boundary road

boundary road

414 H street NE, washington, DC 20002
tel: 202) 450-3265

hours: 5pm–2am daily, sunday–thursday dinner 5:30pm–10:30pm, friday-saturday dinner 5:30pm–11pm, tuesday–friday lunch 11am–3pm

what was consumed: charcueterie and cheese plate (including a delicious pate), foie gras torchon PBJ (grilled country bread, homemade peanut butter, peach vanilla jelly), grilled hanger steak (chestnut purée, spicy kale, sauce charón), paprika dusted flounder over a spanish fishermen's stew), seared arctic char (wilted turnip greens, duck fat potatoes, salsa verde), pork (cooked medium with some sides that i don't remember exactly and isn't listed on boundary road's sample menu online), cocktails (such as the seelbach made with bourbon, cointreau, sparkling wine, peychaud’s & angostura bitters), apple pie for dessert

boundary road, i finally made it!

i'd been hearing about boundary road for some time, way before they even opened. bartender friend d told me about how he was helping his friend who was opening a place out on h street. friend d/j, on a separate occasion, told me about his friend (who also is a neighbor) who was opening a place out on h street. turns out, he was my neighbor as well! point is, i didn't put two and two together to realize that d and d/j were talking about the same person - brad who is the main guy at boundary road. small world!

and then, president obama visited.

blergh.

good for boundary road, bad for me and the prospects for getting reservations (even with knowing people who know people who know people -__-). though, that didn't stop me from requesting boundary road as one of my last meals before moving out of washington. yay for c for making the reservations!

like most places, boundary road wouldn't seat us until our entire party was present (they also asked us to remind our party to be on time, that 15 minutes beyond our reserved time, they would give up our seat. i think that's fair - respect the reservation time and they'll respect our reservation). c and i were early, so we sat at the bar for drinks while we took in the place. c ordered a recommended drink (she says the seelbach was delicious, and totally perfect for the warming washington weather) and i proceeded to break a glass (with my bare hands! er, no. the glass tipped over and broke into some large pieces when my clumsy elbows knocked it over as i arranged the glasses to take a photo) during the 2 seconds we were at the bar. the rest of our party were right on time. and right as they arrived, we were seated. yay!

we were starving, so once seated, we quickly looked through the menu (which wasn't too large - good!) and decided to order a bunch of things to share, my favorite way to have a meal. the menu is supposed to be seasonal. while that should be the norm and anticipated, i realize that that's not necessarily the case. i'm as guilty as anyone else regarding this, though, as i often want to eat foods (especially veggies) out of season. i like that i can eat brussel sprouts and broccoli all year long, leave me alone! i know - first world problem -__-

we began our meal with a wonderful  charcueterie plate which included a wonderful pate. granted, i love love love pate and will eat almost all variations (from average to excellent) of it, but boundary road's was delicious. creamy, soft, and seasoned just right. we also had to try the foie gras torchon PBJ that everyone has been talking about. like pate, i love foie gras, so i was excited to read about it and see it on the menu. when i first heard about it, the whole pb&j idea seemed a little odd (though i love pb&j). if not for any other reason, i'd recommend trying it because it's different. my opinion? loved it. it's different and it may seem odd, but there's something about the foie gras mixed in with the sort of savory sort of sweet peanut butter and the fruity jelly that ... just works.

our entrees came out just as we finished with our appetizers (i was very happy with the service that i received while at boundary road). the portions were reasonably sized (which has grown increasingly important to point out, i've come to understand), but my large appetite really wished for more. no surprise there. anyway, the servers described the entrees well, and the food was seasoned well, cooked perfectly, and the flavor combinations were interesting and a twist on traditional american dishes. and that seafood stew! such a deep seafood flavor that also wasn't stinky.

all in all, i had a great experience at boundary road and recommend that you check it out whole heartedly. just make sure that when the chef comes around and asks how you enjoyed the food, be sure to remember that you're at boundary road (not boundary stone - long story). i hope it's still delicious and doing well when i am back visiting washington ... !!!

online: http://www.boundaryrd.com/