I recently spent a weekend in DC to celebrate the Rally to Restore Sanity along with two of my dear friends, Cara and Lacey, and while we were there, well, we ate.
One of my good college buddies Emily lives in the city and made some recommendations for restaurants and on the top of her list was Zaytinya, a middle Eastern spot featuring small plates and big flavors....however, we couldn't come close to grabbing a reservation on this busy weekend so we thought we were out of luck. This was until we found ourselves wandering around the city on Friday afternoon; starving, feet hurting and cold. The next thing we know....we're standing right outside of Zaytinya-- and they're open-- FOR LUNCH! PERFECT.
We walk in, grab a table immediately and start our divine cuisine experience with lovely glasses of bubbly and white wine.
On the lunch menu there is a choice to do a 5 course tasting and we jumped on the opportunity to try as many dishes as possible. I can't remember exactly in what order we had what but here are some of the dishes we had: Hommus, Falafel, Fattoush, Garides Me Anitho, Kibbeh, Adana Kebab, Shish Taouk, and a heavenly dessert that consisted of the creamiest custard ever.
Each plate was phenomenal and the perfect portion-- enough for each of us to have 2-3 bites of every offering. The Garides Me Anitho were by far the table favorite-- shrimp that were sauteed in a dill, shallot, lemon and mustard seed sauce. This sauce was beyond anything I have ever tasted in regards to flavor just jumping around in my mouth. The acidity of the lemon paired with the earthiness of the mustard was a blissful marriage.
Thanks much to Emily for the great recommendation and of course to the amazing chef's and service at Zaytinya...it was the perfect way to start out a great weekend.
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