montmartre

montmartre
327 7th St SE(between S C St & S Pennsylvania Ave) Washington, DC 20003
tel: 202) 544-1244
hours: tuesday-friday 11:30am-2:30pm, 5:30pm-9pm; saturday 10:30am-3pm, 5:30pm-9:30pm; sunday 10:30am-3pm, 54:30pm-9pm

what was consumed: wine! mussells, endive salad, rabbit, steak

i don't know that much about french food. like when people talk about being classically trained in the french style, in french cuisine, i'm not really sure what that means. what i do know is that when i eat so called french food, i totally enjoy it and look forward to eating more and more and more. YUM.

when i was living over by RFK stadium, i would frequent eastern market and i would see mantmartre, always filled with people, thinking that i would have to try out "that french place." so, i finally got a chance to make my visit to montmartre, i was really excited ^_^

reservations were made. you've got to (at least that's how it seemed to me). while the dining area isn't small, it's not too large either. most of all, it was packed with people the entire time we was there. we were quickly seated and, from what i remember, quite close to the tables around us - close enough for it to feel close, but spacious enough for servers to get through.

we started our meal with a nice french wine. oh, who am i kidding. what do i know about good french wine? they're all delicious. i've seen restauranteurs who know wine do tastings in order to decide upon their wine menu. i have faith that montmartre's restauranteur selected his/her wines well. and yes, i enjoyed our wine. a nice red wine that could be versatile and good for whatever would be ordered.

we began our meal with some appetizers. while i could eat salad 24 hours a day, the mussels were calling my name (as they usuall do). there was a nice amount of mussels that were presented to me, in a nice white broth. the endive salad was good, but i was totally a fan of the mussels (which i proceeded to polish off in what felt like seconds. it was probably more like minutes). because i didn't have more than a bite of the endive salad, i can't say too much about it. it was good (i think), but the flavors were quickly forgotten as more mussels made their way into my mouth ... yum.

entrees. i had read up on montmartre prior to my visit and other patrons recommended a number of different things. the entree that came up more often than not was the rabbit. rabbit? rabbit. i remember having rabbit once when i was in elementary school during ms. lewis's 3rd grade class (she is, by far, my favorite elementary school teacher). the rabbit was braised and came with some linguine in a cream sauce (menu description: braised rabbit leg with olives, shiitakes mushrooms and creamy linguini with truffle oil). YUM. the rabbit was juicy (tasting sort of like a more game-y chicken) that absorbed many of the flavors of the sauce well. the linguine was cooked just the way that i like it in a creamy, but not overwhelming, sauce. thanks to all those who recommended it! i also had a bit of the steak (kobe steak with potato gratin, french beans and endive, green peppercorn sauce), which was good, but i was happy to have ordered the rabbit~

what am i going to get the next time i go? i'm already thinking about it ... YUM.