Dining in DC: Zengo

While it's rare that Kacey and I get to go out to nice places to eat (because two over-tired children kinda ruins the atmosphere), last night we were able to eat at ZENGO, a Latin-Asian "test kitchen" near the Chinatown metro stop. Actually, it was right next door to the Chinatown gate, so it's pretty easy to find (but we walked right past it the first time because we were looking across the street.

When we went, the theme was Peru-Malaysia. It was also Mojito Monday. The interior is decorated with warm woods like you'd find in South America, but with the clean lines that hint as the Asian inspiration. I don't take pictures of food, but these descriptions should make your mouth water. Here's what we had, and it was all delicious:

Drinks:

Passion Fruit Mojito; Pineapple Mojito; and a fantastic "Shiso-jito", which is made with Peruvian Rum / Fresh Shiso / Fuji Apple / Fresh lime.

Appetizers:

Duck Confit - Daikon Tacos with curried apple and orange coriander sauce. The taco shell was a paper-thin, three-inch diameter slice of daikon radish and you assemble the meat, veggies and salsa yourself. 

Entrees:

Tagalog-style Churrasco Steak with a calamansi citrus-soy marinade / grilled onion lemongrass mojo / green herb chimichurri sweet potato tostones. Get this for the tostones, and enjoy the steak too!

Zengo Fried Rice, with shrimp, duck, pork, egg, snow peas, carrot, bean sprout, and cilantro. 

Desserts:

Asian Pear Empanadas, with warm cajeta / dulche de leche ice cream / sesame. It was like hot caramel apple pie!

Mexican Chocolate Tart, with cocoa nibs / cinnamon whip / chili ancho anglaise.

Aperitifs:

Mexican coffee, made from Grand Marnier / Kahlua / coffee / with a caramelized sugar rim.

I'm definitely keeping it on my list, here's the Yelp listing: Zengo-Washington