Mourayo
Thursday, August 5, 2010 at 09:00AM Despite its appearance (at #46) on Washingtonian's Top 100 Restaurants and proximity to our house, Mourayo was, for the most part, not on our radars until an effusive recommendation from Twitter friend @WashingTina (who has a hilarious blog you should be reading) clued us in. And I'm glad we took her advice. The Dupont Circle establishment, along with Kellari Taverna and Agora, keeps the District's upscale Mediterranean offerings in great standing with very good Greek bites.
We were a little nervous walking in on Sunday afternoon, as there were literally no other diners in the restaurant. The emptiness did allow us to cherry pick a prime table by the open window, from which we were able to survey the Greek-inspired decor better. While not as sleek and modern as its competitor Kellari, the bright blues and whites and painted walls brought to mind fond memories of a past vacation to the Greek islands.
We started our meal off right with a made-to-order basket of grilled pita (below, right). The bread was completely irrisistible, warm, perfectly seasoned, and charred to deliciousness. We managed to eat our way through half the basket before our first ordered plates hit the table.
Faced with an extensive menu and an inability to limit ourselves, we decided that instead of ordering just one appetizer and one entree each, we'd select a number of the smaller plates, and I'm glad we did. Our first dish was the Poughi "Beggar's Pouch" (below), a phyllo dough shell filled with Manouri cheese (a Greek cheese similar to feta, but creamier and less salty), sweet peppers, tomatoes, and almonds. The meze was prettily packaged and a little messy to break into. The crispy shell enclosed a huge, rich, and well-seasoned ball of Manouri, but too few slivers of the peppers and tomatoes for my liking - more would have balanced the cheese out a little better. Still, we very much enjoyed the pouch.
We continued on our tour of Greek cheeses with a sesame-crusted Cypriot haloumi cheese with grapes and assorted greens (below). We just discovered haloumi and cannot get enough of it - this meaty cheese makes me think that vegetarianism just might not be so bad. And it was paired nicely with the nutty seasame crust, the sweet grapes and lightly dressed greens.
Mark went with a simple pairing of watermelon and feta (below). The textures and tastes of the two strike a wonderful contrast when paired together. A wonderful contrast I wasn't able to enjoy, thanks to a melon allergy, but Mark enjoyed the dish just fine.
Since I couldn't try the watermelon dish, it was only fair that I order a dish all for myself. Predictable as always, I got the grilled octopus with squid ink vinaigrette (below). The tentacled dish was gorgeously presented and cooked fairly well, if a little chewier than preferred. The octopus itself was a little underseasoned, but eaten with the salty black vinaigrette it was perfect.
Squid ink made an appearance in another dish we ordered, the black ravioli stuffed with crabmeat in a tomato basil sauce (below). The sauce was nothing to write home about - I've definitely had more exciting tomato basil sauce - but the filling of the ravioli was really luxurious, showcasing the crab flavor without being at all fishy. I thought the casing was a little too firm, but Mark was fine with it, and wondered whether it was due to the squid ink in the pasta.
Finally, we got the lamb chops with a bean puree (below). This was probably my favorite dish of the meal, perfectly cooked to a nice medium rare, flavorful and succulent. The puree seemed a little superfluous, though, and didn't make much of an impression on me at all.
Our quiet little lunch was a great way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon. The food ranged from solid to really tasty, and hooked me enough that I wouldn't mind coming back to sample some of the restaurant's entree-sized dinner options. And with that, the District's attempts to make me a full-fledged fan of Greek cuisine are definitely making some headway.
D.C., Greek in Reviews: On The Town
Reader Comments (6)
I am so glad you guys enjoyed it! The dinner entrees are really fantastic, too! Mmm, now my mouth is watering and I'm wanting to go back.
Yes, thank you so much for the recommendation! Let's go back NOW.
i also loved the plating of the squid with the ink. glad you liked mourayo too.
Kim-
Just went back to refresh my memory on your post, looks like we had the same thoughts about the octopus overall!
I want in on this next excursion. Great photos..mmm
Deanna-
It's a date! I've also heard amazing things about their mussels...so I HAVE to go back for that.