Komi

The highlight of my trip to DC was my dinner at Komi with my boyfriend. I knew that it was going to cost a pretty penny, but had read some great reviews and wanted to check it out.

This place, near the corner of P and 17th St. in NW DC, is owned by 25 year old chef Johnny Monis. The restaurant is Greek influenced, and ever dish was near perfection, which is saying a lot when about 12 dishes were placed on our table.

Sorry for being detailed, but I want to walk you through the experience:

- When we walked in the place was totally dead, we had a reservation at 6 pm, the best I could get when I called there four days before. And our server, Amy, greatet us and was a real treat the entire time. She was a great mix of fun and professional.

- The place is very miminally decorated. Cream walls and wooden tables, with one large wooden table when you first enter where they keep each tables wines and pitchers of water.

- We ordered a Greek wine that was pretty simple and go with lots of dishes. We ended up having two bottles during dinner, and were sorta drunk when we left.

- It is a 64 dollar a person tasting menu, consisting of five courses.

- The first course was all Greek appetizers. We started out with in-house cured olives, then some cured meats served with a kumquat side dish. Octopus with blood oranges, balls of deep fried cod, sardines wrapped around pine nuts, mozzarella that was made in house and chewiewer than most (and more flavorful), crustini with white beet and truffle tzatziki and dates with a mascarpone filling all were brought out. Most dishes were just one or two bites, and each had us making audible "mmm's" and commenting on how great they were. Most were simply, but simply amazing!

- Then we each had a pasta dish. Jhun had pappardelle pasta in a goat ragu, that I think was the best thing I tasted all night. The goat was slow roasted in milk and then turned into a cinnamon flavored sauce that was so rich in flavor. I had these little mini raviolis with rabbit and veal in them. Each pasta dish was also just a few bites and took into account all the food that was to come.

- For our main dish we had the roasted suckling pig for two. This was a big chunk of pork with some ribs, that literally fell off the bone when you touched them with your fork. It was very minimally seasoned, but really full of rich, smokey flavor. It was served on a bed of polenta and came with a side of brusells sprouts cooked with bacon and apples. This side was not my favorite dish of the night, but with this much going on you can't get everything pitch perfect.

- Then we were served a cheese plate, three types of cheese, which totally escape me now, but totally rocked. One blue cheese, one hard smelly French cheese and one soft smelly cheese. Jhun didn't like these, but I loved them. Just a couple of bites of each kind.

- Jhun had a saffron pound cake for his dessert and I had greek donuts with mascarpone pudding. Really good, but at this point we couldn't finish them.

- Then our check came with a salty and fruity lollipop that the chef made. The total was around 240 bucks with tip. A crazy amount, but also a crazy-good experience. It's good to splurge this much here and there, I think.

The whole time we were eating, I could see the chef, Monis, in the kitchen working on each dish and putting on final touches as every dish came out. He was so focused on each dish and it was fun watching him work his magic.

Grade: A+