I had lunch at DC Coast in Washington, DC recently. Since I had a Fried Oyster Caesar Salad, it is safe to say that I have now eaten fried oyster salads across the complete spectrum of restaurants. DC Coast is at the prestigious 14th and K Street address in downtown DC.
The other place that I have sampled a similar meal is Goober's 52 Restaurant in Mount Airy, NC. For reference I detailed my Goober's experience in the post, "Goobers, another backroads restaurant."
DC Coast is obviously a very elegant restaurant with exceptional food, service, and atmosphere. There definitely aren't cases of beer on special stacked by the door like I saw last week at Goobers.
For my meal at DC Coast I had the "Caesar Salad with Sourdough Crouton and Parmigiano Reggaino Cheese with Cornmeal Crusted Oysters." My guest for lunch had the "Cast Iron Crock of Steamed Prince Edward Island Mussels with Lemoncello Thyme Cream, and Oven Dried Tomato Bruschetta. " except I believe the origin of the mussels on the menu is now a spot in Maine instead of PEI.
Both items were exceptionally well prepared. The service was also exceptional. We ate upstairs where we had a great view of the kitchen and all the well heeled lunch crowd that I'm certain contained some interesting people if we had taken time to examine the crowd. The upstairs area of DC Coast is a great spot for a quiet elegant lunch.
One of the most interesting things to me is that there was no where on the DC Coast web site that I could find the address for the restaurant. My guess is that the target audience for DC Coast already knows where it is. Perhaps if you have to ask, you shouldn't be there. I'm fortunate in that my colleague has an office next door, so I've walked by numerous times, but this is the first time I've been fortunate enough to dine there. If you are interesting in dining there, I would suggest reservations. I did find a link which takes you to a web based reservations service run by OpenTable.com. The DC Coast reservation link there will also get you to a mini-review.
So how do DC Coast's fried oysters compare to the ones from Goobers? Well let's just say that I can be in the mood to enjoy both places and leave it at that. Trust me they are definitely worlds apart. I can't image a tie-dyed VW bus in front of DC Coast. The price for the oyster salad was $10 at DC Coast and $6.95 at Goobers. As they say location is everything. DC Coast is less than one half mile by foot from the White House. This Google Map shows just how close the restaurant is to heart of power for our nation. Goobers is a little farther away, in fact about 335 miles farther, but security is less severe in Mount Airy and the rush hour doesn't even exist.
