The Grill Room: Following Chef Frank Ruta’s Footsteps

1050 31^st Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20007; tel. +1 202 617-2424; www.rosewoodhotels.com/en/washington-dc/dining/the-grill-room

By J.P.

Tasting Bites reviewed Chef Frank Ruta’s Palena restaurant in April, 2012, where you can also find details about Chef Ruta’s successful career, including being the personal Chef of two American presidents and receiving the 2007 “Best Chef Mid-Atlantic” award from the James Beard Foundation. Since then, many things have happened. Despite a brilliant trajectory of more than thirteen years, Palena closed in April 2014 with a final night that had the presence of many stars of the Washington gastronomic scene. At that night, Chef José Andrés complimented Frank Ruta by saying that when his family lived in the Chevy Chase neighborhood one of his daughters used to say: “Daddy, can you go to Palena instead of your restaurant?”

Frank Ruta reappeared early 2015 as the new Chef of The Grill Room, the restaurant of what was then the Capella hotel in Georgetown. The hotel ownership changed in April 2016 and The Grill Room is since then the restaurant of the Rosewood Washington, D.C., Hotel. In October 2016, two months after our visit to The Grill Room, Chef Ruta left the restaurant announcing plans to lead the kitchen of a new restaurant in the near future. Earlier this year, the Washington Post confirmed these rumors, The new restaurant, Mirabelle, is owned by restaurateur Hakan Ilhan, also associated with Alba Osteria, L´Hommage, Ottoman Taverna, and Al Dente. Mirabelle has opened for lunch in March 2017 and has started dinner service in April 2017. 

Chef Frank Ruta        Photo credit: James Beard Foundation

   

After all this background, let’s return to our visit to The Grill Room in late August, 2016, when the restaurant was still under Frank Ruta´s stewardship. We had reservations for 7:00 pm and when we arrived there was still a lot of daylight in the dining room. The atmosphere was very pleasant. A few people were seating outside and the outdoor seating seemed a good option for a not-so-warm day. Patio seating is right by the C and O canal, a historic American waterway.

Window view

As appetizer, our choices were:

·       Half dozen oysters (Washington State kumamoto), soy-yuzu mignonette, herbs, and radish (J.P.)

·       Sweet corn agnolotti (with stracciatella, shaved local Lagotto truffle, and basil) (A.M.); Lagotto is a dog breed often used to hunt for truffles. The Lagotto truffle (Tuber canaliculatum) is a type of truffle found in the Northeastern USA.

Kumamoto oysters

Agnolotti

I am a big fan of the kumamoto oysters (Crassostrea sicamea) and after learning that those were the oysters being offered on that evening my choice was defined. Kumamotos are small, sweet, almost nutty oysters, widely cultivated in Japan and in the West Coast. I still remember the Humboldt kumamotos that I had at Elliot’s Oyster House in Seattle, which are grown in Humboldt Bay, in northern California. The kumamotos I had at The Grill Room were from Washington state, but my recollection is that those I had in Seattle tasted better.

·       Ora king salmon (slow cooked with a mild Korean pepper and almond crust), barbecue cranberry beans and locally foraged chanterelle mushrooms (J.P.)

·       New Zealand snapper and Gulf shrimp (pan-braised with fennel blossom, molly magic potatoes, tender carrots, mission figs, and shrimp coulis) (A.M.)

King salmon

Red snapper

The two fish courses had a beautiful presentation. My salmon was very good. Ora King is a salmon producer from New Zealand. The king salmon, also known as Chinook salmon, is native to the North Pacific Ocean and the river systems of Western North America. It was later introduced to other parts of the world, including New Zealand. According to the Ora King website, the king salmon makes up less than 0.5% of the global salmon population.

Now it was time for dessert. This was not to be taken lightly as the Pastry Chef Aggie Chin, although young, already has an illustrious career.  She was the Pastry Chef of Palena from 2010 to 2014 and was recognized by the D.C. Restaurant Association as the 2015 Pastry Chef of the Year. Our choices were:

·       The Georgetowner (dark chocolate torte, cocoa nib marshmallow, milk chocolate bavarois, salted caramel, popcorn ice cream)  (J.P.)

·       Gettin’ Figgy With It (Pipe Dreams goat cheese mousse, honey-roasted fig jam, Newton cake, goat cheese crunch, honey almond sauce) (A.M.); Pipe Dreams is a dairy in Greencastle, Pennsylvania.

The Georgetowner

Gettin´ Figgy With It

Both desserts were very good and confirmed Aggie Chin’s credentials. By the way, Pastry Chef Aggie Chin has followed Chef Frank Ruta and is now at Mirabelle.

To accompany the meal we chose a Chablis wine. It was the Premier Cru, Butteaux, 2014 ($72). This wine is produced by Louis Michel et Fils and was a perfect match to the fish we had. Butteaux is a small commune near Chablis and Chablis wine from this terroir is very well rated. Chablis Butteaux wines from several producers are rated above 90 by the Wine Spectator. The Louis Michel et Fils, 2014, is not rated, but his Butteaux, 2012, received a 91. 

Chablis Premier Cru Butteaux

We certainly liked very much our experience at The Grill Room, confirming the views of the critics. However, the team leading The Grill Room kitchen at the time of our visit is now at restaurant Mirabelle. Therefore, our main recommendation is that you should visit Mirabelle. We hope to go there soon and be able to ratify this recommendation. With respect to The Grill Room, we can only guarantee a very nice décor, consistent with what you would expect from a restaurant in a sophisticated boutique hotel in Georgetown. We have to go back there to be able to say more about the kitchen.   

Dinner for two, including tax, tips, and $72 of wine, added up to $274.

The Grill Room closed in October 2018.