Requin Brings Out Tom Sietsema's Inner Shark

Now that Requin (French for "shark") is no longer a pop-up and has permanently moved into Mosaic District, Tom Sietsema files a full review for the Washington Post. He awards chef Jennifer Carroll's restaurant two and a half stars. Diners can't go wrong with any of the seafood dishes (such as the fritto misto), but Sietsema also likes plenty of other things on the menu. Favorites include celery root pastrami, smashed fingerling potatoes, and roast chicken. He also saves room for dessert and writes:

"Requin demonstrates that soufflés aren’t the sole province of luxury restaurants, with a billowing, chocolate confection accompanied by hazelnut ice cream and a price tag of just eight bucks. But the dessert that brings out my inner shark features profiteroles accompanied by scoops of brown butter ice cream and candied sliced kumquats hinting of star anise and orange. At the table, a waiter streaks the composition with warm caramel. Bon appetit, and diet tomorrow." [WaPo]

Maura Judkis tries Pennsylvania 6 for the First Bite column in the Washington Post. She concludes they're mostly focused on creating an atmosphere for political dealmaking. Boring mains like steak and pork chops seem aimed at the expense account crowd, so she urges diners to stick to the raw bar, crudos, and other seafood. She writes:

"But other parts of the menu might remind you of dining in an upscale-yet-generic hotel…Among the steak, pork chops, lamb ragout and tuna, the mains don’t have much personality… A lunchtime banh mi lacked both acidity and spice; opt instead for the lobster roll, overflowing with meat. A broccolini dip of garlic crema proved a soupy start to the meal, though the charred Spanish octopus with gigante beans and fennel was more enlivening. You might see a pattern here: Go for the seafood." [WaPo]

For his $20 Diner column in the Washington Post, Tim Carman tries Stoney’s Seafood House on Broomes Island in Maryland. He goes there on the advice of Todd Thrasher of Restaurant Eve and PX but seems a little disappointed the waterfront seafood restaurant doesn't focus on all local products. He writes:

"The discussion inevitably turns to eating non-local seafood at a restaurant so connected to its community and the water. It doesn’t bother Thrasher that the snow crab legs or the crawfish or the lobster came from waters far away. Frankly, I think the best thing at Stoney’s is local: The big, buttery crab cakes are prepared with Maryland’s own, and they’re worth every cent of their market price ($19.75 for a large crab-cake sandwich on our visit)." [WaPo]

Laura Hayes dines at Duck Duck Goose for the First Taste column in Bethesda Magazine. The new restaurant by chef and owner Ashish Alfred already has a following thanks to small plates like beef tartare, grilled langoustine with saffron aioli, and seared tuna on avocado puree. The pastas are also solid. As for the larger dishes, she writes:

"Entrées fittingly emphasize fowl to include quail, chicken, duck and tournedos of foie gras. The chicken Forgione can comfort two with spicy broccolini, potato, charred lemon and a dark and savory chicken jus. It’s superior to the pan-seared, line-caught Atlantic salmon, whose too-firm artichoke adornment needn’t be on the plate. Craving more than fowl or fish? The panacea is a 36-ounce cote de boeuf with sides for two." [Bethesda]

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