Maple Ave. Restaurant

It takes a lot of mustered-up security to enjoy the restaurant of someone who's living one of (many of) your dreams: abandoning a day job to run a restaurant. It's one of those dreams in the 10-15 years away category vice something on the 1-5 year plan, most simply because I still largely view not catching my kitchen on fire while cooking a moderate success.

The chef and owner at Maple Ave. Restaurant in Vienna, however, abandoned his job as an engineer and enrolled in the French Culinary Institute in New York City, which I probably unnecessarily-frequently invoke as it's my friend Sonia's alma mater. He settled in Vienna, Virginia, across from a grocery store and between a funeral home and an auto shop. This only adds to the charm.

It's a tiny dining room, what I would imagine would be the size of the Tastee Freez in that sort-of-bad-but-catchy John Mellancamp song. But, it's on what is still Vienna's Main Street (you guessed it, Maple Ave.) and is disarmingly clever, sophisticated, and homey.

I got there a smidge early and had what turned out to be one of the best Bloody Mary's of my life. I had a good one in (I believe) 2005 and have been struggling since then to find its equal. It vacillated between tasting like olive juice, garlic, and tomato in each sip: it's exactly what I imagined vermouth to have tasted like when I was reading Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. I've since tasted vermouth and think I will stick with searching for elusively good Bloody Mary's.

My friends arrived and we all briliantly and coordinatedly had the tasting menu, extremely reasonable for $28 for two people. We started with what my friend Ashley and gracious blog reader had gushed about a few weeks earlier: truffle eggs. I'll admit that I could still recollect the taste the rest of the afternoon, as it was so memorably good. The bacon was sweet and tender and I ate it all, because that is what one does with bacon.

Next, we had the mushroom duxelle and gruyère cheese crêpe. Oh, was it delicious. The crepe was tender and crisped-up on the edges and the interior was salty and a tad sweet. It was an exquisite dish after the rich (and I ate all the bacon, so, fatty) one before. 

  

The salad accompanying the crêpe was good and simple so I was a bit disappointed that we had another immediately afterwards. It was beautiful, though: slices of apple, candied walnuts, and Gorgonzola or bleu cheese (I know, I know, a real food critic would know the difference). But, it was lovely in its contrasts.

Next, we had more meat. House-made coppa was served with pickled onions, gruyère, mustard, and baguette slices doused in what must have been brown butter. Our waitress, unfortunately, was not very enthused about serving or explaining our dishes to us, but I suppose the silver lining is that our conversation was largely uninterrupted, save for the incessant table-bussing (that's the drawback to tasting menus, I suppose). 

The most difficult dish to resist followed: baked mac with Panko crumbs and a hint of rosemary. The fusili were nice and relaxed, twisting and undulating but without the 1980s-hair-perm spring. It was creamy and flavorful, but perhaps could have done with some sort of meat or vegetable populating its fusili gaps. But it was tasty.

All good tasting menus should conclude with a dessert and this was no different: we had beignets (fancy word for donuts) with, I believe, an apple compote. The beignets were airy and eggy, so despite their girth and caloric properties, felt rather light. It was the perfect cap to a new brunch, new assemblage of brunch girlfriends, and a celebration of an engineer's new vocation.