Rasika (DC - Penn Quarter)

We stopped in for another memorable meal at Rasika recently. This time we arrived before our reservation, so we killed some time at the bar, where we discovered some interesting cocktails and perhaps the best bar snacks in the area.

I ordered the "Geezzy Teasy" (something like that) which is an odd combination of Raj gin poured over ice cubes made of tonic, bitters and lime juice. Raj is more herbal than most gin and by putting all of the other flavors in the ice cubes, you get a drink that actually gets better as it sits, as opposed to the other way around. You need to really like gin to enjoy this, but the flavor is somewhere between a gin and tonic and a Collins. It went perfectly with the spiced popcorn they serve in paper funnels at the bar. The concoction is a mix of sweet and hot spiced popcorn and a few fried chilies (watch out - get one of these stuck in your teeth and it is lights out).

For dinner, we repeated many of our favorite dishes (see previous review http://cenoergosum.blogspot.com/2006/02/rasika-dc-penn-quarter.html), but added the following:

Ginger scallops - This is a delicate dish with hints of ginger that get more or less lost in the sea of garlic and honey. There is a bit of a pepper kick at the end, but even those with meek taste buds will enjoy it. The scallops themselves were perfectly tender and unlike anything you have ever had in an Indian restaurant before.

Sag Paneer - I'm not sure you will actually find Saag Paneer on the menu, but that didn't stop Kate from ordering it. The waiter deftly combined the Spinach from the Palak Makki and the Paneer from the Paneer Makhani to customize the dish she had in mind. The spinach was great - bright green, fresh, not at all drowning in cream the way it usually gets served and the cheese was brilliant as well - firm, sharp cheese curds that bore little resemblance to the mushy globs that festoon most take out Indian dishes.

Shrimp Pepper Masala - This was probably the biggest hit of the three new dishes. A plate of juicy, tender shrimp smothered in a thick tomato-based sauce simply radiating with heat from the pepper. As intense as the heat is in this dish, it is at the front of the mouth, not the tongue and is dissipates quickly.

Rasika continues to fire on all cylinders.