Corduroy

The oddly named Corduroy is in a quiet street in Washington near the Convention Centre (relocated from The Sheraton), the dining room on the ground floor up a few steps from the street. The kitchen, with chef Tom Power in attendance, could be glimpsed at the far end of the narrow dining room, the room simply decorated and the atmosphere quite relaxed. The short menu had half a dozen choices for each course, as well as a few specials of the day. Starters ranged in price from $8 - $15, main courses $26 - $39' desserts $7 - $10. The wine list, which had a lot of French wines on offer, had wines such as Chorey Cote de Beaune 2006 at $64 for a wine that retails at around $26, Arbelet Corton Charlemagne 2004 at $150 for a wine that costs around $63 in a shop, and Michel Gaunoux 2003 at $245 for a wine that will set you back around $90 to buy in a US liquor store.

A simple tomato salad featured tomatoes that had unusually good flavour. To be sure, these were still a world away from the glorious specimens that can be found on the Amalfi Coast, but they were much better than the usual tasteless tomatoes that proliferate in most US restaurants (14/20). Tuna tartare was nicely seasoned, though the bigeye tuna used was of rather ordinary quality (13/20).

The best dish by far was a whole baby roast chicken, the skin crisp and golden, the chicken cooked carefully and the meat having much better flavour than usual. This was a very enjoyable dish, topped with a little ball of crisp matchstick potatoes (16/20). This was the best of the main courses that we tried, though Berkshire pork was also pleasant. For dessert, my apple tart tatin used locally grown Granny Smith apples that lacked sufficient tartness. Worse, the apples were over-caramelised, having been cooked well past the golden colour where they are optimal, through to a dark colour, their flavour somewhat lost. The pastry was reasonable, but this was not a very good tart tatin (12/20).

Service was pleasant, and the bill came to exactly $100 (£63) per head, with a bottle of Alsace Riesling between us and a glass of dessert wine apiece. Overall, Corduroy was a very pleasant experience, and the roast baby chicken dish in particular demonstrated skill, though the food was a little inconsistent in standard.