707 G Street, NW
www.indebleu.net
Sorry this is so long overdue. Several weeks ago, at this point, we decided to go out to dinner after a late afternoon round of golf. With something more casual and close by in mind, we had our hearts set on one of our favorite restaurants in the city, Merkado - but we had waited too long and they were booked for the night. A quick search on Open Table indicated that Indebleu had an opening for two and it had been on our list to try for a while. Bonus! A bit more of an “outing” than we had anticipated, we hopped in a cab to Chinatown.
We entered into the “chicly” appointed lounge – which incidentally was a stop during my bachelorette party – and I learned that the restaurant was actually upstairs. I had no idea! It was a much larger space than I expected, which is perhaps why we could get availability so late in the game. It was an interesting crowd that night. We were the youngest by about 20 years and most of the patrons seemed to be tourists, those who would stay at the across the street Hotel Monaco, not those taking the DC Duck Tour.
We snuggled into our table for two and began to look through the menu, which is set up as a four course meal – first, second, main and dessert – although anything can be ordered a la carte. They had a chef’s tasting menu, a three course ($55) and a four course ($69) price fixed menu with most options celebrating a marriage of french and indian flavors. Wavering between the three and four course options, we ultimately decided to “craft our own” thinking that we weren’t all that hungry and that with the courses we had our eyes on, it would be a cheaper option anyway. We decided on three appetizers to share, two main courses, and one dessert.
It is unfortunate, sometimes, that the memory of a dining experience is impacted more by the quality of service rather than the quality of the food. And even more unfortunate that this was our experience with Indebleu. [Disclaimer: I did enjoy my entree very much, my husband’s was far less than exciting, and the service was just poor all around.] Our main complaint was with the wine service – we ordered a bottle of white wine, which was kept on ice, but in no real proximity to our table. Our server was often no where to be found, so we found ourselves waiting an inordinate amount of time between pours, meaning that we drank most of our wine after our meals were already done. In addition, my husband had ordered a glass of red wine to drink with his braised veal shank. It arrived with our dessert. [Disclaimer #2: our waiter did comp the glass of wine, without our asking.]
But, on to the food. For our appetizers we ordered the shrimp samosa – recommended by our waiter (basil shrimp samosa, tomato almond marmalade with sun choke puree), the tuna tartar (crispy papadom, sunburst mustards and beet relish), and the lobster and lump crab tower (marinated mango, pine nuts and curry oil.) Everything came neatly appointed and in threes. Although small, there was plenty and it was easy to share. The samosas had a kick to them and were a bit on the dry side, but the flavors were interesting. The two cold appetizers were very clean tasting, great palette cleansers after the spicy samosa.
For our entrees we ordered the veal shank roganjosh (slow braised veal shank with ratatoiuille tortellini, kumquat chutney and garlic mash) and the tandoori rack of lamb (with green lentil ragout, grilled portobello and sauce mojito.) My husband had the veal shank – anything braised is an automatic choice and usually an instant favorite for him. Not so this time around. I’ve never seen a veal shank so fatty – and I know it is a fatty piece of meat, but usually after braising for so long, the fat has melted into delicious little tendrils of juice, flavored with the chef’s marinade of choice. I would say about half of this shank was inedible. The tortellini was small and more of a garnish on top of the veal shank than any integral part to the meal. The rack of lamb, though, was very nice. Presented as one lamb chop, I’m not sure I would classify it as a rack, but it was tasty nevertheless. Cooked medium rare, it was very tender and juicy and nicely complemented in taste and texture by the lentil ragout. The mojito sauce was mild and sweet.
The dessert options did not blow me away, but since we had the glass of red wine to finish, we decided to order something anyway. We went with the “spaghetti and meatballs,” a clever take on the traditional indian gulab jamun, served with saffron ice cream. The gulab jamun, a lightly fried sweet dough, was run through a pasta maker at our tableside. Served with a scoop of ice cream, it did resemble spaghetti.
I'm sorry that I did not have a more memorable experience at Indebleu because I think the restaurant really has potential. French and Indian flavors do go so nicely together, but for the image the restaurant portrays, it seems they need to kick it up a notch. Bam!
*1/2 (out of 4 stars)
20% tip: don't carve out this experience for a special occasion, you may be disappointed.
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Expenses:
- May 2:
$9 Grocery Store
$3.25 Iced Coffee
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