Washington, DC New Menu Report: 06/10/15
It's time to slow things down, sit in dark cafés, and indulge in cold, wonderful drinks and desserts. Gourmet snow cones, both virgin and alcoholic, are now showing up on menus, and you can show your support for the LGBT community by sipping signature cocktails. Summertime in Washington, D.C. also means menus with lower calories, prices, and temperatures so check out the prix fixe special menus that include seasonal produce from around the DMV.
Bastille
Inspired by sultry Mediterranean days and D.C.'s equally scorching summers, RAMMY award-winning Bastille restaurant, in Alexandria, Virginia, is serving a variety of prix fixe and à la carte dishes that celebrate the bounty of summer. Look for inspired dishes like sweet, ripe peaches paired with seared foie gras; Norwegian salmon with a refreshing risotto prepared with oven roasted corn and heirloom tomatoes; and Maryland pork braised with a barbecue mole sauce and a flavorful succotash.
Be sure to end your meal on a sweet note and order their French take on a banana split — it's made with banana mousse covered with Valrhona chocolate encased in a classic almond Daquoise cake with butterscotch sauce, strawberry ice cream, candied almonds, and Chantilly cream.
Blue Duck Tavern
Take a break from your usual noontime routine and splurge on lunch and dessert at Blue Duck Tavern. For one week only, from June 20 to June 27 (for just $7), you can feel like a kid again as you enjoy a delightful gourmet snow cone created Blue Duck's brilliant pastry chef Naomi Gallego. She is calling her delicious dessert the BDT Snow Cone and each one incorporates crafted syrups made from fresh local fruits, spices, and herbs picked fresh from Blue Duck Tavern's kitchen garden. As each fruit comes in season, the snow cones rotate and offer a range of flavors and fun treats like strawberries and cream, ginger raspberry rhubarb, peach toasted almond, cherry lime, and garden lemon balm, and the Arnold Palmer.
Commissary
Show and support LGBT pride on this weekend for the 40th annual Capital Pride Parade and then head to Commissary, one of Logan Circle's more popular neighborhood joints. They are offering special pricing on their award-winning cocktail called Shut Up & Dance. Made with pineapple-infused vodka, sage, mint, ginger, and lime, guests can toast the parade and LGBT pride with a glass for just $8 or order a pitcher for a group of six for $48. Imbibing will begin Friday, June 12 at 4 p.m. and continue at the same time Saturday and Sunday.
Logan Tavern
There's another LGBT pride drink special happening around town: Stonewall Strawberry cocktails will be served for Capital Pride at Logan Tavern. From 11 a.m. to 12 a.m., June 13, Logan Tavern will be selling these happy pink drinks prepared with vodka infused with just-picked strawberries from their EatWell Natural Farm along with mint, St. Germaine, and soda.
Mio
Ay Mio! You are gonna flip when you taste the latest dish from Mio — the Piragua— a Puerto Rican shaved ice dessert made with fresh fruit that can be naughty with booze or nice as a tame treat for teetotalers. Enjoy your Piragua from the colorful cart on Mio's patio and choose from five fresh flavors that include acerola, mango, guava, coconut, and Mio's signature Puerto Rican coffee. Each cone comes topped with fantastic Don Q Puerto Rican rum and is served Monday through Friday, beginning July 3 and running through September 7. Both the alcohol-laced and virgin versions of Piragua are $5 each and could just be the best way to cool down all summer long.
Summer Whitford is the D.C. City Guide Editor at The Daily Meal and the DC Wine Examiner. You can follow her on Twitter @FoodandWineDiva.