94. DC Coast
I read an article one time that said that 75% of dieters reward themselves when they lose weight with an edible treat. Now that makes no sense. Why would you eat something when you just starved yourself into a bikini? Well, I sort of understood this crazy behavior the other day when I went to the dentist and had no cavities (thank you very much) and proceeded to treat myself to a fancy lunch at D.C. Coast. To my knowledge they do no offer floss on their menu. But I told myself I would brush a little extra that night and headed up to K Street.
It was a beautiful day outside, so I was a little disappointed when they had no outdoor seating. But they must have seen me pouting out front because they wisked me off to an upstairs room with a view of Franklin Park. A perfect position to point and laugh at the worker bees eating their crappy salads out of plastic containers while I dined in luxury. Suckers!
According to my waiter, who I’m 90% sure was the dad from Juno, I was lucky enough to eat there on the first day of their fall menu. I didn’t notice anything especially autumnal, but being the first at anything is always cool. I’m on a new kick of ordering two appetizers for my meal since two is always better than one, so that’s what I did. My waiter was seriously pushing the crab cakes on me (available as an appetizer) so I went with that for fear he would spit in whatever else I ordered, as well as the chile relleno stuffed with goat cheese and mushrooms. The chile relleno is not exactly something I would normally order—especially at an ethnically ambiguous restaurant—but I’m glad I did. It was nicely breaded and fried, and if loving goat cheese and mushrooms is wrong I don’t want to be right. The corn relish and tomato salsa were lovely complements. The crab cake was quite good (thanks Mr. MacGuff!) though the saffron vinaigrette was a little too overpowering for the light, filler-free cakes.
I have to give a big nod to the service while I’m on the subject. Not only was my waiter great, but when the chef wasn’t thrilled with the way my black bean relish turned out for my chile relleno, he whipped up a completely new side. It took a little longer to get it, but the waiter and the manager both came up to apologize. I was waiting for the busboys to sing me a song about how much they love me, but instead they just sent out my crab cake.
I was a little worried that time had passed DC Coast by, but I’m happy to report that my meal was still quite delicious. And the place was packed on a random Monday afternoon. Packed with corporate types I’d assume since as a little old 20-something Hill staffer, it was not exactly at my desired price point. But hey, when you’re cavity free, you reward yourself.
