Panache Restaurant, Washington, D.C.

Kevin, who already has one graduate degree, has been working on another, but I think he's been getting rather burned out, at least from the nasty looks I get when I ask how the PhD is going.... Nonetheless, he has a fabulous new job in D.C. that he just started earlier this month with offices near the world headquarters of the National Geographic Society (another place in D.C. with fun museums and stuff, but it doesn't always make the top of the tourist list with the embarrassment of riches we have in this town). We went out a couple of weeks ago to celebrate his first paycheck!

One of the many fine places in the immediate area is Panache Restaurant, a place I've always found quite an enigma. A lot of people think of it as a French restaurant, but they also have a strong Mediterranean feel to the menu, plus, they offer French, Spanish, and Mediterranean style tapas.

Lunch, however, is a bit simpler.

Kevin started with an hummus appetizer. I sampled a bit, and the hummus was quite good, being light and not having any strong olive oil, lemon juice, or tahini (sesame seed paste) flavors. What I found interesting about the hummus was that it was served with wedges of warm focaccia bread, instead of with triangles of pita bread, and the focaccia was very good, too.

For his main course, he had a turkey-avocado wrap, one of the daily specials. It came in a bright green, spinach, flour tortilla and was amply stuffed with both lots of avocado and turkey plus other vegetables. An order of long French fries, with mayonnaise as a dipping sauce, accompanied the wrap.


I got the "salad of rare steak," a tasty entree salad with an unusually large amount of hot, thinly-sliced pieces of flank steak served over a bed of fresh baby spinach leaves, field greens, and roasted shallot. Blue cheese crumbles topped the meat.



Desserts were glorious. Kevin selected a crème brulée, their version redolent with Tahitian vanilla and topped with artistically arranged mint, strawberry slices, and whipped cream on the warm sugar crust.


I wanted something simpler and lighter, so I got the raspberry sorbet, and it came in a huge art glass bowl with a sprig of mint and a warm biscotto.



Thus were our Mediterranean adventures at Panache. Looks like the place has a big, fun bar that's probably packed during happy hour, too.