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.

Tallula's in Arlington, VA

So, it was the first Saturday of the month already and we needed to pick a restaurant from the Top 50 in Northern Virginia list. Originally, we had settled on a restaurant in bucolic Clifton, VA called Trummer's on Main, but after looking at their most recent online menu we felt uninspired and went back to the drawing board. Cyn did the research while I shivered in the arctic temperatures of Amsterdam. Her suggestion? A restaurant called Tallula in Arlington, VA, much closer to Washington, DC. I think it was the gnudi that got her. More about that later.

Tallula turned out to be a rather discreet atmosphere, almost club-like, with lots of wood and low lighting. I liked the feel as soon as I walked in. Since we both had appetizers, mains and desserts, I thought it might be fun to alternatively record our thoughts on each course.

Al

I settled on a roasted sweet potato soup with whipped goat cheese, chorizo oil and pumpernickel croutons for my first course. Since I like my hot soups hot, I was disappointed that it was served kind of lukewarm. I'm not sure if this was the chef's intention or not, but I would have preferred it hotter. The soup had a clean sweet potato taste and was silky smooth. The whipped goat cheese was a nice touch but the chorizo oil was lost on me. I could see it, but I didn't really taste it. The pumpernickel bits were very nice, adding a little texture to the soup. All in all, good, but somewhat under seasoned and missing some element that I haven't yet been able to figure out.

Cyn

Seared beef carpaccio, with quail egg, crispy parsnips and a smoky shallot dressing was my choice of starter. Beautiful presentation, a circle of thinly sliced beef rounds were under a mound of arugula and crispy 'snip strips, a personal favorite, with a quartered hard boiled quail egg nesting in the greens as well. The smoky shallot concoction was hidden under the arugula in the center of the round o'beef. It certainly pleasing to the eye and each individual ingredient well prepared, but the arugula and vinaigrette were palette killers when paired with the subtle beef and quail egg. There was simply too much of both for the beef to support. Arugula and the dressing were nice together. I think I may have mentioned the dressing as a 'remoulade gone rogue' at the time.

Al

For my main course I picked the porcini ravioli of chestnut and cabbage, with mushrooms, sweet potatoes and Fontana cream. All of the pasta dishes were offered in smaller and full size portions, a nice touch I wish more restaurants would follow. I chose the smaller portion anticipating that I would want the cheese course for dessert. Turns out, I made a good decision. The "smaller" portion was actually quite generous and, due to the components, rich and filling. While the first course was a bit of a disappointment, this one made up for it. The ravioli were clearly house made, the dough having been blended with porcini, making it a medium brown color, and the chestnut and cabbage filling was savory with a little unexpected sweetness. The mushrooms and sweet potatoes added to the dish without distracting from the ravioli and the fontina cream sauce was flavorful but light on what was an already hearty dish.

Cyn

As an official Short Rib Slut, I couldn't resist the spinach and ricotta gnudi with Yukon Gold potato, braised beef short rib and mustard greens. And I would like to say right up front that I enjoyed this dish, but would love to hear what the chef intended, as I didn't 'get' it. In my mind, I pictured pillowy clouds of gnudi on a bed of short rib and gravy with a nice hit of mustard green to cut all the richness, and hey, if they wanted to add potato, who I am to complain? What arrived was a pillow of pureed potato topped with the aforeimagined (yes, I know it's not a word) short ribs and their glistening juices, slightly chewy pan fried gnudi atop that, and fried mustard green shards over all. Thank goodness I was prescient enough to order the half portion! While each component was delicious, the heavy on heavy on heavy could have benefited from a slight tweaking of the ingredients, for my taste. If you must have a base, do something interesting like turnip, carrot or parsnip- and for goodness sake, I'm all into fried greens as much as the next person, but not on uber rich unless you're superman and can make the oil clinging to the greens a non issue.

I think my discontent may stem from the kitchen re-heating each component, and not actually cooking anything for me. Not a sin, of course it happens all the time, and I do like a meal to move along. Did I mention we were through three courses and were back out the door in a little over an hour?

Al

One of my favorite surprises is when I find a restaurant offers a cheese course. For me, I find this much more satisfying after a meal than a sweet dessert. Tallula offered a nicely thought out cheese and house made charcuterie selection. From their selection of six, I ordered two goat's milk cheeses (cave aged Cardona from Wisconsin and a Cherry Glen Ash from Maryland (one of my very favorite cheeses), and a beautiful cow's milk Jasper Hill Bayley Hazen Blue from Vermont. Again, the portions were very generous and they were served with a port fig compote and crostini which were a bit over toasted.

