medium rare

medium rare
3500 connecticut avenue NW, washington, DC 20008
tel: 202) 237-1432
hours: monday-sunday 5pm-10:30pm, saturday-sunday 11am-2:30pm

what was consumed: bread, salad, steak & frites (seriously, there are no other options) ... oh, and wine

i love the concept of medium rare: fresh ingredients, well prepared fare, set menu ... so, on a slow-ish weekend, c&j and i head out to get our fill of medium rare. c tried to call and make reservations (recommended), but couldn't get one (i forget the reason why). we decided to take a shot and wait for a table - are we glad we did!

we walked into the basement-esque first floor of the building to medium rare, already hustling and bustling with people. while we were worried about getting seated within a reasonable amount of time, the hostess assured us that we would be seated in 20-ish minutes .. and we were! (in the end, we resolved that that the tables turn over pretty quickly here, despite people taking their jolly time, because all of the time hemming and hawing over what to order is automatically cut out - good call!). the hostess showed us to our table, and our server soon came to our table, took our drink order, asked how we liked our steak cooked ("medium rare!" we all shouted. seriously), and off he went! that was it. simple.

medium rare was delicious. soon after our server took our "order," he returned with some freshly cut bread and butter (i know freshly cut because i saw the server actually cutting the bread) - chewy, crusty, delicious. then came out plates of crisp salad, lightly dressed with a sort of honey mustard. i'm usually not a big fan of honey mustards, this dressing wasn't too overwhelming with mustard flavor, so it was a nice compliment to the fresh greens. then, just as we polished of our salads, our server came with our plates of steak and frites. the steak was cooked to perfection - medium rare. the steak is served with a steak sauce that is liberally poured over the slices. while i'm not a sauce person, i happily welcomed the dousing of my steak with this sauce. j described the sauce like the rarebit sauce at meridian pint. i concur! finger lickin' delicious (to borrow a phrase). the frites were nice and crispy, well salted. and what makes a great thing even greater? seconds! that's right. after your first go at he steak and frites, our server came back with another serving of steak and frites and sauce. we proceeded to enjoy every bite (other friends who've been tell me they wrapped up the seconds to enjoy the next day. not us. all gone that night). we literally waddled out of there, totally content with the food we had just inhaled, knowing we would be dreaming of steak and frites that night. DELICIOUS!

so, let me know when you want to go, because i will happily accompany you. i can't wait to go again! yum!

online: http://www.mediumrarerestaurant.com/