SoCo Reviews 8407

All right, I know you’re a little tired of hearing about 8407 on the local blogs. But after now having a couple dinners and a lunch, I wanted to write a full-blown review to give folks the lowdown. Maybe next I'll focus on Jackie's since she has replaced Frank Morales with a new executive chef, 28 year-old Diana Davila who previously worked at Ardeo.

First off, I am very happy Pedro and Nancy are back in Silver Spring. It seems many others share my feelings as the crowds on the last 2 Saturday nights have been solid. Nancy did a fabulous job on the renovations. The place looks great and has a very comfortable feel to it while still maintaining a certain sophistication.

I’m also very pleased that Pedro is making a serious effort to support local farmers and vendors as many of the items you’ll find on the menu have come from within 100 miles or less. In addition, Pedro and staff are making their pasta homemade (gnocchi and tagliatelle) and the meats for the charcuterie are being cured in-house. A tour of the kitchen shows that a back corner is being used to hang prosciutto, and he has also done a little DIY fridge where the temperature can be closely monitored to assist in that process. Seeing cured meats hanging from the kitchen ceiling has a definite appeal for me as my Italian relatives still do this back home in Abruzzo.

OK, on to the review. While I don’t want to go all Sietsema on you (and btw, he has a short write-up in today’s Post on 8407), I did want to point out some of the highlights of my meals and I won’t say lowlights, but areas I believe where improvements are needed.

I’ll start with the lunch. While it’s not uncommon to find mussels on our area menus, 8407 does a very good job with their version. You’re served a decent-sized portion – good for a starter for two – of wild Johnny Blue mussels (from Maine) that are steamed and served in a delectable broth of shallots, garlic, herbs and white wine. The bread that accompanies all the meals – which is stupendous in its own right (from Upper Crust Bakery) – should be taken and soaked in that broth. If you’re skipping the carbs, get your spoon out!

An additional lunch standout – for carnivores – is the charcuterie sandwich. Depending on the day, the sandwich is a mix of typically 3 meats. My version had a couple different kinds of pork and Pedro’s house made mortadella. While the sandwich was great, I will say the pork overwhelmed the more delicate mortadella. That mortadella is so good – best I’ve had in the states – and should be ordered simply as part of a charcuterie board or Pedro needs to find a way so that its flavor and texture isn’t compromised to the degree it was. For the vegetarians out there, you’ll be more than happy if your lunch order is one of the salads. The version we had with field greens, judion beans, marcona almonds – love them – and tarragon dressing was a nice complement to our meat-filled sandwich. Also, the salad is quite big for a lunch entrée. I’m sure it could be ordered on its own and would fill up most folks.

On to the dinners -- let’s start with something raw. How about the oysters? Sampling the Maryland and Virginia oysters 8407 had one evening, my party was pretty pleased. I’m typically partial to Pacific NW or New England oysters, but these bivalves held their own pretty good. I’m not saying I don’t prefer the other varieties, but our local boys were nice and plump with a decent amount of brininess. The pickled mignonette could have packed a bit more of a punch though. If you don’t like raw oysters, then how about some semolina crusted fried oysters? These have improved in my opinion, the first time I tried they were pretty boring, but there’s still room for improvement with possibly a tad more salt in the crust and maybe fried so there’s more of a crunch. One other way to improve them would be to include just a bit more of the pickled kim chi with the dish. OMG – that kim chi is out of this world. Last, but certainly not least for the apps is the pickled shrimp. Do yourselves a favor and order some up, you won’t be disappointed. They are served with house made crackers and the shrimp come in a small mason jar where they’ve been pickled with pepper corns, ramps and I think a couple other goodies. They are not to be missed.

If you want to skip the ocean on your starters, then as I mentioned before, go for the charcuterie. I’ve already raved about the mortadella, but the duck prosciutto is also a winner, very rich, as well as the salami. Order some cured meats and mix them with a couple different cheeses – 2 local standouts are the Grayson and Monocacy Ash, and if you’re in the mood for some sheep’s milk cheese, the Dante from Wisconsin will go quite well with your charcuterie board.

