The Pastiche of Pastis
Fast Hits
Seeing a number of social media posts questioning how we ever cared a lot about ramp season. Like Beaujolais Nouveau by no means occurred.
The world appears to be spinning quicker and quicker, generally it feels not possible to not be overwhelmed by the always altering panorama. Then again, Crisfield Seafood.
The ratio of eggs-to-sauce in shakshuka needs to be reversed.
Congress can’t compete with a toffee-flavored creme brûlée — one is bi-cameral however the different is bi-caramel.
My favourite eating places are ones the place the waitress tells you to take your fork.
If I’m out driving at midday, my first thought is whether or not I’m nearer to Bub and Pop’s in DC or Soko Butcher in Takoma for a sandwich. My second thought is the Lyft driver doesn’t appear to understand including a cease since we’re nearly to Dulles.
Proper after Christmas dunks throughout Chanukah, one other Judaism PR nightmare: spring for Christian youngsters means jelly beans, chocolate eggs, and shamrock shakes; Jewish youngsters get three-pointed cookies full of prunes and a plate of bitter herbs.
The place are all of the lifeless squirrels?
I’m normally high-quality with the “up.” It’s the “at ’em” the place I run into issues.
Pastis, 1323 4th St NE, Washington DC (Union Market)
I’ve all the time poo-pooed issues like ambiance and repair. To me, these have been side-shows. The primary occasion — the one occasion — was the meals. Actually, the grubbier the environment and the gruffer the service the higher. That stored out the riff-raff, the hoi-polloi, and different hyphenates I didn’t wish to affiliate with. These of us who actually cared in regards to the meals weren’t solely ready to undergo, we welcomed it. I keep in mind the primary time I noticed the Soup Nazi episode on Seinfeld. I wasn’t laughing on the ridiculousness of the lengthy line of individuals debasing themselves for a bowl of soup. I used to be too busy practising my ordering approach for the subsequent time I used to be in New York.
However then Pastis modified my thoughts. Or, extra precisely, Steven Starr did. Ambiance actually might make the meals style higher.
Steven Starr, in fact, is the James Beard Award-winning restaurant impresario who began out in Philadelphia and has now expanded his empire to cities like New York, Miami, and DC. Right here, his secure of eating places consists of Le Diplomate, St. Anselm, El Presidente, and now Pastis. What Starr does perhaps higher than anybody is create a temper, a vibe, or generally even a complete world, for diners to inhabit. Typically the vibe is diffuse and imprecise, generally it’s clear and direct. His French spots in DC are the latter. Le Diplomate is the quintessential Parisian brasserie; Pastis is it’s smaller and grittier bistro cousin. Starr’s genius is that each evoke the sensation of someplace true and sincere and under no circumstances Epcot-like. You really could possibly be in a Paris establishment that has stood the take a look at of time slightly than a just-opened area close to Union Market that till final yr housed a wholesale produce distributor.
The thoughts is a humorous factor. You may know all that and you continue to can’t resist the phantasm. There’s the room’s golden glow, the zinc bar, the tin ceilings and tile ground. There’s the white-shirted servers laying down the placemats/menus with environment friendly ease and simply the correct quantity of pleasant. You recognize it’s a set piece, however your unconscious thoughts is in management and may’t resist the cues.
None of this may be essential if my anti-atmosphere bias held true and it had no affect on how I felt in regards to the meals. However Pastis proved that it did. The quintessentialness of the bistro trappings silently vouched for the quintessentialness of the meals. Earlier than I tasted my first chunk, a meal at Pastis began the sport on third base. My thoughts instinctively needed — perhaps wanted — the meals to mirror the setting.
Distinction that with Convivial, one other terrific French bistro on the town. The meals at Convivial is superb — and infrequently ignored — however the ambiance is fairly generic. It might serve something. I don’t fault the house owners. It’s an unbiased native spot that clearly doesn’t have the assets of the Starr Group. Nonetheless, it implies that a meal at Convivial emotionally begins from the on-deck circle.
None of that is meant to impugn the meals at Pastis. It was superb and a few dishes, as you’ll see, I completely cherished. That is extra about my realization that I’m not as proof against the lures of ambiance as I assumed. I’m not the meals purist I assumed I used to be. I’ve met the hoi-polloi and they’re me.
