If I were a restaurant, I would be Woodberry Kitchen: a local ingredient-driven menu; worth the price; comfortable, but not casual; memorable and crave worthy.
I hate it when people describe restaurants at "ingredient-driven" (what else would drive it?), but for this kitchen, there is no other way to accurately describe the menu. Take, for example, the Black Rock Farm peach and watercress salad with watermelon radishes and fennel. Peaches so juicy, the dish didn’t need but a bit of lemon and oil to dress it. Or, my dinner: delicate soft shell crabs, flanked by heirloom tomatoes, and perched on a giant crouton that was topped with just enough lemon, fennel mayonnaise, to make me consider asking for a little more on the side. My sister ordered the roasted chicken served with kale, pan gravy, and a buttery biscuit – a solid plate of hearty food, and friend Denise did not mess around with a rib eye and a gratin of potatoes and leeks and homemade quark. The potatoes were moan-out-loud good.
A few low points: I wasn't a fan of the smoked onion dip, and the wait for drinks was too long. Like, where's-my-drink long. But, man, once those drinks arrived at the table, they were damn good. Try the govt' mule, a sort of citrus dark and stormy (This pregnant lady had a sip of Denise's, don't tell the Surgeon General).
The service, beyond the slow drinks, was excellent. The server had so much zeal for each dish and made sure to direct us to her favorite plates.
Woodberry Kitchen is located in an old industrial mill, that has been taken over by condos and contemporary homes priced way too high for Baltimore, but the vibe inside the restaurant is comfortable and the hum of Andrew Bird in the background told me I was in the right place.
Overall, Woodberry Kitchen is a place I would go back to again and again, a restaurant that is worth waiting a month for a table reservation. I've decided it's my favorite place to eat, even if it is in Baltimore, an hour’s drive from DC.