All right, let’s get serious and talk about entrees. I’ll start with my favorite – the jumbo lump Chesapeake crab cake. Now I have lived in the area almost 20 years and have eaten my fair share of crabs and crab cakes, and this rated right up there. While you are served just one with your dinner, it is good sized – I’ll guess you’re getting 6-7 oz of crab – and it’s cooked to perfection. It’s served with a wonderful homemade tartar sauce which pairs so well with this cake you’re gonna want to order another one. I know I did.

Another dinnertime winner is Pedro’s gnocchi. It kills me to say it, but the 8407 version is better than mine. I’ll chalk it up to the pillowy dumplings being lightly pan-fried before they are served. Mine are a bit more traditional. The parmesan coulis with which it is served seems to mesh quite well with the gnocchi. If you remember this dish from Nicaro, and you liked it, you’ll like it here too. I was less exited about the duck. And maybe it’s less the dish and more that duck is not my fave meat – that’s at least what my wife says. So while I enjoyed the dish, I simply found the duck a bit too dry and orange-soy glaze wasn’t enough to make me want to order it again. On the other hand, as I’ve said before my meat du jour is quail. And so for dinner one night Pedro indulged me and doubled up an order of a quail appetizer that turned into a perfect entrée. I believed it was broiled and served with a sauce that included lemon zest and a couple other ingredients on which I am blanking. Either way, I give it 2 thumbs up.

And surprisingly, the halibut is not as good as one might expect. I have not ordered it myself yet, but 3 friends have ordered it and again while they all liked the dish, it seemed to fall short of what they expected. As one said after he finished the dish, “my socks are still on.” Maybe if you’re in the mood for a seafood dish, go for the seared scallops. I thought these were delicately seared and served in a wonderfully-tasty beurre blanc sauce. In addition, the pea shoots that come with the dish are fantastic. I could have eaten a plate of those all by themselves.

One other note about the entrees, don't expect much to accompany them -- not withstanding the pic of the halibut. It seems several of the dishes came simply on their own and others didn't have much company. As with the halibut, I'd like to see 8407 give a bit more thought to pairing their entrees with a bit more substance - starches or greens - so that a side order is not necessary.

OK, I’ve gone on long enough. I will say the desserts we’ve tried we have liked – the chocolate tart and homemade ice creams are both quite nice and the rhubarb crisp with ginger ice cream was also one I would order again. We were less excited about the cookies and milk. Kinda kitschy, but kinda forgettable too.

On the drinks, everyone seems to love the 8407 Pimms and the ginger lime martini also got high marks. I can say that the draft Pilsner Urquell was much to my liking and the bartenders make a mean Hendricks gimlet. I know - that is bar low, gin and rose's, it's not rocket science.

If I use the WaPo/Sietsema rating system, I’ll would give 8407 2 ½ stars right now – putting it in the good/excellent category. However I don’t think the restaurant will have to reach far to move to 3 stars (excellent). While this might seem odd to say about a place that’s only been open for just over one month, but Pedro Matamoros and Nancy Mola know what they are doing and perfected many things during their time at Nicaro and have successfully transferred their winning ways to this new establishment and are beginning to take them to the next level. I am more than happy to go along for that ride.

One alarm news

With 8407 throwing open its doors a couple weeks ago, and Pacci's coming close to serving its first pie, I know folks are wondering what's going on with our new restaurant and brewpub. Well I'm here to say we all should be ready to throw down a burger (or veggie wrap - whatever your preference) and a brew before the end of May -- and perhaps sooner.

I spoke to one of the principals behind Fire Station 1 (8131 Georgia Ave) the other day and got the lowdown. I was told they hope to open within the next 30 days, but we all know how that works in Montgomery County. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed for more like 45 days. Which will be fine with me. We'll have plenty of spring left and be ready to cool off from our hot summer days with some cold beer.

