DC North | August 2007 | Restaurant Kolumbia

Restaurant Kolumbia

American Food as It Should Be

by: Monica F. Jacobe

The unobtrusive entrance to Restaurant Kolumbia, near the corner of 18th and K Streets, NW, almost blends into the tall, dark, marble and stone office buildings around it. However, behind the sleek glass doors, Chef Jamie Stachowski creates food that may blend traditions but certainly doesn’t belong in the background of Washington cuisine.

A native of Buffalo, Stachowski started his career in a neighborhood Italian restaurant but then worked in French restaurants around the country and with great French chefs like Jean Louis Palladin. Those influences – and the influence of his eastern European heritage – are apparent on the fundamentally American menu at the three-year-old restaurant where he cooks and his wife, Carolyn, serves as sommelier and manager. The product of their teamwork is a cozy bar and dining room where each table feels private and each plate highlights the quality and natural flavors of the ingredients rather than the flavor profiles of a particular type of cuisine.

Good wine is how I like to begin a good dinner, and Carolyn Stachowski’s wine list, according to the lady herself, is designed for breadth and seasonal menu changes. Stachowski admits that she likes off-dry whites, and the list shows it, offering one of the sweetest Pinot Grigios I have ever had. It was the perfect accompaniment to dessert, a recommendation of my waiter. (Yes, this is one of those lists where you will discover treasures and great pairings by giving the staff a sense of what you want and asking advice.) I also enjoyed the Sancerre while sampling from the white glasses and the Spanish Garnacha and the French Cotes du Rhones from the red list. Bottles of both shades – whether half or whole – are diverse and nicely priced, and Stachowski even offers a separate reserve list for those seeking something a step up.

Beginning with soup is never a mistake at Restaurant Kolumbia. Drawing on his mother’s kitchen, Jamie Stachowski turns out a beet borscht, chilled for the summer and finished off with just a hint of crème fraiche. The cold, distilled earthiness of this soup encapsulates the essence of beet and makes it refreshingly right for summer.

The other standard soup on the menu, Lobster Bullseye is actually two soups. The dish combines lobster and tomato bisque and a green pea flan for the smallest of the three target-like circles. According to the chef, it was inspired by the classic French dish, Homard Americaine, which always includes tomatoes and usually plenty of green herbs. In Stachowski’s ingredient-forward style, that green is pea flan, and the three flavors together serve as one of the best examples of the complicated, richly flavored, and ultimately delicious food that comes out of this kitchen.

For those who don’t share my love of all things soup, salads at Restaurant Kolumbia, also included in the First Course list of the three-course, tasting-style menu, are a good bet. My favorites are the mixed greens and melon and what Stachowski has named “Ocean’s Eleven.” The former comes to the table looking like a traditional salad, but the tart lavender vinaigrette combined with the crunch of paper-thin melon slices catapults this dish into the upper echelon of salads. The seafood salad combined perfectly cooked and chilled mussels, shrimp, calamari, scallops, and crab that each retained their texture and flavor amid a marinade and toss with onions, herbs, and other additions.

A seafood offering for the second course – and perhaps the only fried item to leave Stachowski’s kitchen – offers tempura shrimp and calamari, perfectly salty and crisp, standing tall in a martini glass. Titled Rock and Roll, the seafood features a not-to-be-missed daikon slaw and a beautiful remoulade. I found those items after the devouring a number of crunchy rings and rock shrimp, which were great on their own, but tasting a little bit of each element was so much better. It almost made me wish the slightly whimsical presentation hadn’t hidden these treasures at first.

The complexity and elegance of the pierogi, another nod to the chef’s family history, is almost belied by the simple presentation. In this dish, the food speaks for itself. Carefully folded, cabbage-filled pillows are gently doused with brown butter and a few scattered raisins. I didn’t think something so simple could inspire a cross-table fork fight, but my dining companion and I both wanted the last bite. I won, naturally.

