Before reading this post, please read my more recent entries about Komi. This post is seriously out of date. Komi is now my #1 restaurant to eat at. If you read my more recent posts, you'll understand why.
After reading the Post's review of Komi, Amy was so intrigued that we called that same weekend to make a reservation. "No available reservations." Gee, what a surprise -- the Post's featured restaurant was booked all weekend.
The next weekend, we decided to try again with my friend from work, Mike and his girlfriend Jen. This time, however, Amy called on Wedneday and made a reservation for not the coming weekend, but the following Saturday.
We shared a cab over to the restaurant on 17th St. NW. The cabby tried to rip us off with the fare -- typical. When will DC to go a damn meter system? Anyway. That's something for a whole other blog.
When we walked in, there was not much of an entry. We were 20 minutes early, but luckily the table was ready. The restaurant had a modern, sleek look. Long and narrow, with nothing on the walls, and a big stone oven in the rear. We all swore we were in some swanky Manhattan bistro. We were all dressed to go barhopping later and we fit right in.
Once we sat down, the server quickly introduced herself and gave us menus. Throughout the night there were three different servers that gave us food and drinks. The only bad thing about the service that I noticed was the waitstaff had a tendency to let our drinks get empty and stay that way -- much to our sober annoyance. We had heard that the wine list was one of the better in the city, but we opted for the mojitos. Not too uncommon, but worth noting, is the fact that Komi does not have a full bar. Mike ordered a Manhatten and they could not make it.
There were many different choices on the menu that interested us -- Veal, Quail, Lamb, Rabbit...Wood-Fired Pizza? The appetizers were interesting, but fairly typical for this type of trendy restaurant. We started with the roasted pear, walnut and gorgonzola salad and a very interesting beet salad. I ordered the veal and Amy ordered the Buffalo strip steak.
Once you order, another waitperson comes over with fresh homemade bread (foccacia and sourdough), and then another comes by with a little teacup filled with something green. "Roasted cauliflower and apple is our soup today," said the waitress. We all tasted a little bit of curry as well. Yum. All over the restaurant you saw diners tipping their heads waaaaay back to get every drop of soup from the cup.
When the servers brought the salads, they looked very "pretty." The food looked as if an artist had put every leaf of lettuce on the plate. It was good, but it left me wishing I was having the Little Fountain Café's version of this salad.
Mike's first comment about the quail he ordered was, "That's a tiny little bird, isn't it?" Don't get me wrong, the food tasted excellent, but there was not much of it. My veal was he most tender cut of meat I have probably ever had, but there were only three tiny pieces of meat on my plate. The helpings were the perfect size for my better half, who actually cleared her plate. Amazing!
The small servings meant...ta-da! We all had plenty of room for dessert. We all ordered the homemade cinnamon donuts and Mexican hot chocolate. In retrospect, we probably didn't need to all have our own order, but given the size of the entrees, I expected to see another very small serving. None of us were going to risk leaving this place still hungry. As it turned out, however, each serving had two donuts and their holes. Heads turned to stare at our table: Wow. Pigs. But who cares? The donuts were fantastic.
The hot chocolate was more for dipping than drinking. It was as thick as the soup they had brought out earlier. As the servers brought out our donuts, one waitress commented, "We mix in a little corn starch to thicken it, so feel free to eat it with a spoon." Amy was feeling a bit sleepy from all the food and ordered coffee...which, as a nice touch, comes in a French press that they leave at your table. After a pot of that, she was bouncing off the walls. Caffeeeeinnnneee!
Overall, I was pretty happy with our trip to Komi. The only thing I would have changed was the serving size and the amount of alcohol I consumed. But quite honestly, I probably don't need either, so it was for the best.
Out total bill for the four of use came to a little over $200 before tip with an average of one and a half drinks each, four salads, four entrees, four desserts and a coffee.
Komi
1509 17th St NW
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 332-9200
Kinda good, kinda yukky. Some of the dishes seemed to be the result of experimentation for the sake of it, taste be damned, much like a nine year old in the kitchen alone. Our surpise amusing pre-dinner soup was mushroom chocolate cappuchinno. Bleaaggh, although my dining companion (pretended?) said she liked it. Since Komi was my recommendation and is pricey I think she wanted to be upbeat. The oysters arrived with a long explanation from one of the dapper glam twentisomethings about how they were not the ones that the restaurant ordered but were EVEN BETTER, and had a wonderful brininess. I felt that he protested a bit much, was trying to get us to perceive their too-strong oceansalty flavor as a positive. The homemade crackers had too many wierd spices that just didn't taste good -- okay anise crackers are creative but I don't actually want to eat them. And the textures had not yet been perfected. Some of these dishes are like arty fashion shows with clothes that it's understood no-one will wear. Is this why Tom S. gave it 3 stars, because he's bored?
But on the bright side the two vegetarian appetizers I had, mushrooms with papardelle (the papardelle was a bit tough) and the grilled asparagus were very yummy, and the doughnuts are outstanding. I found the servers a bit cold and unfriendly and a bit full of themselves, esp. given that they still live with mom. Big kudos for the very reasonable by-the-glass wine prices and excellent list. Opera could take notes on this one.
Posted by: Barbara | Feb 27, 2005 at 01:13 PM
Seeing that Komi is ranked no. 1 on your site, I've finally decided to try it despite of a lack of website/advertising of the restaurant. Having a very low expectation on its service, I was already surprised when I made the reservation by phone that the person on the other end was quite friendly. I was surprised that I was able to get a reservation for dinner the next Saturday night.
When I arrived at Komi, my friends and I did not find the entrance to it very appealing. However, when we entered the restaurant, the simple yet modern decor changed our minds.
The servers were just like what the Post advertised - Teen Vogue waitresses who know the menu back to front. The service was great; they definitely kept on filling our glasses with water every now and then (even though it's 3/4 full) Our server was also very nice to explain everything on the menu.
The one thing I don't like about the menu is the appetizers. For this restaurant, I did not think the appetizers were very special, hence we didn't order any. For entrees, we got the seabass, scallops, quail, and tuna. The seabass came out in a whole fish, which was great. The tuna was cooked well with the skin fried; the quail, as mentioned on this site, is rather small. The scallops were average; i've definitely had better.
Onto the desserts: we had the strawberry dessert, three chocolate terrine, greek donuts, and lemon cupcake. My chocolate terrine was pretty good; at first I was appalled by the fact that they would put olive oil on it; but to my surprise, there was a tint of mint from the oil and it actually worked very well with the chocolate/shortbread. The other desserts were not bad.
I actually expected the prices to be a bit cheaper, but I would definitely say it's worth every cent (except maybe make the portions bigger).
Posted by: mindy | May 28, 2005 at 10:11 PM