Farrah Olivia

NOTE:
I’m breaking my own rule by posting a review from a visit prior to opening my Unilocal account. This review is from my personal blog because today I was saddened to find out that Farrah Olivia is closed… damn… Apparently this great restaurant closed on April 29, 2009. I feel stupid for not going back. In honor of Chef Morou and Farrah Olivia, here’s an excerpt from my blog. You can read the FULL entry at my food blog (web address listed on my Unilocal profile).
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Written: August 10, 2008
Our first anniversary was celebrated yesterday at the renowned restaurant called Farrah Olivia where gifted chef/​owner Chef Morou cooked up an incredible meal for the wife and I. For those of you that don’t know Chef Morou, he is an incredibly talented chef that beat famous chef Bobby Flay on an episode of Iron Chef America.
We were lucky enough to get the boys asleep at a reasonable time and my Mom and Dad were kind enough to hang out at our house in case the boys decided to wake up. Thankfully the boys stayed asleep and my parents spent most of the evening chatting and watching television.
Back to the dinner…
Did I mention the food was amazing? That and the fact that the wait staff (especially our waiter) were all amazingly kind and very attentive. We were also lucky enough to hit the last day of restaurant week and I opted for the three course meal. the wife ordered the beef fillet cooked medium-​well. Once we ordered, one of the waiters brought out a palate cleanser; honey dew juice with fresh carrot froth mixed with cilantro. What simply delicious way to start off our dinner!
Next, my appetizer arrived which was called Shocked Escolar; a white tuna cooked rare lightly encrusted with spices and then chilled. The tuna was served sliced with a delicious wasabi sauce and soy juice caviar (caviar like bubbles made of flavored soy). Each bite was incredible and the presentation of the food was spectacular and full of vivacious color. the wife and I did our best to eat in a civilized manner but we still ended up devouring the appetizer in no time.
Next, the main courses were brought out. the wife’s beef fillet was served with a homemade BBQ sauce on the side made up of beef stock, cumin and other spices. It came with two sides, a delicate flan made of cauliflower and white asparagus and the other side of sweet corn cooked with black corn truffles. The beef was so delicate and full of amazing flavor just bursting through the tender meat. Chef Morou had also sent the beef fillet out with a special spice mix served on the side consisting coffee and cumin. YUM YUM YUM!
My main course was two salmon medallions cooked medium and served with fried cous cous and a citrus picked watermelon rind. The dish was so beautiful it looked like a painting as the color were astounding. The tender pink of the salmon blended with the orange green and red of the fried cous cous side which contrasted with the bold yellow of the picked watermelon rind. Along the edge of the plate, the entire feast was accented with a line of green basil sauce. The dish was a work of art and the flavor was even more impressive.
Again the wife and I devoured our food and shared our food while doing our best to look well mannered and refined. :-) Everything brought out to use thus far was a gastronomic treat and we couldn’t wait to see what desert brought us.
As desert arrived, we were impressed that they knew it was our anniversary. Chef Morou had kindly sent out a complimentary and very special dessert for the wife and I to enjoy made up on pine nut cookies, raspberry candies and chocolate truffles:
**** SEE BLOG FOR PICTURES *****
Let me just tell you that BOTH desserts were delicious! Just a quick side note…
I would’ve posted pix of our appetizer and entrees, but the food was so delicious and we were so ravenous that we didn’t think of taking pix. Plus we didn’t want to look too touristy by taking pictures of all of our foods. We figured it would be okay to take pictures of the desserts as one of them was made special for us by Chef Morou…
*** Check out my Unilocal profile and visit my blog to read the FULL review ***

Till we meet again Farrah,
Today was our last brunch.
You’ll open again, sometime, someplace.
At that time your chicken and mac will bring a smile to my face.
For those of you who don’t know Farrah Olivia is sadly closing on April 29^th. They hope to re-​open in 6 – 12 months at a new location in DC. Until then we can look forward to the opening of Kora, an Italian place, in Crystal City to fulfill our Chef Morou needs. Should be open end of May/​beginning of June from what I hear.

