbing into chefs lap and eating these babies as they came out of the oil.  I don't say this often, but this was a perfect amuse, I couldn't wait for the next course.

Crudite

Watermelon radish, asparagus, red cabbage, baby carrot, kimchi broth, garden herbs

Al
I don't use the word pretty very often, but this dish was pretty, and right in the sweet spot for a restaurant that specializes in serving local and fresh ingredients. Everything seemed to be fresh out of the ground. Not quite a salad but more than the name crudite would typically imply, every element in this bowl was meant for each other. I particularly enjoyed the crisp purple cabbage that seemed designed to carry the kimchi broth in it's folds. I kept hoping everyone in the restaurant would simultaneously turn away so I could pick up the bowl and drink the broth -- didn't happen.

Cyn
Umm, yeah, what he said.  Kimchi broth was a revelation and why didn't I think of this?  The salty umami-ness of it was the seasoning for the crispy veg, and the watermelon radish was luscious as it had soaked up some of the broth but kept a nice toothiness.  Balance was perfect and the dish was incredibly 'clean' - this chef doesn't feel the need to add more frou frou crap to create a masterpiece.  Great example of less is more.

Carolina Golden Rice Middlins

soft cooked farm egg, mirepoix vegetables, Ayrshire chicken foot gravy, aged jalapeno

Al
My favorite course of the night, and that's saying a lot! The gold rice middlins were a revelation to me. They a a shorter grain rice, sometimes called "rice grits", or broken rice, that were perfectly suited to taking on flavors such as the chicken foot gravy that made this dish quite spectacular. The depth of flavor the chef developed here was almost the essence of chicken and the foot itself was wonderfully crispy on the outside without giving up that gelatinous quality that defines them. Note to the observant reader: I don't eat eggs, so I had this course without the soft cooked farm egg and wasn't clever enough to take a photo of Cynthia's, which had the egg. One last note, I don't know what aged jalapenos are, but they were perfectly suited to add both a little heat and acid to this dish. I need to find out what they are and where to get them.

Cyn
At this point, after two fabu courses, I'm expecting a lull in the action.  Can they possibly maintain this level of delicious?  No. They can't.  They take delicious and crank it to crazy fabulous.  The rice middlins I could eat every day and never tire of them.  Rich with a slight chewiness, drenched in the chicken foot gravy, my mouth is watering just writing about them.  And with the fine dice of the vinegary jalapenos and the river of molten egg yolk, pretty damn perfect.  Balance, balance, balance.  I should mention that this dish is served with one of the feet from the chicken foot gravy.  If you're not into chicken feet, I just happen to be, but if you aren't or haven't had the experience yet, this should be the chicken foot that you give your virginity to.  Trust me.

Intermezzo

sour cherry sorbet, rosemary blossom, creme fraiche

Al

I'm going to be very picky here. This was the one course that wasn't a home run for me. The sorbet has a pleasant enough sour cherry flavor but the texture seemed a bit off, icy, more like a granita than a sorbet. The creme fraiche was at the bottom of the frozen shot glass and was rock hard. Like I said, I'm being picky here.

Cyn

Yup, this was a hiccup.  It was palate cleansing and I enjoyed the hit of rosemary blossom astringency, but the creme fraiche didn't make sense - we're cleansing not coating, right?  Sour cherry flavor was fine and Al's right about the texture - we have an Italian gelato maker in house and he eats a lot of sorbet.

Hedgeapple Farm Beef Short Ribs

parsley potatoes, red wine marmalade, mushroom meleange

Al

Hedgeapple Farm is a local (Buckeystown, MD) has been in existence since 1731and has been continuously operated by the Jorgenson family since 1956. I am not a huge beef eater, but these reminded me of just how good a well prepared beef dish can be. These were everything good short ribs should be: succulent, super tender, perfectly balance between lean and fat and just bursting with real beef flavor. The red wine marmalade added a slightly sweet element that complemented the the richness of the ribs.

Cyn

Al forgot to mention the potatoes were butter poached and the short rib was sublimely glazed.  There are a lot of short ribs out there nowadays, they're trendy.  There aren't a lot of memorable short ribs out there. I knew the second my fork hit this bad boy that I would be remembering this rib - it sunk in, but there was a little resistance, and when I pulled, the meat parted and hallelujah! the juices ran.  Juice!  In a shortrib. Amazing. The juice and the marmalade and the butter from the potatoes, oh my.

Cherry Glen Monocacy Gold

andrew crush's smowmegeddon honey, beet meringue, pomegranate, orange

Al

Those of you that follow along know that when it comes to dessert, I prefer cheese over sweets anytime. If you're following ever more closely, you know that I have mentioned Cherry Glen cheeses more than once before. So, I was more than happy to see that our dessert course consisted on their Monocacy gold, a soft ripened goat cheese! Paired perfectly with what seemed to be a raw honey, candied orange rind, beet meringue and pomegranate, this, for me, was the perfect finishing course.