The third course on this tasting-style menu is a smaller (and less expensive) version of a traditional main, and anything that leaves more room for sampling at Restaurant Kolumbia is okay with me. One item not to miss is the Lamb Trilogy, which features handmade lamb merguez, one of the chef’s specialties. Along with that richly flavored, well-spiced sausage, Stachowski offers paper-thin slices of smoked lamb and tender slices of the same meat roasted. The goal of the dish is central to Stachowski’s food philosophy – to show the possibilities of each ingredient in a blend of cuisines that is classical and modern – and essentially American.

The filet mignon, billed as the “King of Siam,” offers a different take on this same idea; it is a (beef) steak stuffed with (beef) short ribs. My companion first ordered this dish just to see the geography of such an offering, but when a neatly packed bundle arrived offering the best of both ribs and a steak, he was more than satisfied. (This dish and the Chicken “Kiev” are the result of one of Stachowksi’s most modern tricks: transglutimase, which bonds proteins together.) The meat arrived perched atop grilled vegetables, which were unquestionably best when eaten in the same bite as the beef.

My own personal favorite for this course is a new addition, the swordfish cacciatore. I love swordfish but often find restaurant offerings sadly misusing the delicate but meaty white flesh. Not in this kitchen. The perfect oval, carefully trimmed of skin and darker, fishier corners, arrived bathed in a wine-based sauce that sported onions and sweet peppers that still held their own flavor and a hint of crunch. After sharing the accompanying shrimp with my dining companion, I considered licking the bowl but held myself only to scooping up every, last bite.

Don’t let a series of starters keep you from eating the side dishes here. Not only are these “third” or main courses enhanced by a nice side of something, but the accompaniments deserve a spotlight of their own. The Swiss chard, gently sautéed and arriving shiny and dark green, is one of the few dishes at Restaurant Kolumbia where I found garlic. It lends both its sweetness and its bite to these chopped greens, but the best flavoring of all is the sweet-but-tart sauce that comes in a dollop atop the center of the dish made to share. Another of the rare sauces from Stachowski is the mayonnaise that arrives with another side, the potato pancakes. It nicely compliments both the scattered, still-crisp sweet onions as well as the warm and chewy patties they nestle between. However, the cracked pepper that explodes in the individual bites of pancake, my favorite part, is a lesson in the beauty of both potato and pepper, two simple ingredients often overlooked but used to their best in this deceptively simple offering.

If you come to the close of a meal at Restaurant Kolumbia and still have room for dessert, go for it. I haven’t found one that isn’t a masterpiece on its own. The night I ordered the homemade sorbet trio, my favorite was the banana, a flavor I don’t usually like. I was more than won over by the creaminess of the sorbet which echoed the texture of the original fruit. The Molten Chocolate Cake, which does include a short wait for preparation, is best eaten with the vanilla ice cream and berries that arrive alongside. The cold/hot, vanilla/chocolate dichotomies bring the complexity of the rest of the menu to this final course. However, being a lover of all things hazelnut, I was pleased to find a Pyramid of Hazelnut Chocolate Mousse listed. When it arrived, it did look a bit like a Giza sculpture in mousse, but beyond its delightful appearance, it brought the crunch of hazelnut, the richness of chocolate mousse, and an accent of ice cream. I even ate the delicately sliced strawberry included, and the tang of fruit was a fine accent to the other layers of flavor.

Many of these same dishes are available during the very popular lunch and happy hour at the K Street eatery, and while I am sure the same quality and complexity is part of each dish no matter the meal, this kind of food really requires a leisurely dinner of many courses to fully appreciate. I have admittedly never been a lover of the “American” dining experience, but Stachowski’s menu and technique speak to me of what American food can be and probably should be.

estaurant Kolumbia, 1801 K Street, NW, is open Monday through Friday for lunch and Monday through Saturday for dinner. The menu changes seasonally and features $9 lunch specials that also change monthly. To read complete menus or make reservations, visit www.restaurantkolumbia.com or call 202-331-5551.


