Cashion's Eat Place

I should be studying for my first final tomorrow, but it's lunch time and I've started to think about food.

The night after an AMAZING home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner by the Park sisters, we had dinner with JC at Cashion's in Adams Morgan. Another seasonal menu, which apparently is a sign of quality. The place is part swanky, part homey. "Funky-elegant" is a quote from the website, which I think is pretty spot-on. Elegant is definitely the word, you walk in and everything is very clean and sleek, some interesting architecture around the bar in the middle of the restaurant (sort of like an isolated dome). But if you take the time to look around at the many picture frames mounted all along the walls and in the bathrooms, you'll find that they appear to be authentic family photos - kiddos playing on the hood of the car, grandpa sitting with his arms crossed at the dining table, black and white portraits from back in the day. It makes you feel at home all the while knowing that you're getting quality food and service.

Also of note, you'll find a large proportion of the servers and staff to be Asian. Hmm. We're thinking that someone Asian must have some degree of proprietorship. Which makes sense seeing as a lot of the pictures involve an Asian family. That's all.

So. I knew I liked this place as soon as we were seated and our server introduced himself. Shane. What a great name. And what a great face. I believe the first thing I said after he left us to ponder over the menu was "Can we leave him a big tip?" He wasn't just eye candy, though. He was actually very helpful. He was knowledgeable about the wine list and always aware of us as customers. At one point, we saw "bronzino" on the menu (which Wikipedia tells me is spelled "branzino")... and question marks floated about our heads. Thank goodness our generation comes with smart phones and we were able to look it up. "A delicate whitefish... to be handled delicately." Shane walks over: "The branzino?" Me: "I love you."

Oh, sorry, this is a restaurant blog. Back to the food. We started with drinks and appetizers and nibbled at the bread basket. Wine for Jung-Ah and JC, apple cider for me. I'm not an experienced whiskey drinker and, while the drink was tasty, found it to be a bit strong. I guess I'm just not man enough. It warmed me up quite a bit (given it's meant to be a hot drink anyway) but maybe a little uncomfortably so. Although I probably wouldn't argue against a glass of it right now - it's flipping cooold!! For apps, Jung-Ah had the olive oil sampler, JC had crab cakes, and I had carrot ginger soup. The olive oil sampler came with evoo from Argentina, Chile, and Spain. I think it was the Argentinian evoo that we liked the most; it had a burst of fruity flavor while the others didn't particularly stand out as different from the Romulo evoo I have at home. Bertolli! (Haha! Oh man...) JC's app looked, smelled, and tasted amaaazing. Oh my gosh, as the plate was being walked over I could almost see the smells wafting up into my nose like wisps in a cartoon. My carrot ginger soup I could have done with or without. I was expecting something zestier, but it was a little bland in my opinion. Something was missing. For entrees, Jung-Ah had salmon, JC had lamb gyros, and I had the branzino. The salmon was... just salmon. Jung-Ah was highly disappointed, so I ended up finishing off her plate at the end of the meal. Pff, I thought it was fine. Taken together with the sides, including the pickled beets, it was a lot more enjoyable. But like I said before, it was salmon. Nothing spectacular. JC's lamb gyros were hot, steamy, and tasty. BUT my favorite was my branzino. No stomach space to waste filling up on other people's food. I don't quite recall what it was served with, thus this is not a very good review, but it was absolutely delish. If it wasn't such a nice place, I probably would have licked the plate. Um... I mean... if I were at home. Alone. Private. Can I say - SO good!! It really was excellent. I really wish I could remember the veg and puree it came with, but I can't even look it up on the menu, as it changes.

No room for dessert. But we stopped by Evolve for drinks afterward, a restaurant/lounge next door. I'm not going to lie, it's where the homies hang out. Or so it seemed that night. Haven't had a chance to go by for food, but the menu certainly sounds appetizing. Holler at the owner, Jason Washington!

And so ended our lovely evening at Cashion's. The receipt shows our server as Shane B. I'll call him Shane Branzino. Yummers!!! (I promise I'm talking about the food!)

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www.cashionseatplace.com