As you might imagine, I watch a lot of food on TV. Despite all the flack that chefs and foodies give Food Network, I thoroughly enjoy most of it’s programming. On Tuesday nights, I usually stay up so I can watch Chopped. It’s my secret late night pleasure….hehehe. (Yes, 10pm is late night for me.) Anyway, Chopped is a good place to catch a sneak peak of up and coming chefs from restaurants that you probably never heard of and watch them fumble around a foreign kitchen trying to make something wonderful out of some crazy ingredients in an ungodly short amount of time. If you can make those judges happy under those circumstances, then I bet you’re a beast in your own kitchen.
The bartender's attempt to put hair on my chest
All this to say that I was watching Chopped one night when I saw sous Chef Andrew Markert from PS 7 and was impressed. I added this to my mental Rolodex and within one week of me moving here I pranced right on over. We really just went for drinks or that’s what the “plan” was, but since only one of us had eaten since lunch, we all ended up ordering something. Chef/Owner Peter Smith should thank him
Let’s start with drinks. S-money had the Gnome’s Water, a refreshing and cucumbery concoction composed of Hendrick’s Gin, cucumber water, and lemon lavender syrup. It’s good if you like cucumber. I heard some people juice cucumbers. I don’t think I’m quite ready for that. Either way, it was pretty refreshing. I ordered the Questionable Content, which is exactly what it sounds like- whatever the bartender feels like giving you. I told my waiter I didn’t like coconut rum and that I prefer sweet to savory drinks and what he brought me back was foamy goodness in a glass with some herb or another sprinkled on top. I’m ashamed to admit that other than knowing that the foam was made from egg whites, I had no clue what was in my drink. Later I coaxed my handsome dreadlocked bartender to tell me what it wasà Jack Daniels, sour mix, St. Germain (an elderflower liquer), and the herb on top was lavender. What?!? Was he trying to put hair on my chest? Jack Daniels?!?! My girl, S-whineup, is a big fan of whiskey, but other than an occasional Jack and Coke I pretty much stay away from the stuff. After this drink, however, I think I may venture out into whiskey land more often.
Our other two girlfriends have names that start with T and S and I’ve pretty much run out of nicknames for those letters for the time being. One of them was watching her caloric intake and opted for the “Tighten the Belt” from the 100 calorie drink menu. Made from Bluecoat Gin, grapefruit, and ginger, she described it as “vacation in a glass” and “amazing in a glass.” So much so, that she opted to leave the sauce off her food and have a second “Tighten the Belt” instead. The other friend had a simple grey goose gimlet and eventually had them add more grey goose.
Tuna Sliders
As for food, they started us off with herbed popcorn, that was kinda salty, but still soooooo good. They probably give it to you at the bar cause the salt makes you drink more. I don’t know that that’s true, I’m just sayin’… Given the menu with all its yummy descriptions it took us a while to decide on Tilapia Tacos, The OMFG Dip, Tuna Sliders, and the Quiet Doggies. Tilapia Tacos and Tuna Sliders are self-explanatory. Both were good. Note that the tuna sliders use tuna tartare and regardless of how good they were, next time I would share them cause I really only needed one…two at most. They give you three.
Quiet Doggies
The quiet doggies were hush puppies with beef hot dog chunks inside….mmmmmm….genius…they give you a lot of them…I would order them again and share them. They come with this horseradish mustard sauce that’s tasty, but not really necessary. By the way, did you catch that play on words…quiet doggies…hush puppies and hot dogs…hehehe.
The OMFG Dip
The OMFG Dip is not a dip or sauce or anything of that sort, but instead a gi-normous sandwich that they have the audacity to serve with pasta salad and a pork fat dipping sauce!! Made of stacked seared porchetta (see wiki), caramelized onions, and melted gruyere on toasted foccacia. Of course, this was S-money’s dish. It was so good, that she said so after each bite and ate the other half of the sandwich for breakfast the next morning. There was nothing amazing about the pasta they served with it, but I like pasta salad so I ate it…all…shrugs. I’ve started working out again. It’s ok.
Anywho, I will be seeing PS 7 again…probably really soon. So glad Chopped hasn’t led me astray.
I almost forgot to mention the Happy Hour Specials–Mon 4p-close (burgers half price every Monday night), Tues-Fri 4-7p…$3 beer, $4 wine, $7 daily seasonal punch, all flatbreads 1/2 price, $5 salami poppers, and $7 fried mac and cheese.
777 I Street Northwest
Washington D.C., DC 20001-3722
(202) 742-8550
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