If you've driven by lately you've seen the new roofing being installed. And while the place may not look like it'll be ready for prime time in the next month or so, the storefront is scheduled to be installed next week, so I'm guessing that will give it the appearance of a restaurant ready to serve hungry and thirsty customers.

More importantly, the bar will be installed in about 2 weeks and for food, the kitchen is already in. FS1 is still short on staff however. They've hired about 1/3 of the people they need, but will still be holding more job fairs to fill the remaining positions.

In addition, I know there were questions from when I mentioned FS1 in a previous blog entry concerning their connection to Hook & Ladder. Now while our new place will not be a H&L bar, they will be serving 3 or 4 H&L brews, but folks will have a lot of other choices too since they will have 12 taps. I like the sound of that. And beyond that, some of the founders connected with H&L are behind FS1 -- although to be fair, they are two different entities. It appeared there were a few too many glitches for our new place to become a H&L brewpub. And so the folks behind FS1 stepped in to save the day.

FS1 plans to be open for lunch and dinner 7 days a week, and will offer brunch on the weekends. You can check out their menu on the website. Looks like pretty much what you'd expect -- calamari, O rings, salads, pizza, sandwiches and some full on entrees too. I typically never expect a bar which has a strong focus on beer to serve great food, but I'm hoping FS1 convinces me otherwise.

A couple other notes, the place will be pretty kid friendly (I guess as much as a bar can). They purchased a fire engine for the kids to play on and will have larger rooms available for b-day parties. For the adults -- besides good beer- they plan to have live music from Thurs to Sat.

That's all I have for now. I'll keep me eye on the construction progress and wish them to luck to finish on time. I'm parched already.

Peruvian chicken?

Yes, it is on the way. Casa de Pollo is taking over at the spot last occupied by Roger Miller (941 Bonifant St). But don't try to link to their website (casadepollo.com) yet since it appears they have yet to purchase it. Go Daddy is selling it for $69.99.

Anyway, according to the proprietors, their hope is to open this week.

However, I am a bit dubious about the authenticity of the Peruvian chicken coming into SoCo. I stopped by the restaurant on Saturday as I walked to the farmers market and noticed activity inside.

I knocked on the door and was greeted by the new owners. I don't want to stereotype, but I had a hunch they were not Peruvian. But when asked about it, the reply was, "You don't think we're from Peru?"

OK, I didn't want to make assumptions. But then as the conversation progressed, I was told the restaurant would also be serving African dishes. "We will serve dishes from our homeland, Togo."

All right. Is it Togo or Peru? I did a little checking and was not able to find anything which showed that a lot of Togolese have immigrated to Peru. In addition, the official language is French, not Spanish. Once they officially open I'll try to get to the bottom of this mystery.

But one thing that is not a mystery is what CdP will be serving -- pollo. I was given a semi-glossy postcard menu when I left and it shows that quarter, half and whole chickens will be available to eat there and for take-out. The prices range from $4.65 to $11.95, served with fries, or yucca and salad.

Side dishes will also be available to accompany your chicken, fried yucca and plantains, in addition to rice and beans. I'm doubtful alcohol will be served - at least not right now - but to quench your thirst you can reach for a cold Inkala Cola or perhaps they meant Inka Cola. I've never tried one before but the Wiki description compares it to bubblegum. Sounds refreshing!

So let's welcome what I'm guessing is the only Peruvian-Togolese restaurant in the metro area -- hell, who knows, maybe the country.

8407 Opens Tomorrow

8407 opens tomorrow. Our long wait is over. Our "Vote for Pedro" campaign has worked! I knew it would.

This is certainly good news for SS and beyond. Stopped by 8407 earlier today and they were holding a "mock opening" for family and friends, but officially the doors open tomorrow for lunch - which I believe is 11:00 AM.

Anyway, the place looks great. They have done a fabulous job with the renovation.

