Saturday, October 24, 2009
Dino
When I filled out the Washingtonian questionnaire the other day, I listed Dino as my top favorite restaurant, followed by Brasserie Beck and Komi. Went there last night with a friend from out of town and had a really great meal.
Dean Gold, the owner and executive chef at Dino, sends out a weekly email that really makes your mouth water. A former wine and food buyer at Whole Foods, he pays a lot of attention to sourcing and he lovingly describes where he gets his food and what he does with it.
His recent emails have mentioned the fried baby Anzio artichokes he has flown in from the Santa Monica Farmer's Market, and cardoons from Next Step Produce, a farm in Charles County, Md. So these were the two antipasti we ordered last night. My friend, btw, is vegetarian and one of the nice things about Dino is you have a wide variety of dishes you can order without feeling that you're ordering the vegetarian special.
The carciofi fritti were tender and crispy with a fresh artichoke flavor, fried and served with a slice of lemon. I dipped them into the olive oil on my bread plate and they were delicious. The cardoons had a nice rooty, vegetable flavor. They were cut into strips and sauteed with garlic, lemon and tomato, quite tasty.
We followed with swordfish and winter squash risotto. A recent email explained the Pacific swordfish are caught in sustainable manner and supplied by a local vendor who used to work for the National Marine Fisheries Service on fish sustainability issues. Dean said the saffron that was supposed to be in the sauce didn't make it in time. Nonetheless it was quite tasty and set off nicely with sauteed mizuna, also from Next Step.
At Dean's suggestion (and you need his help navigating the fabulous list of Italian wines), we ordered a Ribolla varietal wine that actually comes from Slovenia, a Movia {Ribolla} 2007. It somehow combined the creaminess of a Chardonnay with the crispness of a Sauvignon Blanc.
Dessert of pistachio torte and bread pudding put on the finishing touches to what is for me a rare three-course extravaganza. Often we mix and match small plates and entrees, get wine by the glass and skip dessert for a less expensive outing.
Dino has always been good, but since Dean made himself the chef -- though he has no formal training as a cook -- it has gone from strength to strength. Slow Food is having a dinner there Nov. 18 which I'm already looking forward to.
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2 comments:
Darrell, I am scratching my head on this one, and on other good reviews I've see about Dino. My wife and I went there about 4-6 months after they first opened. I had a good foodie vibe that this place would be good, and my instincts are usually on the money. I liked the atmosphere, loved the menu, and then . . . the food was just plain awful.
I mean both our appetizers and main courses were so bad, we didn't eat them. It was worse than mediocre.
Unfortunately, it was so long ago, that I can't remember what we ate, or provide the deatils about why it was so bad. But, to place it in context, I don't have to absolutely love the food in a restaurant to think a place is OK and has some redeeming qualities. I have high standards for what I would consider truly transcendent meals -- but I can still enjoy places that deliver gentleman's-C grade food. I almost never truly loath food. Dino was an exception.
So here is my question: how can we account for what my wife and I experienced? The place is packed, it gets decent reviews, and you -- whose taste I completely respect -- are rating it up there with the top restaurants in DC. How could my wife and my experience have been so different? I am perplexed.
Adam
Adam, Dean went through two or three executive chefs and I gather the performance was somewhat erratic during that period. We never had a bad experience but Ithink his conclusion was that he was the best person to run the kitchen, which he now does. I think you should give it a second chance, especially since the first time was in the opening ... Read Moremonths. Something similar happened to us with Et Voila -- really bad experience in opening months then friends suggested going back a couple years later and we really enjoyed it.
(cross-posted on Facebook)
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