Stuff to eat. Mostly around St. Louis.

Spencer 6/20/16 Spencer 6/20/16

Bolyard's Smoke Out & Roasted Chicken

Think of this less as a "Dish of the Day" and more as a P.S.A. to improve your life. You already know that Bolyard's makes some of my favorite sandwiches in St. Louis. You know they've got some of the best meat in town. But did you know that they have both a weekly Smoke Out and a roasted chicken night?

The Smoke Out takes place every Thursday—early in the morning, they send out the email of what's for sale that day, and then you have approximately 30 seconds to call. Seriously, it's like getting tickets on Ticketmaster. You blink and you're shit out of luck. The meat is just that good. I can't get enough of the chicken rubbed with their bacon cure, but their huge pork steaks and brisket shouldn't be missed.

I've started buying the meat—whatever I can get my hands on—and shredding it, then using it in tacos and rice bowls. Those guys somehow manage to get their meat so much juicier than what I'm able to produce at home. Thanks for making me feel so inadequate, Bolyard's crew.

Just look at that tray of meat and tell me you're not hungry instantly (and if you do go into the shop, make sure to compliment Jon Todd on his fox tattoo and vascular arms. He's been trying to put on mass).

Tuesday nights are oven roasted chicken nights. Don't even go into the shop after 1PM on Tuesdays. It just smells too good, the whole shop perfumed by the wonderful smell of chicken fat.

It's hard to properly express the crispy skin of roasted chicken through photos, but I assure you that if you tapped on the chicken below, the undeniable sound of crackly skin would ring out. Once again, your best bet is to call in the morning and reserve your bird.

Spencer 6/5/16 Spencer 6/5/16

Smoked & Braised Lamb Shoulder

Few things in the wide world of food can compete with the beautiful simplicity of smoked meat. If done properly, it's a perfect meld of soft fat and crunchy bark, smoke and sweetness. I love pork ribs just as much as the next guy, and a slow-smoked brisket is hard to beat, but I'll be bold: my favorite meat for the smoker is lamb. Buying high quality bone-in lamb is imperative for this recipe—if you cheap out, you're going to end up with gamey, dry meat. For those of you in St. Louis, no where comes close to Bolyard's Meat and Provisions. The recipe is based off Chef Edward Lee's pulled lamb BBQ, from his cookbook Smoke and Pickles.

The quick smoke at the beginning of the recipe helps develop the crust and give the lamb a nice hint of smoke, and the braise turns it all into one heaping pile of easily shreddable meat. The leftover jus makes for great French dip sandwiches, but I've used this recipe to make tacos, rice bowls, and pastas. It's a fantastic way to prepare lamb that skips the red wine and rosemary like every other recipe out there.

Smoked & Braised Lamb Shoulder

SERVES: 6-8 | PREP: 15 MINUTES | TOTAL: 4 HOURS AND 45 MINUTES

INGREDIENTS

SPICE RUB:

2 T kosher salt
1 T black pepper
1 T dry mustard
1 T smoked paprika
1 T ground cumin
1 T garlic powder
1 T Korean chili flakes
1 T brown sugar
1 t cayenne pepper
1 t coriander

LAMB:

1 3 lb. lamb shoulder
5 c beef stock
1 bottle stout
1/4 c apple cider vinegar
1 T soy sauce
1 t tabasco sauce

METHOD

Combine all the rub ingredients and mix. Rub the meat with the spice rub until well covered. It’s best to let the meat sit uncovered in the fridge overnight, but if you’re short on time, leave it to rest for at least 1 hour.

Light your smoker and get the temperature between 225-250F (lower is better). Once there, add your smoker wood chunks. I prefer a 50/50 mix of apple and oak. Add the meat, leave to smoke. Preheat your oven to 300F. After 1.5 hours, remove the lamb from smoker and place in a roasting pan.

Add the liquid ingredients and cover with foil. Put the pan in the oven and check on it in 3 hours.