RESTAURANT WEEK REVIEW
Service: 4.
Décor: 3.5.
Food: 5.
Simply the best meal I’ve had in DC. First restaurant I’ve been to in DC where I felt I could’ve been eating at one of my beloved restaurants in NYC (Perry Street, Gotham, Danube, Craft, etc.).
The presentation was phenomenal, the ingredients interesting, and the quality undeniable. Despite that we were the last table to be seated and to eat (the quality of food preparation usually suffers at the end of the evening), every dish served was excellent.
Can we pause here — EVERY DISH was excellent. This is the problem with many restaurants in DC: NO consistency! Usually, you’ll have one amazing appetizer (or less frequently an amazing main course) and the rest of the food is blah. Not the case at Farrah Olivia. You can tell the chef was inspecting every plate, ensuring the quality of the food was as fantastic as the presentation.
I’m not going to rave about either the décor or the service. Our waiter was very friendly and attentive. Still, neither the service or décor was mind blowing, and if you’re looking for a cool, swank restaurant where pretty paintings adorn the walls and the service is impeccable, go elsewhere. If you care a whit about food, if you understand food and want your food cooked with care, come here.
On to the reason Farrah Olivia is amazing, the cuisine:
Pre-​appetizers: the truffled butter that came as one of four sides with the bread was amazing. The amuse bouche was meh (the only thing not perfect).
VANILLA POACHED LOBSTER: The Washingtonian raved about this dish, and rightly so. It’s everything my lobster at 701 wasn’t: beautiful, interesting and very flavorful. The undertones of vanilla that grab at your taste buds when you bite into the succulent lobster are wonderful, and the tapioca risotto and (I believe?) salmon roe with which the lobster comes serve as perfect complements, rounding out the sweetness of the vanilla with its heartiness (risotto) and emphasizing the flavor (roe).
SHOCKED ESCOLAR: escolar is a type of tuna. As a waiter describes, the escolar is «shocked» by taking it while cold and raw and throwing it in boiling hot water, removing it, and then searing it with a blow torch immediately before it arrives at the table. It came with a mayonnaise sauce of sorts. I hate fish, and when forced to take a bite, I was extremely impressed. I actually enjoyed it. My friend — who has tried tuna at every major restaurant in NYC and DC — said this was amazing. I defer to him on this one.
PAINTED SOUP: excellent AND interesting. The two sides are best eaten separately (read all the reviews below about how it tastes not as good mixed), and when done each is fantastic. It’s basically a yin-​yang design made out of two soups that are separated in the same bowl by care and chemistry (the same way as a bartender one serves multi-​layered shots). The gingery squash is a bit spicy, while maintaining the crisp flavor of ginger, and it serves as an excellent foil to the smokey chestnut, which is rich, creamy and soothing on the palate (reminiscent of a hearty winter soup in fact). Wonderful.
TERRAGON GNUDI: gnudi are basically the insides of ravioli, served without the pasta exterior (hence the «nude» reference in the name). Despite my wariness at ordering a vegetarian entrée, I wanted to try it (and my companions were all getting meat dishes that I would sample anyway), so I made the leap of faith. Very content that I did. The gnudi were light, infused throughout (and in the sauce) with delicious terragon, and served with arugula and white asparagus. A very «spring» dish, I recommend it for those wanting to wade their way through the entire meal without slowing.
SLOW ROASTED LAMB CHOP: fantastic. One of the most beautifully presented dishes I’ve ever seen, and perfectly cooked and seasoned. Juicy, tender, well-​seasoned (a bit smokey) and served with an excellent sauce (BBQ of a sort I think?). The best entrée in our group’s opinion.
PAN ROASTED CHICKEN: chicken can’t possibly be interesting, right? Wrong. The juiciness of the chicken is well balanced against the crisp pecan crust. One of the best chicken dishes I’ve ever had.
MANGO CHOWDER: amazing and very light. The soup was wonderful, with the richness of the mango complemented by the pieces of lychee and the coconut (I think) sorbet.
PECAN BAR SANDWICH: wonderful and interesting. When the flaky crust was paired with the pecan and the chocolate sauce on the side, it was delicious. Highly recommend.
CHOCOLATE ESPRESSO CHEESECAKE: decadent and heavenly. The richness of the chocolate makes this a rather heavy dessert, but simply amazing. If you like chocolate or cheesecake, you MUST get this.
I will definitely be back. If you love food, you should go. Like now.

What an outstanding eating experience. We went here during restaurant week and were absolutely thrilled with the wait staff and food.
Presentations were magnificant only bested by their taste!
Bravo to the Chef!
I had the sweet potato /​chestnut soup which was delicious. My wife had the most beautifullly presented salad that came in a spring roll type wrap. The chicken breast was the best I have ever had. The chocolate cheesecake was impeccably prepreared.
you must go!

****4.5 stars****
You know, they told me that this place is great for people who are all about «decontructed» dishes (which I am) and I didn’t quite get it, but they were SO right.
If you want pizazz and beautiful plating. This place is IT.
Service was mediocre, but the food was great and the presentation was impeccable. We ordered off the RW menu, which offered nearly the entire regular menu (KUDOS TO FO for that!).
Aside from the usual raves about the food — I have to note that they offered a foodgasmic mango soup thingie for dessert. I had a ratatouille moment and my taste buds burst into colorful memories. They definitely account for not only flavors, but textures and temperature — and it was so very well appreciated.

