Taste::Cafe Atlantico

Restaurant Week is in full swing. For those of you who haven't participated, its a great way to try renowned restaurants at $30.05 for a three-course dinner.

Last night I had my first experience with Cafe Atlantico in Penn Quarter. I've been meaning to try this well-known restaurant for some time. I have heard great things, especially of their mini-bar where the chef custom-creates 25 bites of food for a small group of customers.

Last night's menu provided an amazing array of creations. I was immediately impressed with the breadth of ingredients and the blending of cultures. DB and I had a difficult time choosing between the starters, but agreed to share two.

We settled on the Scallops with coconut rice, crispy rice, ginger and squid ink oil, as well as the Conch fritters with a liquid center, jicama-avocado raviolis and mango oil. The first thing that I noticed about the scallops was how tender and perfectly cooked they were, medium rare. The sweetness of the scallops blended nicely with the creamy coconut rice, while the crispy rice provided a nice crunch. This went well with the South African Sauvignon Blanc that I was drinking. This dish is also available in an entree-sized serving, though I think this is unnecessary. I shared this dish and couldn't imagine eating 4 times the amount that I did.

When I tried my first bite of conch fritter, I was glad I was sitting down. The fritter itself looked fairly usual on the outside, however, the inside was a creamy center of conch chowder that oozed out. I was told that they achieve this affect by freezing a ball of chowder. The ball is then dipped in the fritter batter and fried, creating a center that is room temperature unlike the scalding how liquid centers you sometimes find in food. The ravioli that accompanied were like tiny purses of tropical flavor. It seemed an odd pairing, at first to present the fritters with another starch, but the ravioli skin was paper thin and the addition of the mango oil tied the whole plate together.

The first entree that we tried was Duck confit with sauteed baby spinach, pumpkin seeds, raisins and passion fruit oil. This combination of flavors seemed to have a very Eastern influence to it, even though the ingredients that accompanied the duck were solidly Caribbean. The meat was so tender that it collapsed onto the fork with a slight crunch of crispy coating on the skin. The earthiness of the pumpkin seeds was complimented by the raisins and the passion fruit. I am often leery of what some restaurants call duck confit. This piece, however, was definitely slow cooked for hours.

After experiencing this dish, I didn't believe it possible to have another great appearance of food. My experience with DC restaurants has left me a bit pessimistic. However, when we took the first bite of Seared salmon with cauliflower-quinoa "cous-cous," buttery papaya, avocado mash and papa-vanilla oil, I was stunned. This combination of flavors was absolutely perfect. The quinoa was a great stand-in for traditional cous-cous when combined with the cauliflower. The papaya was served diced, atop the salmon in a presentation that lead me to first believe that roe was involved. The small dollop of avocado mash on the site was a nice cool and creamy foil to the other flavors.

We finished our meal with a coconut sorbet which was well done, though no extraordinary. What was more appealing, was the warm chocolate cake served with chocolate flan (more like pudding than what we traditionally think of as flan), accompanied by banana foam and fresh banana-lime salad. In my opinion the two banana sides was a bit overkill and not needed.

The only low point of the evening came after the meal. I am left to wonder what has caused this phenomenon in DC restaurants. No matter how good the food, or the service during the meal, my experience in DC is that many times, you are left to wait for the check or for the server to take payment. I also wonder if these servers don't realize that this is the last impression that the customer has and the moment when they are deciding how much to tip. After an excellent meal, its frustrating to be held captive while trying to get someone to take your money.

That being said, the experience at Cafe Atlantico is one that warrants repeating.