Lamb’s looking and smelling sexy, right? Remove from the oven and place the lamb on a cutting board. Pull it apart—wear disposable gloves to help from burning your hands. Eat all the good crusty bits when no one’s looking.

Strain the liquid and use it as jus, or use to cook grains in. Quinoa cooked in smoky lamb jus is orgasmic.

Yum

Spencer 3/27/16 Spencer 3/27/16

Salt + Smoke's Burnt End T-Ravs

I can understand why other cities haven't welcomed St. Louis favorites like gooey butter cake and Provel cheese with open arms. But there's no good reason that every city in America shouldn't be serving toasted ravioli (a.k.a. t-ravs). For the uninitiated, toasted ravioli are just like your normal ravioli, except they're breaded and fried—no, there's not toasting involved here. We're talking about a Midwestern speciality, after all. The typical t-rav is filled with a nondescript meat, basil, and oregano—basically a meatball. Some are filled with cheese to appease vegetarians.

That's not the case here at The Delmar Loop's Salt + Smoke. No, sir. Salt + Smoke has, over the last 6 or so months, become my go-to for any kind of BBQ meat relating to the cow. Owner Tom Schmidt and his crew have mastered beef. Expect another post later this summer on their brisket, but in the mean time, make a note-to-self: I must go to Salt + Smoke and order the brisket. If they have the option of burnt ends, I must tweet at Spencer so he can come eat them instead of me.

You know what burnt ends are, right? I won't say there's no shame in not knowing. You're an adult. You should know by now. Burnt ends could more appropriately be called Brisket Gold, Diamonds in Le Boeuf, or just the emoji for the crying smiley face. Super fatty chunks of the brisket are cut and smoked extra long, allowing the fat to render out and produce bites of brisket as smoky as Don Draper's office and as crunchy as meat bark can be.

They are my single favorite bite of BBQ.

Salt + Smoke takes their burnt ends, chops them up, then stuffs ravioli with them. These are ravioli that are 15+ hours in the making. It is impossible for them not to taste like heaven. Especially when served with white BBQ sauce—a tangy, even more fattening version of normal BBQ. It's mayo-based and loaded with horseradish and vinegar. It's like ranch 2.0.

To recap: fatty, smoked meat stuffed into pasta, then fried. In a post-apocalyptic world, I would accept these as currency.

Spencer 2/8/16 Spencer 2/8/16

Lunch Pick: Annie Gunn's

I get that St. Louis has a little bit of city vs. county competition, but the number of times that knowledgable food enthusiasts that I trust have brushed off "The Gunn" is both disheartening and aggravating. If your aim is to eat at all of St. Louis' best restaurants, a visit to Annie Gunn's is in order. Actually, two visits are in order. Go for lunch and ask to be seated in the semi-outdoor atrium. Go for dinner and enjoy a decadent steak dinner with the finest wines. At some point I'll write about their dinner, but this post will serve as a lunch guide.

Many moons ago, I wrote about one of my favorite sandwiches in St. Louis: the French Dip at Annie Gunn's. My pictures do it little justice. It's got a perfectly buttery and soft bun, some of the best roast beef on Earth, and the right amount of cheese. Add to that the au jus and creamy horseradish dip and you're in heaven.

A French Dip might be a bit too heavy for you daintier eaters, so I figured now would be a good time to share some of my other favorites. First off, if you're an eater of chili, theirs is a must-try. I don't really have much to say about it besides "it's really good chili." If you're the kind of person who tells people that you're just big-boned, you should probably go for the potato soup.

For main dishes, there are almost always two fish specials, and they are always good choices. Chef Lou Rook and his team are constantly changing fish and preparations, based on what's available. This past weekend, for example, they featured both fluke and rainbow trout; below is the roasted trout with a badass salsa verde on top. The dish originally came with braised greens and some kind of starch, but my dad is watching his figure, so he opted to get green beans and asparagus instead.

