Restaurant Review: Zaytinya (Washington, DC)

For our second "second" anniversary, we took a short trip to DC. We had a great day exploring one of my favorite cities and ended the evening with an amazing dinner at Zaytinya. 

We had reservations for 7:45 and we arrived a few minutes early. They couldn't sit us yet, so we had a drink at the bar. I had a delicious glass of wine & Graham had an interesting cocktail. It was called the Olympic Torch. It had Greek brandy, Cocchi Americano, cardamom syrup, lemon juice, flamed orange... and an egg white. The egg white made us both a little concerned, but the drink was absolutely delicious, and the egg white gave it really nice body.

Once we were seated, our waitress brought out amazing pita bread with Greek olive oil & pomegranate vinegar for dipping. I had also mentioned that it was our anniversary when I made the reservation, so she also brought us complimentary glasses of champagne to toast with. The bread was amazing, and the pomegranate vinegar was a very pleasant surprise. It was tart & delicious with the oil & warm bread.

We asked our waitress about the sizes of the portions, and she said that most couples order 5-7 items. We started with five but as the waitress was walking away, I added on an order of the Elies Tis Elledas (marinated olives). I love olives. I could live on olives. These were wonderful. 

The Piyaz (imported warm giant beans, kale, oven roasted tomato & garlic) was delicious. I actually tried to recreate this as soon as we were back in Virginia. It wasn't nearly as good as what we had at Zaytinya. Theirs was creamy & delicious, and packed with flavor.

The mushroom couscous was phenomenal. I've never has couscous like this before. The couscous was huge, and the dish was rich and hearty. The Brussels sprouts leaves didn't offer as much flavor as I hoped, but the mushrooms were delicious. This was my favorite of the side dishes that we ordered. I even liked the garlic toum. 

I didn't like that they brought all of the side dishes out first, and all of the meat out at the end, but whatever. The scallops were my favorite thing we ordered that night. The scallops were served in a harissa-carrot puree, orange sections & radishes. This was amazing. The scallops were perfectly cooked, and all of the flavors tied together really well. The carrot puree was so good. I was worried it would be overly sweet, but it was amazing.

The octopus Santorini (grilled Mediterranean octopus, marinated onions, capers, & yellow split pea puree) was Graham's favorite. This was fantastic. The octopus had a slightly smokey taste and was super tender.

And last, we had the ufra biftek (grilled hanger steak, arugula tabbouleh & roasted hazelnuts). Oh my gosh, this was good. Everything about this was perfect. The steak was perfectly cooked and so flavorful. The arugula tabbouleh was delicious, and the pomegranate seeds were the perfect tart & sweet surprise.

Even though we were full, ordering dessert is a must on an anniversary dinner. We couldn't decide which one to share, so we ordered small portions of the two we were torn between. I had the chocolate rose (rose ice cream, chocolate custard, spiced berry puree) & Graham had the Galatopita (semolina custard espuma, apples, crispy phyllo, almonds, honey crisp apple sorbet). Both were completely amazing & the perfect end to our dinner.

This was a completely amazing dinner. I read a lot of "Best of DC" lists trying to decide where to have dinner, and I'm so glad that so many of them mentioned Zaytinya. This was one of the best dinners I've ever had. If you have the opportunity, make a reservation (you're definitely going to want a reservation) and get yourself there. You will not regret it!

Two wonderful years...

Yesterday Graham and I celebrated two wonderful years of marriage. Unfortunately we couldn't be together, since the Air Force has him in training in Texas.

He came home this weekend so we could celebrate, and we had an absolutely wonderful weekend.

Two years down, a lifetime to go =)

We started the weekend with a looooooong walk with Hermione at Emerald Park. The skyline will never be like the Charlotte, Chicago or Boston skylines, but this area has one of the best views.

The last time we were here was in February when everything was brown & dead. The city is so much prettier in the spring!

We went to one of our favorite Little Rock restaurants, So!, for dinner. The food was superb, as usual. Our service was excellent this time too. We actually got a seat in the main dining room, and not in the dark, freezing area we usually end up in.

