Bistro D'Oc, Washington, D.C.

My good friend Kevin works downtown in the Ford's Theater area and decided he needed to escape the office and have a decent lunch somewhere. Thus he coerced me to go along with him to a neighborhood place he likes, Bistro D'Oc. Of course, what he didn't tell me ahead of time is that it was one of his and his recently-"ex" girlfriend's favorite places. But, we had a pleasant lunch, nonetheless.

Bistro D'Oc is a fairly new place, only about two years old or so, located in one of the older, less "restored" areas of downtown, which is what I think makes it possible for them to keep their prices at moderate levels. Kevin had made reservations for us, though I don't think we would have needed them, since we we there for a late lunch. The host immediately took us up some creaky, old stairs to one of their upstairs dining rooms. The tables were adequately sized and the chairs comfortable; the tables were spaced at American distances, rather than the close French style. One of the things that immediately struck me about the dining room's decor was the Christmas decorations (I might remind everyone that this is October 12). There were silver reindeer on the mantel, a few bows and ornaments hanging from some wall art, and several ornaments hanging from the ceiling on long ribbons. Aside from being surprised to see Christmas decorations all over, the non sequitur of the thing is that some of the hanging ornaments were actually broken!

We started our meal sharing a charcuterie platter with duck paté, country paté, sausages, meats, olives, cornichons, etc. They were all quite nice, especially the country paté studded with pistachio nuts.



Next, I had a bowl of their pumpkin soup au gratin. It was a bright orange potage with a good pumpkin flavor and a slightly sweet taste, all covered in broiled cheese and garnished with chopped scallions. I loved it. Kevin sampled it, and he liked it a lot, too. The only problem? I somehow managed to catch a bit of the thick soup on my soft palate, couldn't swallow it quickly enough, and then managed to burn my soft palate painfully badly, thus making eating the rest of lunch rather awkward.



For his plat, Kevin ordered the braised veal Languedoc in a tomato, basil, olive sauce and served with mashed potatoes. He's had it before and he said it was good.



I had the Moulard duck leg confit on sautéed chopped potatoes and mushrooms. The duck was juicy and had a mild flavor; I was expecting the skin to be crispier, though, since it was a confit and not just roast duck. There was a quantity of broth/natural juices on the bottom of the plate that I thought made the potatoes a little soggy.



For dessert, we shared the raspberry pudding with bourbon vanilla ice cream. It was absolutely charming. And, it was cold! I wasn't expecting a cold dish, but it worked very well, and had a very custardy feel to it. There was what almost looked like a bourbon aspic on top of the pudding. I'm not sure what their usual presentation is, since we asked for the ice cream on the side. The raspberry pudding is good enough to make a special trip to Bistro D'Oc just for dessert and coffee.



One of the things I noticed on the menu was a great deal of Asian influence in the foods and in the saucings. It also seemed like nearly all of the waitresses were Asian. I thought that odd at first, but after getting home and researching the restaurant a bit, I discovered that the French chef/owner married a Thai woman. That's the "ah-ha!" moment.

So, that's our French Christmas experience for the day. There were a lot of intriguing dishes on the menu, so I'm looking forward to going back to sample a few more.