If you really want to take advantage of The Smokehouse Market aspect of Annie Gunn's, you should do the smoked seafood sampler (or the WOW board—I'll cover that another time). I get this all the time because I'm fancy as hell. The plate is composed of their famous Vermont maple glazed jumbo shrimp, Viking Village sea scallops, Troutdale Farm trout, and sturgeon, served with onion, tomato, capers, Pennsylvania Dutch BBQ sauce, a dill sauce, and Guinness rye bread.

The shrimp are good, but overhyped. Your server will almost certainly tell you how you can get them individually as an appetizer. They're a little too smoky and a little too sweet for me. The sturgeon is a nice meaty chunk of fish, with a light smoke and a little sweetness. To me, it tastes a lot like swordfish. My Jewish soul loves it. But nothing tops my love for the unbelievable little sea scallops, something I've tried to replicate at home but failed miserably at doing so. Oh, and the trout—once again, perfectly smoked. I sometimes get a salad with a side of the trout, when I'm feeling particularly healthy—which is rare.

You can't visit The Gunn without stopping by the Smokehouse Market, the connected market and smokehouse. Bolyard's and Truffle's have both done an admirable job of bringing meat to the masses, but no one does it quite like The Smokehouse. There is so much meat in this store, it is unbelievable. Cured meats, fresh meats, sausages, steaks wrapped in bacon, bacon wrapped in steaks. Whatever you want, they have. Their smoked chickens make for a great dinner, their roast beef (the same as the French Dip) is always great to have for sandwiches, and butcher Andrew Jennrich (formerly of Farmhaus) is there to help guide you to the right meat choice.

The Smokehouse also has its own rather large take-out menu of sandwiches and salads. The not-secret but oft ignored sandwich that really shouldn't be ignored at all is the John's Smoked Trout. The same hickory smoked trout from the seafood plate with sliced red onion, capers, cucumbers, and the dill sauce. It is so good.

Spencer 5/11/15 Spencer 5/11/15

Dinner Lab: Anthos

The last time I saw Russ Bodner was in mid 2003 when he graduated from my high school, headed off to study accounting at Indiana University. Imagine my surprise when, in early 2014, Russ and I reconnected and I found out that he was some big fancy chef down in Alabama. We started talking fairly often about all things food related, one of which was his fondness of pop-up restaurants. Eager to try his food and an avid fan of Dinner Lab, I put Russ in contact with some of the Dinner Lab crew and voila: I present Russ Bodner's Anthos - Greek Interpretations from a Lost Restaurant. The evening's meal took place at the midtown Urban Chestnut, which is probably my favorite out of all the venue's they've used so far. The size was right, the beer barrels all around created an industrial atmosphere, and it was connected to a bar for post-dinner drinking.

Russ' career has taken him from NYC (Anthos) to Alabama (Springhouse, Kowaliga) to Colorado (Aspen Mountain Club) and now, possibly, back to St. Louis.

How did you pick the name for your dinner?

The very first restaurant that I worked at was Anthos, and I loved the food that we were doing. Unfortunately, they've since closed. I've taken some of my favorite items we did there and put my own spin on them for this dinner.

Did you have a favorite Mediterranean dish or restaurant in St. Louis? We don't have too many here...

I didn't have a favorite in St. Louis growing up. It was all in the kitchen at Anthos. They were doing "new-age Aegean", something that I found fascinating and unique.

How'd you pick the five dishes for this menu? I'm sure you have an arsenal of dishes at your disposal.

I knew that when I did a dinner in St. Louis, I wanted a fish-centric menu. I played around with doing a Southern progressive line up, but the Mediterranean won out this time!

On his way up to St. Louis from Alabama, Russ stopped by some of the farms he used to frequent during his Springhouse/Kowaliga days to get some fresh seasonal ingredients, including fresh lima beans, corn, baby Vidalia onions, and okra.

