By There are so many restaurants in Washington, D.C. that I want to try that I can close my eyes and pick one and be satisfied with the results. On this occasion, I wanted to go to a specific restaurant to eat one specific thing. Pheasant. Have you ever heard of Pheasant? Well, to give you a simple definition, it’s a pigeon that’s been raised with love and care. I was so excited to try out this bird, that when I got to the restaurant I was going to spare the waitress details on specials of the day because I knew exactly what I wanted. Because I have manners, I let her do her “spill” to tell me the specials of the day and highlighted menu items. “So, we have an extensive wine menu, which you can see on the back of your sheet, and some highlighted menu items are our Uni Pasta, Octopus, and Pheasant.” YES!!!! … “Unfortunately, we’re not serving pheasant today as the chef informed us that we don’t have any at the moment.” Have you ever seen a heart broken man? It’s one of the saddest things you’ll ever see.
Good thing I had a backup plan. Well, not really, but I had to come up with one quickly otherwise I would’ve spoiled my experience at this restaurant. Bresca is located off of 14th St, and is described as a French influenced restaurant with modern alcoholic drinks. The interior of this restaurant would be described as a nice date night spot with dim lighting and a lush bar. The prices at this restaurant aren’t too bad either. So, if you think this place is going to break your wallet, you can have one less thing to worry about.
During my visit at Bresca, I was able to order four dishes. The dishes ranged from Oysters and Tea, Sea Urchin Linguine, Octopus, Oil Poached Halibut, and Veal Breast. I’ll start off with the Oysters as they were some of my best oysters I’ve tasted. The oysters were made with Earl Grey, bergamot, and black pepper. The taste of the oysters were equivalent to a sugared vinaigrette. The taste of the actual oysters topped with the dressing and finished with a hint of black pepper sent my taste buds to another level. They were smooth, moist, and flavorful. These were the “prettiest” oysters I’ve ever had.
The next dish that was ordered was the Sea Urchin Linguine. It consisted of truffles, chili, yeast butter, and porcini. The pasta was light, but the only take away about this dish is that I wish more Urchin was provided. I love the creaminess of sea urchin so to have this mixed with yeast butter and the earthiness of porcini was genius. Although you couldn’t see the porcini, you could taste it mixed in with the pasta. The pasta was light and refreshing. The pasta wasn’t too creamy where you can taste the heavy cream that’s usually made with a seafood pasta, but it was rich and smooth.
The third dish that was ordered was the Octopus which was one of my favorites of the night. I particularly enjoyed this dish because the flavors were amazing but the presentation was remarkable. It looked so amazing when it came out, that it took me longer than normal to photograph the dish. The octopus consisted of harrisa, hummus, tabouleh, yogurt, and black lime. All of those ingredients, I’ve never had or think to even put together with Octopus but they worked extremely well. The octopus was firm, but not too soft, and the yogurt mixed with the hummus gave it the perfect sweet and savory flavor. I couldn’t really taste any lime with the dish, although I’m sure it was incorporated, but the Octopus stood out by itself. Definitely a must have when you go.
The fourth dish that was ordered was the Oil Poached Halibut. The Halibut was presented in a bowl which sat on vadouvan & mussel chowder, squash, parsley, and kaffir lime. This dish was so good that I went home the next day and tried to recreate it. Needless to say, I failed miserably. There was no way that I could recreate this dish without the help from the hands in the kitchen. I’ve only had poached fish a couple other times, but anytime I see it on the menu I may contemplate on ordering more than I would’ve. The mussel chowder and squash worked perfectly hand in hand together. The broth was so flavorful and salty that the bitterness of the squash balanced it out. If I didn’t have this silly rule about going to the same restaurant more than once, I’d go back and get this same dish again.
The last dish that was ordered was the Veal Breast. It consisted of kuri squash, apple, kohlrabi, pumpkin seeds, and oil. If you’re like me, you’ve never heard of kohlrabi so what do you do when you’ve never heard of something? You google it, duh! Google told me that kohlrabi is a biennial vegetable, and is a low, stout cultivar of cabbage. Interesting part about that is as I was eating it, I said to myself this taste exactly like cabbage. Funny how that worked out. The squash and apple along with the pumpkin seeds complimented the sweetness of the Veal too. I enjoyed each bite I took of this veal and was happy I ordered it. If you’ve never had Veal then this is the perfect time for you to order it.
Overall, this restaurant is a go to. If you’re looking for somewhere to go for date night or a special occasion then this is the perfect place for you. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit, and even though what I wanted wasn’t available, the other dishes made me forget what I initially came for.
SavoryTravels 