mousybabe | FOOD FIND: Estadio in DC

A radly designed Devil’s Backbone Dark Abby Ale… which I enjoyed at Estadio in DC for the first time. After hearing a good bit about this place from my trusty foodie friend Buddha, it certainly lived up to its reputation. The tables are tightly packed into the small space. Prolly had something to do with the large wooden tables and chunky throne-like chairs hehe. I loved that it was dark in there.

It was a particularly memorable dinner. Maybe it was the good company we kept 🙂 Charlie and I met up with old comrades Uday and Buddha (collectively, Buddhay, as we like to call them sometimes hehe). And we had a grand old time trying the delectable tapas dishes. Really, every dish seemed like it was well thought-out and immaculately executed. It’s one of those places where you couldn’t go wrong if you just closed your eyes and pointed to something on the menu. You can trust that the chef wouldn’t allow something on the menu as filler – a dish would only make it on the menu because it earned its way there 🙂 Below are the pretty food porn pictures I came away with.

Boquerones A fancy word for anchovies. These were slivers of salty fish paired with pieces of bread.

Foie Gras Scrambled Eggs & Black Truffle Butter My choice, and everybody at the table loved me for it the moment they bit into it. It might not look quite as heavenly as it tasted (unless squishy brains look tasty to you). And it occurred to me what an amazing brunch dish it would make, since it’s essentially scrambled eggs! Also, the toasted bread underneath wasn’t just regular toast, it was toasted with that sinful Black Truffle Butter spread. I almost didn’t think it was real it was that good.

Various cheese, including “manchego” made from sheep’s milk

Grilled Octopus, Potato-Caper Salad, Pimenton I usually stay away from grilled octopus for obvious reasons… it’s a fricken alien tentacle with suction cups! How can it not make you think of the movie Aliens. Anyway, despite all my juvenile commentary, I was a good girl and ate my share of it. Again…delicious.

Blistered Shishito Peppers & Sea Salt Damn these were scrumptious. Sizzling hot with generally a pretty mild flavor, except when you picked a randomly ridiculously torturously spicy one. Buddha had to stop eating for a few minutes and stare into space to get over one of those. Then a few peppers later, I was doing the same thing.

Crispy Duck Breast, Beluga Lentils, Catalan Greens Look, the duck breast is even a little rare. Sweet. And the lentils were so full of rich flavor.