Zentan

DC’s streets run in a grid. There are four quadrants, NW, NE, SW, and SE, which all extend from the Capitol at the center. Numbered streets run North to South outward from the center, and letter streets run West to East from the center. State streets, for all understanding, have absolutely no rhyme or reason to their ordering, but they do run diagonally, and often bisect park squares and circles. You can get around for a good amount of time just running by the numbered and lettered streets, but you’ll eventually have to learn some of the state streets in order to get to some of the restaurants in DC, like Zentan.  Zentan is the official restaurant of the Donovan House, a boutique hotel that spruces up Thomas Circle a bit, much more than the former owner of the building, which was as far as I can remember, a bit of run down Holiday Inn.  The renovations have really paid off here.  I constantly see travelers and tourists flowing in and out of the Donovan House, and having a mysterious and ubercontemporary restaurant like Zentan is just icing on the cake.

Having a friend of Jen’s in town, we figured Zentan would be the perfect spot to treat a traveler to a special meal.  Jen and I had previously eaten here and left satisfied when the restaurant first opened, so we figured it was due time to give this place a proper review.

photo credit: The Washingtonian

The appetizers here are in my opinion, what really makes Zentan stand out, particularly the Singapore Slaw.  The chef combines 19 semi-secret ingredients like eye of newt, hair of the dog, witch’s horn and deathlock (more like daikon, jicama, purple basil and edible flower petals) to combine an amazing tower presentation coated in a light, salted plum dressing and brought straight to your table.  The staff will then deconstruct and mix your salad tableside, and then it’s time to dig in.

The mixed salad is a lot less pretty, but also a lot easier to eat without flinging vermicelli noodles at the table next to you and ruining some poor girl’s first date.  Or bar mitzvah.  An abundance of textures of flavors here make this dish a must, and there’s enough here to share the salad between three people at any time of the year.

The Chickpea Onion Tempura is another great starter, although it leads me to believe that one of these days I should come in here just ordering a table full of appetizers and going Godzilla on the table of food.  Each layer of chickpea tempura onion ring is given a generous coat of mint yogurt and mango chutney for good measure.  Another great dish that brings a ton of unique, complimenting flavors to the table, I could easily go through this stack of onion pancakes myself.  The mint yogurt probably helps with that kickin’ onion breath afterwards, too.

While the three of us quickly devoured the appetizers, we realized that the waiter had oddly left us without taking our entree orders.  Not that this was a huge this to fuss about-  we were busy catching up and chatting away, but I have a feeling that had I not flagged down our waiter on one of his pass throughs, we might have been waiting a good deal longer to have our food made.

Jen, with her typical light eating habits, ordered an Avocado Roll for her entree.  The presentation is solid, and the portions are just right, filled with an assortment of vegetables and topped with spinach…but, no avocado?  Apparently the avocado here is an avocado paste that’s glazed in somewhere between the spinach and the rice, but you’d think ordering a dish with avocado in the name would at least present some decent sized chunks of the good green stuff, right?  I flagged down our waiter once again and asked if Jen could have a side of avocado with the meal, and he unquestioningly obliged, to which I really credit him for.  I do agree and feel for Jen, that this might be better suited as being called a Spinach Roll, but who the hell wants a spinach roll?

I didn’t have too much luck with my order, either.  I tried to steer towards a more Paleo direction with the Empress Shredded Chicken- a stirfry mix of chicken breast, vegetables, mushrooms, cashews, and cooked in a hsiao hsing wine sauce.  The result?

Yeah, not really all that appealing in person, either.  The vegetables do just fine, but again, the main ingredient, the chicken, really fails to live up to any sort of expectations.  The meat is extremely dry, which leads me to believe that little to no effort was placed in really giving this meat a good marinade.  I’d skip the Empress Shredded Chicken on my next go here, maybe for a nice caramelized Michelin tire instead.

Jen’s friend hit the jackpot with the Cantonese Marinated Skirt Steak –  a long trough of steak cooked a shallot butter mix, served in a chili ponzu sauce with crunchy hazelnuts.  The presentation is on point, and it got the thumbs up from our guest.

Everything about this place is a mixed bag of inconsistency.  Some dishes are outstanding, like the Singapore Slaw, Onion Tempura, and the Skirt Steak, but other dishes, like the Avocado Roll and the Empress Shredded Chicken, completely miss their mark.  Consistency with all your dishes is really crucial, especially if you want to have people coming back time and time again.  Service seems to also fit into this category here at Zentan.  While our waiter was  extremely knowledgeable of their menu, and as accommodating as one could ask for, leaving us hanging to put in our entree orders until we were well past our appetizers is a bit of odd behavior, but at least in this case it thankfully devolved to being a quirk rather than an issue.  The mixed drinks here are outstanding and decidedly unique, and the more open minded visitors can be treated to something special by just discussing their favorite brand of alcohol with their waiter (which in this case, happened to be Hendrick’s Gin).

The atmosphere here is great for dates and happy hours, with downtempo-esque and lounge music softly setting the mood.  The large window that faces towards Thomas Circle is perfect for people watching in the afternoon, and it’s worth trying to sneak upstairs into the rooftop lounge of the Donovan House just for the view.  I’ll give my recommendation to trying Zentan if you’re a fish lover (the restaurant proudly proclaims having the best fish of any establishment in DC), but I can say no more than ‘caveat emperor’ if you order either Jen or my main dish for the evening.

See Zentan on a map here.

Recommended For:

• Gastro Gamblers
• Ditching Work Afterhour Drinks
• First Dates
• Anthropology Classes
• Vegetarians
• Neighborhood Bar

Not Recommended For:

• Paleoheads
• Zone Dieters
• Frugalistas
• Bar Mitzvahs