Heavy Seas Alehouse contributes to the growing scene in the restaurant-deprived section of Arlington.
Words by Stefanie Gans Photos by Robert Merhaut
Heavy Seas Alehouse’s arrival is the kind of game-changing place that spurred the Washington City Paper’s Jessica Sidman to write her usually D.C.-dedicated column on the Virginia suburbs: “Is Rosslyn on the Verge of Having a Dining Scene?” It was published March 19, three weeks after the restaurant’s debut.
Rosslyn already has the excellent Ray’s steak chain, but not much else in terms of sit-down, be-seen dining. Although it’s walking distance to Washington, D.C., and has its own metro stop, Rosslyn never attracted the types of restaurants that create a hub of urgency: Eat here now.
Heavy Seas Alehouse is the second offshoot from the eponymous Baltimore-based brewery. Chef and owner Matt Seeber licensed the name and the founder of the brewery’s son is a partner in the restaurant. About 80 percent of the taps reflect the connection, including two cask lines.
Seeber’s pedigree is a lock, having worked in New York City under a who’s who of kitchen talent, including Charlie Palmer and Tom Colicchio, whom Seeber, 45, calls a mentor. Colicchio, known for his judgeship on Bravo’s “Top Chef,” later tapped Seeber to work in Las Vegas at the high-end Craftsteak. But not all of the dishes in Rosslyn seem to come from that same gene pool.
There is a mostly meaty crab cake, sitting on a fried green tomato that brings extra crunch. Housemade gargenelli pasta uses the trendy protein, rabbit, combined with a whipped cheese—mornay sauce squeezed through a CO2 canister—that floats throughout the dish for something both interesting and delicious.
The server asked how we’d like our salmon cooked, a normal question for steak, but for fish, a sign that the quality is high enough to be served at medium rare. Its silkiness proved it arrived at the right temperature, but the fish lacked the proper seasoning to make it pop. Underneath, a mix of roasted corn salsa bolstered the dish’s overall flavor, although the sweet potato fritters, shaped like tater tots, revealed a gummy center.
A stranger on American bar food menus, duck cassoulet proves this dish needs kitchen attention. The white beans are tough. The duck skin is crispy—to the detriment of the dry meat within.
From Seeber’s time at Craftsteak, the flat iron should command attention. Sloppily platted and short on seasoning, the wood-grilled meat showed no character. On the side: pleasantly chewy farro, though drowning in pools of blue cheese-mascarpone cream sauce.
The patio was packed on one of the first warm nights in late April, two months after Heavy Seas first opened. The intense crowds from the first two weeks of business have waned, which is to be expected in the age of dining out as sport. “Now is the time we get to have fun,” Seeber says of the less-packed restaurant. This is when the kitchen understands the flow of the week, the tastes of the guests—and maybe—the need for change.
Notes
Heavy Seas Alehouse
Scoop
The late night menu includes bull meat hot dogs.
Dishes
Snacks & Appetizers: $4–$16; Entrees: $9–$32
Open
Open for lunch and dinner daily; weekend brunch.
1501 Wilson Blvd., Arlington; heavyseasalehouse.com
(June 2014)
