Please keep reading.
Let's start at the beginning: I'm at a personal and professional crossroads. In trying to figure out what to do with my life (friends and neighbors I'm sure are tired of the word "existentialism" being bandied about, particularly when I gleefully use words like "existential crisis" in ways I'm sure they're not intended), I thought I'd make a list of goals for July. There are some good ones (start learning a new language), some quotidian ones (finish this book, start another book), and then some ones that might as well be "breathe as often as needed" or "ensure proper water consumption," like "four great restaurants."
I made the list yesterday; I'm no closer to really committing to the language I'll learn, but I've had one good meal. I used this future-envisioning list-making time to recall and research places to visit; I made a few reservations for set times in July and for other places that aren't on OpenTable (Little Serow and Ghibellina, for example), penciled in proposed times in my calendar.
So, we return. Unforeseen technical difficulties cut my work day short this afternoon, forcing a poor amateur food critic to wander over to Dupont 1.5 hours early for her dinner reservation for dinner at DGS Delicatessen. As such, I was able to swing the prime real estate: a two-seater right by the window, alongside bustling Connecticut Avenue.
I've not had much deli food: I shared a mound of either pastrami or corned beef with my high school boyfriend on our school forensics trip to New York City (the only memory that really stuck beyond the foot-high cheesecake I ordered was a blurry photo I believe he took of me near a life-size pickle dangling from the ceiling). I also had knishes and matzo ball soup on one of my solo trips to New York City a few years ago (it was freezing outside and I thought it'd be more touristy to walk everywhere). DGS Delicatessen, however, is on the 2013 top 100 Washingtonian list, though, so I thought I'd try it in real-time (instead of trying to whittle down this year's list in say, 2015).
It was really terrific: the waiter indulged every particular, detailed question I had about the cocktail menu, to start. "What is champagnec?" was my fifth question concerning cocktail ingredients. "Uh, I think that's a typo," he said.
I had a cocktail that tasted delicately of Red Bull that I wouldn't get again, but enjoyed for its uniqueness just the same. Tenth Ward Cooler sported vodka, kummel (a caraway seed-flavored liquor), champagne, celery soda, lime, and celery bitters. It was sweet without being sugary and a watered-down sort of savory.
As I mentioned, on my July goals list is to finish this certain book. In a literary/culinary prima donna way (in which I tried to be as charming as possible), I politely asked the waiter if I could place my order but not have it delivered for 20 minutes. I wanted to read. He said yes, that he might even deliver it in 25.
Right on cue, my latkes arrived. I got a side order, which was served with creme fraiche and apple preserves. Admittedly, I don't know my latkes (I think I may have had them at someplace like IHOP once) but these seemed exquisite. The potato was grated very finely, they seemed to be lovingly coated in butter, and the creme fraiche was just sour enough: I could barely keep myself from polishing off the whole dish, but knew I had two more coming.
With this, from Brooklyn...
...Almost like a party arrived on my table.
A longstanding favorite of mine is stuffed [any vegetable]. I ordered the stuffed cabbage; I didn't realize the cabbage was in there until I had eaten half the orzo and found a small crescent moon-dumpling-shaped cabbage roll in the middle of a small pile of bread crumbs. The meat was richly-flavored though and the orzo tasted of slowly-transformed onions and tomato.
I also had a side of roasted cauliflower with ras al hanout (a blend of Moroccan spices). I would have loved a little more spice and more crust, but it was delicious.
See you at least three more times this month.
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