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By Ashley Eames
Capital Cooking Contributor
One
thing that I’m always in search of is a great wine bar. The combination of a
great wine bar and a place with amazing food is hard to come by, but that is
exactly what you will find at The Curious Grape in Shirlington.
The
menu at Curious Grape features fresh, seasonal dishes. To take the guesswork
out of which wine will best compliment your meal, each menu item suggests a set
of wines that would best pair with the dish. There are 28 different wines
offered by the glass or half glass, plus 8 dessert and port wines. Wines are
segmented by type: sparkling, light and crisp whites, medium-bodied whites, full-bodied
whites, rosé, light reds, medium-bodied reds, and full-bodied reds. The
option to have half glasses means that you can try even more varietals of wine!
The
menu highlights items that are currently in season such as citrus, artichokes, snap peas, radishes, fiddle head
ferns, spring garlic, asparagus, Meyer lemon and mint. All of these
items were prevalent in the dishes on the menu. The Curious Grape sources a
number of ingredients locally, which really shines through in the food.
We started with the Crimini Mushroom Soup and Virginia-grown
Asparagus. The soup was rich, earthy and made creamy with crème fraiche. Pickled
crimini mushrooms added a great textural contrast and a slight tanginess, while
toasted sunflower seeds on top gave a nuttiness and crunch to the soup which
was an amazing combination. It was one of my favorite dishes. It was paired
with a medium-bodied Chenin Blanc that was light and fresh with a slight
sweetness.
The Virginia-grown Asparagus was topped with a soft boiled egg
and speck. The dish tasted like spring with an abundance of bright, fresh
flavors. A lemon vinaigrette adds acidity to the creaminess of the egg and the
saltiness of the speck. Everything was perfectly balanced and paired well with
a 2010 Semillon from Columbia Valley.
For dinner we had the Pan-Roasted Sea Scallops and the Coffee
and Cacao-rubbed Beef Tenderloin. The scallops are said to be one of their
signature dishes and I can understand why. The dish was served with black rice
which reminded me of quinoa. The rice was cooked in coconut water and had a
chewy, hearty texture and tons of flavor. A plum wine beurre blanc tied the
dish together with a slightly sweet yet buttery taste, and the scallops were
cooked perfectly. The beef tenderloin was coated in a coffee and cacao mixture
and cooked to medium rare. This dish was paired with a fruit-forward Cabernet
Sauvignon from California. A potato cake accompanied the dish and was topped
with fennel. It was a good dish, but the scallops overshadowed it.
Dessert at The Curious Grape features several desserts made from
fresh, seasonal fruit. The Strawberry Shortcake was complimented by a white
chocolate and almond ice cream, macerated strawberries and a raspberry coulis.
None of the desserts were too sweet, and they really let the fruit shine
through. To complement the shortcake I had an Ice Wine from Germany that was wonderful.
It was thick enough to coat your palate, but still paired well with the
desserts. The Dark Chocolate Pots de Crème was quite rich. The coffee flavor overpowered
the chocolate, but toasted hazelnuts added a sweet, nutty component to cut
through the thickness of the dessert. This was paired with a Chocolate
Port-style wine that featured jammy, dark fruit and cherry notes.
The Curious Grape would also be a great place for after dinner
wine, coffee or desserts. Or if you’re in a hurry, you can pick up a bottle of
wine and cheese to go from their wine shop and café.
The Curious Grape Wine, Dine and Shop, 2900 South Quincy Street, Shirlington
Village, Arlington, VA 22206
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