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5/17/10

Brunch and Wine Tasting at Tallula

This past Saturday, Sangeetha (who does PR for Amber Pfau communications) invited me and 4 other food bloggers to check out a brand new brunch menu at Tallula.This was a special occasion, since Tallula was the restaurant where I met Sangeetha for the first time almost 8 months ago! Since then, I've had a pleasure of dining with her on multiple occasions: always fun, filling and delicious!

Others in attendance:
Courtney Battle: http://www.welovedc.com/
Danielle Witt: http://www.brightestyoungthings.com/
Alyse Kraus: http://dcist.com/
Anita Hattiangadi:http://gregslistdc.com/

To start off, I ordered a bloody orange mimosa, while others had Morning Mood cocktail.


Before we even had a chance to order, we received a plate of Nutella doughnuts. These were warm out of the oven, light (in texture, not in calories!), and not overly sweet.



Once we placed our orders, we also received a mini appetizer of house smoked salmon with capers, red onions, chives and hardboiled egg. I'm a huge fan of salmon, and did not mind the pumpernickel bread. But I did not really understand the separation of the egg yolk and the egg white on the plate.



For the main course I ordered braised pork roulade on top of anson mills grits, topped with a poached farm egg and surrounded with tomatillo sauce. The pork was out of this world. So tender, I almost didn't have to chew. It'd be amazing on top of a sandwich! The grits were cooked to perfection: not undercooked, but also not overcooked to the point of not having any texture to them. And I really liked the tomatillo sauce because it cut the fatinness and richness of the pork, grits and the poached egg.



And anytime I dine with Sangeetha, she "forces" us to order dessert :) We ordered one of each: Clover Honey Panna Cotta with marinated raspberries and an almond tuille; White Chocolate Bread Pudding with huckleberry ice cream, macadamia nuts and bourbon anglaise; Chocolate-toffee brownie cake with pistachio ice cream.







I'm usually a huge fan of chocolate desserts, and the brownie cake did not disappoint. It was rich, dark, and smooth (I'm very tempted to make a joke here, but will let you use your imagination). The cake was separated with a crunchy layer. And I was happy the cake was paired with pistachio ice cream, as it's one of my favorites.

I was pleasantly surprised that I liked both the bread pudding and panna cotta. The panna cotta had just a bit of a flower-y favor, and the texture was silky. Not sure what the chef used to marinade the raspberries, but they had a bit of a punch to them (a good thing!).

The bread pudding was moist and not as heavy as I'd imagined it would be. The huckleberry ice cream made me think of all the berries to come in the next few months: cannot wait!

Here is the photograph of our table at the end of the meal. Let's just say all I had to eat for the rest of the day was a salad.



Just when I thought our brunch was over, Sangeetha suggested we have a wine tasting with Tallula's Wine Director Juliana Santos.



Below are the four wines we tried. (Not sure why my photos are not in the order. The correct order is in the photograph above. My favorite ones were the two in the middle.)


All four wines were light, on the sweet side and smelled of summer fruit. What's not to like!? Tallula has wine tasting on Saturdays from 3-5 if you are interested. $10 for 4 wines.

Have you been to Tallula? If so, what was your favorite dish?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

It all looks fabulous, but I just want those donuts. I really want them!
*kisses* HH

Cindy said...

Mmmm, rich, dark and smooth like Shemar Moore??

grace said...

yep, i might've just taken the donuts and made a run for it... :)

chow and chatter said...

wow looks amazing

City Girl said...

I haven't been to Tallula in years. (Used to love the scallops for dinner and the sliders at Eat Bar.) Thanks to your post, I'll be making a trip there for brunch soon! xoxo