Restaurant Review ~ Komi

Komi
DuPont ~ Washington, DC


DH and I have always enjoyed treating ourselves to a really nice meal for special occasions... birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, etc. So although I didn't know where he was taking me for dinner last night I knew it would be delicious!

As we wound around the congested rainy streets of DC amidst rush hour traffic that was well past rush "hour" I was giddy with anticipating of figuring out our destination. I had a few guesses but once we started circling 17th street in Du Pont I was fairly sure I knew where we were headed. What surprised me even more is that DH didn't realize that the annual DC Drag Queen High Heal Race was on the same evening and the finish line was literally in front of the restaurant. What luck!

Alas, we missed the actual race which I'm guessing was a little shorter this year because of all the rain, but as we walked back to our car after dinner we did see two fabulous drag queens with enormous Afro wigs, mini-dresses and thigh-high patton platform boots. One in white patton and one in black patton. I so wanted to befriend the "ladies" and probably would have had I had more than my pregnancy allotted champagne. But I digress...

Komi's owner and head chef, Johnny Monis is what I would describe as a culinary artist. While I consider myself an amateur food aficionado and absolutely love to cook, play in my kitchen and create new dishes, last night's experience is a vivid reminder of the difference between cooking and creating.

Both DH and I love tasting menus, and we especially love chef's choice tasting menus. When you are at a restaurant like Komi or a handful of others in the area that really stand out I can hardly see how I could do a better job of picking a menu that the chef. It may be going too far to say that it's insulting not to go with the chef's recommendation but in some cases I feel like that. I mean if you are sitting at the bar as Sushi Master Kaz makes a suggestion of what to eat are you really going to say, no I think I'd like that with out the wasabi please. I don't think so!

So back to Komi. There is no way I am going to remember all the details of what we had so I'm just to talk about my absolutely favorites. Of course last night with this review in mind I seriously considered whipping out a pen and notebook to take notes. I feel self conscience when I do that but frankly am always happy once I'm home. Perhaps another time.

As I'm very very pregnant ~12 days to go~ they were kind enough to forgo serving me anything raw. Generally I'm okay with that but when I saw one of DH's courses- ceviche, oyster and sea scallop carpaccio - I think I might have drooled just a little bit.

I really can't even recall how many dishes we had, but it was at least 6 or 7 single bite plates, followed by suckling pig and finished with 4 dessert bites. All accompanied by a heavenly Greek sparkling wine of DH's choosing. I'm a sucker for anything sparkling be it water, wine or even a certain vampire! (tee hee hee, see how well I snuck in a nod to Twilight!)

Okay so my favorites are ...

Savory: the small dish of gnocchi with Chinese black mushrooms, cauliflower and a sauce that was divine! But I can't go on without talking about the suckling pig. They first bring out literally a side cut of the pig to show you before carving it. The skin was a beautiful golden color and crispier than I could have imagined possible while keeping the meat so juicy. They served it with pita although it was so doughy and delicious I hate to even call it pita and a tray of condiments. Seasoned salt, habanero sauce, eggplant, coleslaw and taziki, all of which were outstanding.

Sweet: Ugh, this is a hard one. If I had to pick I'd go with the single bite-- Chocolate, peanut butter crispy pastry. It was like a grown up reese's pieces mixed with a kit kat bar. Mmmmm. DH had a cayenne infused cappuccino milkshake with three perfect mini beignets. I almost felt like we were in New Orleans when I took a bite. They were perfect!

There wasn't one thing I had (or tasted of DH's) that I didn't absolutely love. Which is unusual for both of us. Usually there is at least one course that I'm less than fond of, but not last night. It was course after course of deliciousness.

Oh and I failed to mention how great the staff was. They were courteous, friendly, easy to talk with, present with out hovering and very very accommodating!

Cheers to you Chef Johnny and your outstanding restaurant. And congratulations on being one of only 5 restaurants in the area to receive 4 stars from Tom Sietsema in the 2009 WP restaurant Guide! It is well deserved!

Happy Dinning (or just drooling)!

Cheers,
Ouiser