Saturday, February 21, 2009

Restaurant Week'ing

For our third year in a row, my law school friends and our significant others headed out to Restaurant Week (RW). I think it is one of our favorite DC traditions. We went to Neyla on Monday, a Mediterranean restaurant, and Tosca today, a Northern Italian restaurant. Both were excellent, though Alex and I ordered small plates at Neyla instead of their RW menu because we were not as hungry and the small plates looked delicious.

One of my favorite parts about RW is that we get to go try out fancy restaurants that we would never regularly go to. If you choose correctly, you can find a restaurant where the RW 3 course dinner will cost less than a normally priced entree at that establishment, but the quality is still there. Tosca was a great example of this.

It was also fun to go out with friends, who all happen to be self-proclaimed foodies and Top Chef fans, and try food we only see on TV. Between my meal, Alex's, and my four other dining companions, here were some new things I got to try at Tosca:
  • Pancetta roasted pheasant in a foie gras sauce with swiss chard and garlic roasted mashed potatoes
  • Veal and spinach ravioli in a red wine reduction
  • Pasta filled with olive oil poached swordfish, baby capers, olives, and summer tomato preserve sauce
  • Roasted red snapper with olive oil mashed potatoes, braised artichokes, fresh marjoram and white wine sauce
  • Pistachio flavored panna cotta with blood orange sauce
  • Chocolate semifreddo with Marscapone cheese mousse and grated coffee flakes
I usually do not go out for Italian food because I feel like I can make most of it at home, but this was no Olive Garden. Far from it; everything was fresh and filling but not heavy. And before you think I am a glutton, let me reiterate again that this was not all my meal! I am just lucky to have a boyfriend and friends who are not afraid to share. Luckily too, fine dining has realistic portions (translate: not Claim Jumpers size) and RW only occurs twice a year.

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