You come to St. Louis every few years and eat like a horse - where were you most excited about trying this trip?

I was most excited to check out Publico. It's in my old neighborhood.

What are some standout dishes you've had in town?

My absolute favorite dish I ever had in St. Louis was a carrot dish at Niche when it was on Sidney Street. I also loved the pig tails at The Libertine and the lamb heart at Publico.

I know you're looking to open a restaurant here. Do you have a concept in mind?

I have a few ideas in my head, but I will keep them close to the chest for the time being. I would love to do something that is different and not in St. Louis.

What are your favorite and least favorite ingredients to work with?

The tomato - for both. When the heirloom tomatoes are in season, I don't think there's anything better. But during the off season, there's almost nothing worse.

What's the most memorable meal you've had as a diner?

I'm not sure if this counts, but a few years ago, I was at an event in Virginia at Border Springs Farm. Craig Diehl and Bob Cook from Charleston were in charge of doing the dinner that night. Craig boned out a whole lamb, rolled it and slowly roasted it on a spit. He also slowly smoked and then grilled a skin-on pork belly. Both of the meats were so incredible, I can't even remember what the vegetables were!

If there is one dish of yours that would define your career so far, what would it be?

As far as a dish that got the most recognition, it would certainly be the catfish tacos I made when I opened Kowaliga Restaurant in Alabama.

Each course had an Urban Chestnut beer pairing. My favorite was the pairing of their Russian Imperial Stout Thrale's with dessert. The beer has a sour cherry and coffee taste, but man, it was a heavy, heavy beer. I'm not man enough to take down an entire bottle myself. Koval provided the house cocktail, a powerful gin and maraschino mix that would have rendered me useless if I had more than one.

Koval Cocktail at Russ Bodner's Dinner Lab

Russ' first course was a lightly seared tuna with a sweet and intense fennel pollen crust. Celery leaves, radishes, Thassos olives - an oil cured olive from Thassos with this amazing ripe olive flavor, and dehydrated feta were sprinkled around the dish, along with a bit of orange and orange vinaigrette. The flavors were distinctly Greek, but unlike anything I can remember having before.

Seared Tuna Plates at Russ Bodner's Dinner Lab

Russ is doing the same menu at Dinner Lab Houston; this dish was so good, I thought about going down to get it again. Then I weighed this dish versus having to actually be in Houston and decided it wasn't worth it.

His second course - and the most popular entree of the evening - were Sheep's Milk Ricotta Dumplings. I'm not sure anything about this dish was Mediterranean aside from the little pillowy dumplings, but it was outrageously good. Give me a Southern American + Greek restaurant! Russ cooked the crawfish in a crawfish stock with the lima beans and corn, then topped it with tobacco onions.

The result reminded me of something my grandma would have cooked when we were younger. Fresh, hearty, probably more unhealthy than it looks. I would happily, joyously pay for this at a restaurant.

This was the controversial dish of the evening, as octopus tends to be. Due to issues with the oven, some of the smoked octopus was undercooked, resulting in a chewy bite of seafood. I guess I was lucky, because my piece was tender. The octopus' smoked flavored was complimented by pickled shallots and mushrooms and subdued by coriander yogurt.

Lamb shoulders were donated from Border Springs Farm in Virginia, then slow roasted until it was time to serve. Like everyone worthy of your trust, I love nothing more than the taste of slow cooked, smoked meat. Seeing these lambs come out of the oven, I contemplated taking one and leaving, tearing it apart and eating it handful by handful like they serve it at Kapnos in D.C.

