Restaurant Reviews

Hank's is a Great Choice for Seafood in Washington D.C.

I just had to report on a great restaurant I discovered while I was in Washington, DC recently. Whenever I am in DC I consider it a must to visit the area around Dupont Circle. With some of the city’s best bookstores (like Kramerbooks) and museums (most notably the Phillips Collection) and arguably the liveliest street life in the city, this area draws me much more that traditional tourist favorites like Georgetown.

Actually, the main attraction for me is the wealth of cafes and neighborhood restaurants. And on a recent visit I was invited to sample the fare at a recent addition to the neighborhood, Hank’s Oyster Bar. The restaurant is located just a few blocks from Dupont Circle in the heart of the diverse neighborhood around 17th and Q streets. In case you didn’t know, the Dupont Circle area also has long been one of DC's most gay friendly neighborhoods. And Hank’s is run by Jamie Leeds, a skilled chef and restaurateur who just happens to be a lesbian. After spending years laboring in other DC restaurants, she opened her own place in May 2005. Jamie has modeled the restaurant after the popular oyster bars and seafood hangouts in Boston, New York and San Francisco. Hank's also is a tribute to chef Leeds's late father who was a fisherman.

Being a neighborhood restaurant, it is moderately sized, with seating for about 65 people inside and around 20 outside. The menu changes daily, offering several inviting specials but also many seafood classics. We immediately felt welcome, and not because they knew I was going to write a review. The place just felt welcoming and we could sense the pleasure of the diners, and see it on their faces. Naturally, we started with a look at the blackboard for the daily oyster and clam selection ($2 each), which also listed sake oyster shooters, jumbo shrimp cocktail and seafood ceviche. Then some excellent sourdough bread bridged the gap until our small plates ($6 to $13) arrived. We enjoyed lobster bisque and fried oysters but the popcorn shrimp and calamari, Caesar salad, and crab cakes looked just as good. The night we were there they also offered special small plates of steamed Penn Cove mussels, chilled Old Bay peel & eat shrimp, and shad roe with bacon. When it came to sampling the large plates ($11 to $22), we opted for the daily fish specials. Sable fish, mahi mahi and Arctic char all were fresh and expertly prepared.

The regular menu offered an oyster Po’ Boy, fried oysters, Ipswitch clams, a lobster and roll seared scallops. Believe me, it was a difficult choice. For those not in the mood for fish, there is a daily-changing "Meat & Two" menu (plus two sides). This included offerings such as short ribs, chicken schnitzel, pork chop, Flat Iron steak, Hangar steak and Beef Brisket. Hank’s also offers a market veggie plate. Sides ($4 each) are much more than the typical Cole Slaw, French Fries, and onion rings, although they have those, too. We adventured out of our comfort zone to order French green lentils, sesame snow peas and collard greens and were not disappointed. The one drawback is that Hank's does not serve dessert (the kitchen's too small) but they try to make up for it by bringing some excellent dark chocolate along with the bill.

Although some in our group still were disappointed, I just looked at it as a convenient excuse to move on to one of the great cafes in the area. And the wine list? Well, since this is a wine column I must tell you that the list is a really good match for the food and accessibly priced. Among the whites, we could choose sauvignon blanc from France or South Africa and chardonnay from France or California. But there also were more interesting choices, like French Muscadet, Austrian Gruner Veltliner, and Alsatian Pinot Gris. The red wines also were well chosen. A prime choice for fish, there was pinot noir from France, California and Oregon. But it was also nice to see alternatives, such as tempranillo from Spain, shiraz from Australia and malbec from Argentina. Once I got back to Denver, I wanted to see if I was alone in my favorable impression and found just the opposite. A few examples: Troy Petenbrink in The Washington Blade wrote, “Hank’s Oyster Bar is an excellent and much needed addition to the 17th Street dining scene.” Tom Sietsema of the Washington Post concluded, “Though the atmosphere is casual, this fish is first-rate.” And the Washingtonian magazine recently ranked Hank’s as one of the city’s top 100 restaurants.

Bottom line, Hank's is a great neighborhood restaurant, a casual place where the food is anything but casual. And, in true neighborly fashion, the prices (including the wines) are more reasonable than other D.C. restaurants of comparable quality. If only Denver had a place like this.

VITAL STATISTICS: 1624 Q Street, NW, between 16th and 17th Streets. (202-462-4265). Hours: Sun-Tue 5:30pm-10pm; Wed- Sat 5:30pm-11pm; Sat-Sun Brunch 11am-3pm. Website: www.hanksdc.com

Pink Wines Strike Refreshing MIddle Ground.

This is the time of year most of us wine critics write columns touting various white wines as the cool, refreshing antidote to summer’s hot weather. These days most of us also are singing the praises of pink wines. Of course, we are not talking about White Zinfandel. We are talking about dry serious wine and there are many quite tasty ones worth your attention.

Europeans, on the other hand, have known for a long time the joy of drinking a good pink wine. The most common label for these wines outside of Europe is the French word "Rosé" in reference to the color, of course. There are essentially two types of pink wine. The most common style is a made by crushing red grapes and leaving the juice in contact with the grape skins (the source of a wine’s color) only briefly. The other style is the result of a process called “saignee.” This is a technique in which a certain amount of juice is “bled off” after the grapes are crushed. Either way, the result is a wine with a shade of pink that is an ideal "bridge" wine: it approximates the flavor interest of its red siblings but drinks more like a white wine. The best are dry or occasionally only slightly sweet but deliver bright, fresh fruit flavors.

