I finally got around to trying the restaurant half of Iota (2832 Wilson Blvd., Arlington) last weekend. I was a little hesitant; anytime a place takes two years to renovate a single storefront, one tends to wonder what the heck is going on. Well, the place totally surprised me. The food and the service are *really good.* Like, good enough to make an evening out of dinner there, then blow off the bar next door. I can't believe this is the same place that for a while was screwing up every third brunch order. The cuisine is basically "nouveau American," or maybe "fusion" (not quite up on the current jargon, sorry). I.e., ingredients from different cuisines mingled together in smallish portions. To start, two friends and I split a "pizzette" appetizer--sort of a pastry crust and a bruschetta top, which lasted about 30 seconds on the plate. Then I had the bluefish, Kate had chicken b'steeya and Doug got the quail. The bluefish came in a tapenade with just about the right amount of olives--I'm not a big fan of them, but the chef, whoever he/she is, added enough other veggies to balance things out right. The chicken, a Moroccan recipe, was also exceptional, but because Doug was being greedy, I didn't taste any of the quail :) For dessert, we split the flourless chocolate cake--the one oversized portion of anything that I saw. A third of it was quasi-overpowering; ordering this slab of, well, everything that's bad for you without accomplices seems ill-advised. Without that dessert, though, we would have been feeling hungry in a few hours. Which brings up my biggest complaint: What's up with no bread at the table? Hello?! There's too much dead air between courses without that to nosh on; all you can do is order more wine. Which the friendly staff is happy to help with, naturally... While the prices ($17, I think for the bluefish, $18 for the quail) are high, I think they're reasonable for the food and the service. But I kinda wish Steve, the owner, would maybe apply some of the profits to, I don't know, maybe a sign for the place? Every time I've walked by, the restaurant has seemed under-occupied. I suspect that's because most people know Iota as a place to hear a band and/or get loopy, not somewhere you'd take a date to dinner. Cheers, Rob
Washington, DC