Bernaise

It probably isn't all that shocking that I love and watch Top Chef, and therefore get geeky excited every time a chef from the show opens a new restaurant in the DC area. I'm pretty proud of myself for having gone to several: Graffiato and Kapnos from Mike Isabella, Volt from Bryan Voltaggio and Belga Cafe from Bart Vandaele - all of which were excellent. Of course, you can't think of DC "Top Chefs" without Spike Mendelsohn - his restaurants are now popping up all over the city it seems.

I'd been to Good Stuff Eatery and We the Pizza, and enjoyed both of them as great, "quick eats" places. So, I was very curious to see what Béarnaise would be like. I found the concept - steak and frites - interesting and definitely up my alley. I made a reservation, grabbed my go-to foodie coworker/friend, and we excitedly made the trek to Capitol Hill.

First: it was July, and extremely hot and about to storm. As we walked into the restaurant, rather than being met with a cool blast of air conditioning, it was a heat wave. Unfortunately their AC was not working, but it's safe to assume 4 months later it's fixed (and now that it's fall, no longer needed!). We started our night with cocktails, a cold potato soup, Brussels sprouts covered in Bearnaise sauce (not pictured we ate them too fast), and then the course: steak with Bearnaise sauce and bottomless french fries. The sauce was my favorite part, rich and buttery and perfect, the fries were also great.

We left the restaurant, literally as the massive storm rolled in, but we were happy and stuffed. I still think I like Spike's Good Stuff Eatery more, but this is a nice option on Capitol Hill for a more "upscale" dinner.