Frankly, if all she served was her signature chicken leg, I’d be grateful. A holdover from when Hunamanh opened in Shaw, the chicken, steamed in a banana leaf and stark as a sheet, doesn’t immediately signal seduction. Then you take a bite and discover the magic imparted by a brine of garlic and coriander, not to mention the wonder of a pool of sauce, gently numbing with prickly ash and roaring with fried red chiles. (Show up early for the pleasure; only 20 orders are available a day.) Another luscious memory from better days is the peanut-laced, coconut-refreshed banana blossom salad, pulsing with heat, funk, crunch — flavor.
Cocktails dreamed up by returning bar director Al Thompson, a veteran of the top-shelf Barmini, flatter the eating. His nutmeg-fragrant, rum-punched maitaicolada makes a spirited beginning, as does a bowl of crackling shrimp chips zapped with tamarind salt.
This is food accorded lots of TLC. Luangrath’s beef curry involves braising the meat low and slow for almost four hours and chopping a jungle of enhancers — lemongrass, galangal, limes leaves and more — for the sauce based on coconut milk and gently sweetened with ground lychees. Time well spent.
For now, the rear patio remains closed and takeout is limited to “neighbors who come by and ask,” says the area’s premier Laotian ambassador, who owns Hanumanh with her son, Bobby Pradachith, and includes in her realm the popular Padaek in Falls Church and Thip Khao in Columbia Heights.
The setting at Hanumanh is as vivid as the food. Rice baskets strung on bamboo poles draw eyes to the ceiling, and fanciful murals feature the monkey gods that lend the eatery its name and evoke the temple school Luangrath recalls from her childhood.
“I never thought I’d open a bar,” says the chef. Fans are thrilled she’s done so — twice.
1604 7th St. NW. hanumanh.com. No phone. Open for indoor dining. Large plates, $19 to $20.
The Restaurant at Blue Rock
I can’t decide what’s more curative, the steaming mushroom “tea” that eases diners into dinner or the view of pond, vineyard and mountains from a table near the window. Whatever, I’m glad to be back at the Blue Rock in Washington, Va., after the inn’s $2 million refresh, a makeover that encompasses a casual, 20-seat tavern and a reservation-only, 32-seat restaurant watched over by executive chef Bin Lu, late of the acclaimed Pineapple & Pearls in The Other Washington.
Regarding diners and preferences, “there’s no one size fits all,” says the chef, 36. Lu’s four-course dinner gives patron’s options, typically something traditional (a salad, a steak) and something daring (foie chantilly tart, aged duck atop a sauce made dark and delicious with blood sausage). There are no ordinary moments. That salad might involve seasonal vegetables atop two sauces in a nest of greens; the savory tart is basically chilled whipped foie gras topped with a dark cocoa glaze in a pastry crust — a pie like no other. Pastas are particularly distinctive. Sourdough cavatelli teamed with shrimp, clams and mussels suggests “bouillabaise” when finished with a sauce that fuses saffron, cream and flavors of the sea.
Looking for a small party space in the countryside? The 12-seat, low-ceilinged private dining room beckons with botanical wallpaper and wood rafters that let you pretend you’re supping al fresco.
The restaurant’s nearby competitor is the revered Inn at Little Washington. Intimidating? The chef says his aspiration is to have his customers leave thinking “overall, I’ve had a great night.” And that they do, view included.
12567 Lee Highway, Washington. Va. 540-987-3388. bluerockva.com. Open for indoor and outdoor dining. Four-course dinner, $99 a person.
The cuisine is clear the moment you step inside the restaurant and spot an ad for Callebaut chocolate on a wall and multiple…
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