What you can't see in the pictures is the bulgar trahana, which tastes like grits and bulgar made a baby. The bulgar is cooked with dairy, resulting in a creamier texture and milder flavor. The red sauce you see at the bottom is a homemade harissa, also incredibly tasty. I will be going all Zero Dark Thirty on Russ to get that recipe. Grilled okra and baby vidalias rounded it off. If forced to pick 3 dishes from the meal to eat again, it'd easily be the tuna, dumplings, and the tsoureki shortcake with basil ice cream. Sweet desserts do about as much for me as monogamy does for Don Draper. They're wasted on me. This, however, was not. The tsoureki has mahlab, a spice made from cherry pits, giving it an almondy, nutty hint. On top of that was a thin layer of the piney, sappy mastic oil, then sweetened yogurt, strawberries, and finally, the basil ice cream.

The ice cream was on the same level (or maybe even higher...) than Anne Croy's basil gelato at Pastaria. You could tell looking around the room that this dessert was a home run. People stopped talking and just focused on eating as much as the could as quickly as they could, then trying to figure out who around them wasn't going to finish theirs.

Russ' Dinner Lab gave St. Louisans food that they can't find here otherwise. His love of Greek cooking combined with years in the South have left him with a unique voice in the culinary world. I hope he decides to make St. Louis his home once again - he'd have my business.

Spencer 3/25/15 Spencer 3/25/15

Olio

It's blasphemous to say, but I am a Jew who doesn't really care for Jewish delis. I'm never going to finish that 3 lb pastrami sandwich, I've never cared for latkes, and I like eating matzah ball soup about once a year. When I'm looking for some food that speaks to my Jewish soul, I go to Olio, sister restaurant to the upscale Elaia. Olio's menu has recently been revamped, but remains similar to what it's always been. Dishes are separated into Pantry, Antipasti, Eggplant, Bruschette, Sandwiches, Salads, Pizza, and Plates (available after 5pm). I think of it as tapas restaurant, ordering a number of dishes for the table to share. Olio also has a nice selection of wines, beers, and liquors. As spring and summer approach, my mood has become increasingly beach-focus, so I went with the Jungle Bird. It's a mix of dark rum, Campari, lime, and pineapple. It went down fast and easy.

Picking from the 36 menu items proved to be more difficult than expected. How many dips do we get? How many salads? Do you want a pizza? Should we just go upstairs and get the full tasting menu at Elaia? As we debated, we decided that the "Deluxe" Hummus was a good first choice. Their creamy hummus is mixed with pine nuts, almonds, smoked paprika - then topped with braised lamb neck.

I wish I had the vision to put braised meat into my hummus in college. Things would have been so different.

My favorite thing at Olio has always been their Baba Ghanoush. Charred eggplant is mashed and mixed with Lebanese tahini, wheatberries, kefir, and chives. There are so many layers of subtle flavors with this thing, I don't even know where to begin. It's somewhere between nutty and smokey, but the word I'd use to describe it and so many other of Olio's dishes is just "fresh".

I would never have thought to order their "Famous" Egg Salad myself, as egg salad has always been one of those dishes that's borderline disgusting to me, but sometime last year Ben insisted that I try it. The old Jewish man in my soul fell in love. There's something about the combination of the egg, chives, lemon zest (key ingredient) and anchovies that just leave me wanting more. Next time I visit, I may order it to go just so I can have it for breakfast.

Speaking of old man food, the Smoked Whitefish Salad probably also falls into that category. There's a smoked whitefish trifecta of dishes in town now - this salad, Old Standard's fried coquettes, and Publico's tacos - and I love them all. This particular plate is sort of like your deli's smoked salmon/lox/sable plate with toast, onions, capers, and chives, just better.

The Zucchini Carpaccio is what I feel like very healthy Californians eat for breakfast everyday. Thin strips of zucchini are topped with preserved lemons, parmigiano, and every herb that exists. It's light, it's healthy, and it shows that you can create a delicious dish using simple ingredients (well, you probably can't, but a chef can).

By the time the Roasted Beet Salad and Cornish Hen arrived at the table, we were stuffed. We persevered with a few bites of each, but the rest was taken home and eaten for the following day's lunch. The beet salad reminded me a lot of the one from Taste, but the addition of buckwheat and dill gave it a more earthy, nutty flavor.

