Zaytinya - DC

Jose Andres is one of my favorite chef's and someone who introduced me to the world of small-plate eating.  For my entire life previous to dining at his restaurants, I'd been forced to eat massive sized entrees of pasta, steak or burritos with that being my entire meal.  I always craved multiple tastes, textures and sensations but that isn't how Americans dine.  And then I ate at Jaleo and realized, food doesn't have to be limited to picking one giant entree!

Zaytinya is Jose Andres's Mediterranean tapas restaurant.  It is widely recognized as one of the best tapas restaurants in Washington DC.  It has a lively bar scene and it's hip interior, complete with 30 foot high windows, men in vests and fake eyewear can turn even the biggest "bro" into a hipster for the night.

My group of six sat down a little tipsy on tequila and began firing off suggestions to one another and our waitress.  Within minutes, huge football sized pieces of hollow bread appeared along with oil for dipping. The hummus came out first and we dipped our steaming pieces of bread in with great pleasure.  Great hummus is test number one for any restaurant claiming to have Lebanese influences.  It was very good and two plates of it disappeared in minutes.  Their hummus style is a very smooth blend versus a slightly grainy texture which some hummus lovers prefer.  Just a note so you have an idea of how they prepare it.

I've always said you can fry just about anything and it tastes great.  But that statement would not do justice to Zaytinya's fried appetizers.  First, the fried eggplant came out.  A testament to my fried food theory, I am not a fan of eggplant, however, it was beyond tasty.  After selling the fried Brussel Sprouts to my friends all night leading up to the dinner, I was impatiently waiting for the double-order I had placed to come out.  When it did, I made my mom proud by loading my plate up with about 15 sprouts.  Each sprout was lightly seasoned with coriander and barberries, fried in some miraculous way and then drizzled with a yogurt sauce that perfectly complemented each bite by adding cream to crunch.  The cooked texture is like a crispy-edged, juicy, flavorful artichoke.  The dish didn't let my friends down as we finished both plates.  For greek food lovers, don't miss the spanakopita which they make very much like a ho-ho.  Puff pastry shell filled with spinach and cheese.

The meat courses did not let us down, either.  The first to come out was the beef tartar.  Raw beef scares a lot of people but 5 of us lathered the tartar onto the supplied crackers.  Tartar is so dependent on seasoning and making sure the meat has a little texture left to it.  American diners don't like meat mush!  Zaytina's tartar gets it right.  One guy in our group has a very.... conservative palate.  Which means, he only wanted Calamari so we ordered two rounds.  Calamari is a very subjective dish and people prefer it all different ways.  I like it lightly fried and lightly seasoned and SUPER fresh.  I'm not a fan of chain restaurant methods of using frozen squid/octopus and heavily frying/seasoning the morsels and requiring the diner to rely on the supplied sauce to help it go down easily.  Zaytinya's squid is light and I could only detect salt and pepper in their seasoning.  It was so good that it did not require any dipping into the garlic-white sauce which led to a conversation about men having an aversion to white sauces, in general.  This was just one of the many hilarious, inappropriate conversations that booze and great food seemed to encourage.

Let's not forget one of the best dishes.  Be sure to get the HÜNKÃR BEĞENDI which is a braised Lamb Shank with puree'd eggplant.  This appeared to be Zaytinya's interpretation of Roast Beef and Mashed Potatoes using Mediterranean ingredients.  A second round was definitely required after the first round vanished before everyone could try it.

Coffee and dessert were no let down as one friend declared that their regular coffee was the best he had ever had.  I shared the soft-center chocolate lava cake with a couple of the group members but the highlight wasn't the cake.  It was the fresh whipped cream that Jose Andres has mastered making that accompanied the cake.  It is also accompanies their famous Flan at Jaleo that is my all-time favorite dessert.

Unfortunately, there are no photos to go along with this post.  Taking time to snap photos would have resulted in missing entire dishes as we gorged ourselves on tapas.  In other unfortunate news, my full belly and frantic ordering resulted in missing the opportunity to try the goat , the crispy veal sweetbreads and crabcakes.  But I'll be ready to go back very soon!

4.5 out of 5 Stars

Sorrento's Grill Tapas in Herndon

The chicken bites were the only highlight

Sorrento's in Ashburn used to be one of my favorite lunch spots.  Their kubideh and khoresht (Persian stew) were excellent and the wait staff always took good care of me.  Then one day, they were shut down because of a landlord issue.  I was their last customer.  It was a sad, sad day.  I love food so seeing one of my regular establishments go under was heart-wrenching.  Or maybe I was just hungry.

So when I saw that Sorrento's in Herndon (a fast-food version of the former Ashburn location) opened a Tapas Grill directly behind their existing restaurant, I got excited.  Unfortunately, there is not much to get excited about yet.  This place is a perfect case for groupons.  They were completely dead when I went and I imagine no one in the area knows they are open due to their hidden location behind the Herndon clock tower.  There was only one waiter working and no management on site (I asked to speak to someone).  The waiter was unenthusiastic and his english was barely good enough to understand my questions about the menu.  I asked for the waiter to check if I could order half-portions of some of the items so I could try more things. I have my faithful readers to write for, after all!  After trying several times to get him to understand, it was clear that he had no clue how to talk to the kitchen or ring it up as a half portion so I gave up.  The owner of the Sorrento's in Ashburn would have brought me out half-portions, probably wouldn't have charged me for it and I could' have reviewed more items for my readers.  Alas, I only sampled a few things....  Here we go.

Patatas Bravas???  I don't think so.

Patatas Bravas - Nothing like the Spanish version you've probably had and loved.  These were heavy thick wedges, lightly battered and fried.  A super heavy appetizer and almost lost my entire appetite after just a few pieces. They came accompanied by ketchup and a white sauce. A far cry from the normal spicy red and white sauces normally served with this dish.  $5.50

Camarones al ajillo (garlic shrimp) - This was ok.  Very heavy on the garlic and a good quantity of shrimp.  $9.00

Pimenton Chicken Bites - Very interesting dish.  Shredded chicken on top of small pieces of toast.  Each one topped with a tomato-cucumber relish.  I ate all four pieces.  Very light and healthy.  Just a little lacking in flavor.

Desserts were lacking so I opted to pass on dessert here. I really missed Jaleo's flan-of-perfection at this stage of the meal.

Smoothies - Not a bad smoothie!  I got the Acai smoothie and was surprised that it tasted so fresh.  Smoothies in a tapas restaurant are an interesting idea.  I'd probably order another one on a return visit.

I'll be back to try more of their menu, which was very diverse and interesting to look at.  My suspicion though is that the food and service will continue their initial pattern of "very mediocre".  You aren't going to get out of there without spending 20 dollars a person and that's without drinks.That's a bit steep for the ambience of the backside of the clock tower in Herndon!  Still, I've got a place to get some tapas and sit outside drinking Sangria once spring rolls around.

2 out of 5 Stars

Garlic Shrimp. 

Sorrento's Tapas in Herndon