Adour is the name of the river where the legendary Alain Ducasse was born in the southwest of France, and where he first discovered his passion for cuisine. Adour at St. Regis Washington DC is another establishment of Ducasse group after the success of Adour at St. Regis New York City.
Dress code was smart casual, reservation 2 weeks ahead was easy on opentable.com.
We stayed at The Quincy in downtown, 4 blocks away from St. Regis. The walk was pleasant on a Saturday.
China was made in France by Bernardaud. My wife happened to see one of the waiters set up a new table and he flipped to see the bottom of the plates while placing the plates. Since the the face of the plates was totally symmetric, we guessed that he wanted the orientation of the plates to be exactly the same by aligning the label on the bottom to the same direction.
Both of us signed up for the 4-course $65 chef's tasting menu. My son was a big salmon fan and was glad to find the Loch Duart Salmon "Surf and Turf" on the menu.
The 4-course menu included a choice of Pan Seared Veal Sweetbread (Ricotta Gnocchis and Whole Grained Mustard Sauce) or Chilled Heirloom Tomata Soup (Compressed Watermelon), Loch Duart Samon "Surf & Turf" (Seared Foie Gras, Brussel Sprout Leaves, Fresh Ginger), Muscovy Duck Breast "a l'Orange" (Daikon, Turnip, Breakfast Radishes), and a dessert of "Our Baba" (Armagnac, Light Whipped Cream). We'd asked to substitute one dessert with Hazelnut Souffle.
Food was quite good. My sweetbread was top notch. I had not had better sweetbreads anywhere else, and I had ordered it at Paul Bocuse's in Lyon. Foie Gras and Salmon wasn't my combination. I still rather preferred sweet fruity sauce with foie gras. But each of the 2 components were separately good. Brussel sprouts were done perfectly. Duck breast was executed beautifully. The orange sauce was a bit too obvious, I would like some subtlety. Desserts were well done.
I also enjoyed a half decanter of 2007 Rossi-Wallace Pinot Noir from Napa. It was excellent. Very fruity (cherry?) and a bit sweet, and aromatic. I did some research afterwards. It was such a small winemaker and only produced 300 some cases a year. I needed to start finding some of these remaining bottles.
Overall, my experience was very good. I liked the fact that the restaurant and staff treat food and dining seriously, from the way the dining room was decorated, the way how table was set, the way menu and wine pairing was designed, and of course how dishes were executed and presented.
I liked DC a lot. Next time when I go back, I would go back to Adour again.
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