Bardeo (DC - Cleveland Park)

We grabbed a cramped little four-top next to the bar last Wednesday for a casual dinner.

Bardeo (the less formal of the Ardeo/Bardeo duplex) is a dark, sleek, minimalist bar with tables scattered in front and down one side and an open kitchen in the back.

The menu is a bit of a departure from normal as well - four pages in all, with one each devoted to wine flights, wines by the glass, small plates and cheeses. There is a more extensive list of wine bottles and a separate dessert menu as well.

The food part of the menu is built around the wine and has a decidedly "Mediterranean meets California" tone to it. Dishes like grilled prawns over white beans echo the Mediterranean, while a salad of mixed greens with goat cheese and walnuts is as California as they come. Each dish is paired with a suggested wine and the wines themselves, hailing from all over the globe, range from $7.00 to $10.00 a glass. So far, so good.

We ordered eight small plates between the four of us and were then presented with a basket of bread and paté to enjoy with our wine.

The bread was your generic trucked in from the restaurant supply company type of stuff, but the paté was really what had our attention. It was a small ramekin of what I believe was chicken liver paté (not rich enough to be goose, not at all nutty or gamey - mostly seasoned with black pepper). Bardeo serves this alongside butter on every table.

I can honestly say that I have never seen this before. Olive oil, tapenade, designer butters - those are all old hat - but never have I seen paté. If it had been better, I would have been more impressed, but to foist a dollop of mediocre paté on all of your diners, seems a bit over-the-top. Anyway, let this serve as a formal warning to vegetarians.

Our waitress was very helpful and accommodating of several special requests we had. She was also very patient in her coordination of four different diners drinking several different wines by the glass, all at different paces. Unfortunately for her, the kitchen wasn't giving her any help.

We had just about taken our second bite of our first courses, when the second courses arrived. So much for savoring and sharing - let alone wine pairing. Not to mention the fact that the table was already very cramped with bread, paté, wine glasses, water glasses, etc.

Their solution was to spin the rectangular plates 90 degrees and line them up side-by-side in front of each of us like some crazy haute TV dinner (veggies in the rectangle on the left, meat in the rectangle on the right). What is the hurry? Did they honestly think that at 9:00 on a Wednesday night, they were going to get an extra turn of our table? Not likely.

The food itself was mixed. Some dishes were very good, others were fair. Winners included the warm asparagus salad, grilled prawns and braised beef panini. Losers included the crispy goat cheese salad and grilled tuna.

The warm asparagus salad was a pile of steamed asparagus, topped with a summer hash of leeks, mushrooms and hazelnuts. This was both visually appealing and a creative mix of textures and flavors, with the hazelnuts and the leeks punctuating a dish that would otherwise have been bland.

The grilled prawns were the best dish, by far. They were served astride a pile of cannellini beans, tossed in basil and chili oil. The smoky prawns played off the creamy beans and sweet basil well, with the chili oil providing a kick at the end of each bite.

The braised beef panini was quite good as well. It was a pile of red wine braised brisket, served on sourdough with caramelized onions and blue cheese. The flavors all worked well together, even if this dish seemed a little heavy for the summer. If it is still on the menu when the temperature drops below 60 degrees, I will try it again with a glass of Rhone.

The crispy goat cheese salad was a bust. Friseé, beets, walnuts and goat cheese can be a delightful starter - especially at this time of year, when beets abound. Unfortunately, the Bardeo version pits wilted friseé with canned beets and a golf ball sized mound of fried goat cheese in a bizarre, hybrid California cuisine / fast food nation dish. Do you want fries with that?

Likewise, the grilled tuna steak was full of promise, but failed to deliver. It was advertised with beluga lentils, celery, radish and truffle vinaigrette - what could be better? Well, for starters, the tuna "steak" is actually a half inch thick piece of tuna that had been cooked within an inch of its life. It wasn't burned, but it had both the consistency and the flavor of canned tuna. Try as they might, the rest of the preparation couldn't get over the hurdle set by the murdered piece of fish.

For desserts, we decided to cut our losses, get away from the smoke in the bar and walk down the street for some ice cream, though a few of the selections were tempting.

I might try Ardeo next time, to see if that side of the house is doing a better job of metering the pace of the meal, but to be honest, I have gone from wondering why it took me two years of living in DC to try Bardeo to wondering if I will be back again in the next two.