I usually don’t have high hopes for these celebrity “chains” that pop up lending the name of the Chef to establishments that trade more on the name than the food. One wonders how many times the namesake actually sets foot in the kitchen. I also noticed their website proclaims they were number three on the Washingtonian Magazine’s “100 (sigh) Best” list. As an aside, I just got my copy of that magazine which contains this year’s “100 Very Best” restaurants, and the Source may be number 101, but they don’t appear on the list. We’ll leave that subject for another time.
I also checked out “Yelp” which I use as another source of data, mostly to just get a feel for a place. The reviews were mostly positive, but there were some clinkers, with somebody saying they thought the food “was inferior to P. F. Changs, and I hate that place.” I also noted that most of the people who take time to put a review on Yelp seem to be mostly young thirty something hip women (judging by the avatars that accompany an entry). We’ll leave that subject for another time.
Since we were part of a group, the restaurant had a pre-selected menu with two choices for first, second, and dessert courses. The first course was an “Indian Spiced” Cauliflower Soup with Maine Lobster, toasted almonds, caramelized cauliflower, and cilantro-mint” or a Winter Green Mesclun Mix; for the main course the choices were: ““Thai Style” Sautéed Rockfish with red curry, and sweet Maine shrimp” or “Korean BBQ Hanger Steak with roasted fingerling potatoes”. Desserts consisted of Warm Bread Pudding or a Chocolate Cheesecake. Alert readers might remember that spicy foods are something I generally steer clear of, and probably not a good idea when faced with a drive back to southern Maryland following the dinner (use your imagination here). So when I saw the words “Indian Spiced”; “Thai Style”; and “Korean BBQ” little red flags went up. A little web crawling revealed that the BBQ might not be too hot, so I reluctantly settled on the salad, the BBQ, and the Bread Pudding. MFO graciously agreed to try the other choices.
The location of the restaurant was listed as Pennsylvania Avenue, and the address (575 NW) placed it about halfway between the White House and the Capitol, basically next to the “Newseum”. So late Saturday afternoon we DFD’d, got in the MOMSTER and headed North. Now, equally alert readers will remember that driving in DC is not among our favorite things to do, but we have established routes we’re comfortable with (after 15 years) that have low probability of landing us in Virginia against our will. So we took the Suitland Parkway onto South Capitol, over M to fourth and north to the mall. An end run put us on Pennsylvania and we were feeling pretty frisky, but as we passed the Newseum and street numbers started in the 6XX’s that old sense of panic started to set it. Crap!! We’ll go around the block! Well, anybody somewhat familiar with DC knows that “going around the block” isn’t always easy. And, indeed what followed was a maze of one way the wrong way, no street where there should be, “no no, don’t turn there!” and a couple of mild shouting sessions, but finally with the aid of the trusty Droid GPS we again cruised by the Newseum, and turned just beyond it figuring we should be close. Sure enough MFO spotted a little cluster of cars around a “Source Valet Parking” sign. The damn restaurant was at least half a block back from Pennsylvania. We surrendered the MOMSTER to the young man in uniform who insisted on his eight bucks fee, and only after a little heated conversation reluctantly agreed that the office party we were intending to join did have complimentary parking.
We finally entered the restaurant and were greeted at the door by the hostess, and when we told her we were there for the such and such function, she said follow me. Upon entering past the stand you’re in a large bar area with (I think) dining spaces behind it. The din in the bar was so loud that Mr. Sietsema would probably classify it as “must shout to be heard”. Anyway the young lady led us to the elevator, got in with us, pressed two and up we went to the second floor. When the door opened we were in another large dining area, and our group was in a little space that was partitioned off from the main room. Heavy glass, stainless steel, white clothed tables, views of the street, and an entire wall devoted to a glass enclosed wine display which must have been twenty five to thirty feet long. A lot of the tables were occupied, and the waitstaff was distinguished by being entirely in black. Noise on this level was less, and helped even more by the glass partition.
