65. Cashion’s Eat Place
Just like Hank’s Oyster Bar, Cashion’s is one of my go-to Washington restaurants that I send friends to, and can eat at over and over again and always feel satisfied. The menu changes daily, so the food is always seasonal, fresh and exactly what you’re looking for. Last night was the beginning of the fall weekends here and the menu reflected the temperature change—soups and heavier meat dishes were featured while I’m sure ten days and thirty degrees ago they were not.
The feel of the restaurant makes as much of an impression as the food. While the tables and chairs are straight out of an expense account K St. place, the wall decor and lighting give the feeling of being in the upstairs storage room of an antiques store. The lighting is low and romantic, but the music (set a little louder than what I would consider “background”) is Motown and upbeat. You feel comfortable enough to talk loud and sit for a long time, but its classy enough to remind you of the gourmet experience you’re having.
To start I had the lamb souvlaki which was a pretty perfect appetizer. Set on top of one pita somewhere in the middle of a mini and whole sized one; there was a dollop of tzaziki, a few slices of lamb, and a cabbage salad with peppers. It held together surprisingly well when I cut it up, which was good since I was starving and could have entered a speed eating competition with the way I took down that dish. A self-destructive app would have totally messed up my flow. My dining partner du jour, Michelle, started with the Maryland crab soup, which she said was really spicy but great. I observed with my eyeballs (the first step to tasting your food, don’t you know) that it was bursting at the soup seams with seafood.
We both went a little on the lighter side with our main courses—arctic char for me and seared tuna for Michelle. I went back and forth about ordering the tuna for myself since it was served with baby artichokes which I love, but no food is good enough to spend that much time peeling, so I like to order them when I’m out. I made a last second decision to switcheroo and I feel it was a smart one. The tuna was good, but in the end was just a piece of seared tuna and the aforementioned baby artichokes were a little too crunchy for my tastes. My arctic char was really nicely cooked, and had a ton of trout roe on it which made it salty like a potato chip, but that’s just the way I like it. It was served with smashed potatoes, which were pretty salty too but good, though the romesco sauce served with them was a bit off. It had almost a adobo flavor to it (guess that would be from the chilies) that I thought made it taste like it had a hint of dirt in it.
The meal and the atmosphere were wonderful, but I have to make a note about the service. Having eaten at Cashion’s a few times before, I know that the service is beyond friendly and helpful. However, our waiter asked us for our drink order and then disappeared for no less than 40 minutes. The restaurant was busy and there was a film crew roaming about, but still, Cashion’s is not a huge restaurant and by god I’m paying for good service. Once everything was said and done, it took us about two hours to eat our two course meal. We had been to quite the raging party the night before, so we were lucky not to fall asleep in our fish course. I think the service issues were an isolated event though, so it’s not going to stop me from eating there again. Hopefully I’ll have someone sponsor my next meal or else it’ll be a few courses of the breadbasket followed by a salad. All I can say is, sweet sassy molassy those group buying coupons do come in handy.
