Winter Restaurant Week Round-Up
DC Restaurant Week (RW) occurs twice a year, typically during the slow restaurant season in the winter (usually January) and the late summer (usually August), and local restaurants welcome the opportunity to drum up new business. Lynne Breaux, president of the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington (RAMW), says, “Member restaurants love Restaurant Week. It drives business during an otherwise slow period and provides a great opportunity to expose their restaurants to a new audience while offering loyal customers a valuable dining opportunity.” She adds, “There is no better time to visit the Washington area’s wonderful restaurants to enjoy the delicious alchemy of our talented chefs and bar stars than during restaurant week.”
January 11th through the 17th, Destination DC and the RAMW sponsored the 16th Washington, DC Restaurant Week, with more than 200 participating restaurants offering three-course prix-fixe (lunch for $20.10 per person, and dinner for $35.10) menus. “Because Restaurant Week is such a fantastically popular event, many restaurants extend the promotion for another week or longer to accommodate those that couldn’t book during the official week,” said Breaux. “Restaurant Week is also a great lead-in to the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, and promotion extensions add all the more value to the long weekend and short work week.”
Ris Torte (photo by Lisa Shapiro)
While some restaurants, like Teatro Goldoni and 1789, have been participating in restaurant week from the onset in 2001, some restaurants – especially those that have just opened – are excited to have the opportunity to bring in new diners. Ris LaCoste, co-owner of the new West-End neighborhood restaurant, Ris, which just opened in December 2009, shared his thoughts, “I think Restaurant Week is a positive thing for restaurants and for the city. I have done RW (at 1789) every year since it began, and I know that the city of Washington really responds to Restaurant Week. I knew that the restaurant would be full, and I knew that we were ready to take that on. I wanted the experience of having a packed restaurant every service. It’s a great way to fine-tune our machine …We are very happy that we made the decision to participate.”
Executive Chef Tony Acinapura, of the recently-opened Kellari Taverna, is a veteran of the Restaurant Week promotion through his work at the New York City Kellari outpost. He said, “It’s the best way to generate revenue in the slow time of year in the restaurant industry. People will say, ‘I heard this place is cool but I’m not sure they’ll say ‘it’s $35, why not?’ Let’s roll the dice and see.”
Successful Numbers for Restaurants
Most participating restaurants reported bringing in new business and being busier than normal. LaCoste noted, “I think that restaurant week should be a tool for restaurants to use to put their best foot forward. You’re exposing tons of people to your restaurant – filling the house, and I think that’s the case with most places. Everyone I talked to is packed during Restaurant Week. Also, it’s an opportunity to introduce young diners to your restaurant; the next generation of diners. They get to try out new food at a reduced rate so they can afford it. The response was really, really great; more than half of our tables that week were there for restaurant week.”
Zentan Calamari (photo by Lisa Shapiro)
In October, the Whisk Group LLC, a new boutique hospitality group, opened Againn in DC’s award-winning Tishman Speyer building. The British gastro pub, located on New York Avenue, had an extraordinarily successful first-time participation experience with Restaurant Week. Againn’s OpenTable reservations for lunch were over 49% of total tables, and dinner was more than 50% of total tables.
Kellari’s Chef Acinapura reported a 33% increase in dinner reservations during Restaurant Week. Kellari did not offer a RW lunch because they already offer a prix-fixe lunch for $24. He said, “We definitely were a little busier than normal on the week nights, like Tuesday and Wednesday. We were really strong.”
Memorable Meals for Diners
Many people ask, “What’s on the menu for DC Restaurant Week?” While most participating restaurants offered special three-course prix-fixe lunch and/or dinner menus to diners, some restaurants, like Chef Geoff’s, Circle Bistro, Jackson 20, and Tallula, offered their entire regular menus for diners to choose their three courses. La Tasca offered diners unlimited Spanish Tapas for Restaurant Week and included one dessert per person. Some restaurants, such as the new Zentan – located in DC’s Donovan House Hotel – that features Famed Chef Susur Lee’s Pan-Asian cuisine, created dishes just for RW that are not ordinarily offered on the regular menu. For example, a Salt and Pepper Calamari with Citrus Smoked Chili Mayo was offered for RW only.