After a few hellos we were approached by a server with a small tray in hand and asked if we would like a drink. Are you kidding?? Of course! MFO did order her Gimlet and I was afraid to go for the DMOTRWAT given that the server had to go get it, and bring it back. Two cycles weren’t too attractive to me at that point. So I went with the impossible to screw up backup: call scotch on the rocks. The drinks were brought back fairly rapidly, a welcome start to the evening. There was also wine available (in unlimited quantities) from a little side bar in the room, an Adelsheim Chardonnay and a Row Eleven Pinot. Both were very good (we found out). Due to the mild weather, the temperatures were warm enough that several of the guests availed themselves of the outside balcony overlooking not Pennsylvania Avenue. After another drink and meeting more people (the majority of employees are in Falls Chruch with only a few of us from Pax) we were summoned to sit down for dinner.
Each place was set with a white charger and a linen napkin holding a little menu card with the aforementioned items. Waters were filled immediately so that there was actually ice in them (another of my pet peeves is when you’re in that kind of setting and the glasses have been pre-filled so that by the time you sit, it’s just tepid water). Our server took the orders of the nine at our table. Soon after that, appetizers began to arrive on platters to be passed. They were small bites of things that included some mini crab cakes, beef satays, some veggie egg cups, and little spring rolls.
The latter were described as “spicy tuna rolls” and indeed they were. If the platter was emptied, another was brought promptly. At this point MFO and I both switched to wine remembering the road trip that lay ahead.
Soon enough the first courses began to arrive, and although the ladies were not served first, the whole table was served rapidly with many servers bringing the food. The soup was nicely presented, a creamy beige with accents of the cilantro mint oil, and the lobster chunks in the middle.
My greens, were well, a pile of greens. Okay, but not special. I did have a sip of MFO’s soup and it was nicely layered with spices as one might expect. After the first course was finished, all the silver was cleared and replaced with fresh, with those that selected fish given a “fish knife” and the BBQ people a sharp one. Nice touch. Wine and water glasses were kept amply supplied, and then the main courses came out. Despite some elbows in the ribs and kicks to the shins, I did take a shot of the rockfish (which doesn’t do it service, it’s better than it looked in this hastily snapped phone shot (which applies to the ones above also).
It wasn’t too spicy and was very well cooked, with a little crunch on top and creamy below and had great taste.. in the end, I wished I had ordered it. My Korean BBQ was exactly as it should have been I think. An assemblage of sliced beef in a sauce, but it was uniformly brown and presented again in a “pile”. It had good beefy flavor, and I was happy with it. I do think the fish was a better overall dish.
Desserts and coffees were served, a little speechifying, and we bid adieu to the folks, retrieved the MOMSTER and made an uneventful return to St. Mary’s and home, arriving shortly after midnight.
I had situated myself at our table so that I could view the other customers of the restaurant, most of who looked like young professionals with enough disposable income to enjoy themselves. I didn’t see the regular menu but most of the references I looked at put The Source in the top “$$$$” category. . I did a quick tour of the massive wine display and they had a nice selection of wines. I didn’t see a wine list so don’t know pricing. Most tables had at least one bottle served. The big dining room had a nice pace about it somehow, with servers gliding in the aisles with plates, wine and water being served, and it was enjoyable to look at.
Despite my misgivings about the celeb restaurant, I would have to say I was pleasantly surprised. It is a nice space, all the food was very good, the service was attentive and did the right things at the right times. Hard to believe that they aren't within the hundred favorite restaurants in DC. Although the cuisine isn’t my favorite, I would return. Many of the reviews had nice things to say about their Dim Sum.
And I would have to add that thank goodness in DC all of the people I saw were properly
DFD
Editor's note: Most readers know that The Feeder likes to mess around with words, and when it came time to think of a title for this posting, it was hard to leave "Puck" alone. Having a background in hockey, phrases from my coaching past came to mind like "Pass the Puck" or "Shoot the Puck" . But I didn't want to appear negative (me?) so gave up. I'm sure there is some catchy title there someplace....
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