Range in Chevy Chase...Home cooking made extraordinary.

Range

5335 Wisconsin Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20015

Valet on Military Road just past the hotel entrance.

Yes, I was busy over the holidays, and to tell you the truth I haven't really had any great meals in places that had good enough lighting for me to take pictures. Sorry to disappoint. I made up for it last night though. Six friends/family members and I went to Range, Bryan Voltaggio's new restaurant in Chevy Chase.

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Here's a shot of one of the barmen creating a pair of fabulous cocktails. Note the huge cubes.  They are not only fun to look at, but functional as well.

Back to the story line though...Bryan was previously with Charlie Palmer and won some accolades there, but really came into his own with the restaurant Volt in Frederick.  I reviewed the restaurant a few years back when I had dinner at Table 21, which at the time was a four-seater with 21 courses.  You can read about that here - Table 21 at Volt Restaurant

 Range is NOT a trip down molecular gastronomy lane.  It is a place where you can take your family, or have a business meal, or just stop in for some chocolates and a coffee. It is accessible. It is, and this is going to be a shocker, a tremendous value.  More on that later.

 Here is a pic of the menu. 

 This is another of their tasty cocktails.

 And another.  All of the cocktails are priced less than you would expect for such well thought-out and executed drinks. If you were to hit a bar downtown that had this kind of talent behind it (Owen Thomson) you'd be hitting $15.00-$20.00 per drink easily.

Some of my intrepid eaters: Shawn, Cheryl and Amelia.

Kathy Morgan, MS. She chose our wines for the evening. She rocked them out, each one was something unique with memorable characteristics. Nothing middle of the road here, and nothing more than $60.00/bottle if I remember correctly.  It takes a master to give you an experience like that without breaking the bank in the process.

 Perfectly cooked 1/2 Raw Bar Tower. Fresh, briny, served with several accompanying sauces which I didn't try. Everything was so fresh and succulent that I didn't want to sully the flavors.  I did, however, keep their fresh horseradish to nibble on after the tower was removed.

Kampachi with pine nuts, lemon and coriander.

 Goat Cheese Ravioli with a braised meat ragu.

 This one was not on the menu, but it was some beautiful fish.

 The pork cheeks with moustarda.

 The Kampachi with hazelnuts. Perfectly crisp on top, flaky/tender inside.

 Wonders abound on the charcuterie plate. I was particularly fond of the pork rillettes and the duck galantine.

 This was the kale Caesar.

 That is one fancy spork. I think it was meant for the marrow bones.

 This is the lobster with garlic and chilies. The bread that came with it was soaked in the jus. This was one of my favorite dishes.

 Not everyone is a fan of bone marrow, but I sure am. One had the raisin topping and one didn't. I liked them both, but the pristine version with the just-crisped top was worth the trip by itself.  Mmmmm.

 This is the rib eye with mushrooms. Very nice.

 The Border Springs lamb. Very nicely done. Tender.

 Of the two steaks this was my favorite.  The Roseda Hanging Tender. I managed to bring some home and my son had it for lunch. He closed his eyes and chewed....going MMmmmm.

 This is Kampachi with forbidden grains and coconut. Once again, perfectly crisped with a tender inside.

 This is the whole stuffed rabbit. Very earthy. Takes you right to the woods.

 This came to the table last.  It's the  merguez stuffed lamb breast. Very well-spiced sausage cooked to perfection. I was able to bring some of this home as well and it was a great addition to lunch today.

 This was the favorite wine of the night...or at least for half of us.  The rest were enthralled by the Muscato that came with desert. I didn't get a picture of that bottle...8(

 There were various sorbets and tastings of things for dessert.

More desserts!

In these pix you don't see the various side dishes including sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, mushrooms, brussel sprouts, and other things. There wasn't a poor recipe or execution among them. 

What you also don't see is the level of service we received. It was very gracious and fun. Never overbearing or pretentious. I asked our server, Nema, to order for us and keep the food coming until we cried Uncle. She did that in spectacular form, incorporating the dishes that we specifically asked for.

There were a few hiccups with timing, but that is to be expected as this is a very new place and everyone is still getting their sea-legs.

Just a mention of the Home Cooking in the title? These recipes and preparations are classic with a little updating in some cases. Whole-animal usage is the order of the day here, and hopefully it will catch on in more venues. It is what it's supposed to be, and it's awesome.

