I recently went to Masa 14 with a friend. It was a Thursday. We were in the mood for something new and different, but nothing outlandishly expensive. So we ventured to the U Street area, and finally decided to try Masa 14.
Massa 14 does small plates. It's kind of hard to describe the type of food they serve there, since they have everything from sushi, to pizza, to fried rice, but everything they served us was excellent. We had spicy tuna rolls and mushroom flatbread pizza with avacado and red peppers. We also split the crispy crab won ton rolls and the pork and shrimp fried rice. Someone at an all you can eat buffet once said "honey, everything is better fried," and it was especially true here.
Service was great, food came out quickly, and since we shared almost everything it was very affordable. I would definitely suggest giving it a try.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Oyamel - 401 7th Street NW
Restaurant week is a time in D.C. that is loved by patrons and despised by those who work in the restaurant business. During the most recent restaurant week I sampled Harry's Tap Room, Zentan, and Oyamel. The review for Zentan will come later. Oyamel is another one of Jose Andres' million restaurants in D.C. (most of which offer tapas). As previously mentioned here, I'm pretty skeptical about most tapas places, but Zaytinya is incredible so Oyamel couldn't be too far behind.
The Thursday we went was actually during the extended restaurant week and I was surprised to see that the place was still packed. Packed at the tables, packed at the bar, packed. Despite the crowd we were still seated within 10 minutes of arriving. We used those 10 minutes to order some over the top cocktails at an over the top price (12 bucks). The cocktails are good here, but not 701 good. 4 of us sat down and we all decided on the restaurant week menu to make things easier. The menu included your choice of four plates and a dessert. To start, we each ordered the ceviche (fresh wahoo, lime juice, and avacado). The lime juice was very strong but the avacado did a great job of balancing it out. Also, the wahoo is a delicate fish so it went very weel with the soft avacado. Ceviche is one of my favorite summer plates and this was one of the better ones I have tried. The next dish I had was a miss in my opinion. Dish 2 was the baby cactus salad with citrus dressing and baby tomatoes. The citrus was wayyyy too much. I'm not sure if this was because I had just had a bunch of ceviche, but regardless it was too much. More tomatoes please. Next, two of us had the braised short rib and the other two had the scallops. Danielle LOVES scallops so if they are on the menu...its a wrap. I have to admit though, the scallops were much better than my short rib. Scallops (seared scallops with pumpkin seed sauce, pumpkin seed oil and toasted pumpkin seeds) vs. Short Rib ( Braised short ribs, with a mole verde sauce of pumpkin seeds, green tomatillo, lettuce, chilis and cilantro). The scallops won as the short rib was pretty bland and the mole was sub par. Our fourth dish was your choice of taco. Richard and I added on the grilled grasshopper taco because when I see grasshopper on the menu...its a wrap. This was the best thing I had. I promise im not bullshitting either. It was crunchy, spicy, and warm. All very good things. I would say it was better than the other taco I had which was baby pig confit (also solid). The desserts came to a choice between two. Everyone had the leche cake so I went with the fruit soup and sorbet. Honestly, a mistake. Mine was good, but it was made apparent to me by everyone at the table that it looked like a dole fruit cup. I like dole fruit cups, but whatever. The rum cake was very very good and it had rum ice cream along with it.
We all left very full and content. The scene in the restaurant is very fun and I wouldn't mind going there just to hang out and drink. Because it is tapas style you can either go big or go cheap depending on how hungry you are. Oyamel is a great night out when you don't want to "go out" and could also be used as a pregame.
I give it a high B.
Highlight: creative cocktails and the ceviche
Lowlight: pricey cocktails and the cactus salad
The Thursday we went was actually during the extended restaurant week and I was surprised to see that the place was still packed. Packed at the tables, packed at the bar, packed. Despite the crowd we were still seated within 10 minutes of arriving. We used those 10 minutes to order some over the top cocktails at an over the top price (12 bucks). The cocktails are good here, but not 701 good. 4 of us sat down and we all decided on the restaurant week menu to make things easier. The menu included your choice of four plates and a dessert. To start, we each ordered the ceviche (fresh wahoo, lime juice, and avacado). The lime juice was very strong but the avacado did a great job of balancing it out. Also, the wahoo is a delicate fish so it went very weel with the soft avacado. Ceviche is one of my favorite summer plates and this was one of the better ones I have tried. The next dish I had was a miss in my opinion. Dish 2 was the baby cactus salad with citrus dressing and baby tomatoes. The citrus was wayyyy too much. I'm not sure if this was because I had just had a bunch of ceviche, but regardless it was too much. More tomatoes please. Next, two of us had the braised short rib and the other two had the scallops. Danielle LOVES scallops so if they are on the menu...its a wrap. I have to admit though, the scallops were much better than my short rib. Scallops (seared scallops with pumpkin seed sauce, pumpkin seed oil and toasted pumpkin seeds) vs. Short Rib ( Braised short ribs, with a mole verde sauce of pumpkin seeds, green tomatillo, lettuce, chilis and cilantro). The scallops won as the short rib was pretty bland and the mole was sub par. Our fourth dish was your choice of taco. Richard and I added on the grilled grasshopper taco because when I see grasshopper on the menu...its a wrap. This was the best thing I had. I promise im not bullshitting either. It was crunchy, spicy, and warm. All very good things. I would say it was better than the other taco I had which was baby pig confit (also solid). The desserts came to a choice between two. Everyone had the leche cake so I went with the fruit soup and sorbet. Honestly, a mistake. Mine was good, but it was made apparent to me by everyone at the table that it looked like a dole fruit cup. I like dole fruit cups, but whatever. The rum cake was very very good and it had rum ice cream along with it.
We all left very full and content. The scene in the restaurant is very fun and I wouldn't mind going there just to hang out and drink. Because it is tapas style you can either go big or go cheap depending on how hungry you are. Oyamel is a great night out when you don't want to "go out" and could also be used as a pregame.
I give it a high B.
Highlight: creative cocktails and the ceviche
Lowlight: pricey cocktails and the cactus salad
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