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Then, her day got much better (Includes food porn).
After I made my earlier post, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
curiousangel and I took a long hot shower together, got dressed up, and went to DC. For Christmas, my brother had given us two tickets to see an Andras Schiff concert at the Kennedy Center. I had somehow expected it to involve an orchestra - Schiff is a pianist - but it was just one man, a piano, and an all-Mozart program. It was absolutely lovely. He has the gift of making complex and ornate music sound simple. I realized that it's been a very long time since I've been out to hear classical music - if fact, Misha and I had never before gone together. That's strange, given that we both like it. We'll have to hear more.
The concert was at 5:00, which made it perfect to follow with dinner.curiousangel picked a place from the Washington Post restaurant reviews: Kaz Sushi Bistro. We'd been hoping for something a little unusual and were not at all disappointed - this was not our standard sushi order. Take a look at their specialty menu, which they offer in addition to more standard sushi pieces and rolls.
In addition to sushi, they serve "small plates," which are sort of appetizer-ish. We started with sea trout Napoleon, subtly spicy diced raw trout with scallions and peanuts, stacked in a tower with two crispy won ton skins. Then the Japanese-style duck confit with hachou-miso sauce, which turned out to be quite a lot of duck, shredded in a strong sweet salty sauce, and served in three little rice-paper cups with a dollop of pureed sweet potato in the center of the plate. I don't normally like sweet potatoes, but they went amazingly well with the duck. And then we had sushi. The interesting thing about this place was that instead of using all their creativity on rolls, they did interesting things with nigiri sushi. Thus we had salmon with mango sauce, tuna with foie gras (largely because we see foie gras on Iron Chef all the time, and neither one of us had ever had it), seared salmon belly with soy-lemon sauce, seared sea scallop with lemon and sea salt (incredible mouthfeel - firm, almost browned on top, and then dissolving into nothingness on the tongue just below the seared surface), tuna tartare roll (tuna, sesame seeds, mildly hot spices), and a handful of simple pieces: flounder, sea trout, yellowtail, yellowtail belly (again, we were curious. "What's the difference between yellowtail and yellowtail belly?" "I don't know. Let's find out."). We passed up, reluctantly, the lobster meat with wasabi mayonnaise. For dessert, I had ginger creme brulee and Misha had the raspberry and strawberry they used to decorate my creme brulee. It was a perfectly marvelous, decadent, luxurious, stimulating meal. And just a few Metro stops down from the Smithsonian - so we'll definitely be finding our way back.
The only thing to mar the evening was the rain. Torrents of rain. Almost no visibility on the drive home from the Metro station, and standing water on the road because it was coming down too fast to drain away. But we made it home safely, and I changed into flannel pajamas and poured us both a glass of whisky, and all lived happily ever after.
curiousangel and I took a long hot shower together, got dressed up, and went to DC. For Christmas, my brother had given us two tickets to see an Andras Schiff concert at the Kennedy Center. I had somehow expected it to involve an orchestra - Schiff is a pianist - but it was just one man, a piano, and an all-Mozart program. It was absolutely lovely. He has the gift of making complex and ornate music sound simple. I realized that it's been a very long time since I've been out to hear classical music - if fact, Misha and I had never before gone together. That's strange, given that we both like it. We'll have to hear more.The concert was at 5:00, which made it perfect to follow with dinner.
curiousangel picked a place from the Washington Post restaurant reviews: Kaz Sushi Bistro. We'd been hoping for something a little unusual and were not at all disappointed - this was not our standard sushi order. Take a look at their specialty menu, which they offer in addition to more standard sushi pieces and rolls.In addition to sushi, they serve "small plates," which are sort of appetizer-ish. We started with sea trout Napoleon, subtly spicy diced raw trout with scallions and peanuts, stacked in a tower with two crispy won ton skins. Then the Japanese-style duck confit with hachou-miso sauce, which turned out to be quite a lot of duck, shredded in a strong sweet salty sauce, and served in three little rice-paper cups with a dollop of pureed sweet potato in the center of the plate. I don't normally like sweet potatoes, but they went amazingly well with the duck. And then we had sushi. The interesting thing about this place was that instead of using all their creativity on rolls, they did interesting things with nigiri sushi. Thus we had salmon with mango sauce, tuna with foie gras (largely because we see foie gras on Iron Chef all the time, and neither one of us had ever had it), seared salmon belly with soy-lemon sauce, seared sea scallop with lemon and sea salt (incredible mouthfeel - firm, almost browned on top, and then dissolving into nothingness on the tongue just below the seared surface), tuna tartare roll (tuna, sesame seeds, mildly hot spices), and a handful of simple pieces: flounder, sea trout, yellowtail, yellowtail belly (again, we were curious. "What's the difference between yellowtail and yellowtail belly?" "I don't know. Let's find out."). We passed up, reluctantly, the lobster meat with wasabi mayonnaise. For dessert, I had ginger creme brulee and Misha had the raspberry and strawberry they used to decorate my creme brulee. It was a perfectly marvelous, decadent, luxurious, stimulating meal. And just a few Metro stops down from the Smithsonian - so we'll definitely be finding our way back.
The only thing to mar the evening was the rain. Torrents of rain. Almost no visibility on the drive home from the Metro station, and standing water on the road because it was coming down too fast to drain away. But we made it home safely, and I changed into flannel pajamas and poured us both a glass of whisky, and all lived happily ever after.
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If I asked really, really nicely, would you consider calling me up and describing that meal one more time?
Oh darn
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Sushi orgasm
I think you and I need another sushi date.
-J
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How did you like the foie gras?
And what an interesting translation -- "small dishes". I suspect they were based on the concept of either "tsumami" (pinches) or "okazu". Okazu can mean either snacks or side dishes, although it's closer to the sort of "meal of appetizers" concept in American dining.
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*grin* Sorry. I should have known that there would be others with an insatiable appetite for food porn. But I was hoping that I'd get more visitors if I left y'all wanting.
How did you like the foie gras?
I'm not sure. It wasn't quite what I was expecting - I expected it to be all creamy smooth mouthfeel and not much flavor, and it wasn't that. The flavor was interesting - I'd like to explore further, because I haven't made up my mind. Part of the problem is that I think foie gras violates the same principle by which I don't eat veal.
And what an interesting translation -- "small dishes". I suspect they were based on the concept of either "tsumami" (pinches) or "okazu". Okazu can mean either snacks or side dishes, although it's closer to the sort of "meal of appetizers" concept in American dining.
There's a whole "small plates" (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A48137-2002Jan15) thing happening in Washington cuisine - which I'm sure means it's been going on for years in more fashionable places. It's a way I really like to eat anyway, because it means I can sample a lot of different flavors - but it's nice that more restaurants are setting things up that way now.
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Does it help to know that the geese are actually engaging in a variant of a natural behavior? I'm told that the gorging behavior is something that developed in preparation for migratory flight. And that the geese (and ducks) actually mob the feeder, and are fed voluntarily. (the cite would be either "The Atlantic", or "Saveur", or "Gourmet". I don't remember which of my foodie mags I read it in.)
As far as "small plates". I think the wicked lady is trying to tempt me to the other coast, again. ;)