Went last night as part of Alexandria’s Inaugural Restaurant Week. I had heard a lot of great things about this restaurant, and of all the options in their RW, this was the one I had circled out as having the most potential.
We arrived for an early seating at 5:30, parked for free in the garage underneath, and noticed that the place was very small — only about 15 tables or so. Going with my girlfriend, and as a young couple, immediately noticed that we were slightly underdressed and thought that this wouldn’t be a problem, but I had a feeling that were somewhat «discriminated» against by our waitress (more on her later).
Service was very slow overall, and I noticed other waiters telling their tables about the different kinds of foods, and this was something that our waitress did not do at all — rather, I had to ask about the different foods. We went with the 3 courses for $ 35 with a $ 15 dollar wine pairing, which I felt was a good deal. You got to try different types of wine with each course, which is always fun.
The bread was delicious — some sort of cranberry bread with four kinds of dips and spreads. My appetizer was a painted soup, a sort of yin and yang soup with both parts tasting different. Very visually appealing but unfortunately, I didn’t like the taste. Plus, it became worse once you combined the two flavors.
My entrée was the flat iron steak, which was cooked well, but the piece of meat was very small. It came with a side of mashed potatoes and a tiny mushroom flan. The mashed potatoes were organized in a way that they looked «raked» and lined, so you would perhaps think that they were something else. When I was told it was mashed potatoes, it was somewhat of a disappointed. Overall, it wasn’t very much food at all. The mushroom flan was good, but again, small. It was a one-​biter.
The final course was supposed to be a pumpkin cheesecake, but was replaced by a chocolate cheesecake. Not that I was complaining, it was good, but again, very small.
Going to this restaurant, you end up going for the «famous» name, the stylish presentation and combinations of flavor. Not necessarily for delicious food. I guess for me, I’ll take a healthy portion of fresh ingredients cooked traditionally and just delicious anyday.
Would have rated it 3 stars, but this place got a star less when the bill game. (Yes, there were free goodies when it came, but it honestly was not really good, IMHO). Paid with an AMEX and the waitress came back saying that the card came back declined. Not trying to brag, but I have ridiculously high credit on that card, so I called AMEX immediately and they told me that a transaction hadn’t even been attempted on that card. So, just weird vibes all around and I ended up paying with another card.
Not a great experience and I wouldn’t go back again. This restaurant is for you if you want to try something different and experience potentially innovative ways of combining flavors and visually stimulating dishes.

Not being familiar with DC, Rob and I asked friends for recommendations for a nice dinner place and made reservations a couple of hours in advance for dinner here. We knew the chef here had won an Iron Chef challenge against Bobby Flay but it wasn’t until we tasted the food that we really believed it.
Rob started us off by ordering a bottle of the Swanson Merlot which was just perfect. He had the prix fixe menu, starting with the grits, and with the steak for his entrée, finishing with the pumpkin cheese cake. I started with the seafood chowder and had the quail as an entrée. The great thing about this place is how inventive the chef is. He’s combined uncommon ingredients together and cooks them in unexpected ways. For example: Rob expected his grits looking like polenta. Instead, we almost thought we had the wrong dish when they brought the dish out as the grits had been deep fried into something that resembled a large crab cake and was plated over a thick sauce of tomatoes and red peppers. We both thought the sauce overpowered the dish a little but that was the only fault we found with the entire dinner.
My clam chowder was the best chowder I’ve ever had. With large flakes of cod interspersed with bits of bacon and some vegetables, it was creamy, perfectly seasoned and I did not want to share with Rob. The quail was equally wonderful and I definitely scored in the ordering aspect with my two dishes. I might have had better quail but this wasn’t far from that. It was succulently juicy. Rob didn’t like the pumpkin cheese cake much. Something about too much pumpkin taste but I don’t know what he was expecting. Portions are more than generous and I was full by dessert and didn’t touch any. Having said that, when they brought out the little extra dessert goodies of fruit gelees, cookie and truffle, I found space for them.
We did find the patrons here interesting. There were two main groups. Young couples obviously on dates, with the guys trying to impress the girls by taking them to a fancy restaurant. And then there were plenty of older people who were there for the great food and spent 3 hours over a good bottle of wine. Atmosphere was quite nice and service was impeccable.
All in all, a restaurant of this caliber in New York would be booked solid for a good three weeks in advance at least. So I guess I’m glad it’s in DC instead and we were able to get reservations the day of. Prices are comparable with New York and I’ll definitely be back.