As such, pink wines arguably are the most versatile of wines. They make excellent aperitifs and can accompany a wide variety of foods. They are a fine choice at barbecues, picnics and a restaurant when you want a bottle of red and your companion wants a bottle of white. Because of their light body and lively fruit, pink wines are best when chilled and should be drunk young, so look for the most recent vintages available. Arguably the best rosés in the world are produced in France, where they take pink wines every bit as seriously as they do red and white wines. This is especially true in the south, where a wide variety of rosés are produced. Tavel, referencing an appellation in the southern Rhone Valley northeast of Avignon and southwest of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, probably is the best know pink wine in the world. Certainly, the wines are very good but this popularity probably also is because rosé is all that is produced here and the region does an effective job of marketing their product.

In fact, the 2005 Guigal ($16) was the best of my tasting. This sixty-year-old wine company is one of France’s greatest producers. Guigal makes a wide range of wines, including highly prized Hermitage and Cote Rotie. Clearly, this flavorful rosé (equal parts grenache and cinsault) benefits from that expertise. The 2006 Chateau d’Aqueria ($17), from an estate that was founded in 1595 and now is the largest in the appellation, is a more traditional Tavel in that it is a blend of red wines (grenache, cinsault, mourvedre) and white wines (clairette and bourboulenc).

Head southeast of Tavel and you come to the idyllic region of Provence and the French Riviera. Here, famed Chateauneuf-du-Pape producer Chateau Mont Redon makes L’Aire du Rossignol Cotes du Provence (2005, $15) from biodynamically grown grenache, cinsault and syrah vines averaging 35 years old. Over near the southwest corner of France, is the Languedoc. Although the area has about a 2500-year history of wine making there wasn't much to recommend it tot consumers until about thirty years ago. Today, it is one of France’s most exciting wine regions. Domaine de Nizas is a good example of this new commitment to quality. Established in 1998 by Bernard Portet, the winemaker for Napa Valley’s Clos du Val and John Goelet, a direct descendant of the Guestier wine merchant family on Bordeaux, it is now producing several impressive wine. The 2006 Coteaux du Languedoc ($16), a blend of Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre, is a good introduction to the winery and the region. Before leaving France, how about a quick stop in Beaujolais? Here, Louis Jadot, for 150 years one of the most respected names in Burgundy and Beaujolais, also makes a fine Rosé. The 2006 Beaujolais ($13, screw cap) is made with gamay, the only grape allowed in Beaujolais.

The Spanish are as serious about their "Rosado" as the French are about Rosé. While there is a lot of good Rosado from Rioja (tempranillo grape), the region of Navarra to the north, although still more famous for the bulls of Pamplona, is a great source of Rosado from garnacha grapes. The 2006 Red Guitar ($12) is produced by Bodegas Ada, a 53 member cooperative established in 1941. The winery amazingly claims this wine is made from the same 60-100 year old vines as their red wine, which says to me it is made by the saignee method. Regardless, it is a flavorful, well-priced wine. The 2006 Julian Chivite Gran Fuedo ($12) comes from the oldest (1647) and still one of the finest producers in Spain. Chivite is best known for red wines from Rioja and Ribera del Duero but has relied on vineyards from their home base in Navarra to create this fine Rosado.

Now is also a good time to try California rosé. More and more wineries are producing quality rosés, perhaps sensing a growing interest among consumers. Here are a few good choices: 2005 Big House Pink ($10, screw cap). The whimsical “Big House” brand was created by the inimitable Randall Graham of Bonny Doon and includes a Red, White and Pink. This pink is produced by the saignee method an includes an eclectic blend of five grapes: sangiovese, barbera, zinfandel, carignan, and Mourvedre. 2006 I’M Rosé Napa Valley ($13). This wine is one of the new projects from the Michael Mondavi family. In fact, the brand is named after Michael’s wife, Isabel Mondavi and his son, Rob, makes it using the saignee method. It is quite full flavored, maybe at least partly because it is 100% cabernet sauvignon.2006 St. Francis Sonoma County ($17). This Sonoma Valley winery is one of my favorite Zinfandel producers. Although this blend includes only two grapes, I find the combination of 75% merlot and 25% syrah as unique as the Big House.

Finally, let’s head down to New Zealand for a 2006 Wild Rock Vin Gris ($16, screw cap). Wild Rock makes distinctive and affordable Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc from Central Otago vineyards located on the South Island. The label uses the term Vin Gris” or “grey wine” as a tribute to the French, which often used the term to denote a Rosé. Because of their light body and lively fruit, rosés are best when chilled and should be drunk young, so look for the most recent vintages available. Finally, one last point in their favor: they are eminently affordable. Most can be had for less than $20 retail.

As evidence of their growing popularity, pink wines now even have their own advocacy group: Rosé Avengers and Producers. Check them out at . There is also a new book dedicated solely to Rosé: “Rosé: A Guide to the World’s Most Versatile Wine,” (Chronicle Books) by Jeff Morgan, who is also a founder of RAP.