Kellari Fish Display (photo by Olga Berman)
Kellari’s Chef Acinapura said, “We wanted to put forth items that were a good representation of Kellari. We wanted people to see what we are all about. We put our heavy hitters up. When you’re a new restaurant you can’t just give a scaled down menu or smaller portions. Our popular dishes were the fish because of the fish display – people want a whole fish; the Paidakia, which is the grilled lamb chops. For dessert, the Sokolata, the warm flourless chocolate cake, sold more than anything else. People also really liked the Yiaourti meli, the Greek yogurt with sour cherries drizzled with clover honey.” Againn indicated that their most frequently ordered dishes were the Pan Seared Diver Scallops with Sun Choke Puree, Parsnip Crisp and Watercress and Loch Duart Salmon with French Green Lentils and Braised Greens.
Ris said that for the RW menu, “I chose items that were already big hits, that were smart, cost-effective, and that were absolutely delicious. I didn’t change the portion sizes. This time I chose three items for each course. It worked out really well, because 90 percent of the people who came chose the RW menu. Being a new restaurant, we wanted to showcase what we were doing; we didn’t need to create anything. The Lamb Shank and the Gnudi were the two biggest sellers, additionally we offered the Mushroom Pappardelle for a vegetarian option. Also the mussels were huge. For dessert, the German Chocolate Mousse Torte and Butterscotch Pudding were big hits.”
Donna Donella, a government worker who lives in Arlington and works in DC shared her experience, saying, “My friend and I had a lovely time at Ris on Saturday evening. I thought the dining room was lovely and the tables were spaced well enough to allow for conversation. For the first course, I ordered the Gnudi. It was nicely seasoned by the saltiness of the prosciutto. My friend ordered the mussels, but the portion was generous enough to share. They were perfectly cooked and tender. The chorizo added a nice little bite to the tomato broth. Our waiter was good with the wine service. In an attempt to be healthy, I got the salmon. It was perfectly cooked and a nice balance of sweet and savory; however, the jasmine rice that was sitting in the Asian broth seemed a bit overcooked. For dessert, we shared the German chocolate mousse cake, which was decadently rich, but I thought the butterscotch pudding was the stand out of the desserts. It was light and delectable. I loved the cocoa crisps that floated in the cloud of Chantilly cream that topped the pudding. They were reminiscent of chocolate lace cookies.”
Kellari Lobster Display (photo by Olga Berman)
Kristen Barden, executive director of the Adams Morgan Partnership, also dined at Ris during Restaurant Week. She describes her leisurely two-hour dinner, “Our reservation was honored at the time promised. A friend and I had the lamb shank and pork chop as our main courses and both were tender and flavorful. In fact, there was so much lamb on the lamb shank that I ate it for dinner the next night. We shared the Beef Carpaccio, which was also terrific and easily shared. We skipped dessert because we were too full, but everything was tasty and served hot. The service was attentive but there was a long delay between our appetizer and entree arrival. We weren’t rushed to eat and leave.”
Olga Berman, author of local foodie blog Mango and Tomato said, “This past Sunday night was my first time dining at Kellari. They had a beautiful fish display on ice with several varieties of fish and lobster. It was impressive. The waiter brought us freshly grilled bread, chunks of hard cheese, olives and hummus: a great way to start our experience. For the appetizer, I ordered Calamari- grilled Squid with olive oil and lemon emulsion. First, I was shocked by how large the portion was and, in fact, took more than half of it home. The Calamari had a lovely grilled flavor, but perhaps too much salt. My friend ordered Spanakopita- fillo pies filled with spinach, leeks, and feta cheese. The dough was flaky, but the filling was slightly under-seasoned. For my entrée, I ordered Paidakia- grilled lamb chops with oregano potatoes. The lamb was cooked perfectly to my specification – medium rare. Again, the portion was very generous, but my potatoes were incredibly salty. My friend absolutely loved the Chilean Sea Bass, wrapped in grape leaves and slowly baked, served over gigantes beans. The white fleshy fish melted in your mouth, and the white beans were a nice change on a typical side of mashed potatoes or rice. For dessert, we shared the Sokolata and Yiaourti meli. The presentation was gorgeous for both desserts. I think the chocolate flourless cake was my favorite part of the meal. It was not overly sweet and contained a center of gooey chocolate goodness. The yogurt dessert was slightly disappointing. Instead of being sour, the cherries were candied. Also, my friend did not think there was enough honey syrup to contrast the sourness of the yogurt.”
The next DC Restaurant week will be in August. Both Ris and Kellari said that they had a very successful January Restaurant Week and plan to participate again.
