Vacation -- Part 1

I think the theme of our trip was: Eat your face off...2011.

This was before we left for the trip, when we could actually jump.

For our road trip, we drove to Warren, OH; then to outside Washington, DC; then took a bus to NYC; back to DC; over to Morgantown, WV; to Columbus, OH; then back to Chicago. It was a long drive, but quite beautiful in the Fall -- and we were sure to get our fill of whatever food we could get in each place. Our first exciting stop was once we got into the DC area. Paul and I were lucky enough to spend most of our first wedding anniversary in the car, but made a late night dinner reservation to celebrate. We had decided ahead of time on VOLT, which is located in Frederick, MD - and is owned by Brian Voltaggio, a former contestant of Top Chef. 

A photo outside VOLT -- we were way too preoccupied to take photos of our dinner. 

I think Paul and I have been lucky enough to eat a lot of delicious meals, but this was one of the best (if not the best). You can see some of the menu items here, but a few of the items we had aren't listed on the menu. Based on the recommendation of our waiter, Paul and I each ordered three courses, and but then opted to share a dessert (which ended up working out great for us -- see below). We were offered all kinds of interesting breads to start -- I had a cheddar biscuit and Paul had a prosciutto infused bread, which literally tasted like you were eating a slice of prosciutto and not a regular slice of bread. We were also served a neat amuse-bouche that looked nothing like, but tasted exactly like a chicken wing with blue cheese and hot sauce. 


I started with the autumn garden salad, which included beets, petite carrots, radish slices, coffee soil (which was ground coffee, almonds, Guinness, and something else) and goat cheese. I am huge fan of beets and goat cheese, so I loved it. Paul had a lobster roll that was served in rice paper, with an avocado mousse and a wasabi foam. Yup. We ate foam. It was really interesting and quite tasty, not weird and gross like we thought it would be. There was a little girl (probably 6 or 7 years old) sitting by us, who remarked "Ooh! Bubbles!" for one of her dishes. I felt the same way, little girl!


For our seconds, Paul had the pork belly with rice porridge, a barely cooked egg (I think it was a 60-degree egg or whatever they call it), and a pork crackling. The waiter said it was inspired by pork fried rice -- and it was delicious. I had the cavatelli, which may have been my only misstep of the night. The pasta was made with rye, and included 4 kinds of broccoli -- broccoli rabe, broccoli florets steamed, a broccoli puree and broccoli that was browned under the salamander. It also had some preserved lemon and a dollop of sheep’s milk ricotta. For me, the browned broccoli was too bitter. From how the waiter described it, the lemon and ricotta were to cut through the bitterness -- but unfortunately, it just didn't work for me.


My main, however, was amazing. I had the sea bass with black garlic potatoes, sunchoke, brussels sprouts, and chive pudding. The fish was cooked perfectly, and all of the ingredients worked amazingly with one another. Paul had the lamb, which included cauliflower, crispy panisse (which is similar to polenta) and small dots of a sweet potato puree underneath. The lamb was also cooked very well -- and Paul is all excited to make lamb at home. 


For dessert, we had ordered a pear dish that included poached pear, a pear sorbet, a Guinness tuille, some sort of powdery stuff similar to the top of a crumble, and a pear 

gelée (which I was afraid of, but was actually good). In addition to our ordered choice, we were brought two additional desserts, which was pretty cool. We also were served an orange and chocolate semifreddo and 4 small dessert bites -- a berry jelly (similar to a soft gum drop), a bonbon, a cookies and cream candy, and a chocolate filled with a rum cream. It was awesome. I love dessert, and could barely eat everything that was placed in front of us because I was so stuffed. 

The ambiance is fancy, without being pretentious. You've got white tablecloths, but the waiters are wearing Converse sneakers. Each course gets it's own silverware, and they serve still OR sparkling water (which is a fun little treat). I would highly recommend going there if you're in the DC area. 

Hanging out with Abe.

During our second day in DC, we pretty much hit the highlights of an eighth grade field trip. We visited the monuments on the National Mall, took a Capitol building tour, and midday -- stopped for lunch at Graffiato, Mike Isabella's restaurant (we were doing the Top Chef tour, apparently). 

Whee! A restaurant photo!

Paul and I had a great meal there as well. They have prosecco on tap -- which was half of the reason I wanted to go there. We started with a burrata salad, that included honey glazed onions and nigella seeds (which I had to look up to figure out what they were).  We tried the chicken thighs in pepperoni sauce, which was heralded by the judges when it was made on Top Chef Masters. It was awesome -- the sauce tasted just like pepperoni, included and went perfectly with the crispy chicken thighs. 

Yeah, vacation!

We also had a pizza that was topped with taleggio (which normally frightens me -- see Part 2 of our trip for further detail), mozzarella, ricotta, prosciutto, and black pepper honey. The honey was surprisingly tasty and an interesting final touch alongside the salty prosciutto and the creamy cheeses. For dessert, we had one of the seasonal gelatos -- a rosemary honey mascarpone. It was FANTASTIC. I could have had three servings of this and wanted more (the couple glasses of prosecco mid-afternoon may have contributed to that).

America.

Before we headed out to NYC, we also tried America Eats Tavern, which was created in partnership with the National Archives and their exhibit, "What's Cooking, Uncle Sam?" It is a restaurant created by José Andrés, and the concept of the restaurant is "a new take on American classics, celebrating native ingredients and some long forgotten dishes." We had lunch with our friends Danielle and Brian, who we were staying with, and tasted a bunch of the dishes offered. 


We tried several appetizers, including the hush puppies, buffalo wings, shrimp remoulade with fried green tomatoes and "vermicelli prepared like pudding." Of those choices, we liked the shrimp remoulade and the vermicelli best -- both were quite good, with the vermicelli being quite unexpected (it tasted a lot like cheesy noodles).


For our entrees, I ordered the croaker, Paul and Brian had the oyster po' boy, and Danielle ordered the lobster roll. I only tried the po' boy, but I really liked the croaker that I had ordered. The fish was cooked really nicely and the greens on the side were flavorful and complimentary with the croaker. Note: if you can't tell, I was trying to eat as much seafood while in DC as possible. I even ordered fish at an Irish pub just because I could. Paul's po' boy was pretty good, but of our two -- I think I was the winner (it is always a competition between us as to who made the better choice for meals). 


Of all the restaurants we ate at in DC, unfortunately this was probably my least favorite. It's not that the food was bad -- it just didn't amaze us. However, I think the concept contributes to that - if you're giving a dish like macaroni and cheese and giving it your own spin, you're bound to have people who don't like your particular spin. I was impressed that the restaurant's existence was connected to the Archives exhibit, and hope they do something like that here. 


Part 2 -- New York and Columbus!