We started with the blackened seafood fondue which is incredible. The bread was warm & fresh, and the chunks of seafood in the cheese were huge and delicious.

Knowing this would more than likely be our last dinner here, I figured I should try something besides the scallops. When our waiter was describing the specials, he had me at Brussels sprouts. I ordered the grilled grouper in an herbed lemon cream sauce over a bed of pan seared Brussels sprouts. I'm so glad I ordered this, because it was absolutely epic. The fish was HUGE and perfectly cooked. The sauce was light and had a ton of flavor. And you can't tell from the picture, but they gave me a TON of Brussels sprouts and they were delicious- tender, with perfect flavor.

Since I chose not to order scallops, Graham jumped on them. The portion size was much better than last time, and they were just as perfect as ever. I know the linguine is a little intimidating, but if you get the opportunity, you must try it. It's salty, garlicky, and absolutely delicious.

We got home and continued our photo tradition & drank cheap champagne out of or ridiculously expensive glasses.

We had a perfect night together, and I can't wait to see what new adventures the next year brings.

On our actual anniversary, we couldn't be together, but we tried to make the best of it. Graham sent me these GORGEOUS flowers. Lilies are pretty much my favorite flower, and the roses are gorgeous.

I wish we could have been together, but so far we've been really lucky, and this is the only important occasion we've missed. I guess the benefit of having two anniversaries is we're pretty much guaranteed to be together for one of them.

Our perfect, very image heavy, anniversary weekend =)

One year of married bliss has come and gone. It was an absolutely an amazing first year together, even with the six months of separation. I have loved every moment that we have shared over the past year. Since last April 23rd, we've had two weddings, adopted another fur-child, had an amazing trip to Disney and thousands of other small, perfect moments that have been so special to us. I'm so lucky to be married to someone who constantly makes me laugh, keeps a perpetual smile on my face, challenges me and makes me want to be a better person. I can't wait to see where the rest of our lives takes us.

These beautiful flowers started our long weekend off wonderfully.

I amused myself on the car ride to Eureka Springs by making goofy faces.

My husband is too cute for words =)

We walked up the steepest hill ever to get to the "haunted" Crescent Hotel.

We stopped to admire pretty scenery.

Not the Blue Ridge Parkway, but still pretty.

Spent a beautiful Sunday in Little Rock @ the Big Dam Bridge.

And took Hermione for an adventure at the dog park.

On our actual anniversary, we took advantage of a gift certificate to one of our favorite restaurants, So!,  and had an absolutely amazing dinner.

My favorite meal in Little Rock: Seared scallops & squid ink linguine.

This was absolutely delicious, as usual. The problem: the portion has gotten significantly smaller and the price has stayed high (this dish was $30). I can maybe forgive them for losing a scallop. The scallops are huge, and I know first hand how expensive they are. But I don't get why they felt the need to seriously skimp on the pasta?

Same dish; ordered in May 2011.

Primo Louis Filet

This was excellent. A perfectly cooked beef tenderloin, on top of a bacon hash-brown, topped with lump crab meat and a creamy chardonnay sauce. Absolutely perfect. The meat was so tender and delicious, and that bacon hash-brown was amazing. the texture was crunchy on the outside, creamy on the inside, and hello! Bacon! Yum =)

Key Lime Layered dessert

OH MY GOD. So amazing. The crust was actually a very dense layer of cake (kind of tasted like a very thick cookie), topped with key lime curd and then the gooey key lime pie filling. This was perfect. I could have eaten about five of these... but for some stupid reason, Graham & I decided to share this one.

We got home from dinner, and drank champagne in our crazy expensive, gorgeous Swarovski champagne flutes. This is the third time we've used them, and I adore them. It makes an already special occasion feel a little more special.

And then we fought with my camera and my need for a picture where I don't look fat to take a photo of us on our special day. This will be a yearly thing, and I can't wait to see how we change over the years.