The downstairs has a full bar, a lounge and few tables. The upstairs also has its own bar and this is where the formal dining room is located. Walking around upstairs I certainly felt like I wasn't in SS. But then I looked to the west and couldn't miss all the construction at the subway and I was quickly reminded, yes I am in SS. But that's OK. The windows are floor to ceiling and are a great addition. It's a great view to keep your eyes on the construction and to watch life go by in our unincorporated city.

The missus and I will be there tomorrow night to test drive the food. We'll let you know how it goes. Here are a few pics till you can get there yourself.

The downstairs bar is to the left, the downstairs lounge is directly below and the other is the upstairs bar. No one will go thirsty at 8407 - that is for sure.

Friday Food Update

Forgive me, I know it's been a while since my last post. I've been busy coordinating an NCAA March Madness pool. And I'm sorry to say after the first day, I'm not doing all that well. But it is early!And while I don't have a lot to report here, I did want to pass along what I've heard on our local dining scene.

First, Pacci's Pizzeria. I spoke to Spiro from Pacci's yesterday and he tells me they are getting very close. They are now finishing the drywall and painting will begin next week. I can confirm the drywall work as I stopped by the restaurant on my way in to the office today and saw for myself the drywall work taking place. And while these pics aren't the best, they do provide a little glimpse into what is coming our way.

Spiro is hoping the restaurant will open in mid-April -- right around tax day. If that happens maybe you can take your refund check and exchange it for a few pies. He did not confirm that would be the case, just a little speculation on my part.

Next up, 8407. As we all expected, they will have a spring opening. What I am told is they are "very very close." Sounds familiar. 8407 is having their fire inspection today and it looks like one more inspection is due next week. So I guess if they have plenty of buckets to provide to the "fire brigade" in case Pedro sets the kitchen on fire, then I think they're golden. I'll give an update on this next week, but let's keep our fingers crossed that their doors open very soon.

And unfortunately I don't have any real information to report on Hook & Ladder - although it does appear their doors are open! Well really door, and it's probably just for the construction workers.

To be correct, the name will be Fire Station 1. And if you're in need of a food-industry job, they are hiring. They will actually be holding a job fair March 25 and 26. Check out their website for an employment application.

I've called them over the last couple days and left messages to find out more details, but no call back yet. Like my review is not gonna make or break this place? They better stay on my good side. Otherwise I might have to stumble home from another bar.

But if you've driven by recently, you've obviously seen their construction crew hard at work. They will certainly open after Pacci's and 8407, and based on the job fair, my guess is mid to late May. But that's OK. We'll need the time to frivolously throw our hard-earned money at these other two establishments before FS1 starts pouring us some cold ones.

Finally, two other quick updates. Went by Roger Miller the other day and nothing has changed. I thought I'd see some action going on to ready us for some Peruvian chicken - well, not yet at least. Also, thanks to Springvale Roader, I am now aware that Ceviche has shut its doors. The City Paper reports that chef Javier Angeles-Beron headed south to Miami after unsuccessfully trying to relocate his Olney restaurant Aroma, in Ceviche's location. That's too bad. While I was not a big Ceviche fan, I would have given Aroma a shot to win me over. Ceviche lost me a long time ago.

But who knows what we'll get to replace it. I'm doubtful it will be hair braiding, but you never know.

Underground dining in SoCo?

A friend of mine recently asked that I take a poll of my vast readership to determine the viability of doing underground dining in the 'hood. For those not familiar with this, you can check out this article from the NY Times which talks about unlicensed restaurants opening up in apartments and other private spaces.

I'm assuming this SS venture might be kind of similar, but it may be too early to determine. I doubt it would be much more than once a month, say a couple different seatings on a Saturday night.

I'm told the menu would be pretty limited. It would range from salads and small plates to start, a few different types of homemade pasta and homemade sauce, pizza, and maybe some contorni (side dishes) to accompany the entree. If another friend can be cajoled into assisting, then homemade breads and dolci would also be on the menu.

