Bar Pilar

Bar Pilar
1833 14th St.
Washington, DC 20009

I had wanted to visit Bar Pilar for a date night since the June 2010 issue of Washingtonian magazine hit the stands. I'd been carrying the magazine around with me in my canvas tote daily, reading restaurant blurbs between stop signs and red lights- no joke. It occupied much of my spare time...I even made a rather lengthy list of all the cool DC featured restaurants to try out.

Since Jeremy and I only have about one night a week to eat dinner together and never a Friday or Saturday night like most couples, I wanted to pick a great place for a Sunday night date, when most restaurants are either closed or the chef is off and the food is paltry...but Washingtonian gave an insider tip that Bar Pilar is actually best on a Sunday night when there are fewer customers. Bar Pilar it was.

One of the draws of Bar Pilar was definitely the Hemingway theme, as advertised. Um hello English major foodies! Yet upon entering I definitely got a different vibe. Not sure what it was, but not Hemingway. I don't expect "Margaritaville" to be blaring from the loudspeakers, nor those tacky little umbrellas in the drinks--but at least have a photo of the old man and the sea displayed on the walls, or Hem books around, heck, even a couple cats roaming about would be more "Hemingway". But I don't visit a restaurant for the decor. I'm all about the food.

First up, after we both ordered red wine, was roasted olives with pickled chilies, goat cheese bruschetta for $6 (by the way, the magazine screamed out "Cheap Eats" on the cover, so I was looking to eat well for less). The restaurant serves up a ton of small plates, and this was one great one. It carried throughout the meal, with the briny roasted olives being the perfect complement to the tangy goat cheese bruschetta. My mouth is watering just thinking back to the burst of pungent flavor in my mouth at that time. Oh my.

We ordered an assortment of more "small plates" or what most places call tapas...warm frisee salad with bacon vinaigrette, blue cheese, croutons, sunny egg for $6 definitely stood out for me. It sounds simple, but once the yolk of the freshly poached egg started oozing throughout the salad, mixed with the warm frisee, wow. Party in my mouth.

Jeremy ordered some halibut dish which didn't stand out much to me--and I think he might have devoured in one bite. Gotta love those "small plates". I ordered the boudin blanc, which was not a favorite. I guess I was thinking more "chorizo" instead of what tasted kind of undercooked to me; it might just have been because I'm used to "blood" sausage. Boudin blanc is characteristically a white pork sausage, without the blood. The great thing about me not liking a dish is...more for Jeremy. He finished the boudin blanc off, smacking his lips.

Next was a rush of other small plates...prawns (delicious, but I cannot access their changing menu online to get the deets...) for me, crispy roasted potatoes with malt aioli for us to share, and buttermilk fried chicken for Jeremy (fried in peanut oil, which made it taste so different, kind of crisp, fresh, earthy. It didn't taste like it had been saturated in oil like so many other fried chickens--could it have been the peanut oil? Not sure. But it definitely made a difference. Jeremy reminds me that it wasn't dried out at all either, it was just so moist. And that it didn't just taste seasoned on the outside with the crispy skin, but the inside tasted perfectly seasoned as well. I was skeptical about "buttermilk" fried chicken, but now I'm a fan.

For me the best part of the meal was dessert. I'm honestly not a fan of dessert and will usually opt out, but the thought of chocolate terrine made me curious. I don't like cakey things, so chocolate cake is always out for me, but terrine? Now that I've always liked. I imagined the chocolate terrine as a thick chocolate mousse, layer by layer. We each ordered our own individual chocolate terrines, accompanied by a ruby port. D-I-V-I-N-E. The rich, creamy chocolate in layer by delicate layer sung in perfect harmony with the rich ruby port. The aftertaste was lasting and strong. I don't think I've ever devoured a sweet so fast, yet still savored every last bite.

If I were privileged to give stars, Bar Pilar gets ***/*****