Vidalia Still Shines Amidst an Influx of Competitors
11 Feb
We have to come clean: After living in the Washington metropolitan area for over a decade, neither of us had ever dined at Vidalia until a couple of weeks ago. And after a superb Restaurant Week lunch, we both wished we had eaten there sooner.
As the D.C. dining scene has blown up exponentially over the past five years, Vidalia has been a staple since opening in 1993 when James Beard award-winning chef Jeffrey Buben opened up shop and introduced diners to his wonderful blend of modern American cuisine and down-home Southern cooking.
And while Restaurant Week isn’t as popular as it once was now that there’s an overabundance of dining options to choose from, Vidalia still offers an exceptional value with a three-course menu priced at $20.15 per person while being able to present its full menu (with minimal up charges on select dishes). It’s an even larger menu than their regularly offered prix-fixe lunch special (a great value in its own right).
Our meal began with their much raved about bread basket, and let me tell you, it’s worth all the praise and is arguably one of the best bread baskets in town. A trio of corn bread, dinner rolls, and onion focaccia (our personal favorite) was accompanied with a side of onion butter and made for an impromptu appetizer as the basket was devoured in seconds.
For the first course I ordered the Shenandoah beef tartare. Prepared with garlic chip, pickled peppers, porcini steak sauce, and deviled egg aioli, it was beautifully presented while both rich and tender.
Between the indulgent bread and dessert still to come, Rachel opted for something lighter with the Shady Lane salad. The bowl of Bibb lettuce was topped with watercress, radishes, almonds, apricots, bleu cheese, and onion vinaigrette.
I went with the pan-roasted Carolina mountain trout as my entrée. Situated on a bed of succotash, crawfish, and bits of country ham, it really complemented the crispy skin of the trout. Unfortunately the fish was a tad dry but the Creole mustard butter helped counter that to an extent.
Rachel’s Atlantic salmon dish proved to be the better entrée choice. It came with sweet potato puree, country ham, lentils, frisee, and whiskey vinaigrette, and each bite was a treat. There’s always a risk of salmon being too dry, but this piece was medium to medium rare and cooked perfectly.
I could not help but order the Peanut Better S’more for dessert. Artfully arranged pieces of chocolate ganache cake and milk chocolate feuilletine were topped with chocolate cream and cookie crumble which made a wonderful if not decadent ending to lunch.
You can’t go wrong with Key Lime tart, and this lighter dessert that Rachel ordered hit the spot. She was plenty full after, but was so glad we went with the Restaurant Week deal because otherwise we would have passed up on these amazing desserts.
We had a fantastic lunch at Vidalia, and I have to tip my hat to them for not cutting corners during Restaurant Week. While other restaurants tend to slack off in service or not offer their entire menu during this promotional period, it’s refreshing to see a restaurant actually embrace Restaurant Week and show diners what they’re missing out on places like Vidalia. And isn’t that what Restaurant Week is all about?
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