Tadich Grill Joins the D.C. Dining Scene:
San Francisco’s iconic Tadich Grill opened its 2nd location at the start of October. It took them 167 years to get into the expansion game, so you can bet once they finally decided to pull the trigger that they were going to get it right.
The District, of course, is a natural fit. It’s a town that loves old school, institution restaurants, and power lunch scenes befitting the politico crowd. And Tadich Grill is a place where they look to hire servers and staff members for life, to deliver their “legendary white jacket service” as opposed to say, college-aged part-timers looking for tip money for six months.
Legendary service only goes so far though, and the food has to deliver. That’s why the restaurant ensured they’d be able to install their signature mesquite-fired grill into the existing space, located at the corner of 10th and Pennsylvania, and that’s why the menu is prepared and printed daily, offering only the freshest ingredients.
Executive chef Wil Going honors the staples of the original Tadich Grill. The dishes they’re best known for, their Cioppino and Oysters Rockefeller, for instance, are well-honed and well-executed, and live up to the hype.
While those staple dishes remain in the spotlight, Going has also refined the menu to match its switch to a different coast. That’s why you’ll also find a Chesapeake Seafood Stew, an east coast rival to the Cioppino, with a creamy base and cornbread to sop it all up, as opposed to the tomato base and garlic bread duo of the original. There’s also dueling crab cakes available in the Crabcakes Coast to Coast appetizer; a lump crab cake with remoulade, and a dungeness crab cake with avocado crema. Where do your loyalties lie?
Other signatures include their Boston clam chowder and lobster bisque, their range of deviled eggs, fried oysters, and their “World Famous Louie Salad”, essentially a mammoth mound of beautiful assorted fresh seafood with a few bits of greenery jammed somewhere underneath it all. Scant choices come to you by land as opposed to by sea, but the few that do don’t disappoint, such as the huge, grilled bone-in ribeye.
In addition to the main dining room, there are several private spaces, and ample bar and lounge seating. As opposed to the original Tadich Grill, they do accept reservations, and they even offer takeout service. While it seems like a ways off now, once the winter weather thaws next year, expect ample outdoor space on the patio.
The cocktail list has also been revamped. Here again, there’s a clear emphasis on all things regional, as they turn to local products such as Catoctin Creek and Green Hat Gin to riff on the classics.
You might come to Tadich Grill to see and be seen, or to impress a client or colleague, but as opposed to some places who specialize in that fine art, when you come here, you’re also actually going to leave well fed.
Check out the website for full details on the menu and hours.