Cyn

Anytime there's a plate or platter of multiple items for tasting on a menu, I'm your gal. For dessert I decided to tackle the Cookies and Confections - cashew snickers, hostess cupcake, cheesecake brownie, mint chip ice cream and oatmeal cream pie, in mini portions. I would go back to this restaurant just to eat that cashew snickers and the peanut butter ice cream they substituted for the mint chip for me (bad schnaps experience in college still prevents me from enjoying some mint flavors....). Hostess cupcake- dry and forgettable. Cheesecake brownie - kind of forgettable as well. The oatmeal cookies were very, very good, but the cream in between was all but MIA and added little, if anything to the party.

Al

For me, after a slow start, Tallula was a mostly redeemed itself with several nice and unexpected touches and good value for what they served. Was it a Northern Virginia Top 50. I guess, because it said so in the magazine.

Cyn

I realize I'm pretty hard on restaurants. Especially ones that have such a lovely menu and build my expectations. While I enjoyed my meal, rather than go back to Talullah, I'm up for visiting the attached Eat Bar and sampling that simple and clean, but elevated menu. The kitchen at T is doing some lovely things, but I think they're getting in their own way to fussy things up when they shouldn't.

Meatless Monday in Amsterdam

When I realized that I was going to be in Amsterdam on a Monday, I immediately started to wonder what the challenges of staying meatless might be. For those of you that travel, I'm sure you know that meals can often be scripted, restaurants can be chosen for you and food options can sometimes be limited. Now don't get me wrong, Amsterdam is a completely cosmopolitan city with a very broad and exciting food scene. I just didn't know in advance where I would be eating my three Monday meals.

Breakfast was easy. I ate at the hotel buffet and able to stick with fresh fruit, cereal and yogurt. OK, I admit there might have been some aged Gouda cheese that migrated onto my plate. I'm in Amsterdam after all. Have to eat the Gouda while over here.

Lunch was during a scheduled meeting, brought in by the meeting organizer. I had called ahead to one of my European colleagues and mentioned I was not eating meat on Monday's and after explaining that no, I wasn't a vegetarian, he told me that he would see what the caterer could do. But that was more that a month ago, so the day of the meeting I was entirely pleased to see a beautiful dish of pasta with steamed vegetables brought in for me - just me. The sandwiches and other food looked good too, but I did get a few looks that might have bordered on jealousy from some of the other meeting attendees. Thanks for taking care of me Mike!

On to dinner. I was fortunate to be invited to join a group at a wonderful restaurant called De Kersentuin. The name translates to The Cherry Orchard and the restaurant is located in the Bilderberg Hotel. Turned out I was in for a real treat.

Soon after being seated our group was treated to an amuse-bouche plate with three offerings. The first was a tall shot glass of pumpkin soup with a Parmesean cheese foam. Second was a perfectly savory mushroom panna cotta topped with chopped pine nuts. The third little bit was a satiny smooth parsnip puree with a small piece of crispy potato. All three were delicious and I promise you this picture, and the ones to follow, do not do the food justice.

To my pleasant surprise there were appetizers, soups and main courses available that were meatless - and not just available, but,as it turned out, wonderfully prepared and presented.

Following the generous amuse-bouche, I felt I didn't need an appetizer, so i moved right to the soup. My choice was a cream of parsnip with roasted walnuts and a "cloud" of rorippa (I admit I had to look this one up). I didn't lick the bowl(mostly because my boss was sitting directly across from me) but I wanted to. It was that good.

The meatless main choice on the menu that evening was a porcini risotto. It was beautifully plated with a fried egg, grilled bolets, beetroot, smoked celeriac, marinated spring onion and a cream of caramelized onion with a frothy sauce of Parmasean cheese. Quite the mouthful both figuratively and literally!

Those of you that follow along know I'm not big on desserts. But when someone says "cheese course", I'm all in. And then someone said cheese course. The chef picked out four beautiful locally made cheeses for us to sample. Unfortunately, at this point I was a bit overwhelmed and didn't pay close enough attention to the presentation to get the names. I did manage to snap this picture.

Lastly, my companions on both sides of me were kind enough to let me take pictures of their main courses. They were both worth noting and I'll share them here.

The roasted leg of venison was served with turnip with cinnamon, cream of quince, fondant potato and a Jamaican pepper sauce.

The Thai curry of giant prawns were served with stir fried bokchoi, finely shredded spring onion, coriander and pandan rice.

Thanks for sharing Johanne and Jay.

All I can add is that you are in Amsterdam and want a memorable meal, check out De Kersentuin.