Beating the January chills with some Latin inspired restaurants (part 2)

Who doesn't like trying out new places to eat? Especially when you can get a three course meal for only $35! The hardest thing about Restaurant week is choosing a place to go among the 200+ participating restaurants (and making reservations early enough for your party).

Well, at first I wasn't sure if the hubs and I would be able to make it this round for a handful of reasons. However, we were able to pick a few places that had open reservations that were not at 10pm. Of the choices, we decided to go with Zengo in Penn Quarter.

Another chilly night!

Zengo is a Latin-Asian fusion restaurant that is part of Richard Sandoval's restaurant group that has been around in the DC area since at least 2005. One thing to be aware of (as pointed out in the linked article) is the food doesn't come out as set appetizers or main course, the kitchen is rolling - so when chefs are done with the food it comes out.  

I had heard of Latin-Asian fusion restaurants before, but didn't have the opportunity to try them until now. I enjoyed the way elements of the two types of cuisine complemented each other in the dishes. I think the pleasant surprise for me was the incorporation of calamansi - a citrus fruit that my grandma and aunties used in Filipino cooking whenever they had some around.

Calamansi Old Fashion

We started off with a cocktail each while we were trying to figure out what to order. With my current liquor of choice being whiskey, I decided to try the Calamansi Old Fashion. The whiskey used did not have as much bite as other old fashions that I have tried and it had more citrus and sweet flavors that seems to contribute to the mellowed alcohol.

Tuna Tacos

Since we had gone with the Restaurant Week Special, I ordered the Spicy Crab Guacamole, the Tagalog-style Churrasco, and the Avocado panna cotta. Hubs got the Charred Tuna Wonton Tacos, the Scallop Special, and the Churros with dark chocolate dipping sauce.

Crab Guacamole

I decided to get the guacamole since I had the expectation that it would be fresh and hoped that I could continue the hubs new found appreciation for this tasty dip.

While I am a self-admitted spice wimp, I didn't find this dish to be very spicy at all. There was some spice that was drizzled on the dish, but overall the spice was really mild.

Tagalog-style steak

Hub's appetizer were the tuna tacos, that were cooked and season perfectly. The mango salsa was a very nice complement to the mild spice in each little taco.

 The special main course for the night was scallops on top of a citrus rice. The scallops were cooked really well - though there was no additional seasoning placed on them. The citrus rice did a really good job of complementing the buttery sweetness of the scallops.

Scallop Special

The Tagalog-style steak was also very tasty. With the exception of a couple pieces of gristle (hey not every piece of meat can be perfect), it was a wonderfully tender piece steak. The charred onions were a very nice balance to the herby chimichurri. The unexpected piece of deliciousness was actually the the sweet potatoes - the lemony sauce had a bright sour note that I really enjoyed.

Churros and Pannacota

Dessert is always a fun way to end the meal and since we each couldn't decide between the two desserts, we just got both. The panna cotta was really well done, creamy and smooth that had a little bit of crumbled chocolate cookie to give it an added crunch. The churros were well seasoned and were only enhanced by the chocolate sauce.

Overall, it was a fun outing and we found another reason why it's good that I don't have a job near the Penn Quarter. It's definitely on the try again list - especially since we didn't have any of the ceviches.

Beating the January chills with some Latin inspired restaurants! (part 1)

Snowy January night in DC

Baby it's cold outside!

Date nights have been quite chilly so far in 2014. However, the hubs and I have been able to warm up with some tasty dishes at Latin restaurants Oyamel and Zenga.

A few weeks before Christmas 2013, the hubs told me that we were going to have a date night on January, 2, 2014. And that was it!

I'm not a huge fan of not knowing what I'm supposed to be doing.

Metal butterfly mobiles 

When date night came around, hubs finally told me that we were going to Oyamel as we were turning down 7th Street. Oyamel is one of the handful of restaurants José Andrés' Think Food Group. It's not a new restaurant - it's been around since 2007 in Penn Quarter and was previously located in Arlington, but it's new to me. Plus, I'm a fan of José Andrés and really want to go to every single one of his restaurants (if possible).

Since it was our first time at Oyamel, the server explained that the dishes - the antojitos - are basically Mexican "tapas" and that most people get about 3-4 dishes. So here's some of the stuff that we ate.

Guacamole!

We started off with the guacamole, even though the hubs was never a guac fan. I saw servers preparing it at tables near buy and it just looked tasty. I know hubs was glad we ordered it - I think it even has changed his mind about guacamole since this was probably the freshest he's ever had it. We definitely killed the guacamole, I was starting to get worried that I might not have room for the ceviche and tacos I ordered.

Sometimes I wonder why I don't order ceviche more often. I love dishes that have a slight sour flavor - lemon, limes, vinegar  - and knowing that the fish in ceviche is "cooked" in lime juice, I should make it a point to order these. There were two ceviche specials that we tried - a scallop ceviche with pineapple and a hamachi (yellow tail) in a horchata sauce (not pictured). Both delicious!

Octopus taco

Both tacos I ordered were really really good. Well seasoned. Meat cooked perfectly. They were just lovely! Now, I should note that the tacos aren't huge - the tortilla is about 4" in diameter. But even though they are small they pack in a lot of flavor.

For both of my tacos, I got the two of the specials - octopus and sweetbreads.

Sweetbreads taco

The octopus taco was really well done. The one thing I had not expected was how spicy it was. I was too impressed with the vibrant colors and delicious smells that I failed to recognize a chili staring right at me. It was a quick hit of heat that luckily was quickly calmed by some water. However, the heat did not take away from the flavors. The other one was sweetbreads, which I had never tried before. They were soft in texture and gave a slight minerally flavor that was wonderfully complemented by the citrus salsa.

Pastel de tres leches pina

Even though we had a good bit of food, I'll admit that my sweet tooth often gets the better of me. So, I ordered the pastels de tres leches pina. I really enjoyed the pineapple gel and caramel espuma on top of the cake. It was so tasty - if I had enough room, I would have been tempted to get another.

Overall, I was very happy with the food and drinks at Oyamel. If I worked in near the Penn Quarter, I could see myself coming out there for drinks from time to time. Since I mostly got food from the specials list, I want to go back just so I can get some of the standard fare :-)