Washington D.C. (Unum)

• RESTAURANT REVIEW : Unum was a restaurant that has been on my list for a while of places to dine in the D.C. area.  What I didn’t know is that it’s really close to where I frequent.  I decided to give this spot a try and stop giving myself excuses why I haven’t gone to it yet.  The restaurant can be hard to miss, as it’s not “big and flashy” and there’s no parking in the front of it.  Unum  is located in Georgetown off of M Street in Washington, D.C.  The outside of the place looks as though only 20 people can fit inside, truth be told, I’ve seen chipotle’s bigger in the inside then this place (no disrespect).  I’m not sure if Unum is known (and by known I mean commercialized) because when I went it was empty and no one showed up until 30 minutes after I sat down.  I don’t usually go dining on the week days but a friend told me it’s better to go on the week days then the weekends because you’ll always be able to get reservations.  I can not confirm or deny that as I haven’t been to enough restaurants during the week to attest to that.  The interior of Unum is beautiful.  It was dimly lit, quiet, and had a “romantic” feel to it for lack of better words.  What drew me to this restaurant were some of the reviews on yelp and some of the things that other people admired.  One of the comments that I saw was someone speaking about how nice it was in the inside.  They didn’t “over do” the decorations like most restaurants I’ve been to.  I would come to this restaurant business casual, but then again why wouldn’t you go to any restaurant business casual?  Unless you’re going to chipotle, then I expect nothing more than your favorite “wal-mart” out fit.  For those who don’t know what a “wal-mart” outfit is, google “outfits people wear to wal-mart” for a nice laugh.

Dinner Review:  Food!! (Insert evil laugh)  Most of the things I saw on the menu I would order, but unfortunately the budget doesn’t allow for all of the items on the menu to be tasted during the first trip.  I decided to order two appetizers and some half plates for dinner.  The dinner options for most of the dishes come in half size or full size.  I honestly believe that one or two half sizes would suffice for the typical hungry individual.  Let’s not get too greedy.  For the first appetizer I ordered chorizo stuffed squid which came with saffron-lemon risotto, fried calamari and a honey-lime chipotle sauce.  I thoroughly enjoyed this dish as it was a little spicy but not over bearing.  This dish was a pretty nice size which is a surprise because most appetizers I eat are small plates.  I recommend this dish to anyone that wants to try squid and/or calamari.  The other appetizer that was ordered was Chesapeake bay soft shell crabs with apricot, green tomato chutney and crush cashews.  Hey, do you know that you can eat soft shell crabs whole?  You don’t have to pick them apart. That’s pretty cool, right?  Don’t judge me if I’m now just realizing that, well.. I realized it about a couple months ago.  I guess that’s what the blog is for, to eat new food and learn.  The soft shell crab was good, but it isn’t something that I would order again if I came back to the restaurant.  It was a little salty and although well presented it wasn’t something that I would try again.  For the main event the Maryland Lump Crab Cakes, Sheeps Milk Ravioli, and Boneless Shortrib Pasta was ordered.  The crab cakes had no filler and they were a seafood lovers dream.  It was on a plate surrounding by sauteed corn with bell peppers topped with yucca chips.  The dish was perfectly presented and the taste equally matched.  I would recommend this dish for anyone to order.  I usually prefer remoulade sauce to go with crab cakes but I can honestly say that you didn’t need it for this dish.  The Sheeps Milk Ravioli came with peas, artichokes, asparagus and mushrooms with a basil pesto and lemon beurre blanc.  If anyone is viewing this and wanted a good vegetarian dish, I would recommend this.  It was packed with alot of flavor, but I’m not quite sure if the artichokes over powered the dish.  It was nice and creamy and was a nice size for it to be half portioned.  I can only imagine what the full size looks like.  The final dish was the boneless short rib pasta which had baby root vegetables, red-wine braising jus and Parmesan cheese.  This wasn’t my favorite dish but it was still good and filling too! I think I would’ve been more excited had they put a little bit more short rib inside of the pasta, but I guess that’s why it’s called the “half dish”.  The dish was well prepared and wasn’t too spicy or too salty.  It just didn’t stand out to me, just a regular pasta dish to me.  My overall experience at this restaurant I would rate as a 4.3 out of 5.  Good flavors, nice ambiance, and great service.  Let me know what you think about it if you decide to go!

                           RATING- BUSINESS CLASS

• Where to Next?  Dinner Reservations: This weekend, but we have to catch a flight.  We’re going to eat good. See you Saturday!