DC “DCocktail” Series: G by Mike Isabella

The DC “DCocktail” Series highlights the food, ambiance, and most especially the cocktails at restaurants in and around the District of Columbia.  We find out about the background of the cocktail menu and how the restaurant uses it to make its mark on the nation’s capital.  Our contributing writer, Nikki Vergakes, enjoyed a full tasting menu experience at this DC gem.

Top Chef All-Stars runner-up Mike Isabella opened “G” (2201 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20009) next to his Greek restaurant, Kapnos, in July 2013.  G offers a sandwich shoppe by day, and a four-course tasting menu by night, Wednesdays – Sundays. Not to mention, every Sunday Isabella features “Sunday Gravy,” a dining experience inspired by his end-of-the-week feasts at home.  My tastebuds were so ready for a visit.

Cocktails

G, an Italian restaurant, naturally has a vast selection of red, white and sparkling wines. I can’t really say the same for the cocktail selection. They offer an aperol spritz, negroni, egg nog, and an amaretto sour. They also serve all drinks from Kapnos right next door, which has a full bar. While the daytime menu is limited, check out the nighttime drink menu here.

Food

We decided on getting the tasting menu to get the full experience. This included bread, an antipasti board, a pasta dish, a half chicken to split, and a dessert for $40 a person. We were starving from being tourists all day, so we were oh so ready.

The antipasti board included a pork terrine with a citrus mostarda, a season crostini with a foie gras mousse, a snapper croquette with a caper remoulade, and creamy burrata, grilled asparagus, and speck. Everything balanced out so well. The flavors, the textures, everything married together beautifully. I was ready for my next tastebud adventure.

My pasta dish of choice was the corn tortellini with maitake mushrooms, pecorino and chive. It was perfectly light and sweet.

Corn Tortellini

My mother got the chicken liver spaghetti. She loves chicken liver because it reminds her of her childhood. This was her childhood, yet a bit fancier! This dish was enhanced with sherry vinegar, brandy, and pecorino.

Chicken Liver Spaghetti

The half chicken was another beautifully balanced dish. Moist, flavorful chicken fell off the bone. It floated atop of salad of charred lettuce, tomatoes, squash, and country bread.

Chicken

The peach pie was a summery, light finish. It was topped with oatmeal pecan streusel and ice cream. I loved that the tasting menu was filling, enticing, and exciting, yet it didn’t leave me with a food baby.

Peach Pie

Ambiance

I would use the words modern, intimate, and low-key to describe the ambiance. The contrast between the bumping bar at Kapnos next door and the intimate dining experience at G actually mixed together well, much like their flavors in the food. While it was a week night, the low lights and music set an intimate ambiance.

I definitely suggest checking out G for delicious, Italian foods and great atmosphere.  Tell them we sent you!

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Photo Credit: Nikki Vergakes and eater.com

Paddling to the SweetShine Distillery with River and Trail Outfitters

For my birthday this year, I wanted to do something a bit different.  You get a certain age and you get tired of the bar/club scene ya know…although I did end up doing that too.  Old habits die hard.  But I digress.

When I met John of River and Trail Outfitters at the DC Travel & Adventure Show, I knew I’d found the perfect thing…an adventure on the open seas!  Well, the Shenandoah River isn’t exactly the open seas but hey, we’ve got to start somewhere.

With a canoe trip followed by a distillery visit, River and Trail’s ‘Paddle to the Sweetshine Distillery’ Tour was right up my alley.

Canoeing & Kayaking

About an hour outside of both Baltimore and DC, my friends and I met at River and Trail Outfitters’ offices in Knoxville, MD to sign liability paperwork and get directions for next steps.  We then headed to the river to suit up for our adventure across state lines in West Virginia.

I chose to canoe along with most of my friends, while two people chose to kayak.  The last time I canoed was during seventh grade camping trip so I was a little worried about venturing onto the river.  But our guide, Christina, eased all of our fears and off we went.

It started out well.  We enjoyed the scenery.  Talked and laughed at each other’s misfortunes, like getting stuck on rocks or paddling in the wrong direction.  But by about mile 3.5 of the 5 mile journey, my friends were looking at me wondering what I had gotten them into.

Canoeing was hard work!  It seemed harder than kayaking so I was a little jealous of my friends who were kayaking and didn’t seem like they were working as hard.  But with a little patience and teamwork, we barely finally made it to the end of the route and headed to our picnic.

River and Trail provided fried chicken, potato salad, watermelon and juice for lunch.  Much to our surprise, everything was delicious. (There are so many ways you can go wrong with fried chicken and potato salad. Thank God the food was good.  I think my friends would have taken me back to the river and thrown me overboard had it not been.)  We all but inhaled the food to replenish our systems after all our hard work.

Limoncello Tasting

Following lunch, we headed to the Bloomery Plantation Distillery, which was about a 7 minute drive away. A restored log cabin that once served as slave quarters, the distillery was quaint but was full of character. We were welcomed by the owner, Tom and “fun-tender,” Rita.

Rita gave us samples of Bloomery’s 10 limoncellos with a little anecdote for each.  My personal favorites were the Black Walnut and Cranberry Clementine flavors, but each was delicious and rivals limoncello straight from Italy.

All of Bloomery’s limoncellos are made by hand with 190-proof corn liquor, pure cane sugar and farm fresh ingredients.  They grow lemons, Hawaiian ginger, raspberries, black walnuts and pumpkins in West Virginia. They try to source other ingredients from other small American family farms to achieve a ‘garden to glass’ feel, differentiating it from other limoncellos.

Overall, it was an amazing day and I’m glad I chose to celebrate my birthday with River and Trail’s ‘Paddle to the SweetShine Distillery’ Tour. By the end of the day, my friends had forgiven me for the 5 mile trip down the river and even admitted that it was really fun.

If you’re looking for an adventure this summer, please look into River and Trail Outfitters’ packages. Thanks to John, Danielle and Christina of River and Trail Outfitters for helping me have a fun-filled day to celebrate my 31st birthday!

Photo Credit: Ashlee Tuck