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Restaurant Kolumbia
American Food as It Should Be
by: Monica F. Jacobe
The unobtrusive entrance to Restaurant Kolumbia, near the corner of 18th and K Streets, NW, almost blends into the tall, dark, marble and stone office buildings around it. However, behind the sleek glass doors, Chef Jamie Stachowski creates food that may blend traditions but certainly doesn’t belong in the background of Washington cuisine. A native of Buffalo, Stachowski started his career in a neighborhood Italian restaurant but then worked in French restaurants around the country and with great French chefs like Jean Louis Palladin. Those influences – and the influence of his eastern European heritage – are apparent on the fundamentally American menu at the three-year-old restaurant where he cooks and his wife, Carolyn, serves as sommelier and manager. The product of their teamwork is a cozy bar and dining room where each table feels private and each plate highlights the quality and natural flavors of the ingredients rather than the flavor profiles of a particular type of cuisine. Good wine is how I like to begin a good dinner, and Carolyn Stachowski’s wine list, according to the lady herself, is designed for breadth and seasonal menu changes. Stachowski admits that she likes off-dry whites, and the list shows it, offering one of the sweetest Pinot Grigios I have ever had. It was the perfect accompaniment to dessert, a recommendation of my waiter. (Yes, this is one of those lists where you will discover treasures and great pairings by giving the staff a sense of what you want and asking advice.) I also enjoyed the Sancerre while sampling from the white glasses and the Spanish Garnacha and the French Cotes du Rhones from the red list. Bottles of both shades – whether half or whole – are diverse and nicely priced, and Stachowski even offers a separate reserve list for those seeking something a step up. Beginning with soup is never a mistake at Restaurant Kolumbia. Drawing on his mother’s kitchen, Jamie Stachowski turns out a beet borscht, chilled for the summer and finished off with just a hint of crème fraiche. The cold, distilled earthiness of this soup encapsulates the essence of beet and makes it refreshingly right for summer. The other standard soup on the menu, Lobster Bullseye is actually two soups. The dish combines lobster and tomato bisque and a green pea flan for the smallest of the three target-like circles. According to the chef, it was inspired by the classic French dish, Homard Americaine, which always includes tomatoes and usually plenty of green herbs. In Stachowski’s ingredient-forward style, that green is pea flan, and the three flavors together serve as one of the best examples of the complicated, richly flavored, and ultimately delicious food that comes out of this kitchen. For those who don’t share my love of all things soup, salads at Restaurant Kolumbia, also included in the First Course list of the three-course, tasting-style menu, are a good bet. My favorites are the mixed greens and melon and what Stachowski has named “Ocean’s Eleven.” The former comes to the table looking like a traditional salad, but the tart lavender vinaigrette combined with the crunch of paper-thin melon slices catapults this dish into the upper echelon of salads. The seafood salad combined perfectly cooked and chilled mussels, shrimp, calamari, scallops, and crab that each retained their texture and flavor amid a marinade and toss with onions, herbs, and other additions. A seafood offering for the second course – and perhaps the only fried item to leave Stachowski’s kitchen – offers tempura shrimp and calamari, perfectly salty and crisp, standing tall in a martini glass. Titled Rock and Roll, the seafood features a not-to-be-missed daikon slaw and a beautiful remoulade. I found those items after the devouring a number of crunchy rings and rock shrimp, which were great on their own, but tasting a little bit of each element was so much better. It almost made me wish the slightly whimsical presentation hadn’t hidden these treasures at first. The complexity and elegance of the pierogi, another nod to the chef’s family history, is almost belied by the simple presentation. In this dish, the food speaks for itself. Carefully folded, cabbage-filled pillows are gently doused with brown butter and a few scattered raisins. I didn’t think something so simple could inspire a cross-table fork fight, but my dining companion and I both wanted the last bite. I won, naturally. The third course on this tasting-style menu is a smaller (and