The Search for J Street: Dinner at Towne Food & Drink

Admittedly there were a few hiccups during our dinner at Towne (the pace of drink and dessert service could be described as glacial), but since the restaurant had only opened 24 hours earlier, I'm going to chalk that up to the normal kinks that need to be worked out in any new business. I'd rather highlight how delicious the food was, how enthusiastic the service was, and how beautiful the space is!

We tried a lot of their small plates since everything looked so amazing, and almost all of it lived up to or surpassed expectation. The best ones were the roasted carrots, which is actually a full on salad with avocado and honey comb and whole carrots, and the lobster pig in a blanket, which replaces the hot dog with a sausage made of shrimp and lobster. They were both absolutely fantastic. Also incredibly tasty was the lobster mac'n'cheese (though don't expect much lobster, it's more for a cheese lover) and the pretzels rolls with mustard butter that come complimentary. The only small plate that I wouldn't order again was the tuna tartar. There was nothing wrong with it, but it didn't live up the other dishes.

For entrees I tried the artichoke pizza, Katie tried the scallops, and my boyfriend tried the burger. The burger and scallops seemed to be winners based on the fact that my dining companions left nothing on their plates. I thought the pizza was fine, but I wasn't in love with the toppings I chose. The crust is great, though, so I would order the pizza again but just choose different toppings. The squash blossom and burrata pie, in particular, is calling my name.

As for desserts and drinks, we had a mixed experience. Here's a thorough review of the ups and downs of the macarons, and in addition we tried the espresso chip cookie sandwich. No complaints about that! Katie went 50-50 on her cocktails. The first one, the CoCo Punch, was underwhelming. It just tastes like you dumped bourbon into your kids chocolate milk. The flavors did not mix well. She followed that up with the Eastern Mule, which she liked much more. I, on the other hand, was impressed with their liqueur and wine selection. They had my new favorite aperitif, Aperol! And they had the 2010 Kali Hart pinot noir that I tried at Corkbar! The only downside was the price; almost all the drinks are $12 and up.

Overall the meal was really enjoyable. When service was slow (or when or waiter forgot to order the tuna tartar), the annoyance was made up for by the staff's positive attitudes. Towne definitely left me wanting to come back to try more.

Source: http://searchforjstreet.blogspot.com/2012/07/dinner-at-towne-food-drink.html

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