The donation to partake in the dining is still in discussion, but would be nominal - essentially covering the price of ingredients and not much more. Until my friend has you hooked and then will gouge the hell out of you.

OK, I'd love to hear what readers think of this idea. If things fall into place, this could start in the late spring/early summer -- just in time to take advantage of the first harvest.

A Great Food Town

No, I'm not talking about Silver Spring. I guess on the scale of 1-5, SS would get about a 3 (good) in my book. Now that's not metro DC, just SS. If I rated the metro area, I think it deserves a 3.75 or 4 (great). A couple weekends ago, I visited another 4 star food town, Portland, ME.

But the major difference between here and there is size. Portland's population is just over 60,000 and even metro Portland is only slightly more than 500,000. The city here is more than that, getting close to 600,000. However, Portland does rank high in the country for restaurants/bars per capita and just a few months ago, Bon Apetit ranked Portland as the top foodie small town in America.

And because of its compactness, if you live in Portland you don't need to drive 30 minutes or longer to reach any one specific place. We know living here you need about a 45 minute drive to dine at Volt, or 30-odd minutes to eat in downtown DC and even longer if you're hankering for some top-notch Korean food. So for me, Portland is very appealing because of its small size and great dining options. Moreover, we still felt it worth the trip in mid-February assuming we'd have to confront mounds of snow and freezing temperatures. But guess what, we left that behind here! Portland is having an unseasonably warm winter. Walking around town was very comfortable. And while all the tourist destinations weren't open, there was still enough going on to keep us busy - and I mean busy eating and drinking.

I won't list all the gluttony in which we were involved, but I will mention some of the highlights. First off, Paciarino. This is a small restaurant located on Fore Street, one of the main drags of town. While it's been open just over a year, they really seem to know what they're doing. We were startled a bit after we walked in and the server greeted us, quickly showing us the daily specials and then asking that we order before being seated. OK, wasn't expecting that but we'll roll with it. All the pasta was homemade and there were about 6 choices. In addition, the meat used at Paciarino, like many restaurants in Portland, was sourced from local farms. My kinda place. We ended up with 2 ravioli dishes - mine with a ricotta and bolognese and my wife's with goat cheese and a simple pomodoro. We also split a small salad (big enough for two) and a bottle of red. Needless to say after the wine it wasn't the most productive afternoon, but talk about a great start. The pasta was outstanding. In addition, the prices are reasonable and the serving sizes were much bigger than expected.

Before heading to dinner later in the evening in a neighborhood called Munjoy Hill, we took a short walk from the hotel since we were both in the mood for some bivalves. The short walk led us to a restaurant where we've snacked on oysters previously - Street & Co - located on a charming cobblestone alleyway. The restaurant has a major focus on seafood so we expected some oysters to be available even though we technically were past oyster season on the east coast. But I thought with aquaculture, maybe the month didn't matter as much as it once did. I'm not sure if I was right or not, but there were 3 types of oysters being offered, 2 varieties from Maine and one from Massachusetts. We started with some of all three and the winner - hands down - was the Island Creek oyster from Duxbury, MA. They were not the best we ever had, but they were right up there. They had good size, a nice meaty texture and a good level of brininess. You definitely had a taste of the sea. We then got serious and ordered up a dozen more - had to have something to accompany our 2nd bottle of vino for the day. And who can fill up on oysters anyway, right?