The cornish hen was probably the most disappointing dish of the evening for me. Its flavors were much more subdued than the rest that we'd had- it didn't taste much different than your typical roasted chicken with roasted vegetables home-cooked meal. Next time I go, I'll skip that and go for a pizza or sandwich instead.

Olio

1634 Tower Grove Avenue

St. Louis, MO 63110

314.932.1088

Spencer 3/4/15 Spencer 3/4/15

Gobble Stop Smokehouse

I've written about Gobble Stop Smokehouse before, a family-owner BBQ restaurant in Creve Coeur specializing in poultry, but I wasn't happy with my photo of their turkey ribs. At least that's the excuse I'll use. I don't have much to add to my last post - this place has the best smoked poultry in town. My go-to are always the turkey ribs; they're smokey, they're juicy, they're meaty. Look at them compared to the corn on the cob below. Big.

If I'm not getting the turkey ribs, I'm probably getting the turkey tenderloin sandwich. Sliced smoked turkey tenderloin is piled high on a warm pretzel roll with portobello mushrooms, onions, and some provolone cheese. You must get this with their signature mustard BBQ sauce. Same goes for the turkey ribs. It has a unique and exceptional flavor. I've taken home extra before and used it on meatloaf and as a glaze on salmon.

A new addition to the menu is sliced turkey breast, something that has become a staple fridge item at home. The only competitor I've found that can rival its flavor and juiciness is the turkey from Truffles Butchery.

My only complaint about Gobble Stop's menu are the sides. If they can take those to the next level like they've done with poultry, they're golden.

Gobble Stop Smokehouse

1227 Castillon Arcade Plaza

Creve Coeur, MO 63141

314.878.5586

Spencer 2/16/15 Spencer 2/16/15

Sidney Street Cafe

Kevin Nashan and his team are killing it right now. Peacemaker is the hottest new restaurant in town (for good reason) and this past trip over to Sidney Street Cafe was a standout. I've written about meals there previously, but this one takes the cake for best overall, I think.

Our visit to Sidney Street came during a particularly heavy eating streak, so we went sans appetizers for the evening.

Those at the table who opted for a salad instead of the evening's soup special suffered from a severe case of order envy. While it may look like your run of the mill butternut squash soup, it certainly was not. It had been Nashanized, its flavors so intense and rich I nearly picked it up and gulped it straight out of the bowl like a ruffian. A few crunchy pepitas countered the creaminess, and an intense, slow burning spice gave it a delightful aftertaste. Almost every bowl was left bone dry.

This thing of beauty you see below is the lamb wellington, a beautiful take on what most American's think of as "that dish Gordon Ramsay makes". Lamb loin is topped with herbs before being wrapped with puff pastry and baked. The result is perfectly cooked lamb swaddled in a flaky dough, each slice resting on creamed kale and crispy lamb sweetbreads.

The dish is really more of a duo of lamb than just a wellington. The merguez meatball ragout behind was absurdly good - like I have been thinking about it for weeks good. There's something about North African spices make the lamb flavor pop. If those meatballs showed up as a Peacemaker poorboy special, I would not be disappointed. Fingers crossed.

Before I talk about this dish, I have to say that I love Sidney Street's plating. I'm not sure anyone in St. Louis is putting out prettier plates of food right now - follow them on Instagram for sneak peeks at upcoming dishes. This is the first time I can remember having a pheasant entree, but it will not be the last. Juniper cured pheasant breast can be seen on the far ends, along with braised Belgian endives, thin slices of citrus and quince celery. The stand out was easily that thing that looks like a prop from a Tim Burton movie with a bone sticking out: the crispy ballotine made of pheasant leg confit, pheasant tenderloin, citrus, and herbs.

This is the best gourmet smoked brisket in town. I wrote about it in great detail already here. Must read, must eat.

