Krik's Picks

The neighborhood we live in has a neighborhood association. It’s primarily a social group. Activities include parties, a gourmet club, community festivals … things like that. There also is a magazine for the members of the association. One of the things that the publisher of the magazine does is arrange dinners for us at different restaurants. Most of them are in Edina or nearby suburbs. In exchange for putting on the dinner, the participants will rate the restaurant and the magazine will run a photo spread of the event. The restaurant gets some publicity. We get a meal and an evening of socializing. Most of the restaurants that we’ve gone to as part of this group have been pretty casual. The food has been good, but nothing noteworthy. Of course, the restaurant is motivated to make sure we have a good experience because they know that a review is going to be published. The most recent restaurant that my wife and I went to as part of the group (Parkwood Knolls Association) was Rar...

  Mostly by coincidence, I tried several restaurants on Capitol Hill this spring. They are located east of the U.S. Capitol, near Eastern Market and on Barracks Row. Before this year, I was a fan of Montmartre , located near Eastern Market. But I wasn’t very familiar with many of the other restaurants, despite a growing reputation for good dining in that neighborhood. Then, over the course of several business trips to DC, I hit Lavagna , Belga , Acqua al 2 , and the subject of this blog post – Cava Mezze . I went there on the basis of a recommendation of a friend. After our dinner at Lavagna, we walked by Cava, and she recommended it. So when I had time for a lunch before leaving DC in March, I decided to give it a try. Mezze are Greek small plates, very similar in concept to Spanish tapas. Cava offers an appealing variety of mezze. My server recommended ordering two for lunch. It probably would have been more fun to be with a small group to sample more different plates. Bu...

I had a lot of travel to DC in March and April. It was a lot of hard work, and I got a lot of help from a great team. So when I went back during the first week of May, I offered to treat the team to a celebration lunch. My DC-based lobbyist picked the venue – Graffiato in Chinatown. It’s a restaurant with a story. The chef/owner is a guy named Mike Isabella. He’s picked up a fair share of accolades in his career so far. He was named The People’s Best New Chef for the Mid-Atlantic region in Food & Wine’s survey. He did a stint at one of chef Jose Andres DC restaurants Zaytinya . But possibly he got most of his public attention by being seen on season 6 of TV’s Top Chef (a show I don’t watch). Graffiato has a nice ambiance. Our group (7 of us) were seated in the upstairs dining room. The room had high ceilings and was comfortable, bright, and open. Our server was friendly and patient. (You know how it is with groups. They sit down and start to chat, and it’s difficult for the ...

I’ve said this so often that I could start a whole new category of blog posts titled ‘Why can’t we have Italian restaurants like this in Minnesota?’ I had lunch at Potenza when I arrived in DC last week. I didn’t really know very much about it before walking in (no reservation). It wasn’t recommended by anyone. I’d noticed it on previous trips to DC. Anything I’d seen about it had been favorable. But I just decided to give it a try – someplace new. I’m so glad that I did. Potenza has a very extensive lunch menu. I could have had a salad and pasta. A lot of other diners were having pizza, and they all looked good. I decided to have the weekly special for Wednesday – branzino . The entrées are a little expensive, but they’re a full meal. The fish was delicately sautéed. It was moist and tender and was served with a wonderful brown butter sauce. Served with the fish on the plate were two beautiful ravioli stuffed with minced and sautéed mushrooms. They were artfully draped over a...

I ate at Belga once before. It was a few years ago, just as Barracks Row was establishing itself as a locale for good food. I liked it then, so when a friend suggested having dinner there after a reception on Capitol Hill, I readily agreed. It was a warm spring night, maybe just a little humid. There sidewalk tables were full, so we were seated inside. That probably was better for conversation, but a sidewalk table would have been a fun spot to watch the hustle and bustle of 8th St. SE. There even was a pair of street musicians playing New Orleans jazz across the street. (I tipped them after dinner.) The menu at Belga offers a lot of variety. You could make a light meal out of starter plates and side dishes. But it’s not really a ‘small plate’ menu, the entrées are too good to pass up. One of my friends had an evening special cherry gazpacho. The accommodating server provided extra spoons, and we all got a taste. The soup was bright red. If you didn’t know it was cherries, you’...