Mrs. TJ and I had our traditional 'Let's get dressed up (a bit) and have a nice dinner just the two of us' Christmas Eve dinner. After the past two years at Tersiguels' in Ellicott City, MD, we decided to try a restaurant we'd never tried before -- Equinox, in Washington DC.
Equinox (
Equinox website ) is located in dowtown Washington DC, near the Haye Adams Hotel, The Oval Room and te White House. It is a small-ish restaurant, seating about 80-100. It is the home of Todd Gray (chef/owner) and Lisa Scruggs (pastry chef). They do allow BYOW for a corkage fee (I think it is $20/bottle).
Equinox has a small bar area, an ample waiting area (unnecessary for our first experience there) and a small 'original' restaurant area and a larger 'outside' area which is essentially a somehwat built in glassed in area to allow for about 50-70 additional seatings. It is nicely appointed and the tables are spaced apart enough so you don't have to feel claustrophobic or listen in on other folks' conversations. On to the meal...
We opted to NOT go for the tasting menu, so that we could sample more of the menu instead. We ordered a bottle of the 2000 Flowers Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast (
TNs here ) which was served to us in OK stemware -- not Riedels or Spiegelaus -- just a standard, but adequate red wine glass with a decent-sized bowl.
First courses were Tuna Tartare and Open Ravioli of Sweetbreads & Woodland Mushrooms. The Tuna Tartare was diced tuna with equally sized diced cubes of (HAWAIIAN!!!) pineapple. There was a frisee of some greens served on top of this along with some peppery crackers. I am sure there were a number of spices mixed in with the Tuna & Hawaiian Pineapple, too. It was delicious. The Ravioli was superb. It was essentially one very large ravioli (think of a two by two 'normal' sized ravioli) with the mushrooms and sweetbreads laid atop of followed by another slightly offset ravioli 'sheet' and drizzled with a brown and spiced sauce of a sort, It was my first experience with sweetbreads. I'd read how certain posters here have waxed poetic about the stuff, that I just had to try it once. It didn't have the texture I expected (I expected a runny mess) -- it was more like a meat (a game bird most aptly describes what type of meat) mixed with marbled fat of a sort and, um, stuffing -- at least from a consistency perspective. It was a very, very good first experience, plus it paired really well with the wine.
Our second courses were an Onion Soup and an Endive Salad. The Onion Soup was not overly salty at all, as many French Onion Soups can be. It was distincly sweet around the edges (I think it was actually called a Carmelized Onion soup, now that I think about it) and it had some shredded bits of shees floating on the surface, too. It was served with two small triangles of grilled cheese sandwiches -- the cheese must have been Gruyere -- were a cute and decidedly delicious plus. Great course. The Endive Salad was a bit more classic -- with walnuts and Stilton and more. The endive was not served in whole 'boat' form, but rather chopped up a bit. It was nothing new, but this dish was well executed and prepared with very fresh ingredients. Yum!
We split the next course as it was a dish for two -- Rack of lamb with a Garlic Jous and some mashed potatoes and haricot vertes. This had to be the best lamb, or almost the best lamb, I have ever tasted. In a simple preparation like this, the ingredients and execution are key. It was wonderful. the only thing that detracted from this course was that the wait between the course before this and this main course was pronouncedly long. I am not sure if the kitchen got backed up (most of the larger and other tables were well into their main courses...), or if they goofed the first attempt at making our main course, or if the waiter messed up on when he put the order in or what, but it just took too long. Another table of two ordered the same thing about 30-45 minutes after we arrived and they were served at the same time as we were (although they only had one starter course, not two). Anyway, it was a bit of a bummer about that.
For dessert, I indulged in a wonderful 'Egg Nog Creme Brulee' which was wonderful Mrs. TJ got something which is escaping my memory right now. But I remember her really enjoyying it. The coffee was top notch, which is unusual for most restaurants.
The only other detractor to the evening was that we were a bit stresed out by the drive in (it was snowing/sleeting/freezing raining/etc) and that we couldn't seem to shake the feeling enough to truly enjoy our meal. I certainly enjoyed our experience, and I would go there again.