August Restaurant Week 2018
If you all missed it, Restaurant Week made its way for the summer which is now called Metropolitan Washington Restaurant Week which ran from August 13th to August 19th. Who comes up with these names? Or was this always the name? LOL! Anyway, I got to check out two restaurants last week and I'll fill you in on the differences of the two and what I liked or maybe even disliked about the two.
I decided to do a lunch with some of my coworkers and I hadn't ever been to this particular restaurant before. We all decided on Zaytinya
which is inspired by Turkish, Greek and Lebanese cuisines. The decor of this place is hands down, amazing and well thought out and you're downtown in the mix of DC. I couldn't believe I had never been by before. The service was pretty on point and they kept the bread bowl pretty full. This is a four course meal which is pretty amazing and it definitely filled us up.
The first course was the Elies Tis Elladas which is greek olives marinated in oregano, greek olive, and oil is pictured above. These were delicious. I'm a sucker for all olives. The second course was the Kotopoulo Youvetsi which is chicken, orzo, tomato, and kefalograviera. This was my second favorite dish! The third course was the Crispy Brussels Afelia which is brussels sprouts, coriander seed, barberries, and caper yogurt. This was such an interesting combination but it worked and is apparently voted one of their best dishes. The last dish was dessert and this was my hands down, favorite! It was the Greek Yogurt and Apricots which is muscat-soaked apricots, vanilla yogurt cream, apricot sorbet, and pistachio powder.
I was highly impressed with this restaurant and would highly recommend to check it out! I will be sure to go back and try some other dishes here.
The next spot I stopped at last week was Kyirisan
which is (pronounced kir-EE-sahn). I decided to come here for brunch with a friend of mine who is also a foodie. The set up of this spot is super cute and small so you probably absolutely need a reservation here and they don't use OpenTable. I took a look over the menu and so many things sounded great! The appetizer was dessert which was a little weird and anyone that knows me, knows that sweets are not at the top of my list but always open to trying it out.
This restaurant doesn't offer as much as the other with how many courses you get which I was a little bummed about. We started out with Doughnut Holes and Cinnamon Bao Bun. The doughnut holes tasted like they'd been sitting out for a while and were sooo heavy and not in a good way. I was a little disappointed in those. Now, the Cinnamon Bao Bun was AMAZING! It came out nice and warm as I was hoping it would.
I also ordered hot tea which is included with the restaurant deal and a bloody mary because I love a good bloody mary and theirs didn't disappoint. The main course was the Panko Chicken Sandwich which I was so curious to try because I had cooked with Panko for the first time ever two weeks ago. The sandwich was pretty tasty, I just don't think my body was in the right position for the grease at the time, but it was so much to the sandwich and the chicken was soo juicy. This sandwich comes with cheddar, avocado, and pickles with a side of your choice and I chose the garlic homefries which were so crunchy and tasty.
I thought that the service was mediocre here and the food got about a 7/10 but open to trying this place again when I'm not halfway feeling like crap. LOL! Also, I must say the decor was super cute!







