Chef

Eric Ziebold

Address

Mandarin Oriental Hotel
1330 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC

Website

www.mandarinoriental.com/washington/dining/cityzen/

This restaurant is like a church to me. Eating here is both a spiritual and deeply sensual experience. In fact, I have built a shrine where I sacrifice a young food critic just hours before a meal there in the hopes that Chef Ziebold will bestow upon me yet again the great gift of his talent.

I was not disappointed on a recent visit to celebrate my wife's ##th birthday. I love the ambience of this place. It feels spacious, yet still intimate. Most of the staff have been with CityZen for quite sometime, so things usually flow smoothly. Usually, but not always. Our server this time was someone I didn't recognize and things weren't as fast as I would have hoped. Dammit! I need a drink in my hand ASAP!. But this was just a minor bump on the road to satisfaction.

There are two general approaches to cooking, both of which Chef Ziebold masterfully demonstrated. The first posits a uniquely flavorful ingredient where the chef seeks only to provide a supporting cast. This was the case with the lamb rib-eye I had.

Behold! The greatest piece of lamb to grace the face of the Earth!

By itself, it was a wonderful piece of meat. The supporting cast — lamb confit, some sauteed greens and a root vegetable whose name escapes me — didn't mask the lambness of the dish, but enhanced it.

The second approach is to take otherwise ordinary ingredients and combine them such that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. My wife's scallops were a text book case. Truly, what's the big deal with scallops? They're not eaten raw often like oysters and they rarely are part of a steamer dish like clams. They have very little flavor besides a hint of the sea from which they came. However, combined with other ingredients — in this case capers and peppers, among others — made for a dish that demonstrates "sour" can be damn good.

I will diligently save up so we can return again soon.

It was a last minute decision to dine at Kaz Sushi Bistro. My original plan was to take my wife out to CityZen on Friday for her birthday, but Snowmeggedon was a coming. While changing our resies on Open Table, I saw that there was a 1,000 point opening for Kaz on Thursday, the night before the end of the world. We've been there before and truly enjoyed it, a great possible last meal.

What I enjoy:

• It's more than just classic sushi. You get unusual takes (a nice piece of tuna with a dollop of foie gras-miso) as well as a nice array of other items (the grilled baby octopus is to die for).
• You're not pushed into ordering a house selected set of pieces and there's more than just a piece of paper to tic off what you want. I like getting 3-4 orders at a time, slowly working my way through the menu.
• The place has a cozy feel to it, great for a date.

What I wasn't quite enthused about:

• It was a good ten minutes before I had my first drink placed in front of me. The service was a bit slow.
• Twice we were told they were out of something AFTER we placed our order. I absolutely hate that. Let me know up front!
• Some of the items were too salty: the short ribs and the grilled baby octopus. Yes, that octopus was still amazing despite the salt.

Still, we plan on coming back and bringing friends.