Now on to the meals.
Bread
Sourdough Bread
The bread service at Pastis is a hearty sourdough with good butter. It’s a high-quality sourdough, though I discovered myself considering I’d slightly have a baguette with a shattering crust or the bread basket at Le Dip.
Starters
Leeks French dressing
I really like leeks French dressing and this can be a terrific model (nearly pretty much as good because the Leeks French dressing at Convivial, perhaps the very best on the town). Good acid within the dressing and a few crunch from chopped almonds.
French Onion Soup
French Onion Soup is just like the purple class in NYT Connections — I normally solely get there by default. It is a stable model that I wouldn’t hesitate to order once more if nothing else appealed.
Caesar Salad
I recognize a Caesar that makes use of the great components of the Romaine (not all floppy ends) and chills the lettuce to the right temperature. On the draw back, dressing is a tad heavy, even for somebody like me who’s a heavy dresser, and somebody left the spigot on the bathe of cheese working a tad too lengthy.
Inexperienced Salad
If you happen to’re going for the sensory overload of the lobster-frites (see under), this can be a good option to start. Recent greens, lightly-dressed.
Scallops Crudo
Good presentation however was anticipating extra finesse (or extra scallops) for $21.
Mains
Bar Steak (Flatiron) Frites
The least costly steak-frites on the menu however actually scrumptious flatiron steak cooked completely medium-rare from edge-to-edge.
The fries are value mentioning, if for no different cause than fries are the only meals merchandise {that a} bistro will probably be judged by. The fries at Pastis are a bit thicker than I want, perhaps 25% thicker than my supreme shoestrings. That provides them a better ratio of fluffy inside to crisp exterior. Chances are you’ll like extra inside fluff but it surely does make it harder to maintain the outside crisp as the inside steam escapes. It’s why potato wedges are the bottom type of potato prep — it’s nearly not possible to maintain the surface crisp, and even when you might, the ratio of inside to exterior is to date off that you find yourself chewing what would possibly as properly be a cotton ball. To its credit score, Pastis does a very good job sustaining exterior crispness even with the fatter fries. They usually actually excel in salting them. So many eating places under-salt fries. Pastis serves them with the right quantity of salt that thicker fries really want to season the additional inner fluff.
Lobster Frites
A complete extravagance, each in value — the priciest dish on the menu at $72 — and within the sheer quantity of herb butter saturating each crevice of the lobster and spilling onto the plate to create a pool loaded with floating foam noodles (aka frites).
Duck Confit
It is a dish that was undoubtedly affected by the environment. I had no complaints ending it off on the desk. However later, as I considered it, the failings got here to the fore. It was small. The pores and skin wasn’t crisp. The carrots didn’t work. I’ve had higher duck confit regionally at locations like Chez Billy Sud and Bistro Provence. I’d return to the bar steak a dozen instances earlier than I got here again to this.
Steak Sandwich w/onions, gruyere, aioli
This steak sandwich is a foodie favourite from the Pastis in New York Metropolis. Small steak medallions with good bread and many taste boosters within the type of caramelized onions, gruyere, and garlic aioli. Nevertheless it’s a bit arduous to eat and the identical value because the superior bar steak-frites. So foodie card is punched and never dashing again.
Dessert
Creme Caramel
Skip the oddly-flavored Sticky Toffee Pudding — a dish I normally adore — and go together with the best-of-class Creme Caramel. (I heard the profiteroles have been good, however haven’t tried them.) What makes this creme caramel so good? Begin with the wonderful custard with good vanilla taste and no outer pores and skin. However what actually separates it from the pack is the caramel sauce. It’s the right hue, the sugar cooked simply shy of of turning bitter or burnt. Extra importantly, there’s a number of it. You may get your spoon beneath the sauce and get a very good slug of caramel with each chunk.
_________________________________________________
In order that’s Pastis. It’s an atmospheric triumph that makes no matter you eat style higher. So order properly — say the leeks French dressing, the bar steak-frites, and the creme caramel — and also you’re in for a meal on 4th St NE worthy of the 4th arrondissement.
