Blue Duck Tavern

1201 24th St. NW (in the Park Hyatt), Washington, DC 20002
202.419.6755
www.blueducktavern.com

We ate at Blue Duck Tavern in DC last night with our friends Kirstin and James. They came to visit after a trip to New York, before heading home to England. If you get the chance to eat here…GO!!! Seriously, make your reservation now. This is one of the best meals we’ve ever had in town. It is connected to the Park Hyatt Washington, and you might almost go right by it if you aren’t paying attention. The atmosphere is dark, cool and not pretentious at all. We were wearing jeans, but you would feel just as comfortable, maybe more so, wearing something a bit more upline than that. We were there on a Sunday evening, Fridays and Saturdays may be a bit more dressy.

The waiter brought a plate of Concord Grapes to try, and I almost forgot about the bread these were so good. And I don’t even normally like grapes. I started out with the Pumpkin Bisque soup, which had a tiny square of gingerbread covered with ham in the center of the bowl. It was creamy and not too sweet. I devoured the whole bowl. We had ordered a bottle of Byron Pinot Noir, and I’m not sure if this went well with everyone’s meal or not but I didn’t care. Pinot Noir is my favorite wine, and this was a very good bottle. SQ ordered the Crab Fritters as his starter and I swiped a bite. They were crispy on the outside and incredibly creamy on the inside, very fresh tasting.

I ordered the Maine Scallops for my main dish and they were perfect, nicely browned on both sides. The side dishes here come family style, so we went a little crazy and ordered Chanterelle mushrooms, Sweet Potato Grits, Mashed Potatoes, and Sweet Potatoes done like wedge fries. I don’t care for Sweet Potatoes, so I can’t comment on those but everyone else seemed to like them. The Mashed Potatoes were really smooth, not lumpy at all, and the Chanterelles were cooked nicely and not mushy. We were onto our second bottle of the Pinot, so I was getting quite full…but there’s always a little room for dessert.

SQ wanted the chocolate cake with flaming bourbon, so I shared some of that with him. James ordered Chocolate Smores Ice Cream. This had all the actual smores ingredients in it, very yummy.

The whole concept of this restaurant is freshness, quality and working with a lot of farms. They source through several in Pennsylvania. The menu changes seasonally, and they even post on the menu where your food is coming from. The options should also make anyone happy. If you can’t find something on the menu you like, you don’t like food.