We felt too guilty and fat to get appetizers, but apparently not too guilty to go for dessert.

Our first choice was a classic: the [symple_highlight color="blue"]dark chocolate turtle brownie[/symple_highlight] served with pecan brittle, vanilla ice cream and, by special request, some chocolate sauce. Intensely chocolatey in the best way.

I pushed for the seasonal [symple_highlight color="blue"]Blood Orange[/symple_highlight] dessert and won, of course. Like a blood orange, the dish hovered between sweet and tart. Down the center of the plate you can see a twisting block of very sweet white chocolate ganache, flanked by pistachio crumble, cranberry sorbet, and all things citrus. It came with a Gran Marnier creme brûlée, served separately, which happened to be my favorite component of the dessert. A normal creme brûlée does nothing for me, but add a flavored liquor and I'm all in.

As I said at the start, this was a memorable meal at Sidney Street from a taste perspective - everything was delicious. The kitchen was firing on all cylinders. I got the brisket myself, but I would have been happy getting any of the other entrees we ordered. I tend to go through obsessive phases with my eating; for weeks at a time I'll go to the same place over and over until I'm ready to move on. Earlier this year, that place was Niche. After this meal? It's Sidney Street. I'm watching the menu like a hawk, just waiting to see something so tantalizing I can no longer resist the temptation.

My return is imminent.

Sidney Street Cafe

2000 Sidney St

St. Louis, MO 63104

314.771.5777

Spencer 9/18/14 Spencer 9/18/14

Rose's Luxury

Washington, DC

Who would have thought that trying to get a party of 5 into Bon Appetit's Best New Restaurant 2014, which takes no reservations, at 6 pm on a Friday would be difficult? We knew we'd have to be there early for any chance at all. Three of us arrived around 5:30 and were told that we wouldn't be seated until our other two guests arrived. We were also told that there were two other parties waiting for the same table, meaning whoever's party was complete first would get the table. THE RACE WAS ON.

The rest of our party was stuck in the DC Metro, delayed, so we made our way to the upstairs bar at Rose's and waited for the news. It was like sitting in the waiting room at the hospital's ER. The prognosis was not good. Train delay after train delay. Then the call came. "WE ARE ALMOST THERE!"

Incredibly, we were the first full party, so we got the table, which was at the far back of the restaurant. The whole place has an eclectic but homey vibe, and the back portion almost makes you feel like you're sitting outside with its high ceilings, skylights and strung up lights.

I got some kind of tequila cocktail that came in this trippy mushroom glass. The drink was good, but I cannot remember what was in it aside from some jalapeño.

Biscuits. Hot, delicious, buttermilk biscuits. That caviar looking stuff to the side? That's butter topped with burnt onion powder. It didn't taste burnt or even really like onion, but it was delicious spread on these biscuits. All restaurants should consider replacing their white bread with these. Look, the recipe is even online!

Rose's dishes are, for the most part, small. If you're in a big group, you'll be able to order nearly everything on the menu and still have room for dessert. Our first dish was the [symple_highlight color="blue"]bigeye tuna[/symple_highlight] with freshly grated Matsumoto wasabi. Matsumoto, a city Northwest of Tokyo by a few hours, is famous for it's large wasabi farms, so we were getting the real stuff; no green tinted horseradish at Rose's. This was more of a product feature than a cooking display, but when you have these high caliber ingredients, let 'em shine!

The [symple_highlight color="blue"]Mexican grilled corn salad[/symple_highlight] was the first cooked dish we got and it gave us a good idea about what we were in for. It sounds simple--grilled corn, guajillo pepper, lime and cilantro--but it was done absolutely perfectly. Bringing this to a summertime BBQ would win you friends.

