3/4/2018
A Rake’s Progress has been on my radar even before Michelle Obama had her birthday dinner there before the restaurant was open to the public. But that encouraged me to try the restaurant even more. We have been to the Brothers and Sisters which is located on the lower level inside the Line hotel before. Service was friendly but maybe a little too casual towards the end for this type of restaurant and price point. As we were eating our dessert, our friendly waiter left the check on the table! French do it right by asking for the check when they are ready.
Delicious bread toasted on the wood-burning hearth with butter.
Tidewater Hams sweet potato biscuits, gougeres, peach jam
Our waiter highly recommended this dish. Three different ham, one young, one aged a bit and one aged longer. They were all pretty good. The gougeres were cheesy goodness but the sweet potato biscuit were dry and needed more fat.
Baltimore Canyon lobster Toast green goddess, garlic chili crunch, chervil
Our favorite dish of the night. Very fresh lobster atop delicious bread smeared with goddess dressing. I could eat one of this beauties every day.
Kilt Greens crisped ham, rye crumb, hot bacon mustard dressing
The salads are for two. Our waiter raved about how fresh the greens were and they had to use a hot dressing in order to wilt it. They were suppose to mix it table side but since our table was full, we missed the show and was presented with the mix salad. All the good stuff was on the bottom and middle of the bowl. It was a very good salad with plenty of crisp ham, crunchy rye bread pieces and flavorful dressing.
Pa Trout on a Log potato dumplings, smoked trout, savoy, ember onion, brown butter
By this time I was kind of full. They first presented two fillet of trout atop a log and they then took it to smoke it on their open heart fire. I thought it was lightly smoked and the potato dumplings did not add much to the dish. The colors were all the same too. It needed some color contrast to make it more visually appealing.
The Spike Collins Sorbet, Bubbly Peach Sorbet, Verjus Lavander Ginger Sherbet
Most of their dessert offerings were on the sweet side and since we already had such a carb heavy dinner, we opted for the sorbet and the sherbet. The spike collins was very refreshing thanks to the yuzu, cucumber and gin. The peach bubbly was good also. The verjus lavender ginger was aromatic and delicious.