Del Merei Grille ~ Restaurant Review

I fully recognize even as I begin this post that the wonderful few friends and family members that actually read this blog do not in fact live in the immediate area and thus will likely not fully appreciate this review but if you find yourself visiting my dear family or just in the Washington DC area I do hope you'll consider adding this little gem to your dinning experience. That is if we haven't already forced it upon you during previous visits.

Del Merei Grille (pronounced del-Mary) is a wonderful little restaurant tucked into a small corner of restaurants and shops, about a quarter mile from our home. However, it's truly not just a great "neighborhood spot" we have close friends who regularly travel from the district to Del Merei just as frequently as we do, maybe even more. I think they are smitten with the frickles. Mmmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about these little delicacies, fried pickle slices served with a delicious dipping sauce. An appetizer I order ever single visit.

We decided to take Mamere here on Saturday night for an early family dinner. Since our little one goes to bed around 7pm he eats dinner at 5:30 pm thus making us the definition of "early bird" diners when we go out. Having never eaten this early in my life I continue to be surprised by how many specials restaurants offer during the 5-6pm hour. That coupled with my temporary limit of one glass of wine per day has really made our dinning tab quite reasonable where ever we go.

Happily, Del Merei is always willing to accommodate our family and as I learned during our last visit the owner, Mary has a little boy of her own about the same age as our son AND another boy on the way. (Boys are obviously the in thing these days.)

The restaurant describes itself as Southern-inspired with a modern yet inviting setting. I would heartily agree. I've tried almost the entire dinner menu and while I think that their biscuits and cornbread starter could use a bit of tweaking I have never been disappointed with anything I've ordered, especially the desserts! But I'll get to that in a moment.

There are a few items that I think particularly stand out and that I would highly recommend. First, are the frickles appetizer. As I mentioned above this is a delicious Southern delicacy that you should not pass up no matter your apprehension.

Second, is the Lolla Rossa salad which features blue cheese, raspberries, spiced pecans and a classic vinaigrette, pretty much my ideal salad. All of their salads are quite large for starters, I've often split mine with DH if I'm ordering an entree as well. And you can order any of their salads as your entree and add any one of several delicious proteins. My favorite is the grilled salmon. It's always perfectly grilled with a wonderful crust and cooked through to a perfect medium.

They offer a number of proteins-- beef, chicken and seafood that you can have grilled and paired with a wide assortment of sides. I'm partial to the petite fillet but the buffalo hanger is excellent as well. And by far and away my favorite sides are their smashed potatoes with truffle oil (usually only offered in the fall), garlic cheese grits, and their sauteed spinach.

I really can't speak to their kids menu because we've only ever ordered one thing- the grilled cheese with tater tots. There is nothing special or high brow about it, just absolutely delicious and because of which we've never bothered to even look at the other options. Both DH and I inevitably steal a few of our son's tater tots while he's not looking.

Last, but certainly not least is their dessert menu. I used to have no problem skipping dessert, as I never really had a sweet tooth. Sadly, since the moment of my first pregnancy I've become quite a fan of dessert. Especially chocolate desserts! They have the most scrumptious seasonal brownies which are paired with ice cream. On this visit I tried the cheesecake brownie with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce. Sounds incredible decedent and rich right? Well it was, every last bite of it! Of course my favorite is their mint brownie served with peppermint ice cream but I'll have to wait a few more months for this to return to the menu.

Although, to me this next dessert seems just a bit too decedent, I feel I must mention their Grilled Glazed Donut. If a grilled donut isn't enough for you, they've topped it with vanilla ice cream, pecans and an apple caramel sauce. On the rare occasion DH or one of our guests will order this and usually they enjoy it so much there is very little sharing, so I know it must be fantastic!

So, I hope you are now just as hungry as I am. Unfortunately I don't think my egg whites and toast are going to be quite as delicious as anything I've just described but a brownie for breakfast is not acceptable... right??

Happy Dinning!

Cheers,

Ouiser