dinner at DC Coast
last night tommy and i dined at DC Coast, my second (and last) restaurant week meal. i had high expectations for dcc, mostly because it is owned by restaurant guru/chef jeff tunks, who also owns ten penh (asian fusion) and ceiba (modern latin american). we went to ceiba for restaurant week last january and had our best RW experience ever, so i thought DC Coast would hold up about as well. overall, it wasn't as amazing as ceiba, and the RW menu was a little more limited, but it was pretty darn tasty and we had a fine time.
we were promptly seated in the rather cavernous dining hall - tommy said it kind of reminded him of those scenes in "the aviator" where everybody's eating in those grand old rooms. not quite as fancy, mind you, but a nice space. stuff was uber busy at 7:30 and there was a nice buzz going on. we started off with drinks - tommy just had a beer, and i had a "lemon twist" - i forget what was in it, but it was WAY too alcoholic, and yet, lush that i am, i thought there was too little of it. i like my drinks to reach the very tippy top of the martini glass, thank you.
anyways. unfortunately for me, the appetizers on the RW menu were severely limited. as per several of your suggestions, i planned on ordering the Crispy Rock Shrimp Risotto or "Buffalo" Crispy Fried Oysters, but only the gazpacho and the salads were available. boo. oh well. tommy and i both got the gazpacho, and i should make a note for the future: i just don't really like gazpacho that much. i thought it was a tiny bit watery and a little bit too spicy, but it was served on a small dollop of avocado puree which was delicious, along with a crab fritter that was also exceptionally tasty. i think i just thought there was too much gazpacho relative to the size of the puree and fritter. i'm rarely one that complains about having too much food, but i thought the dish would have been more effective if it came in a smaller serving.
fortunately, everything for the entrees was available, except there was (naturally) a surcharge on the lobster and steak. because jen said it was so yummy, i went for the Hong Kong Style Whole Crispy Striped Bass. this fish was so badass looking - you know, it was the entire fish, lightly fried, placed upright on the plate so that it looked like it was scowling at me. and it was SUPER YUMMY. tommy had the Pan Roasted Wild Rockfish, which he seemed to think was pretty good, though the Crispy Polenta Cake it was served on was pretty bland. we both had a glass of white wine to accompany the meal.
desserts were awesome as well. tommy had the lemon panna cotta, and i had Vanilla Malt Crème Brulée, which took advantage of the salty-sweet contrast highlighted by scott's DCist salty oatmeal cookies by being served with a salty-chocolate crisp. yum yum. with tip, the entire bill came to around $120 (and we tipped fairly generously, as we had good service - not near the level of zola's, though).
all in all, quite nice. i'd say it ranked a tad above my experience/food at zola; pretty far above dino's in food, and definitely in service; and all of the above kicked galileo's ass.
UPDATE: for some more restaurant week reviews, head over to jake's blog.
Comments
Why you be hating on Galileo? Roberto does a fantastic job, offers great deals, and has a kick-ass lunch grill. I'm sure if you ever had the most microscopic complaint about the food or service at Galileo Roberto would find a way to make it right.
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