A few days back, I met up with my beautiful friend, Rose Collins, at Iron Gate DC for serious noms. Prior to our lunch date, I'd never dined there, but it's def. my new fave restaurant in the DMV. If you live in the area and haven't tried their food yet, go - like, drop what you're doing right now and drive over STAT. Their grub is straight up magical, and I'm not messing around when I say they got EVERYTHING going on - presentation, ambiance, decor, taste = all 10s.
Soooo, let's get to it! I'm just gonna jump right into the food because I'm mad excited to tell you guys all about my meal. We started with a smoked cod bruschetta, and it came with horseradish mascarpone, dill, and winter radish. I don't eat fish so I didn't get to try this, but my bf told me it was incredible.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that we sampled a BUNCH of fabulous drinks as well. The two-mini cocktails pictured below are called the Athens to La Paz, Nonstop. Super cute, right? One has Zitsa Debina Tsipouro, maraschino, creme de violette, and lemon, while the other has Rujero Singani in addition to the other ingredients.
Next came the Good God, Lemon! drank made with housemade limoncello (!!!!), crushed ice, and toasted marshmallow foam. The foam looked pretty when I first got it, BUT it took me forever to get a good shot of it soooo it melted - still tasted hella good though!
Now, onto more food. The magical dish below? A whole wheat flatbread with pea tendril pesto, sundried tomato, and almond.
Anddddd their Pikilia platter, which was, hands down, the best platter I've ever gotten at a restaurant! It came with SO many yumz: marinated olives, house made mortadella, pecorino foglie de noce, fennel seed crackers, parsley-marcona almond salad, lamb keftedes with yogurt sauce, dill turnip pickles, almond crusted kefalograviera cheese, and spicy carrot pickles. EVERYTHING was seriously on point. I remember trying all the different stuffs and thinking, "how is everything so damn good?"
Then came the crispy wild oysters with celery-apple salad and hackleback caviar. They came on a bed of beautiful stones, and the celery-apple salad provided a wonderful crunch, which I loved.
Almost too pretty to eat...almost...
Rose, the bf, and I munched on chili roasted pistachios while we waited for more goodies. Tossed in lemon, local honey, and sea salt, these nuts were jam-packed with flavor. I seriously had no idea they could taste so good? If you're looking for a light snack to enjoy while having cocktails for happy hour, I highly recommend these.
Now, onto my FAVE dish of the day: the savory gyro bombolono with shaved pork + killer yogurt sauce. These were just straight up ridiculous! I remember seeing them and thinking, "hm, I'm pretty stuffed at this point, I wonder if I'll be able to eat them?" Andddd I downed them BOTH in 2 minutes flat because they were THAT amazing.
The bread was soft and chewy, the filling was to-die-for delicious, and the yogurt sauce elevated errthang. The photos seriously don't do them justice! Take my word for it, and get this dish (or 3) - I promise that you'll love 'em.
No meal would be complete without dessert. After our phenom lunch, Iron Gate's pastry chef sent out two dishes for us to try: a lemon tart with meringue 2 ways (above), candied almonds, and cardamom gelato + orange blossom loukoumades (below). I'm usually not a huge fan of lemony desserts, but this tart was on POINT! The bf finished it, while I cleaned up the magic honey balls. For those of you wondering, they're dough puffs that are deep-fried and drizzled with sauce.
Conclusion? I've dined at some pretty bamf places in my lifetime, and Iron Gate is (without a doubt) the best of the best. Make sure you guys check out their new midday menu! Prices are SURPRISINGLY low for both food + drink so take full advantage of it. I'm DEFINITELY going back soon - I promised my mom I'd take her so maybe you guys will see me there. Happy eating, everyone!
A huge thanks to Iron Gate for hosting us!
The Pikilia platter looks so good! Thanks for sharing. :)
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