less expensive) version of a traditional main, and anything that leaves more room for sampling at Restaurant Kolumbia is okay with me. One item not to miss is the Lamb Trilogy, which features handmade lamb merguez, one of the chef’s specialties. Along with that richly flavored, well-spiced sausage, Stachowski offers paper-thin slices of smoked lamb and tender slices of the same meat roasted. The goal of the dish is central to Stachowski’s food philosophy – to show the possibilities of each ingredient in a blend of cuisines that is classical and modern – and essentially American. The filet mignon, billed as the “King of Siam,” offers a different take on this same idea; it is a (beef) steak stuffed with (beef) short ribs. My companion first ordered this dish just to see the geography of such an offering, but when a neatly packed bundle arrived offering the best of both ribs and a steak, he was more than satisfied. (This dish and the Chicken “Kiev” are the result of one of Stachowksi’s most modern tricks: transglutimase, which bonds proteins together.) The meat arrived perched atop grilled vegetables, which were unquestionably best when eaten in the same bite as the beef. My own personal favorite for this course is a new addition, the swordfish cacciatore. I love swordfish but often find restaurant offerings sadly misusing the delicate but meaty white flesh. Not in this kitchen. The perfect oval, carefully trimmed of skin and darker, fishier corners, arrived bathed in a wine-based sauce that sported onions and sweet peppers that still held their own flavor and a hint of crunch. After sharing the accompanying shrimp with my dining companion, I considered licking the bowl but held myself only to scooping up every, last bite. Don’t let a series of starters keep you from eating the side dishes here. Not only are these “third” or main courses enhanced by a nice side of something, but the accompaniments deserve a spotlight of their own. The Swiss chard, gently sautéed and arriving shiny and dark green, is one of the few dishes at Restaurant Kolumbia where I found garlic. It lends both its sweetness and its bite to these chopped greens, but the best flavoring of all is the sweet-but-tart sauce that comes in a dollop atop the center of the dish made to share. Another of the rare sauces from Stachowski is the mayonnaise that arrives with another side, the potato pancakes. It nicely compliments both the scattered, still-crisp sweet onions as well as the warm and chewy patties they nestle between. However, the cracked pepper that explodes in the individual bites of pancake, my favorite part, is a lesson in the beauty of both potato and pepper, two simple ingredients often overlooked but used to their best in this deceptively simple offering. If you come to the close of a meal at Restaurant Kolumbia and still have room for dessert, go for it. I haven’t found one that isn’t a masterpiece on its own. The night I ordered the homemade sorbet trio, my favorite was the banana, a flavor I don’t usually like. I was more than won over by the creaminess of the sorbet which echoed the texture of the original fruit. The Molten Chocolate Cake, which does include a short wait for preparation, is best eaten with the vanilla ice cream and berries that arrive alongside. The cold/hot, vanilla/chocolate dichotomies bring the complexity of the rest of the menu to this final course. However, being a lover of all things hazelnut, I was pleased to find a Pyramid of Hazelnut Chocolate Mousse listed. When it arrived, it did look a bit like a Giza sculpture in mousse, but beyond its delightful appearance, it brought the crunch of hazelnut, the richness of chocolate mousse, and an accent of ice cream. I even ate the delicately sliced strawberry included, and the tang of fruit was a fine accent to the other layers of flavor. Many of these same dishes are available during the very popular lunch and happy hour at the K Street eatery, and while I am sure the same quality and complexity is part of each dish no matter the meal, this kind of food really requires a leisurely dinner of many courses to fully appreciate. I have admittedly never been a lover of the “American” dining experience, but Stachowski’s menu and technique speak to me of what American food can be and probably should be. estaurant Kolumbia, 1801 K Street, NW, is open Monday through Friday for lunch and Monday through Saturday for dinner. The menu changes seasonally and features $9 lunch specials that also change monthly. To read complete menus or make reservations, visit www.restaurantkolumbia.com or call 202-331-5551.