Pineapple and Pearls, Washington DC

Another memory of a past meal, as we continue through this difficult time…

I’d wanted to go to Pineapple and Pearls for years, but we never managed to squeeze it into one of our DC trips until last fall.

D and I got dressed up and headed past Capitol Hill to an unassuming narrow townhouse, where we were greeted with a miniature frozen cocktail before being led past the bar, through the dining room, to the chef’s counter overlooking the kitchen.

For diners like us, who love the experience of an ambitious restaurant and as much interaction as possible with its team, the counter is definitely the way to go. We had a literal front row seat just feet from the executive chef expediting the kitchen.

Pineapple and Pearls definitely leans into interactivity, beginning with a martini mixed and shaken at the counter to accompany hors d’oeuvres.

And later on, there was a salad prepared right in front of us, complete with freshly made vinaigrette.

There were three standout dishes I still remember vividly:

First, scallop “mille feuille” with sudachi Hollandaise. I’m not always fond of whole scallops, but these thin slices were just right, especially with the slightly citrusy sauce.

Second, Creole-style blackened monkfish with étouffée, so flavorful!

And finally, the “150 layer lasagne”, shown below before being covered with a seafood-rich Fra Diavolo tomato sauce with lobster and blue crab. I considered counting the layers (which, unexpectedly, are placed vertically rather than horizontally), but ended up eating them too quickly.

Our first dessert (shown at top) was a light dish of peaches with buttermilk sorbet, strikingly garnished by a confetti of dried flowers and herbs.

This was followed by my only disappointment of the evening: what had looked to me like a luscious chocolate ganache tart was in fact a sticky toffee pudding, though it redeemed itself by being delicious.

Mignardises were delivered in a clever little box with chocolate-filled drawers (at last, chocolate!), though my surprise favorite was the candied gooseberry. We’d watched the pastry chef preparing them earlier in the evening, dipping and swirling them through sugar syrup one by one.

Such a simple thing, so carefully prepared, so evocative of a restaurant of this caliber. I’m counting the days til the next gooseberry.