I was fully prepared to hate Farrah Olivia’s the moment my brother told me that the chef was a contestant on of those reality Next Iron Chef/​Hells Kitchen/​Top Chef cooking shows. It’s not that I don’t absolutely love those shows — because I do… reality TV defines my reality — but I’ve said it before, I want my food to magically appear before me without any back-​story or context. I wish to judge my experience based on my actual experience with the food and the establishment. Not because I remembered that so-​and-​so contestant back-​stabbed someone else on the show, or never washed his hands, or tends to over season the meat. No — the food and the dining experience should stand alone and without any made-​for-​TV drama to color it.
So. I was fully prepared to hate Farrah Olivia’s. Imagine my surprise when I find myself giving it 4 stars!
Upon entering, the dining room is bright, clean and fresh. Uncluttered by useless knickknacks, or garish «trendy» colors, the room conveys a sense of serenity without being boring. The hostess was quiet, friendly and polite (a rarity in my opinion), and while the dining room was small, they wisely did not cram the tables too closely together.
As we were sipping our beverages (decent but nothing too exciting) and munching on our bread (which was fresh and delicious… especially the honey butter… HONEY BUTTER I LOVE YOU!), our waiter appears with an «amuse-​bouche», with compliments of the chef. While I wouldn’t have ordered the amuse-​bouche on my own — it was definitely a lovely and unexpected treat. The flavors were crisp and fresh, but as we couldn’t really identify the ingredients, I can’t really give a better description then that. I had the shocked escolar, while my brother ordered the beef tartare. They were both incredibly delicious.
I ordered the stuffed quail for my entrée, and it was tender, moist, flavorful… basically perfection. My husband had the rack of lamb, and at one point I think he started whimpering with joy. My brother had the cod which was well cooked and exceptionally seasoned, but we felt lacked just a pinch of…*something*. The presentation was lovely on all three of our dishes — as eager as we were to eat, we all paused for a moment to admire the beauty of our food, before we started devouring. If you were a fan of the show that the chef was on (I think it was Next Iron Chef), you will remember him as the guy who deconstructed the dishes, and loved to make little flavored tapioca pearls for everything. Yes, we got the full brunt of that, but where the judges reamed him for it — we really loved it (although we were only having one meal like this, and not the 8 the judges have had).
So why only 4 stars instead of 5? Well, two reasons.
The first was our waiter. While he was attentive and prompt, he also wasn’t proactive in making our experience that much more memorable. If you haven’t noticed, I’m Chinese, and both my brother and I are photo fiends (yes, stereotypes, stereotypes). We were trying to take pictures of the food and ourselves — and not once did the waiter offer to take a picture of all three of us. Only toward the end, as we were able to leave, the hostess noticed that we were still taking pictures of each other and offered to take a picture of all three of us. Also, my brother (the foodie that he is), likes to take notes of what he is eating, so he can tag the pictures and reflect fondly upon meals of yore. Our waiter, seeing this, still spoke incredibly fast to the point of muttering. The waiter was attentive (our water glass was always full, and we got another basket of their delicious bread without asking), but he seemed to miss out on a few small things that could have make our experience perfect.
The second was the dessert. I normally don’t like to downgrade a restaurant due to dessert, because I’m not a dessert person and it takes a lot for me to agree that the dessert was worthy of the meal. However, when even my husband (who is obsessed by sweets) couldn’t finish his dessert, coupled with the less-​then-​stellar service, I find that worthy of a downgrade.

Overall: Meh. My last weekend here and we had never been to Alexandria at night so I wanted to find a great restaurant. The décor was great. The crowd was a bit… older. Everything. and I mean everything was very pricey, from the wine/​glass to the entrees. Their menu online does not mirror their menu in the restaurant, btw, so don’t go and presumptuously pick out your meal. Bummer, right?
So we got one of the cheese plates for $ 5.50. The cheese was like so so so small so we had to fight for who would get the 2^nd bite. It was rough. Then let’s see… I got the roasted chicken for $ 23 with some beady risotto in some mustard sauce. It was aight. My bf got the rabbit for $ 30…i say THIRTY DOLLARS. It came with some weird side scallop that was NOT good, very firm. The actual rabbit itself was pretty good, much to our surprise. We were pretty full after that and couldnt really see ourselves spending $ 17 for a scoop of sorbet so we hit the road.
Overall, this place is waaaaaay overpriced and waaaaaaaaay overrated. And the food was just mediocre. Very disappointing.

