Sometimes there’s quite a lot in a name. The Oval Room is not oval, but it’s just a block from the oval room that really counts, the office where the president does his work.
From the tables on the terrace, a diner can catch a glimpse of the White House through the trees of Lafayette Square.
The Oval Room is one of the capital’s power restaurants.
It is owned by Ashok Bajaj, who owns the Bombay Club across the street, 701 on Pennsylvania Avenue, and Ardeo uptown on Connecticut Avenue. It’s attractive and elegant. Two rooms are separated by an entrance and narrow bar.
A witty mural representing political personalities that graced the wall of the larger, angular dining room has been replaced by bright, primarily red, abstract paintings. The same New York artist painted the large abstracts in the smaller dining room to the right of the entrance.
Tables are placed discreetly with just enough room between them to make private conversations possible. The chairs are comfortable; the service is attentive (sometimes bordering on tediously so) and professional. Meals begin with good bread and a small plate of olive oil, a good balsamic vinegar and a dollop of cheese.
The kitchen is under the hand of Executive Chef Paul Luna, formerly of Bice. Mr. Luna has put together a menu of modern American dishes with Italian overtones. The cooking can be uneven: several of the dishes are wonderful, but some lack the bold innovative touch one has come to expect of American cuisine. Spicing tends to be overly cautious.
The menu, both at lunch and dinner, is divided into small plates-appetizers, a few pasta dishes and four or five of each seafood and meat courses. Two or three of the small plates, which are substantial, could easily be combined into a meal.
Pasta dishes can be ordered in half or full portions, as can some of the fish dishes and the grilled steak.
One of the best small plates is two risotto cakes filled with house-made mozzarella. The cheese is placed in the middle of the rice cakes, which are fried to a light golden color. The melted cheese has the right consistency and delicate flavor to balance the slightly crunchy rice. It’s a first-class idea and execution.
Another terrific starter is the New York strip steak spring roll, with a salsa verde dipping sauce redolent with herbs. The deep-fried spring rolls are filled with slivered top-quality beef, carrots and other vegetables. The dish is first rate.
Grilled shrimp on a bed of feta cheese, chopped tomatoes and leeks makes another very good starter. The five large shrimp are grilled just long enough to be cooked through yet retain their moist texture. The cheese and vegetable combination could use a bit more zest, but the combination works.
Grilled octopus with a tiny mound of small capers, chopped olives and roasted peppers is another good starter. The two octopus tendrils are very tender and nicely grilled, but this dish too is a trifle bland.
Other small plates include a classic Caesar salad and an asparagus salad with smoked salmon; salt cod ravioli with sage and brown butter; mussels in parsley-garlic broth; seared tuna with oven-dried tomatoes; and a Brazilian seafood soup. The only daily special was a rosemary potato soup, topped with smoked salmon; the rosemary was too strong and the salmon too salty.
Oversalting is a problem, as indeed it is in other Washington restaurants. A chicken breast with a crust of Taleggio cheese is a fine dish. The cheese adds an interesting element to the chicken, which is moist and tender (and could actually stand alone). The radicchio mushroom confit served with the chicken was so salty as to be inedible.
The same oversalting ruined what would have been a delicious crispy spinach and Manchego cheese potato cake, served with a grilled New York strip steak. The steak can be ordered either as a 6-ounce or a 12-ounce serving. We ordered the smaller one (a bargain at $14) and found it to be excellent. Served with a good bordelaise wine sauce, the meat was first rate, tender and cooked exactly as ordered.
Main courses also include lamb shank, a tender pork tenderloin and fish dishes that change according to what is freshest on the market.
Pastas also vary. At a recent dinner, the choice was among tuna ravioli with ginger soy sesame sauce; veal panzotti with porcini mushrooms; and vegetable ravioli in a curry sauce. We tried a half-portion — again an ample serving — of the vegetable ravioli. The ravioli could have been cooked a few minutes longer and the filling was undistinguished, but the curry sauce was delicate and well balanced.
The lunch menu is almost identical to the dinner menu, with the addition of entree salads at lunch. These include a grilled chicken and a steak salad, and a seafood salad incorporating shrimp, calamari and fish.
A good dessert is the small warm individual chocolate cake with a molten chocolate interior. It would be even better with a deeper chocolate flavor. On the other hand, the chocolate truffles served with coffee — which our waiter told us was an experiment by the chef — were terrific.
A cheese plate is often an alternative to dessert sweets. The Oval Room cheese plate, priced at $12, consists of a minuscule slice each of Emmenthaler, a pungent ricotta salata and Manchego with a small bunch of red grapes.
To the management’s credit, when my guest complained about the paucity of the cheese, the chef sent word that he would remedy that in the future and insisted, over our protests, on removing the cheese from the bill. A generous gesture. Perhaps he should offer a remedy (as coined by a cheese expert) along the lines of “something old, something new, something runny, something blue.”
RESTAURANT: The Oval Room, 800 Connecticut Ave. NW; 202/463-8700
HOURS: Lunch 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday-Friday; dinner 5:30 to 10 p.m. Monday-Thursday and until 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday
PRICES: Small plates $7 to $11; main courses $10 to $28 (lunch), $10 to $34 (dinner)
CREDIT CARDS: All major cards
PARKING: Street parking; complimentary dinner valet parking
ACCESS: Wheelchair accessible
METRO: Farragut North on Red Line; Farragut West on Blue and Orange lines
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