Nothing was more inventive or delicious than the [symple_highlight color="blue"]Pork sausage, habanero, and lychee salad[/symple_highlight]. My brother raved about this from his first visit, and since his food opinions are usually close to mine, I believed him. It doesn't look much like a salad though, does it? The waitress told us to mix it up until it looked gross, which I didn't take a picture of, because it looked gross. It looked like a blind person made an ice cream sundae. Taste-wise was a different story. The pork sausage had some crispy bits and a hint of garlic while the coconut sauce had a bit of a kick from the habaneros. There were bits of red onion, basil, cilantro, mint, and peanuts.

I don't know how Aaron Silverman created this crazy 'salad', but bravo, sir. Eating this made me feel like a judge on Chopped.

lychee salad Rose's Luxury washington dc

A trick was pulled in the [symple_highlight color="blue"]Jerk chicken[/symple_highlight]. We each cut ourselves a piece of the chicken, took a spoonful of the pickled mango raita, then a hunk of the green papaya salad. I bit into the chicken, expecting the spice kick normally associated with jerk chicken, but it never came. The skin was crispy and tasted of the Caribbean, and the meat was incredibly tender, but no heat. Then I took a bite of the papaya salad and got punched right in the tongue with heat.

[symple_highlight color="blue"]Marco's gnocchi[/symple_highlight] was the dish I was least impressed with the whole evening. Sorry, Marco! The description said it had favas, mint and chervil in it, but our whole table agreed that this tasted mostly like your run of the mill mashed potatoes. My brother had the gnocchi his first visit and said it was totally different than this in terms of quality, so I'm just going to assume we got an off batch.

Luckily, the [symple_highlight color="blue"]bucatini[/symple_highlight] with Sungold tomato sauce and parmesan made up for the gnocchi on the pasta front. Simple & tasty. Too bad it had pine nuts in it. They're the worst.

I thought the entire "Other Goods" part of the menu was stellar. We got two orders of the [symple_highlight color="blue"]caramelized cauliflower[/symple_highlight] with Greek yogurt and 'some other stuff'. It may not look so impressive, but it was probably the best cauliflower dish I've ever had. Crunchy, creamy and deeply flavorful.

Prettiest dish of the night goes to the [symple_highlight color="blue"]Portuguese Octopus[/symple_highlight] with burnt lemon puree and fresh herbs. It was art on a plate; it was not just visually impressive, but it tasted fantastic, as well. The octopus was charred and tender. Its mild taste was countered by the bright herbs and indescribable burnt lemon. I guess the chefs at Rose's really like to burn things.

Needing a healthy counterpart to the yet-to-be-shown final dish, we ordered the [symple_highlight color="blue"]honey glazed carrots[/symple_highlight] with mascarpone, matzo meal and dill. These were cooked to perfection, then taken up a notch with a typical Rose's touch. Familiar but still exotic.

The final dish. The reason we couldn't order any desserts. [symple_highlight color="blue"]Smoked brisket[/symple_highlight] with white bread, horseradish and slaw. There was nothing tricky about this dish. No hidden surprises, like a white bread puree or horseradish foam. No, the only surprise was how fantastic this simple dish was. St. Louis has its fair share of great BBQ, all of which have smoked briskets, so I wasn't inclined to order this, but my brother assured me it was worth it. To his credit, he was right again. I would describe the brisket as being lightly smoked in taste but almost buttery in texture.

I wasn't expecting to finish such an imaginative meal with a slice of melt in your mouth brisket drizzled with horseradish over white bread. It reminded me of some of the meals I had in Japan where the simplest courses were the best.

Aaron Silverman and his team at Rose's Luxury are doing something special. The long waits and high accolades show that. The meal bounced between haute cuisine (edible flowers, burnt purees) and classic Southern fare (biscuits, brisket) with such ease and coolness that it takes away the pretentiousness one might expect from the restaurant.

I highly recommend you get to Rose's at 5:30 pm one night and dive into whatever's on the menu that night. I can't wait to get back to DC and see what these guys are up to in a year or so.

Rose's Luxury

717 8th Street SE

Washington, DC 20003

202.580.8889