58. Liberty Tavern
Ah, Clarendon. I talk a lot of smack about you, with your endless supply of Starbucks’ and your be-flipflopped commuters. And you too, Clarendon Ballroom, where I never remember to get my credit card back from behind the bar. I have never been a huge fan of the Clarendon/Ballston/Courthouse row since driving down Wilson Blvd. usually gives me the feeling that I’m in a Roadrunner cartoon where the background keeps repeating itself. Lately though, I’ve been getting to know the chain-free spots in Northern Virginia. I tried out Spider Kelley’s not long ago and thought it was pretty great, so this weekend I stopped by the restaurant next door, Liberty Tavern.
Liberty Tavern feels a bit like a Clyde’s on the inside (whether that is a good or a bad thing is up to you), with a big bar on the first floor and a more serious dining room upstairs. The place was full on this particular Sunday night, so we were seated outside on the sidewalk. I’m a girl who loves outdoor seating so I was fine with it, though we were seated on the less prime side street instead of right on Wilson Blvd. Instead of people watching, we were more abandoned-wig-shop-watching, but nonetheless there was a nice breeze. The crowd at Liberty Tavern is your standard Wilson Blvd. cross section of 20-somethings and 20-somethings. Even the help is pretty frattastic—our waiter kept alluding to the fact that he was still drunk from brunch and waivered between “awesome” and “really awesome” when describing items on the menu.
So was it awesome? (Check out that transition.) Let us discuss. First of all, the menu is much more refined and adventurous than one would expect from a restaurant across from a Goodyear Tire shop. And as my friend Lea pointed out, the chef is a genius in the way he layed out the menu since pretty much everything is described in some geographically specific way. Since Lea is from Pennsylvania, she had some trouble deciding between the pasta with “Pennsylvania Dutch” rabbit confit and the “Pittburghese” bratwurst. Hometown pride be damned, she decided to start with the salad of mache and pea shoots, with a poached duck egg, chevre and balsamic viniagrette. We came to a quick agreement that this was the best dish we had all night. The poached egg was dusted with mushroom powder, which gave it a bit of a crust on the outside. When you broke the egg open, the yoke mixed with the balsamic into a new form of gooey goodness. And it was lucky for me that the waiter came by to clear Lea’s plate when he did, because I saw it in her eye that she was going to start licking up the leftover dressing. Definitely not a salad for the timid eater, but we both thought it was great.
For our main courses, Lea had the half portion of the gnocchi and I had the Vermont (another local shout out!) pizza. First of all, though her portion was small, the half pasta is a great deal. She had a good two cups of pasta, plus a huge dollop of goat cheese for $8. The gnocchi was incredibly light and buttery, so much so that (I’ve never said this before) the goat cheese really wasn’t necessary. It was served with a fava bean and corn succatash, and was an all around light meal; definitely the first time I’ve eaten gnochhi that I didn’t feel like I had to be rolled away from the table afterwards. I ordered the Vermont pizza for no other reason than it was the weirdest sounding pizza I had ever seen—cheddar cheese, granny smith apples, prosciutto, caramalized onions and sage. By some mystery of science, the apples were still crisp and white though they had been baked with the rest of the pizza. I thought there was way too much cheese (a little cheddar goes a long way), and the combo of cheddar and proscuitto left a serious layer of grease on top. The flavors were nice and the addition of the apple was a new and delicious way to prepare pizza, but I just felt like I needed to take a shower after I was finished.
Our waiter regaled us with the awesomeness of the desserts, so we obviously couldn’t pass them up. As soon as I saw Key Lime something on the menu it was over, so I ended up with the Key Lime Creme Brulee. I love all things key lime, so it was no shock that I was in lurve with this one. It was super tart, but the burnt sugar on top evened out the flavor for the less-tart at heart. Lea had the blackberry crostada, which had a nice crust but really needed some sugar added to it. I thought it tasted a bit like solidified cough syrup. And not in a good way.
The best thing about Liberty Tavern is definitely it’s price point. For all the food we ordered (plus my brewski), our bill came out to just over $50. It seemed like everyone there was already hip to this idea, but the restaurant is a great place for a group to sit and leisurely have a catch-up dinner—there was something on the menu for everyone, and the bar menu (both beers on tap and mixed drinks) was stellar. Would I send someone from Silver Spring way around the Beltway for dinner here? Probably not, but if you’re in the ‘hood already it’s worth a stop in. Request the “awesome” waiter and thank me later.
