Every once in a while, a good friend and I try and have a night out to decompress from the hectic schedule that seems to rule our lives. This Wednesday we decided to try Evo Bistro in McLean since we’ve heard about it from some friends who had been there and liked it.
As my friend S and I are seated at a tiny table by the window and were still able to catch the last rays of sunlight. I decide to ask the person who handed us the menus if they had anything similar to Turley wines (which I love but cannot afford). He walks us over to the wine machine and points out a few good vintages and as I look at his selection, there really is not one bad choice. They had a great Brunello that he swears is the best ever – doesn’t everyone say the same thing about theirs though? Also on their wine machine was the Penfolds Grange which retails for over six-hundred dollars a bottle so you can only imagine how much a glass costs. I decide to go with the 2005 Hendry Zinfandel (something I had never tried before) and was quite pleased with it. It was full bodied – the kind of red wine I love. I had quickly glanced at the menu before heading to the wine machine so I had an idea of what to choose.
It being a tapas bar, the server suggested that we get at least three things each to start. We are not really big eaters so we decide on four things: pequillo peppers stuffed with mushrooms and goat cheese, calamari, butternut squash ravioli and the charcuterie plate. Thank goodness we only ordered four dishes because only the pequillo peppers seemed to come in a tapas portion. The pequillo peppers were absolutely delicious. It was two pieces of the peppers nicely warmed and oozing with a creamy goat cheese and mushroom filling. The flavor of the mushrooms and goat cheese worked so well with the pequillo peppers.
The calamari was nice and crispy with a light coating and it came with three different kinds of aoli: jalapeno, traditional and smoked paprika. Of the three, the smoked paprika was the tastiest. It had a nice reddish color and the sweet-smokey flavor of the paprika was an ideal partner to the garlicky base. The ravioli itself was not bad and had a good amount to mushrooms in the sauce, however the cream sauce that it was swimming in was not seasoned well. What you tasted was that flat cream taste and no hint of seasoning at all. My friend S and I had a hard time figuring out who would get the last piece: no one was fighting you for it. The biggest disappointment was the charcuterie plate because not only did it come on a platter, which could barely fit on our small table but the prosciutto was dry. The outer edges of the prosciutto was curling inward. Oh well.
I suspect that I am like most people. I like wine but don’t know much about it except that I like what I like. I know enough to make me quite dangerous that I often find myself over my head in conversations with wine people. Even cooking professionally I am not in the kind of job wherein I order vast amounts of wine. Every month I order a case each of red and white wine – all under the recommendation of my favourite wine guy. I don’t cringe when I see a $28.00 glass of wine but would only order it if the sommalier expalined to me what makes it cost that much. Evo Bistro is a trendy place where the wine is good and if you know what to order, the food can be quite enjoyable. The service was fine considering that every table was taken. My friend and I walked away with just an okay feeling. I won’t be rushing back anytime soon. We enjoyed the wine, the food was just okay but I think the best thing about the night was the company.
Fine Food Kitchen 