Dining in DC: Notes from a Week in the Capital
This Foggy Bottom Michelin-adjunct restaurant lives up to its name, in a good way.
We arrived in Washington DC a cold Saturday night in February, merely days after the Führer-wannabe’s inauguration. But it was tourism, rather than politics, which brought us to town and, in my golden years, traveling and dining have become intrinsically connected. I hadn’t made many plans for dining in DC, as it had been hard to predict in advance how tired we would be each day and how far we’d want to venture in search of food, but I did make a point of getting reservations for our fist night. Not only was it a Saturday night, but it came at the tail end of DC’s winter restaurant week, which I figured would be attracting the thriftier diners venturing without the grace of an expense account. That was a good call as Imperfecto was completely booked that night – when our plane was delayed in disembarking we tried to push our reservations until later, and were told they were booked until 10 PM. Fortunately, it was a quick trip from the airport to our hotel in Foggy Bottom and then a quick walk to the restaurant. We made our original reservation with plenty of time.
Imperfecto is a Latin American inspired restaurant, presenting innovative cuisine in an elegant but modern environment. Its Chef’s table has won a Michelin star, though I’m not sure why the award wasn’t given to the restaurant as a whole. It certainly deserves it. The atmosphere is young (in spirit if not in chronological age), dark and loud. People were fairly well dressed, which can make those who didn’t want to change out of their Patagonia fleece feel a bit out of place. I’m not pointing fingers or anything.
The Restaurant Week menu included selected offerings from their regular menu which, combined, represented a significant savings from their à la carte prices. The three course meal was $68 – it was listed as $65 but Imperfecto adds a 5% “service charge” which goes to the restaurant, rather than the wait staff and which looks like an attempt to hide a price increase. In this review, I’ll be adding the service charge to the menu prices.
We ordered two of these menus and an additional main dish for my vegetarian daughter. I wasn’t very hungry so I shared my appetizer and dessert with her, but the meal portions are such that a main would not be enough food by itself unless you weren’t particularly hungry.
Dinner started with a complimentary small glass of mushroom soup. It was very hot and creamy, a little bit too salty and not as good as the Bourdain recipe I like to make, but definitely wonderful in such a cold evening. Having an amuse bouche like this definitely started the meal very nicely.
As my appetizer, I chose the Aladdin burrata ($28 in the regular menu): “burrata, tamarind hummus, fried lentil tabbouleh, apple compote, manoush”. It was a very interesting dish – not one that I’d characterized as delicious, but we enjoyed the mix of flavors and textures. The fried lentils were very crunchy and just fun to eat, the mild burrata was silky and soft, the apple compote provided the occasional burst of sweetness and the hummus provided substance. The dish was served with two small pieces of pita bread – more would have been better. It was definitely large enough to share.
My husband had the ceviche ($27), the other appetizer choice in the restaurant week menu. It was described as “gentle poached shrimp, sweet potato leche de tigre, chiles toreados dressing, rye chip”. He liked it, he finished it, but we were too busy over analyzing my appetizer to hear what he had to say about his. Clearly, he wasn’t as effusive or blown away as we were.
There were three choices for mains in the restaurant week menu, a branzino ($50), a sweet potato dish ($29) and a lamb terrine ($55), and both Mike and I chose the latter. The cordero was described as “Robuchon pomme purée, red cabbage confit, lamb jus, truffle.” It was delicious. I really enjoyed the silky, warm and perfectly seasoned mashed potatoes and the bold flavor of the lamb terrine. The shaved truffle added earthiness while the cabbage confit brought sweetness. The whole dish was very successful and while a classic, still quite creative. Mike liked it as well.
My daughter ordered the truffle tagliolini ($29) off the regular menu. It consisted of tagliolini pasta, “sweet corn cream, asparagus, Pecorino, truffles”. It was a very peculiar dish that tasted unlike anything else she’d had before. She found it interesting, though not particularly delicious. She wasn’t fond of the large slices of truffle which gave the dish a .. flavor – she loves truffles, and she felt they would have been better if shredded. In all, she was glad to try this but she wouldn’t order it again. It wasn’t a particularly large portion, so she was glad to have my appetizer to share as well as my dessert.
There were two dessert choices in the restaurant week menu, and I chose La Nube: “passion fruit lychee gel, amaretto-vanilla custard, white chocolate foam, pistachio ice cream”. This was absolutely delicious – again a wonderful contrast of textures and flavors. The gel was very intense and it was tempered by the other ingredients. My daughter was lucky that I wasn’t hungry or I’d had more than a bite.
Mike had the chocobanana, “olive oil cocoa crumble, burnt banana ice cream. 72% cremeux, halva caramel, sugar tuile” and while it was good and he enjoyed it, it wasn’t as exciting as the gel.
Service was polite and friendly, and in all we had a great time. I’d recommend it.
Imperfecto
1124 23rd St NW
Washington, D.C
(202) 964-1012
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