Washington, DC New Menu Report: 07/08/15
Gone are the Fourth of July's red, white, and blue bunting, fireworks, and marching bands, but a few tasty menus still linger at local eateries across the District. Several are extending their patriotic menus until the end of July, and in some cases, the end of summer. Variety and freshness are also the theme on local menus with restaurants featuring exotic ice creams for Ice Cream Month, milkshakes made with blueberries for Blueberry Month, and summertime celebrations that highlight tomatoes and other luscious produce.
Blue Duck Tavern
Blue Duck Tavern launched their new All-American Cheese Flight for Independence Day, but you can continue enjoying this rotating selection of American cheeses until July 31. Priced at $30 per person, the menu includes three one-ounce portions of cheese paired with three-ounce pours beer or wine chosen to complement the flavors and textures each cheese. You'll be in good hands, as Sophie Slesinger, resident cheese specialist that was named to the 30-Under-30: New York City's Food and World Up-And-Comers list by Zagat in the summer of 2013, chooses fantastic domestic cheeses from Vermont, Pennsylvania, and other creameries around the country.
Knightsbridge Restaurants
Ashok Bajaj, restaurateur extraordinaire and founder of Knightsbridge Restaurant Group, is featuring seasonal three-course menus that celebrate summertime's quintessential fruit, the tomato, at five of his restaurants. Available the entire month of July, these menus will be available at 701, Ardeo + Bardeo, Bibiana Osteria-Enoteca, nopa Kitchen + Bar, and The Oval Room. For $39 per person, lunch and dinner menus include stellar selections such as 701's chilled cucumber soup with tzatziki sorbet, tomatoes, lamb sausage, and pita crumble; Ardeo + Bardeo's cumin roasted red snapper with lollipop kale succotash, grilled apriums, and gremolata; Nopa's Wagyu beef carpaccio with smoked tomato mustard; Bibiana's cappellacci tomato butter stuffed ravioli with creamy mozzarella and tomato broth; and Oval Room's tomato panna cotta with bittersweet sorbet and chocolate balsamic reduction.
Macon Bistro & Larder
If you haven't been to Macon Bistro & Larder, D.C.'s little bit of Paris, you need to go — and now you can go for lunch, too, because they just launched their new menu yesterday, July 7. Lunch is now served Tuesday to Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and features classic French and Southern cuisine. Standouts include salade Niçoise with house-preserved tuna, fried green tomatoes with country sausage, Bistro filet with Béarnaise sauce, and market fish selections that change daily. Essie's biscuits alone are worth the trip, and so is the brilliantly compiled drinks list. Bon appétit ya'll.
Mango Tree
As the mercury rises, so does the heat index on Mango Tree's new Turn-Up-The-Heat menu. Launched in time for the Fourth of July, chef Adrian Salazar's menu focuses on dishes prepared with fresh chilies and the incendiary dried Bird's Eye chili pepper used across Southeast Asia. Dishes included in the Turn-Up-the-Heat menu include pla scallop salad, cauliflower larb, seafood pad cha, kee mao, and gaeng pa "jungle curry;" they are sure to toast your taste buds and make you break a sweat.
Sushiko
A restaurant like Sushiko might not be the kind of restaurant you'd consider a Mecca for ice cream, but fraternal, co-executive chefs Piter and Handry Tjan have come up with three exotic and delicious ice creams to celebrate ice cream month. Served as a trio for $9, you can sample lychee sorbet with pink peppercorn and fresh mint, followed by huckleberry ice cream with shiso, and for the finale try savory foie gras ice cream with pink Himalaya sea salt.
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.