Some restaurants are content to hang out in the safe zone, serving kale salad, avocado toast and any other trend du jour until the next food craze comes along. But where do those food crazes come from? The answer is visionary chefs who take ho-hum ingredients and make them new again—and sometimes, we are lucky enough to experience the innovation as it’s happening.
In the case of executive chef Yuan Tang—who opened Rooster & Owl just north of perennially hip U Street NW with general manager and wife, Carey Tang—let’s hope the roasted, blistery carrots inspired by Carolina barbecue and plated with a tiny football of luscious cornbread ice cream becomes as ubiquitous as fried Brussels sprouts.
The carrots also tap into another huge food trend—vegetables taking center stage. Here, very few of the 12 savory dishes feature meat, yet the dry-aged New York strip is no less lovingly cooked than the aforementioned veggies, and a side jumble of broccolini and daikon radish provide a bitter complement to the umami-rich steak.
To start, each table receives a board filled with pillowy soft, slightly sweet pineapple buns, inspired by the chef’s childhood years in Hong Kong. Another veg-centric star was the sweet, earthy sunchokes presented as a riff on Buffalo wings, tossed with pistachios and celery leaves.
From Wednesday through Saturday, a four-course tasting menu (including dessert) is offered at $65 per person. An altogether different deal is offered Tuesday nights, when the kitchen serves a $35 four-course meal with no choices and no substitutions: This is where the kitchen workshops items, and taste testers reap deep discounts and culinary experiments.
A few dishes on the regular menu felt like they could use a bit more R&D, such as the tagliatelle sauced with a Bolognese of mushrooms, anchovies and walnuts. It came to the table cold, ruining its inherent role as a comfort food. And despite the Asian flavor punches gracing the kanpachi crudo, it could definitely use some heat or more acid to balance things out.
The space is sparse, with a few pops of personality showing up in the form of eye-catching golden owl vessels lining the shelves behind the bar, and in the gorgeous rooster wallpaper in one bathroom and owl wallpaper in the other. (Get it?) Still, the minimalist, smallish dining room lacks cozy touches, which maybe suits the young, trendy diners swarming this neighborhood.
Desserts range from a French eclair to a British Victoria sponge to a doughnut accompanied by sauces and dabs flavored with coffee, banana and cookie butter. But it’s tough to beat two fun showstoppers that show up at the end—a dessert cocktail ejected from the bottom of a honey jar in the shape of a beehive, and the adorable candy/chocolate robots that land with the check. Like everything that came before, they are a whimsical nod to the future.
Sip Tip
You’ll be just a few blocks north of bustling U Street, so pop into The Gibson for chic cocktails (2009 14th St. NW, Washington, DC), Archipelago for tiki fun (1202 U St. NW, Washington, DC) or The Saloon for laid-back beers before or after dinner (1205 U St. NW, Washington, DC).
Scene: The room is small and sparse with pops of greenery, but the open kitchen, pretty bar and vibrant food are surely enough.
Don’t Miss: Barbecue carrots; sunchokes; dry-aged New York strip
Rooster & Owl: 2436 14th St. NW, Washington, DC; Dinner service Tuesday to Saturday; $65, four-course tasting menu; $35 tasting menu on Tuesdays where the kitchen workshops new dishes
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This post originally appeared in our June 2019 issue. Want more food content? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
