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So, remember I told you about the reservations at Inn at Little Washington? Well, after much research at Chowhound, eGullet, Washington Post and others, located in the most-unlikely Four Points hotel at 12th & K streets in NW.
Sadly, that reservation was hardly needed. The restaurant was nearly empty when we showed up at 9pm on a Friday night. I imagine this place skates by on the traffic from hotel guests, and it's a shame it's not on more Washingtonians' radar.
We were seated promptly and offered a wine list, off of which I picked a Joseph Drouhin Cote de Beaune Villages ($44). This was a medium-bodied burgundy with good fruit, a nice backbone, and a hint of wood. It paired beautifully with all the dishes we ordered. A deliciously chewy brown sourdough bread was whisked to the table, along with individual plates of fresh, room temperature creamery butter. Too-cold butter is one of my biggest peeves, so I was in heaven.
To start, I ordered the Beet and Goat Cheese Salad ($8), which was delicious. Sweet roasted beets, nicely aged goat cheese and bright micro greens. B picked the Porcupine ($7), which was a deep-fried, gooey ball of buffalo mozzarella wrapped in phyllo dough, served atop a tomato-basil coulis. I didn't get to taste this, because it was gone by the time I looked up! Hmph. B's wife CL skipped the appetizers.
I had the Lamb Loin with Mini Goat Cheese Raviolis ($20). This was a wonder... nicely charred crust outside, perfectly medium-rare inside. The raviolis were very mild, but very complementary to the lamb.
CL had the Roast Baby Chicken with Arugula & Shallots ($19), which I didn't get to sample, though she proclaimed it "very good".
B ordered Crispy Scottish Salmon with Garlic Creamed Spinach ($24). I normally do not care for salmon, but this was actually palatable to me, and the creamed spinach was quite awesome.
We all passed on dessert as CL had had a long day and was ready for bed; besides the lauded pistachio bread pudding didn't seem to be on the menu that night.
Corduroy is a phenomenal restaurant, and it does seem to have a loyal following amongst the more chowish residents of DC. Maybe it's for the best that this place doesn't ever seem to pick up steam with the trendies. On the other hand, with all the new bling-bling condos going up in that neighborhood, you never know what could happen.
Corduroy
1201 K Street NW
202.589.0699
