Rose's Luxury
717 8th St SE, Washington, DC 20003
(202) 580-8889
Rose's Luxury is a two-story restaurant on Barracks Row. If you're a foodie, you've likely already been here or read about it. There's been a lot of hype. Sometimes places have good PR and don't live up to it. This place is not one of those. It doesn't hurt that they have Elizabeth Parker blabbing all over the internet about it...love you! In any event, I was flying solo as I'd just dropped my wife and son off at the White House for a Christmas party. It took me two hours to get the 13 miles from our house to Obama's. I decided I wasn't going to brave the traffic leaving the city and I'd just go sit at the bar and have dinner.
As usual, I walked around until I found someone I knew so I could get a seat in the right place with the right person taking care of me. The hostess recommended I go to the upstairs bar, but I went to the downstairs and ran into Elizabeth. She told the bartender I was a friend and to take good care of me. Exactly what I needed!
They start you out with a little loaf of bread and some soft butter with crispy shallots on top. Nice. I chose a Manhattan to start. Very nice. My cheftender Brian (I think) was very knowledgeable about the mixing arts and the food at Rose's.
The downstairs bar....and my friendly cheftender. Nice selection slightly left of the beaten path.
The Vietnamese Pate. Think creamy liver spread topped with chopped peanuts and served with some house-made pickles and micro Thai basil. Avant Garde Banh Mi. Very nice.
A little difficult to put in your mouth, but worth the effort.
Lychee and habanero sausage salad. Nice combination of flavors and colors going on here. There were some crispy bits in there that really made it an interesting dish.
Elizabeth told be about the special before I even sat down. Linguettine in butter/garlic with shaved White Alba Truffles. She knows I'm a truffle whore. It was literally the best truffle dish I've had in years. I'm not sure if the last two or three seasons were not as kind to the lovely fungus or if there was something else going on in the market, but these were so perfect and fragrant I almost had to take a knee when I was finished. At $30.00 I also considered ordering a second helping. I've paid much more for a much less satisfying experience in some very nice restaurants locally. I apologize for the color treatment here, it was kind of dark and you can't get the full sense of the beauty of this dish.
This was the cheese course. Marscapone with some crumbles and fruit. It was lighter than it looks/sounds and a nice change of flavors/textures/temperature after the truffles.
This was also a dish not to be missed. Fois Gras French Toast. Salty/sugary/crispy crumble with battered brioche and caramel ice cream with a slab of sauteed FG. I appreciated that the Cheftender passed me a glass of beer fragrant with apples to enjoy with this, but the after taste of the beverage was a little bitter with this dish. Maybe I'm just a traditionalist when it comes to FG, but I think a sauternes, port, or muscato would have paired better.
Aaron Silverman. Chef/owner and maestro at Rose's. He's doing a hell of a job and I expect we'll see great things from him and Scott Muns in the future.
Well done folks. Keep it up and keep your sense of humor.
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