Zengo (DC - MCI Center)

I tried Zengo last night and was very pleasantly surprised by how good it was. When I heard that it was opening, I tried to avoid it at all costs (fusion cuisine, chain restaurant, celebrity backers/trendy scene - the Holy trinity of what I avoid in restaurants), but a good friend convinced me I was being to rash.

Zengo has the familiar feel of many of the restaurants in and around the Verizon (nee MCI) Center neighborhood - you enter a dark, sleek lounge/bar and then graduate to stark, brightly colored, ultra-modern dining rooms [See also: IndeBleu, Rosa Mexicano, Zola, Zaytinya, etc.]

After stopping at the bar for a mojito and a very mediocre glass of zin, we headed upstairs to our table. The menu is broken up into little bites, sushi, soups, entrees and everything in between. Some people will be put off by the entropy of the whole affair, but I like it. The chaotic choose-your-own-adventure style lends to sharing/communal dining and is a nice counterpoint to the set, formal tasting menus I often enjoy.

After much debate, caucusing and lobbying efforts (this is, after all, DC), we decided on (in no particular order):

Angry Zengo roll
This is a spicy tuna, avocado and cucumber roll topped with a sesame/chipotle mayonnaise. I'm not going to lie to you - that is a lot of flavors to pack into one roll. The dominant flavor is the spicy tuna, with the avocado and cucumber really just adding texture. The sesame/chipotle sauce is placed as a dollop on top of each slice of the roll and as such, it is the last flavor to hit your tongue. The sauce adds a long, warm, smokeyfinish to each bite.

Hamachi
Straight out of Nobu's cookbook - Thin slices of hamachi surrounded by a moat of soy sauce and each topped with a paper-thin slice of serrano chile and a single cilantro leaf. Nobu's is better. He omits the cilantro and uses a sauce that is far more dynamic than the yuzu/soy used in this dish. Zengo's version is still pretty good, just not as good or creative as most of the rest of the menu.

Arepas de Puerco
Pulled pork is tossed in what is described as an "achiote/hoisin" sauce (sweet and hot - but hot at the front of the mouth, not lingering), then set atop thick corn tortilla discs and then dressed with avocado, a slice of serrano chile and crème fraiche. While nobody seems to know if this is finger food or fork and knife food, the taste is very good. The pulled pork was tender and juicy and the hoisin base worked well - not syrupy or overly sweet and cut with just enough achiote to keep it honest. The avocado and crème fraiche played off the serrano chile well enough, but teetered very close to the brink of a "deconstructed taco" (thank God there was no lettuce or tomato). The entire dish was a juxtaposition of flavors, temperatures and textures - the sweet hoisin versus the hot achiote on the meat, the warm pulled pork versus the cool crème fraiche and the crunchy tortilla versus the soft avocado.

Pot Stickers
Pretty standard fried dumplings here - nothing to really write home about, except that the lobster/rock shrimp stuffing was lighter your typical dumpling. You could actually identify individual ingredients in the dumpling and the overall sweetness of the dish was cut by the serrano/wasabi dipping sauce.

Peking rolls
These were like little duck and mushroom egg rolls served with a trio of dipping sauces: a traditional hot mustard, a chipotle/apricot and a wasabi/crème sauce. The rolls themselves were very good - you could taste the duck confit and mushrooms seperately - unlike the unidentifyiable mush that fills most egg rolls. The wrapper was light and crisp - not at all greasy. Each of the three dipping sauces worked, but the hot/sweet of the chipotle/apricot one was by far the best.

Asiatica Soup
Move over Adobo Chicken Soup at Merkado, I have a new favorite soup in town. This murky, mysterious bowl of chicken and vermicelli steeped in coconut milk, red curry and guajillo chile has stolen my heart. I slurped up every last drop of this re-interpretation of a Thai dish with the reckless abandon my labrador shows towards a bowl of water on a hot day. Don't approach this soup thinking Tom Ka - it is a kissing cousin of that dish, but without the lemongrass and lime perfume. The result is a bolder, simpler, heartier, unadulterated affair. Order it by the gallon.

Szechwan Pork Loin
Frollicking as I was in my soup, I barely noticed the Szechwan Pork arrive on the table. This dish is a generous portion of pork tenderloin slathered in what the menu describes as a "habanero guava bbq sauce." I can't say that I recognized the guava, but the habanero is there, clear as day. The combination is a sweet, hot BBQ sauce that works beautifully with the pile of corn salsa that accompanies it. The salsa is roasted corn with traces of red onion, cilantro, lime, etc - the usual entourage. The meat itself is tender, juicy and smokey - I'm not sure where the smoke comes from, but it is definately there.

Ice Cream
We opted to try two of the four available ice cream flavors: cinnamon and dolce de leche. The cinnamon was as good as any other cinnamon ice cream I have had - a standard representation of the classic. The dolce de leche, however, was out of this World. Light, sweet, ethereal cream with just a hint of caramel on the finish. This is the real deal - it reminded me of the stuff you get from street vendors during the various national pride parades in New York.

Churros y Chocolate
The zenith of our meal was the much anticipated churros y chocolate. Our host had really talked them up in hopes of attracting us to Zengo in the first place, but even after the fantastic meal described above, we were skeptical.

The bar is pretty high. I remember ending long nights of drinking in Spain with a thick, comforting, stand-your-spoon-up-in-it cup of chocolate and a plate of fresh-from-the-fryer cinnamon and sugar coated churros. I used to say that if dunking the churro in the chocolate didn't create an oil slick similar to diving into a pool covered in tanning oil, someone was doing something wrong.

Zengo's version delivered as promised - almost. The churros are faithful interpretations - fresh fried dough strands covered in cinnamon and sugar. The chocolate, however, is a shot glass of melted semi-sweet chocolate. Thrilling as this proposition may be to anyone who possesses two X chromosomes, you are left in the awkward position of having to pour the chocolate onto your churro, rather than soaking your curro in the chocolate.

Next time I would skip the pot stickers and the hamachi. They are both good efforts, but there are too many other good things going on here to waste your time with them.

One constant theme at Zengo is the presence of cooling agents wherever spice is used. Whether it is slipping the cucumber and avocado into the angry zengo roll to counteract the spicy tuna and chipotle sauce, or tempering the achiote sauce and serrano chile slice with some avocado and crème fraiche in the arepas de puerco, at every bite, the chef is trying to balance the flavors.

All-in, this is fusion cuisine that actually works. It helps that much of the heat in Asian cooking comes from new-World peppers, making this a much more natural union than say, French and Indian - two cuisines that never really shared a historic dialogue (no offense to my friends at IndeBleu - you are doing some magnificent things with the two cuisines, they are just more of an arranged marriage).

So get over your prejudices about fusion cooking and multi-unit restaurant ownership groups and give Zengo a try. Just be sure to bring your wallet - we topped out around $70 per person, which is a little steep for your casual Wednesday night after-work gathering.