A review of Kinship and a quiet night in my kitch

Last night, Tom and I went to a work event at Kinship, a marvelous new contemporary American restaurant in DC's Shaw neighborhood. Opened by Eric Ziebold (former chef of CityZen) and his wife and partner, Célia Laurent, Kinship is a relatively small (just 55 seats) place on 7th St NW with an unassuming exterior and a minimalist but very warm interior.

Last night's menu was set but still a terrific way to first experience Kinship. Frankly, I enjoyed the lack of decision-making. I enjoyed simply being fed by people who seemed to care deeply about the food they prepared and served.

Passed hors d'oeuvres included mushroom fritters with a sunchoke reduction, lobster profiteroles, tuna atop a fried chanterelle, and duck loin. A beautiful sparkling rosé complemented and enlivened each bite, although a zippy Sancerre, a smooth red, and an open bar were also up for grabs.

Isn't this butter pleasing? I love the serving plates too. 

My favorite dish of the evening was our first course once seated: grilled okra and baby corn atop chilled summer succotash, cilantro vinaigrette, and red pepper sorbet.

Yep, that is straight up red pepper sorbet.

I ADORE okra, succotash of any stripe, cilantro and red peppers so felt good about this from the moment I first saw it. But oh wow, each bite was nearly blissful. The sorbet could have so easily derailed the whole thing, but it didn't. It was so bright and herbaceous and cool- a lovely compliment in both taste and color to the rest of the plate.

Next up was a pan-seared redfish with shrimp and bell pepper jambalaya and Old Bay emulsion which was lighter than air, and finally, a dry-aged ribeye with mustard-braised spinach, Gruyère steamed pudding and a sauce Dijonnaise. 

People, the mustard-braised greens were TO.DIE.FOR. Do you hear me? TO.DIE.FOR. 

With all that goodness we drank a Burgundian white, the 2013 Alain Gras, Saint-Romain, as well as a 2011 Spottswoode Cab from St. Helena. I adored the white, admit to hardly paying attention to the Cab (egads!) as speeches and toasts were ramping up at this point and had to leave to relieve our sitter just prior to the serving of whipped chocolate nougat with whipped crème fraîche, espresso caramel, cacao nibs and chocolate sorbet. What a tragedy to miss that.

I did have a lovely cappuccino and tried to buy this cup and saucer from Kinship, but to no avail.

The service was impeccable, the ambience lovely and welcoming- think Scandinavian rustic-chic meets peonies and a hide rug in a library. I look forward to returning soon!

***

Tonight, after I tucked the kids in, I decided I did not have the stomach to stand watching the RNC and so took to my kitchen, perhaps inspired by last night and the fact that T left town today and so I could go vegetarian with no sad face carnivore peeping over my shoulder.

I'd bought some stunning, plump Turkish figs today (which then prompted the purchase of some creamy blue cheese and visions of caramelized onions and a tart) and, while rummaging through my freezer this afternoon, found some puff pastry squares I'd bought at that fab Persian market the boys and I discovered in April.

I also had some beautiful chioggia beets, and as they happen to love blue cheese too, I tossed them in the oven to roast. Long story short because now I see that it's getting very late and I'm tired and teaching in the morning, tartlets. 

STUNNING roasted and peeled chioggia beets

Aren't they darling and tempting? I ate four. And those beets. G'night!

Strawberry Cardamom Jam, beautiful beet salad, smoked chicken

Despite being up from 3:15 - 5:15 this morning (Oliver woke up, turned on his moon light, decided it looked like an eyeball and instead of simply turning it off, came to get me to do so; he went back to sleep; I did not.), I managed to lead a nap-free, productive life today. Happy Monday! The boys started camp, and both were thrilled. Jack is doing a really cool day camp that Tom did when he was J's age; it's half computer programming, half sports, and Jack has big plans to create the perfect video game which will make money despite being free and showing no ads. I love his idealism. Ol is doing the same program he attended last summer and was really happy to be back at school and to have so many buddies in his group. It was marvelously sublime to have some quiet hours alone.

In addition to celebrating Percy's birthday (really hope you know that means nothing more than a longer than usual walk and many fruit and veggie treats), I cleaned and trimmed the flat of strawberries I bought yesterday (roughly 20 cups if you wonder about the flat->cup amount), made a strawberry cardamom jam that is really delightful and then set up double the original amount to macerate overnight. I'll can it tomorrow and will post the recipe ASAP. If strawberries are growing locally near you, now's the time to preserve them. Though strawberries are seriously lacking in pectin, I really don't like using commercial pectin products and so today added a grated apple to the pot and cooked until 218. This has set up really nicely!

The boys and I watched The Adventures of Milo and Otis this afternoon because Milo looks like Nutmeg and Otis, Percy. It was kinda campy and strange but delightful all at once. Dudley Moore is just going nuts with his narrating responsibilities, and I feel this movie is what has subsequently given many people the idea of posting pictures and videos of their pets online. Then I made pasta because one of Tom's aunts, who is hilarious, sent the kids battery-powered spaghetti twirling forks and as you can imagine, we had to put them to use immediately!

T came home early to watch the USA-Ghana match with the  boys. It slays me that the man never utters a word of interest about soccer, ever, but when the World Cup plays, he morphs into an intense fan. Anyway, during all that mayhem I smoked some chicken breasts over oak chips and made a beet-wax bean salad with what I bought yesterday at the FM. Aren't chioggia beets' rings and variegation cool?!?! I tossed in some chopped orange and dressed the whole thing with a honey-red wine vinaigrette. Lovely, lovely!

Fatigue is now getting the bets of me, so off to bed I go. Buona notte!