Zaytinya (Washington, DC)

This is a very special post for us, as it is our favorite restaurant in the western hemisphere. José Andrés (who beat Bobby Flay on Iron Chef America) owns this spot, as well as a few others in the MD-VA-DC area. This is by far my favorite of his places. It features a Pan-Mediterranean cuisine offering dishes from Lebanon, Turkey and Greece. The whole menu is done mezze style, minus a few bigger dishes. We've only ever been for dinner, but decided to snag some lunch here. We filled up the parking meter across the street (valet parking is only available for dinner), and quickly hurried into the restaurant.

The interior of Zaytinya is beautiful, located on the corner of 9th and G Streets, NW, it's always busy. In fact, I've never once seen the place without a buzz- for a good reason. The food, atmosphere, and dining experience is always incredible. If there's one restaurant I always recommend to folks passing through DC, it's Zaytinya. At Zaytinya, they start you off with a little oil and balsamic mix, and their amazing, fluffy, lebanese style house bread to dip (the waiters come around, no joke, every 3 minutes and fill you up with 3 hot fresh pieces every time you run out). We ordered a hummus (6.5) and fatoush salad, and dolmades to start- simply incredible. The fattoush (6.5) was a perfect blend of pomegranate, lemon, oil, cukes, peppers, etc., and the hummus is my favorite hummus in the world next to my grandmother Stella's. Rachel's list has Stella's #1, and Zaytinya #2. She also wanted to mention to go to 3 Monkeys to experience the best hummus platter in the city of Richmond. The dolmades (7) were just as fresh, which featured a more-tomato like filling inside the grape leaves- wonderful. In the meantime, Rachel ordered the blooming tea, which if you've never had a blooming tea, when you pour the hot water over it, a flower blossoms in your glass, flavors include a strong jasmine flavor- very floral.

For lunch I decided to order the Shish Taouk (7.5), (grilled chicken, sumac onions, grilled tomatoes, garlic tuom). I make sure to order this dish every time I come. The chicken and garlic tuom combination with the grilled vegetables is an astounding combination. I recommend taking the house bread and creating a mini sandwich out of these ingredients (especially for lunch). Shish Taouk (A+). I'd also like to mention that the Lebanese Taverna at Tyson's galleria serves up a great shish taouk as well amongst other amazing Lebanese fare. Rachel ordered a sandwich only available during the lunch hours- the Kofte Sandwich (13), which is ground lamb and beef, Middle Eastern spices, tomatoes, sumac onions, hummus, on toasted bread. You get your choice of marousalata or the home fried patates with a yogurt topping. The meat was delicious on the sandwich, and the patates are in a league of their own- best home fried potato fries I've had in a while, and the yogurt topping rocks.

For dessert, we ordered the trio of honey ice cream scoops. The honey ice cream at Zaytinya is amazing, as well as the rest of their desserts. Perfect blend of honey and vanilla, and a great way to end the lunch date. This is by far my favorite restaurant on the east coast- if not America. José Andrés has created an amazing spot, and every time I'm up in DC, I make it a point to come here. It's some of the best mediterranean food I have had outside of Greece, with a beautiful interior, amazing service, and consistency. I have had the pleasure of trying nearly every dish off the menu, and have never been disappointed with anything. Even the avgolemono soup rivals both of my Greek grandmother's. This restaurant is a machine.

We highly recommend it for dinner, lunch, dessert, mediterranean- anything. Please visit www.zaytinya.com for more information.