CityZen
Mandarin Oriental Hotel
1330 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20024
202-554-8588
CityZen was crowded the night I went with five work colleagues,
even though it was a Tuesday. The entire table ordered the three
course tasting meal, which turned out to be a fully sufficient
amount of food, especially considering that the chef served us
three amuse bouche.
One was an olive oil crema suspended in a creamy tomato sauce
and garnished with chopped micro chives. Another was a delicious
mushroom dumpling with a mushroom reduction that could be compared
to the best mushroom soup.
For the first course, three of us ordered the Crispy Shoat
Belly, shoat being the belly of a young pig. It was delicious
- salty, had a crispy crust, was perfectly crisp. The skin was
like a delicious pork potato chip. It was served with two delicious
fried pickles, and its sweet acidity cut through the richness
of the pork belly.
For my main course, I had the Barramundi, an Australian fish
similar to cod, served with heirloom tomatoes and rock shrimp
fritters. I found the dish underwhelming due to the rock shrimp
fritters being mushy and because the fish itself was far less
warm than it should have been. The buttery and salty rolls, brought
to the table during the main course, were fantastic.
On this night at least, the waiter accommodated some requests
at the table to make exchanges with the tasting menu. The presentations
were beautiful, and the service for our table of six was well-timed.
Our table was by the kitchen and it was fun to watch the servers
run back and forth with different plates.
It was a fine meal overall and I would go back again on an
expense account (the lamb dish looked delicious), but I am not
likely to return soon if I will be the one paying.
S.S.Lee (07/23/08)
Editor's note: Chef Eric Ziebold of CityZen was named ‘Best Chef:
Mid-Atlantic’ at the James Beard Foundation Awards in 2008.
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