Sunday Brunch
I saw the ad in The Onion (of all places), and thought that this would be an interesting place to eat. After reading the Unilocalers, I decided to go ahead and try out their Brunch.
I agree with some of the reviewers, the start of the meal was great. The choice of spreads and breads were delicious. We had a beet jam, a mango butter, and a raspberry cream cheese. But the main courses were a bit salty for my taste (I guess that’s why they didn’t have a salt shaker on the table)
Most disappointing was the service. My companion ordered the 3-​course meal, and they forgot the 3^rd course. Not to mention that they brought us someone else’s order at the beginning of the meal.
Ah.. . Farrah.. . If only you could improve.

UPDATE: Went last night and it was a-​freaking-​mazing. Had no idea that Balducci’s was right next door, or that Sutton Place had closed. I didn’t know much about the owner, Morou Ouattara, since I hadn’t gone to Signatures while he was there.
One thing I would have never expected was a fusion of American, French and Latin cuisines. But here it is. You get an option of tasting dinners– 5, 7 or 14 different plates. at least the night we were there. We chose one 5 plate for me, and one 7 plate for hubby,
First, I have to tell you about the bread. I am easily impressed by fresh baked bread at restaurants, so I was delighted when the bread basket arrived with not only plain but also raisin bread and. wait for it. FOUR different kinds of spread: pesto, squash, red pepper and something I couldn’t name at the time (turned out to be bok choy).
They start you off with an Amuse-​buche. Ours was a pear soup with a curry chicken liver filled fig Newton. The other dishes included a shocked tuna appetizer (kind of like sashimi with a layer of wasabi and ginger sauce in the side), black eyed pea fritters (my fave of the tasting), an Australian fish on top of a white bean paste with a black squid ink and mustard sauce, and beef with grape and spinach leaves. The additional plates that hubby received were an amazing Parmesan soup and a quail drummette with a stuffing and veggie casserole. The quail was his favorite. The presentation on each plate is flawless.
The tasting also included a dessert of spice cake for him and a mango cream flan with mandarin slices for me. We also received a complementary finish of 2 chocolate covered marshmallows and freshly made mango and raspberry jelly «candies.»
Our server, Mara, was excellent. The people at the table next to us knew Chef Ouattara and he came to talk to them, and after their conversation, he chatted with us for a while (probably because hubby and I were excited by the fact that he was standing right next to us).
The wine list is not extensive, and looking around I noticed they pour the same amount regardless of whether you order a red or white wine, high end or not. The median bottle price is $ 40! If you are more of a beer person like I am, go with the Flying Dog (a beer from Colorado)…it is very good.

This is my long over-​due review of Farrah Olivia. My boyfriend made reservations here for my birthday several weeks ago. After months of talking about this place, I think he got the idea. I wore a dress to the restaurant, but I noticed many other patrons were dressed business casually. The restaurant isn’t a bit snooty. Every diner was in conversation, and the waiters were down-​to-​earth.
Farrah Olivia is one of the few restaurants that offer five to seven course vegetarian tasting menus. I am a huge fan of tasting menus! I love trying new and creative dishes a chef has to offer. In hindsight, I almost regret order the seven course tasting menu. I previously ate a few hours before dinner. I wasn’t expecting the portions to be as generous as Citronelle’s (what a luxury, but I wasn’t –too– impressed by their food), but they certainly weren’t skimpy. By the third or fourth course, we were getting very full.
Here’s a list of some of the dishes we’ve had:
Painted Soup (yukon with gruyère, gingered carrot, leek cream): The soup was presented in a yin-​yang shape (the yukon being the white, a nd the carrot being the dark shades of the yin-​yang with a dollop of cream for the small circles in each shade). The ginger carrot was a little sweet for me, but the slight saltiness of the yukon balanced it out. Overall, very delicious.
Goat Cheese Gnudi (white asparagus, fava beans, arugula): I can’t remember this dish very well, but it was good. Unique. This dish was also a little sweet.
Unfortunately, I can’t remember the other dishes. What I’ve had was delectable (especially the chocolate dessert with vegan marshmellow — decadent), but my palate favors saltiness. If there’s one complaint for the food, it would be that it was on the sweet side. The presentation was very lovely. The dishes, while not worthy of a «mad scientist», gave me different perspectives on high end vegetarian cuisine.
The food took a little long to arrive after each course was completed, but we weren’t in a rush. Overall, I strongly recommend Farrah Olivia for their vegetarian-​friendly fare and tasting menus. Morou Ouattera’s inventive and artistic use of vegetarian ingredients certainly make for a very pleasant gastronomic experience.