Heavy rain meant my father and I did not leave the Park Hyatt Washington, DC and enjoyed a succulent dinner at Blue Duck Tavern.
Blue Duck Tavern Review – A Washington, DC Gem
When I lived in the District, my father and I had a favorite restaurant called Old Ebbitt Grill. It’s located just around the corner from the White House and offers excellent food and a very cool ambiance. I had a dinner reservation here, but it was pouring rain outside and my dad told me he did not feel like going out and asked if the hotel restaurant was any good.
I had to chuckle. Yes, the hotel restaurant is quite good. In fact, Blue Duck Tavern is one of the best restaurants in the District and once had a Michelin star (which it lost in 2020). I called downstairs from our suite and asked if we could get make a reservation, but was told hotel guests did not need one.
While practically true, when we did go downstairs about an hour later, it meant we were seated in Blue Duck Lounge, a bar area connected to the restaurant. It was not a big deal, but you should make a reservation if you want to sit in the main dining room.
My dad (and I suppose me too) are men of simple tastes and we kept the meal rather simple.
To begin, we each ordered a harvest salad, which included arguala and strawberries.
It was refreshing, though nothing special.
For my main course, I ordered lamb.
Lamb loin
Summer squash, pomegranate yogurt, spring garlic, mint-cumin relish
This was succulent and perfectly cooked medium-rare as requested.
My father had chicken:
Pasture-raised half chicken
broccolini, sweet tea jus
He enjoyed it (and I helped him finish it).
We shared a side of potato puree with garlic.
No dessert…we had a huge bowl of fruit in the room.
It wasn’t cheap, but very convenient and also not outrageous:
CONCLUSION
I’ve had breakfast many times at Blue Duck Tavern, but this was the first time I had enjoyed dinner here…and it did not disappoint. I would sit in the dining room next time to get the full experience, but the meat and poultry were succulent and I appreciate that hotel guests at the Park Hyatt do not need reservations.
You didn’t have any of those great triple fried french fries? 🙂
I like this place a lot. Park Hyatt DC is cool, and importantly often pretty affordable on a Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts / Virtuoso style booking. I often book FHR, take the train down from NYC and arrive early, take advantage of the pool, do site seeing, dinner here or elsewhere, see people, etc. The gym is rather small, so just walk to Equinox down the street.
I’ll publish the review tomorrow but the gym is indeed small and there is no sauna or steam room, which is sad for a PH.
No drinks?
Nope.
Best. Typo. Ever. This one was my favorite, Matthew. “Called down to make a revelation.”
My new vocation as a prophet! 😉
Good one 🙂
The blood surrounding the lamb dish suggests the meat was cut before properly being rested after cooking. The chicken skin wasn’t properly crisped. The separation of butter and potato puree means improper technique. Berries should be macerated with balsamic vinegar before placed in a $20 salad. Big price points demand attention to quality.
Remind me not to invite you to a restaurant opening. Or perhaps I should.
Hey JoeMart . I thought the lamb looked perfect; the juices appear clear, And I didn’t see the separation in the puree. Perhaps you had mistaken the garlic?
My current DC restaurant love is Fiola Mare. Big yum for dinner and excellent for people watching!
Ok Scott Conant. So you’re saying the sous chef needs to be Chopped?
If you knew anything near what you think you do about food, you would know that’s myoglobin and not blood.
Sorry, $34 for a salad is outrageous.
That’s for two salads.
Thanks for the review. The hotel and restaurant are on my list. I’ve wondered about the ret. My most common reason to be in this neighborhood is health care providers – rolled eyes
So almost $200 meal if you add expected tip. That same meal in Italy on a very good restaurant would be around €70 and not tips needed. That’s why I don’t spend vacations in the US anymore.
It wasn’t $200 for a single meal, but rather for the two of them so about $100 total /meal including taxes and tips. Quite frankly, and my wife would gripe about this, I would only tip 20% on the BASE check (and not the taxes) so perhaps $95 total.
Most of that cost actually was for the lamb at $65 which I think was pretty steep. That’s twice the cost of the other two entrees and it’s lamb, not filet mignon.
One thing I find interesting is the lack of a beverage on the check. In the states, you get water for free while I recall at a restaurant in Poland I wasn’t able to just ask for a glass of “free” water.
Washington, DC is the “Rome” of the USA (which isn’t saying much, certainly 🙂 so would a dinner of such quality in a medium-high establishment in Rome, no beverages, cost a mere 87 Euros? This is a “tavern” and not the top end, certainly. DC high end restaurant prices are high, I believe, due to a plethora of lobbyists who have money to burn as compared to drunk tourists in European cities. Generally, Europeans don’t have a lot of spare cash to burn at restaurants but rather enjoy benefits from their work in the form of longer vacations, healthcare, and so on. (Not a bad tradeoff IMO)
There ARE great budget restaurants in DC that are usually family run and not super fancy, but have great food and decent environments.
FYI, Matt, pity I didn’t tell you but the Ukrainians just opened a new restaurant in DC called “Ruta”
I just looked at one of my favorite restaurants in Italy. Salad: 8 euros / Seasonal vegetables: 12 euros (no potato puree) / Lamb: 35 euros. They don’t serve chicken but estimating by the price of the lamb maybe 22 euros. Thus, if I ordered 2 salads, 1 lamb, 1 chicken and 1 seasonal vegetables the total cost of a meal for 2 would be 85 euros, no stupid taxes or tip. A similar meal in DC adding tip was $200.
In all fairness, WHERE in Italy?!?! Venice, Rome? NYC and DC are simply on a different price scale than elsewhere in the metropolitan regions. Head outside of Manhattan, NY to Brooklyn and tons of wonderful food options at reasonable prices. Philadelphia, IMO, has WONDERFUL food options at affordable prices.
Quite frankly, DC metropolitan region isn’t all that great, really. I miss Los Angeles (at least in 2004 when left) for the wonderful and affordable food options back then. Like auto mechanics, plumbers, doctors and well, wives, you have to shop around to find a good value.
I think you dodged a disappointing meal at Old Ebbitt. A monthly visit for me pre-COVID. Quite disappointing in 2022. I may try it again to see if any improvement.
Everyone is so precious. I live in DC and had the pleasure of “staycating” in the PH for a week as I had floors refinished in my house. I went to Blue Duck maybe twice for dinner and for drinks more often during the week, and probably go once every 3-4 months under normal circumstances. It’s solid. Not life changing, “nouveau,” risky or, frankly, Michelin star worthy, but it’s really good. Price-wise, it’s at parity with a good (but not amazing) restaurant in DC. Don’t like it? Stay home, no problem.
Glad you had a good meal there. I use to go a lot but havent been in years. So many great restaurants in DC!! Super convenient though as a guest of the hotel. I think I’ll have to go back sometime now!
I recently stayed in this hotel. The King bedroom description said the room had a desk, but it did not — just a seating area with a table, but nothing close to ergonomic. While that is disappointing in this age of work anywhere, I was impressed with how the hotel handled it. They upgraded me to a Junior Suite, which had the desk setup I needed, as well as promised to update the room description, which they did.
Gym is pretty poor, but its not in a separate building. Its the same building, but on the ground floor, you have to go outside and cross a driveway. From the room floors, you can take the stairs that are at the end of the hall.
You did not eat at the Blue Duck. They seat you in the Hotel restaurant. That’s why you do not get the “signature dishes” or the full menu. Its a scam they pull on tourists that walk in without a reservation and has been written about in reviews for years.
It was the same menu…