Just in Time for Patio Season, New Seasonal Lineup from Blue Duck Tavern:
The Park Hyatt Washington’s Blue Duck Tavern has unveiled their new spring menu for the year. With a freshly-planted herb garden lining their outdoor patio, they’ll be using their own ingredients whenever possible, while elsewhere they’re focused as always on sourcing fresh and locally from quality farmers and producers.
One steady theme with the new lineup is strawberries. You can have find them in your glass, in the form of a refreshing strawberry gin cocktail, made with rhubarb and espelette tonic; you can find them on your plate in a strawberry salad or in your bowl in the form of a strawberry gazpacho; and of course, as your dessert, with a wonderful strawberry and rhubarb shortcake served with strawberry sorbet.
Back to that strawberry salad, it’s a complex, artful series of contrasting textures and layered flavors. It consists of both ripe strawberries and green, unripe strawberries carefully picked for this purpose. The green strawberries are crisp and toothsome, offering a touch of tartness. The salad is then buoyed by house-made farmer’s cheese, marcona almonds, radishes, mint and granola clusters.
Moving beyond the strawberries, another menu item worth scoping out is the Elysian Fields Rack of Lamb entree, paired with a lemon yogurt sauce and served with fresh baby spring vegetables. Switching from land to sea, there’s also a Maine Scallop Crudo, served with buttermilk panna cotta, cucumber and smoked trout roe.
Cheese selections are always a highlight at Blue Duck, so be sure to speak with their in-house cheese specialist for an overview of the latest offerings. Or, start your meal with the spring hummus served with chicharrones.
If you’re still thirsty, a series of additional seasonal cocktails are available. That includes The Lady Bird, with gin, rosemary, pineapple, verjus and a house-made grenadine, or The Oak Park, with Rhum JM, kiwi, and a lime cordial.
Closing your meal with that strawberry shortcake is highly recommended. But there’s a number of excellent sweet-tooth choices to consider, including carrot cake pops, key lime pie cones, and a brightly flavorful and addictive yuzu fennel verrine.
Stop by while the spring menu is still fresh. Visit Blue Duck Tavern online for more information or reservations.
