THE WASHINGTON POST.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 2019EZ10
Dining
BY TOM SIETSEMA
Living in a world capital has its
advantages. One of the them is
the ease with which a restaurant
enthusiast can pretty much pick a
spot on a globe and find a local
source for its flavors. This month
alone, I got my fill of Thai, Greek
and French cooking, thanks to
some area standard bearers.
Other creative kitchens reminded
me how adept some American
chefs are at borrowing from the
global pantry of ideas.ROSE’S LUXURY
Let everybody else serve fried
green tomatoes. Rose’s Luxury
uses a Japanese mandoline to
make ribbons of green tomatoes
— some raw, some pickled — then
shapes them into an alluring
“panzanella” with the support of
croutons, anchovies and torn ba-
sil. Oysters on the half shell are as
easy to find as robes at the
Supreme Court. But when’s the
last time you knocked back a
brand called Happy (from Sapi-
dus Farms in Virginia) and had
them topped with a bracing gran-
ita fueled with Fresno peppers?
Chef-owner Aaron Silverman
and his crew continue to come
up with delicious new tricks at
his first and most famous restau-
rant on Capitol Hill. Monkey
bread is upgraded with cheese
and pepper: “cacio e pepe,” after
the classic Italian pasta.
Speaking of which, the actual
noodles in this two-story fun
house are wonderful. Here’s hop-
ing you get to twirl strozzapreti
strewn with a winning trio of
’nduja, honey and pecorino. Over
the summer, Silverman quietly
launched a catering company,
Roses at Home, that mines the
menus of all three of his restau-
rants, including the wine bar Lit-
tle Pearl and the high-end Pineap-
ple and Pearls. Already I’m plot-
ting to have litchis, pork sausage,
habanero and peanuts — a long-
running hit at Rose’s — in the
comfort of my own nest.
717 Eighth St. SE. 202-580-- rosesluxury.com. Small
plates, $13 to $16; family-style
platters, $33 to $36.
BANH MI DC SANDWICH
The world has gifted us fabulous
sandwiches — New Orleans’s muf-
fuletta and Spain’s bocadillo come
to mind — but if push ever came to
shove-in-my-mouth, banh mi
would find me opening widest.
The classic Vietnamese sandwich
is the reason for the inevitable line
inside this suburban market. Good
thing the team at the counter takes
requests quickly and the assem-
blers of the signature draw work
fast, because patience is a chal-lenge when you’re hungry and the
air is fragrant with the smell of
fresh-baked bread.
Two dozen possibilities force
difficult decisions, but I’ve yet to
encounter a filling I wouldn’t
care to repeat. Last visit found
me ferrying home bahh mi
stuffed with dill-flecked fish
cakes; moist shredded pork;
springy sugar cane shrimp; and
ruddy, slightly sweet barbecue
pork, everything encased in a
warm, shattering baguette with
pickled julienne vegetables, pun-
gent cilantro and shocking jala-peño. Wash back your bundle
with a tropical smoothie (I go for
the jackfruit), and use any wait to
check out some of the other Viet-
namese goods on display. One
taste of the crisp beef jerky, and
you’ll never go back to Slim Jim.
3103 Graham Rd., Suite C, Falls
Church. 703-205-9300. No web-
site. Banh mi, $4.65 to $5.50.FLAMANT
Frederik De Pue prefers to take
the road less traveled at his 65-
seat bungalow-style restaurant in
West Annapolis. When dinerssuggest he offer crab cakes, the
chef responds with crab twists:
Maryland blue crab and a sugges-
tion of cilantro wrapped in thin
pastry and fried to shatter in your
mouth. “I like to be different than
others,” says De Pue. His idea of a
burger is duck confit flavored as if
it were duck a l’orange and served
with a curtain of blue cheese and
fabulous housemade fries. Tile
fish, spinach flan and thinly
sliced leek “spaghetti” are a trio
made more fascinating by the
addition of a broken tomato
dressing added at the table. “Eatthem together,” for full effect, a
server coaches.
The menu defies easy labeling;
all I know is, I want one of
everything when I read the list,
which might include such lus-
cious combinations as shredded
braised pork presented on thin
corn blini. (The crunch in the
heap comes from pig tails.) The
drinks are top-shelf, the service
runs warm and knowledgeable,
and a Nordic vibe prevails in the
rear dining room, set off with
skylights, animal-hide rugs, a
fireplace and shelves of canned
goods. Psst: The chef is known to
gift his peach jam and pickled
vegetables to patrons celebrating
a special occasion at Flamant.
17 Annapolis St., Annapolis.
410-267-0274. flamantmd.com.
Entrees, $21 to $34.
Read the full review here.LA LIMENA
It’s possible to be in two places
at once. Doubt me? Then you
haven’t eaten at the lively, fami-
ly-run Rockville storefront
whose menu offers the cooking
of both Cuba and Peru. You’ll
crave chicken before you’ve even
been shown to your seat, having
been teased by the flock on
display near the glass-fronted
entrance. Rubbed with cumin
and garlic and tanned on a
charcoal grill, the bird is a little
mash note to Lima, even more so
in the company of yucca that has
been fried so the outside is crisp
and the center is fluffy. Havana,
meanwhile, is nicely represent-
ed by winy, tomato-sweetened
shredded beef, a classic ropa
vieja served in an edible basket
fashioned from green plantain
slices. The black beans could use
more oomph, and tilapia isn’t
my first choice for tiradito, a
cross between sashimi and cevi-
che amped up here with pureed
celery, shrimp and hot sauce and
subdued with sweet potato
cooked in orange juice.
But the scores outnumber the
slips. Picture frothy pisco sours;
croquettes made luscious with
chicken, cilantro and rice; and
spirited rice pudding, swirled
with port-swollen raisins. The
young servers couldn’t be more
vigilant. Nod when they drop by,
armed with squirt bottles, if you
want more (wild) green or (mild)
yellow chile sauce — flavor boost-
ers that will turn you into a
Peruvian fan if you weren’t al-
ready.
765 Rockville Pike, Rockville.
301-424-8066. lalimenarestau-
rant.com. Dinner entrees, $14.95
to $20.95.
Read the full review here.SEE EATS ON 118 places to satisfy a craving for a world tour
LAURA CHASE DE FORMIGNY FOR THE WASHINGTON POSTRose’s Luxury’s Happy oysters — from Sapidus Farms in Virginia — will bring a smile to your face if
you like a spicy-cool smack from the Fresno chile granita.