Tabaq Bistro (DC - U Street)

U Street has always had great jazz, a handful of popular Ethiopian restaurants and that venerable institution, Ben's Chili Bowl. However, amid the home furnishing stores, bohemian boutiques and restaurant chains that have recently moved in, there is a conspicuous dearth of real food.

Coppi's is a horrible rip-off, Local 16 is a de facto Georgetown Student Union, Chi Cha is for drinking, not eating and Cake Love is a joke.

[Seriously, Cake Love turns out some of the driest, most flavorless cake I have ever tasted in my life - and don't think that hiding it under a deluge of sickeningly sweet icing will work. The exorbitant prices add insult to injury. I know we all love the story line - successful lawyer quits to make cake and help revitalize an urban neighborhood (*tear*) - but it is all sizzle and no steak. NOTE: if a Vegan bakery six blocks away can churn out better pastries than you without the benefit of dairy or butter, shouldn't you hang it up?]

But I digress.

Given my poor view of all the aforementioned U Street establishments, it was with great hesitation that I finally approached Tabaq. Like so many DC failures, it promised a bar/lounge area coupled with a dining room that featured exotic regional food. I had visions of that pair of purgatorial weigh stations in Georgetown, Mie n Yu and Cilantro, where bad food, loud music, poor service and high prices form a toxic cocktail. Lucky for Tabaq's backers, their new venture is closer to IndeBleu and Zaytinya than to these bottom feeders.

I have been to Tabaq twice since it opened this fall and am happy to report that we finally have something to cheer about on the U Street corridor.

Tabaq takes up an entire row house on U, between 13th and 14th streets. The basement houses a lounge, the first floor combines a bar and a banquet that run the entire length of the building and the roof hosts a smaller bar and dining area, encapsulated in glass and offering splendid panoramic views of downtown DC.

The menu is advertised as "Turkish" but you will recognize most of it as being generically Mediterranean: Stuffed grape leaves, hummus, babaganoush, lamb chops, etc.

Every meal at Tabaq starts ff with amazing rye bread knots and a green dipping sauce. The sauce is primarily olive oil, seasoned with garlic and herbs. The bread itself is like a big soft, sourdough pretzel seasoned with rye seeds and covered in kosher salt. Truly outstanding.

On multiple trips to Tabaq with parties of six or more, I have sampled most of the menu, which is comprised primarily of small plates and designed for people to share multiple dishes.

Favorites include:
- eggplant salad (fried eggplant tossed with orange)
- lamb chops (with roasted red pepper puree and pomegranate reduction)
- Aegean pide (like a sun dried tomato based pizza)
- salmon pide (smoked salmon and caper based white pizza)
- grilled tuna (with arugula, caramelized onion and pomegranate dressing)
- black mission fig tart (simple expression of the fig's natural sweetness)

The rare "misses" on the menu include:
- puff shrimp (Turkish take on seafood Newburgh)
- calamari (a wide frisbee of squid pressed between layers of shredded wheat)

This far ranging menu is held together by a few common ingredients that run through most dishes: roasted red peppers and pomegranate. They appear some places as decoration, others as a main ingredient, but the result is little hints and clues that help your palate - however sub-consciously - tie all of the varied dishes together.

I recommend you go now, while the weather is cool and before the roof top scene starts to look like Lauriol Plaza.