First Bite - Medium Rare

Medium Rare is a rarity, in both concept and execution. How many other restaurants in D.C. can you think of that not only exude a fine-dining confidence while offering a single item on the menu? None come to my mind. And so it is the brain trust behind behind the new bistro, opened up shop in Cleveland Park.

The premise is simple: once seated, diners are served bread, a mixed-green salad, and slices of sirloin cap steak paired with frites. Half of your serving of the steak and frites arrives immediately after you've finished your salad, while the latter half delivered to the table later to ensure you're always eating hot food. This alone is a brilliant touch.

But the prix fixe menu is tremendously liberating. You walk in with really only two decisions to make: how you'd like your meat cooked and whether or not you'd like additional items like wine or dessert. Because the restaurant is called Medium Rare, it seems like that first question is off the table. Therefore, you're free to enjoy the evening without all the self-doubt inherent in selecting from an over-packed menu. By deciding to dine at Medium Rare in the first place, all of the pressure's relieved.

Beyond that? The food rocks. Everything's incredibly delicious. Even in the restaurant's first week of operation, the recipes are delicious. Utterly perfect, even. I guess that's another benefit of only providing a handful of dishes. The bread was right out of the oven, crispy and delicious. The salad wasn't drowning in vinaigrette. The frites were everything that frites ought to be. And then there was the meat. Dear God, what a delicious steak. Cooked perfectly, topped with an amazing house sauce, and so tender I barely needed a knife. Elyse looked at me midway through the meal and asked, "Is this your new favorite restaurant?" And it just might be.

As much as I love the D.C. restaurant scene, and as much as I've grown as a foodie (both in waist size and in scope of taste), the one thing I've really been missing is simplicity. This restaurant is a temple of simplicity. It recognizes that no restaurant can be everything to you every day; no establishment can carry the full arsenal of whatever any person might want to eat at any given moment, even though some misguided operations try. Medium Rare is the confident operation that says, "You're not always going to be in the mood for steak, and that's ok. When you are, come visit us, and we'll take care of you." At $19.50, it's hard to argue with the menu, and if you want to splurge on the dessert or alcohol, those are dandy to0. I nearly went into a coma after eating the chocolate cake; one of the managers told us he found a nearby bakery that makes a tw0-layer chocolate fudge cake and simply asked if they could double the number of layers. You gotta love that kind of imagination, don't you?

In the end, it's hard to oversell the quality of this place. The wait staff was stellar, the ambiance was chill and inviting, and the food was fantastic. What more can you ask for just over twenty bucks? So head up (or down, depending on your geography) and give this place a shot. You'll be glad you did. And if you're not, that's fine. More for me.

Spicing Things Up in Cleveland Park

Finding good Asian food in DC that is both metro-accessible and reasonably-priced is an unusually hard task. On one hand, you have the Wolfgang Puck’s The Source; on the other you have the little Chinese carryout shops where they specialize in Americanized menu items like kung pao chicken. Now, don’t get me wrong, both types of places serve their purpose, but sometimes all I want is something in the middle. Thankfully Spices in Cleveland Park fits the bill.

I first found out about this little gem when I was interning in Woodley Park. On nice days I would sometimes walk the 5 or so blocks to pick up food for the office. Then I found out that they deliver (!) within a 2 mile radius. That was mighty helpful when I went to American because there were absolutely nights where studying came before cooking. The other night Spices once again came to the rescue when I needed a place between Tenleytown and Dupont on the red line to meet a friend.

Spices is nestled in the grouping of stores and restaurants on the east side of Connecticut Avenue. The décor is nothing to write home about, but it doesn't take away from the overall dining experience, either. What’s on the plate is far more important. There is a long wooden bar offering sushi as well as some traditional Asian-fusion dishes including crab-meat wantons, pad-thai and chicken teriyaki. Their sushi is clearly fresh and is easily the best you can find in the immediate area. Without a doubt you can find better in the city, but I would venture to guess that this is the best that can be delivered.

On the side of the menu that includes the appetizers and the main entrée, I am a big fan of Spices’ chicken fried rice. Not only does it taste fresh, it lacks the insane amounts of oil that you tend to find in most renditions. Although it isn’t in the menu the vegetable tempura is worth asking about and ordering. Yes, it’s fried making it slightly unhealthy, but it is wonderfully crispy, something that most tempura lacks. One night my friend ordered the Vietnamese grilled shrimp that was served over vermicelli. The bowl that it came in was presented beautifully and the flavors complemented each other to create a refreshing and filling meal.

Although we opted out (it was a Sunday night after all), Spices does offer ½ price drinks Sunday – Thursday nights (5 – 7pm). If you are one who likes to have a cocktail with your dinner, this is a great deal especially because few if any of the mixed drinks are over $8.

Is Spices going to win any “best of” awards? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a well-priced, local restaurant that can fulfill your needs for a good meal at a good price.