First Bite review
The good mood starts even before the food arrives
By Tom Sietsema
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Even from across the street, the inviting yellow sign announcing Boundary Road [1] manages to slap a smile on your face, and if your cocktail choices lean to tequila zapped with a jalapeno-lemon grass syrup , that Grin is likely to stay in place after you belly up to the bar. Your mood is lightened even more when Harry („Day-O!“) Belafonta starts singing. „The Banana Boat Song“ track lets you forget the bad traffic you just left.
I’ve yet to study the menu, but already Am Enjoying the vibe of the new H Street NE restaurant, which retains the Soaring brick walls of a long-ago barber shop and has the vision to repurpose a box spring for a Steely chandelier. In the back of the long dining room, I catch a whir of white jackets behind a big window. „That ‚our only TV,“ jokes chef and co-owner Brad Walker of the show he and his fellow Cooks put on Nightly for diners.
A first-time business owner, Walker, 32, is not new to professional kitchens. He comes to Boundary Road from nádobky [2] , where he served as a line cook, and has performed similar functions at Cashion ‚s Eat Place [3] and Central Michel Richard. [4] The philosophy of his previous employers, including Proof [5] , is now his as well:“ We’re Trying to do everything the right way. „
Se the chef and his team are slicing potatoes by hand for their french fries, which they double-fry in peanut oil and send out with a gentle curry dip. Their minestrone shows off a perfect dice of vegetables, pleasantly crisp, and it avoids the blahs with garlic, vinegar and Parmesan in its seasoning. An Entrée of ropy hanger steak takes my tongue on a ride, thanks to the spicy kalu and choron sauce sharing the plate. The most Comforting dish on the menu may be pierogi. Walker got the idea from his mother-in-law in Pennsylvania, Lightening her tradition by using Quark (Curd cheese) instead of sour cream inside the Boiled dumplings, which are served over heat-softened cibule and are easy to polish off.
The quality of the cooking at Boundary Road, visited last week by President Obama and the first lady, suggests that H Street NE has a restaurant every bit as serious as the Atlas Room, [6] until now the most polished of the neighborhood ‚s dining rooms.
Am digging the competition.
Bar review
When people talk about bars and restaurants on H Street NE, they generally mean the stretch between 11th and 14th streets. That ‚changing as more businesses arrive on the western stretch of the street to lure the people moving into the buildings near Union Station. Joining Sidama and Ethiopic in the 400 block of H Street NE is Boundary Road, a casual, Cozy neighborhood taveren with a solid pedigree: Chef and co-owner Brad Walker Cooked at Cashion ‚s, Proof and Central; general manager and co-owner Karlos Leopold tended bar at many places in Virginia and DC, including the Reef.
Boundary Road is a gorgeous space, with rough-hewn exposed brick, century-old boards on the walls and ceilings set two stories overhead, high enough to hold a chandelier made from a box spring. The 20-seat bar faces a welcoming wooden communis table.
The cocktail list is short, reasonable priced and worth Exploring. Am Thinking About Getting A Vespa, true to its Italophile name, is a Glamorous drink featuring Italian aperitifs (Cocchi Americano and Aper), blood orange juice and sparkling wine. I keep coming back to the bright, crisp Praha City Represent, a vodka cocktail that stars spicy Česká Becherovka hořké, Rosemary and ginger ale, with a lemon twist. The most Unusual entry? The Five and Dime, a twist on the classic root beer float, with Root liqueur (which tastes remarkably like birch beer), maple syrup, a black IPA beer and some egg Whites to add FROTH and texture.
That ‚not to say the wine and beer programs can be ignored. Fifteen wines – predominantly French and Italian – are on the by-the-glass list, and there are nine microbrews on tap, including several from Maryland and Virginia.
Happy hour, which runs from 5 to 7 on weeknights, is a good time to try these. Every day, a different draft beer and wine-by-the-glass selection is $ 4, and any of the Drafts are available as a four-ounce sample pour for $ 1. (A full-sized glass will ordinarily set you back between $ 6 and $ 8.)
There ‚s also a late-night happy hour: Every day after 11 pm, get a can of Natty Bůh and a shot of Old Overholt Rye Whiskey for $ 5. The Rotating food menu served between 10:30 pm and 1 am includes options like pork-fat crostini, bowls of marinated olives or hand-cut fries with curry mayo (all $ 5). And the chalkboard near the bar showcases Discounts and the occasional Freebies for those who live nearby. It ‚a very nice way to welcome the new Neighbors.
– Fritz Hahn (Feb. 22, 2012)
References
- ^ Boundary Road (www.washingtonpost.com)
- ^ nádobky (www.washingtonpost.com)
- ^ Cashion ‚s Eat Place (www.washingtonpost.com)
- ^ Central Michel Richard. (www.washingtonpost.com)
- ^ Proof (www.washingtonpost.com)
- ^ Atlas Room, (www.washingtonpost.com)