Just A Taste: Michel
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010
My financial reporting skills have probably diminished significantly since my marathon stakeout days on Capitol Hill.
But if the number of celebration cakes–a cheer-worthy construct featuring overlapping layers of chocolate mousse and fresh berries, all heralded by a flame-spewing sparkler that showers captivated onlookers in a fountain of pyrotechnic glory–flowing from the Michel kitchen is any indicator, local diners appear ready to splurge again.
Cheflebrity Michel Richard was nowhere to be seen during a recent visit.
But his fledgling operation was expertly attended all the same by executive chef Levi Mezick (sure to soon be sporting quite the off-season glow, as much time as he spends applying finishing touches beneath the warming lights) and minibar alumnus cum Michel executive sous chef Brad Race (inexhaustibly bounces around the totally open kitchen).
The menu seems to tilt more towards the bistro-casual style Richard has embraced at Central than the fantasy dining pearls offered at Citronelle–though Michel does field a few deceptively delicious dishes of its own.
An onion is unspooled into ultra piquant “noodles”–proved too potent for one companion, whereas I relished the ravishing swap–and tossed with velvety cream, black pepper and still-cooking egg in a distinctly allium-centric carbonara.
Colossal grade shrimp are tasked with doing their best porcupine impression, each preternaturally puffy crustacean arriving cleverly camouflaged beneath strands of baked-till-crispy phyllo dough. The surf-as-wild turf creation is accompanied by baby kidney beans basking in a buttery chardonnay reduction.
Strict traditionalists, meanwhile, should be pleased to hear that Richard’s iconic chocolate bar–the same powdered cocoa-covered, gourmet Kit Kat emulated (and reproduced) by dessert menu-writers the region over–survived the move to the NoVA ‘burbs and tastes every bit as dark chocolaty-hazel nutty as it does downtown.
The wine program favors France (read: Burgundy, Rhone Valley) and the U.S. (read: West Coast wineries), with some additional consideration paid to the rest of the world (Spain, Italy). Look for roughly a dozen mixed whites and reds by-the-glass (most above $10) including the 2007 Barboursville Viognier Reserve and Richard’s private label white burgundy, as well as a succinct but well-developed beer list (Delirium Tremens, Bell’s Two-Hearted Ale, Old Speckled Hen).
Tags: Central, Citronelle, Gut Check, hospitality industry, Just A Taste, McLean, Michel, Michel Richard, Northern Virginia Magazine, restaurants, Ritz-Carlton, Tysons Galleria, Warren Rojas