Regarding my earlier comment about value? We spent about $130 per person including tip. I've had meals that cost twice that and delivered less than half the satisfaction. This is the new Must Try DC Restaurant.

Congratulations team Range.

Toki Underground Revisited - It ain't just soup.

Toki Underground

1234 H St. N.E.

Washington, DC 20002

(202) 388-3085

More than just Ramen.  Toki chef Erik Bruner-Yang is flavor master.  He takes some fairly humble ingredients and creates magic at his tiny restaurant in the Atlas District.  The picture above is the pan-fried dumpling dish that was recommended in the Washingtonian Cheap Eats 2012 that just came out.

Three very satisfied diners.  L to R me, Cheryl Bolen aka my wife, and Chef Jayson Lewellyn.

Don't skip the sake!  They have a very nice selection and John behind the bar was happy to discuss the finer points of each with us.

Here is a bowl of beauty. The flavors he coaxes out of bones, beaks, and whatever else he's throwing in his stock pots is amazing.  I went with the Miso base, while Cheryl got the original and Jayson got the Curry.

They had a couple of specials Saturday.  This was the first one we tried:  Pork Cheek.  Perfect and tender, served with some pickled veg and bbq sauce.

This was a special they were running that the guy sitting next to me had.  He saw me taking pictures and offered up his bowl.  Lots of crawfish in a steamy, fragrant sauce.  It looked great too. 

Crispy, perfect pork belly.

The finishing touch to the evening was the dessert.  Cheryl absolutely LOVED this.  It was coconut ice cream with shortbread, strawberries and raspberries.  She licked the bowl....not really, but almost.  This night was special for another reason:  There was enough light for me to take pictures!  Sweet.

Some notes about this restaurant.  It's small, but it is absolutely worth the wait.

This restaurant is unique and one of the best bargains in the city. 

They could charge twice what they do and I would say the same thing. 

 They have engaged CityEats to do their seating coordination and reservations, so  you stand a better chance of getting a seat these days.  Good news for everyone.

If you go, tell Joe, John, Erik and crew you read about it here.

Happy dining.

Home Cookin'....Jayson Lewellyn puts my kitchen to use

Chef Jayson Lewellyn came over with a shopping bag full of tasty vittles.  The menu for the evening was seared scallops with a buttermilk spinach sauce, mussels, and poached peaches with creme fraich and candied walnuts.

Here Jayson is setting up the scallops to dry out a bit, keeping them tight and supported so they don't turn into mush.  They sat this way for a few hours while we worked on the rest of the prep.

Here is the fennel for the mussels.  Cross-cutting at an alternating angle allows the fennel to disperse flavor evenly over a period of time.

These candied walnuts were like popcorn!  He boiled them in simple syrup for a few minutes, then deep fried and salted them.  These were great for the ladies to nosh on while we got the rest of the dinner put together.  They also made it onto our dessert.

Here Jayson is working on the sauce for the scallops, which involved spinach, buttermilk, herbs de provence, white wine, and a few other things.

Here Jayson is pitting the peaches that had been poached in the same simple syrup as the walnuts.

Garlic, white balsamic, basil, safflower oil, fennel and onions were blended together for our vinaigrette.

Listening for the change in pitch that signals proper emulsification.

Here are the first batch of scallops hitting the pan.

The scallops and some cauliflower getting ready for plating.

The mussels were first tossed with a little oil, white wine, fennel, and fresh chopped herbs de provence before hitting the pre-heated Dutch oven.

The scallops and cauliflower with buttermilk spinach sauce and split peas.  The texture of the scallops was perfect and the sauce had an herby/earthy tone that played well with the sweetness of them.

The mussels were plump and fantastic.  He topped them with a little grated parm and served with crusty slices of baguette for dipping.

The peaches were served chilled with creme fraiche we started making at the beginning of the prep, candied walnuts, and lemon zest.

The texture of the peaches was perfect. They retained just enough bite so that you could tell it was a peach.  I love poached pears, but they always seem to lose their texture.

A great meal was had by all.  It was a lot of fun to be Jayson's sous and help put it together as well.  Moving forward you will likely see more posts like this as we test more recipes and refine them for locally available ingredients.  Hope you enjoy the pictures...too bad you can't taste them!