Cyn

Cherry Glen cheeses have an excellent depth of flavor tempered with a grassy backnote and a fresh cheese loveliness.  Paired perfectly with the honey and candied orange rind and my favorite bites were all that topped with pomegranate seeds.  Creamy, rich, sweet, chewy with a bright crispy pop.

I'm all for beets, love them.  This beet meringue did not work for me.  At all.  I tried to like them, I really did. But they were just so....beet-y.  I vote for a switch to a nut meringue, or perhaps mint.  Fennel?  Fennel would be perfect, candied fennel seeds even perfect-er.  I have my dessert for the next dinner party.

Al/Cyn

The menu called out one more item, a Friandise, which tuns out to translate to something small and dainty. To close the meal, we were served what was obviously a house made marshmallow that had been sprinkled with pink peppercorns. It was, as the menu indicated, a sweet surprise.

Al - the last word

I'll make this simple. One of the best meals I've ever had. We are already planning our return and will likely take advantage of an offer that the chef would prepare a vegetarian tasting menu if ordered in advance. 

Cyn - the last word

We didn't mention beverages, but upon arrival, I indulged in a Pimm's Cup cocktail that has to be mentioned - it was sprinkled with pink peppercorns which were a delight and a wonderful surprise. I should have known then that this restaurant was an incredible find and that I would have a truly delicious and memorable meal.  I can't wait for my next visit.

Kimchi and Gumbo?

This year for Christmas, Cynthia and I gave each other a gift that will last all year. We "promised" that on the first Saturday of each month we would go out to eat at a place we had never been before. It's not that we don't eat out, but like a lot of people, we have our favorite places and tend to frequent them. This gift will make us work a little harder at finding new, and hopefully, interesting spots. Based on our experience last night, we're off to a good start.

Mokomandy (apparently for Modern Korean by Mandy) is an interesting creation that, as their website says, "is a casual fine-dining restaurant based upon the marriage of a Cajun woman to a Korean-American man". The food is clearly the product of both cultures but isn't, in any way, an attempt to create a fusion of the two.

The first impression was good, we were greeted warmly and our reservation got us seated right away. The atmosphere is fun, family friendly and a bit loud. If you're looking for intimacy, this might not be the best choice.The mixed drink and beer menu is great. They offer quite a few, out of the mainstream choices in both categories. They also have a nice selection of wine.

The menu was designed in a way to promote "grazing". They offered snack sized portions as well as small, medium and large plates. As advertized, there was representation from both Korean and Cajun cultures. We decided to order several things and share them to try and experience a lot of different tastes.

We started out with one of the snacks - probably because neither one of us could quite figure out what it was. Fava "nuts" turned out to be fava beans roasted to a crispy perfection and seasoned with cajun spices. Cynthia thought the spices were reminiscent of a charged up Old Bay. What a revelation, these things should be outlawed! It's a good thing the plate was snack size because we would have eaten them until we exploded had there been more.

We ordered two small plates, one from each culture. The seafood gumbo was true to New Orleans and contained oysters, shrimp, catfish, trinity (a mix of bell pepper, onion and celery) and rice, all complemented by a dark roux.

From Korea came foie gras dumplings. The perfectly steamed dumplings contained braised duck and were topped with a beautifully seared piece of foie. These were complemented by a small salad of radish, onion and spouts and a house made plum sauce.

Next came two medium plates which served as our main courses. The Cajun offering was a shrimp etoufee. If you like the essence of shrimp, you would love this dish. The perfectly cooked shrimp are complemented by rice, trinity, butter and a house made spice blend. Accenting the dish were crispy shrimp chips which added texture.

The Korean classic bulgogi beef was as good as I've had it anywhere. It was served with laver (sheets of pressed seaweed to make rolls if you so desire), purple rice, white rice, black garlic, banchan (Korean for small dishes, in this case spicy kimchi and yellow squash skitakii). The bites we were able to put together combining the beef and other elements on the plate were perfect. The intense beef flavor combined with the spicy yet refreshing kimchi and the subtle squash and skitakii married perfectly together.

We were pleasantly sated at this point but decided to split a dessert. What's more classic in the Cajun culture than beignets? Nothing - so we ordered them. Obviously house made, they were served piping hot with four sauces and the requisite powdered sugar. If we had never had them freshly made at Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans, we would have been impressed.

All in all, a really wonderful experience. Mokomandy is nearly an hour from our house. If it were closer I could imagine it becoming our "go to" spot. There are still a lot of things we want to try on the menu - and we will definitely be back.