Zola

On Wednesday, after two days of eating steamed veggies and brown rice for lunch, Mr. BW and I met up at Zola for lunch! I was particularly excited because it was Restaurant Week and Zola was offering their full menu. Thus, we could try anything on the menu and only pay $20.08/person. My kind of adventure.

We were seated in the first room to the right of the entrance and this was the display in the middle of the room. Not something I'd seen before and not entirely sure how I feel about it as a decor.

Our bread was delicious. And the brown sea salt on the butter? Fab.

I started with the sunchoke tortelloni with grilled ramps, lemon-spring garlic jus, and sunchoke chips. It was okay, not great. A little too heavy for lunch and the individual flavors did not seem to stand out.
Mr. BW started with the scallop cress salad with watermelon carpaccio and dressed with ramp-pink peppercorn vinaigrette. He gave me a tasty taste and it was delicious. Wish I'd gone with my first instinct and ordered it.
Mr. BW ordered the blue crab omelette with a salad of baby lettuce, tomato vinaigrette and topped with crispy shallots. I didn't get much out of him except that it was "okay." My guess is he wasn't blown away.
I went with the grilled lamb sandwich with goat cheese aioli, sweet pepper and asparagus slaw and a side salad of arugula to finish the meal. My lamb was tasty enough, but I always forget that lamb is a hard meat to have in a sandwich -- just a little too chewy and messy for when you're dressed up and have to go back to work. The breading was delicious and I heartily enjoyed it.
For dessert, I selected the passionate tart -- passion fruit, meringue and brandy soaked blueberries. As you can see, I had to get my dessert to go because the service was so exceeding slow. Our reservation was for 1pm, and we did not receive our entree until well past 2pm. I understand that it was Restaurant Week and that they were over capacity as a result, but I don't believe restaurants (or any business for that matter) should sign up to participate in an event of any kind when they do not have the necessary manpower to do it well.
Anyhow, my dessert was not great, and had I paid the $7 sticker price for it, I would've been sorely disappointed. Mr. BW got the bombe...chocolate bombe and they packed it with a scoop of ice cream. Not the smartest thing to do when it's take-away!

All in all, I don't regret having gone to Zola, given that including the exorbitant dc restaurant tax of 10+%, the final bill was just $44.08. However, I definitely would've regret having gone if we had paid full price for the meal. Would not recommend it unless you happen to find yourself near the spy museum or even better, on an expense account.