As you may now, January 11-17, 2010 is officially Restaurant Week in Washington, DC. Over 180 restaurants in the DC area are participating in this year's event. During this time, you can have a 3-course lunch for $20.10 or a 3-course dinner for $35.10 at many restaurants where you could barely find an entree for under $35. I typically try to go to at least 3 new restaurants each event. It's the best time to go with friends, family, or someone special to sample an appetizer, entree, and dessert for a great price.
On the first day of Restaurant Week I went to Rasika. Rasika is a contemporary Indian restaurant located within 4 blocks of the Verizon Center. Although, I'm frequently in Chinatown, I'd never seen it before. It is located on 6th and D Streets NW.
When we entered, it was very quaint and nicely decorated. It was much smaller than most of the other restaurants in Chinatown that usually cater to hundreds of patrons at a time. That explains why I couldn't get a reservation before 9PM all week.
So we were seated and the waiter immediately came over to gave us a breakdown of all of the wines, they even had a special Restaurant Week wine menu where bottles were about $10-15 less than usual, as well as their extensive list of cocktails. I ordered a Cranberry Cobbler. It was a cocktail made of tequila, apple liqueur, with muddled oranges and cranberries and some type of spice. I'll admit it was so good I ended up drinking mine then my friends.Within 5 minutes of ordering our drinks, our appetizers came. The Malai Chicken Tikka was placed in front of me and my friend had calamari. My dish was amazing! It was much lighter than I expected. I love Indian food but sometimes with all the spices, certain dishes can be overbearing. After our first bites, our waiter came over to check on how we liked everything. He even told my friend to sprinkle what we thought were garnishes on his dish to bring out the flavor. He was right.
For the entree, I ordered the Black Cod, which they are supposedly known for, and my friend had Mahi Mahi in a light curry sauce. The cod was glazed in honey and perfectly grilled I can still taste it. Yum! The Mahi Mahi served over basmati rice was excellent too. It was so full of flavor.
By the time dessert came out, we were both pretty full but I can always make room for sweets. My friend had mango ice cream while I had a dish that was some type of fruit that was fried and soaked in honey and served with a scoop of frozen yogurt with pistachio sprinkles. It was heavenly.
I'm definitely a fan of Rasika now, it might even be one of my new favorite restaurants!
Service: A+
Food: A
Atmosphere: A
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