OK, now on to our 8:30 reservations in Munjoy Hill at Bar Lola. The restaurant does a lot of small plates, so we knew going in if the oysters did fill us up, we could go light on the small plates. And while the missus was not as thirsty as I was for round 2 of dinner, we both still had decent appetites. We enjoyed our meal pretty thoroughly, but there definitely were some higher points than others. My highest point was the Cavendish Farm pan-roasted quail from Vermont. It was a knee-buckler. In my book quail is the #1 bird - to eat that is. It came with wilted greens and a pine-nut puree; it was dreamy! But for some reason we don't have a pic of that. We do however have a pic of the piece of heritage pork belly I devoured. As you can see it was a nice, big chunk of belly. And while it was good, it could not compare to the quail. I think the size of the piece led it to be overcooked (for me) in the middle. I would have liked it a bit more rare. But hey, I didn't complain and cleaned my plate. For my better half her top dishes were the fennel and pear salad, gnocchi (not as good as mine though) and the piece de resistance was the sticky toffee pudding. This was by far the best one we've had on this side of the Atlantic. It is an English specialty of a sponge cake topped with a toffee sauce. This might not sound to die for, but done right, it is. And hats off to Bar Lola for their version. We would have ordered a second had any been left. But we realized, enough was enough.

I've gone on kinda long and I just finished the first day - and we didn't arrive till noon. All right, brevity. Day two - Valentine's Day - we actually only consumed two meals, brunch and dinner. But brunch was a feast. It was like eating 2 meals - get it? A small attempt at humor. Anyway, we had 11:00 AM reservations at Vignola. This is maybe a 2-minute walk from the hotel - very convenient. Of course we started with a couple bloody mary's - virgin ones though - need a little recovery. One of the mary's was your standard fare, but mine had the addition of clam juice with the rim lined with an Old Bay-type salt, and the garnishes included a carrot, celery and 3 Maine shrimp. Almost like a meal.

For the eating portion of the brunch, we started with some simple polenta cakes - again, nothing elaborate, but oh, so good. Then the missus could not resist the dish that included a couple lobster claws - and I'm glad she didn't. The lobster was joined by a couple poached easy eggs drizzled with hollandaise, along with some sauteed kale and mushrooms. I tell you right now, Maine lobster tastes better to me in Maine. Once it leaves the state it loses something. My brunch was not as fancy - over easy eggs and crusty bread covered with a turkey sausage gravy. Quite filling and quite delicious. Definitely a good start to the day.

Needing to walk off some of the brunch, we headed for a local bookstore which only sells books on food/spirit-related topics (only in Portland). The place is called Rabelais, as in the quote, "When I drink, I think; and when I think, I drink." It's a wonderful little independent bookstore with both new and used books on a wide array of subject matter - again all connected to food. We browsed for quite a while, communed a bit with the store pooch and I ended up purchasing a couple books on the business of food. I still need more convincing that it's a crazy idea to sink money into opening a restaurant/market. Hey, maybe I'll be the SS Mario Batali? OK, you can unroll your eyes now.

For our Valentine's day dinner, we hit one of the more well-known places in Portland -- Fore Street. This restaurant is very much a farm to table kind of place. Unfortunately because the lights were dimmed so much - they said it was for something called atmosphere - we didn't take any snapshots of our meal. So I won't go into too much detail, but I will say I we had a great meal. However, having dined at Fore Street in the past, I had set the bar very high and do have to say I don't think they reach the level I was expecting. Similar to Bar Lola, there were some high points - again, the quail - to be specific, a wood-grilled Harlequin quail, and the wood oven roasted mussels. Both were stupendous starters. And surprisingly, my wife actually liked my lamb entree more than her fish entree. I ordered Maine lamb cooked two separate ways - one was a lamb shoulder which had the consistency of pulled pork, and the other was more of a chop. While the dish was tasty, it again did not meet my expectations. This is possibly because I'm so enamored with a well-cooked rack of lamb that other preparations can only fall short. But even though I have these criticisms, I would still say the experience was wonderful when combining the excellent service, atmosphere and food. You'll pay for these things when dining at Fore Street, but even though I have had better meals, it still felt worth it. If you're interested in finding out more on the restaurant, check out this clip.



We did do one more day in Portland after Valentine's and continued to gorge ourselves, but besides mentioning my lobster omelet and lobster pizza, I'll skip the rest of the details. It was a fab trip and can't wait to go back in August for our annual summer lobsterfest. Hold on, maybe I don't have to wait till August. I see Big Red's got one going on right now. OK, out of my way.