The Mount Vernon Square area in the northwest quadrant of Washington DC is filled with buildings of historical significance (but not actually THE Mount Vernon where George Washington resided), fancy legal and lobbying offices that shape policy and structures of government where the aforementioned lobbyists do their “work”. That’s all fine and good, but most importantly for us, this neighborhood houses an inordinate proportion of DC’s amazing fine-dining establishments. These include Cordurouy, Rasika, RPM Italian, Texas de Brazil, Zaytinya, Komi, The Dabney, Fiola, Fig & Olive, Blue duck tavern, Fiola Mare and on and on…

Having two such sister establishments adjacent to each other with such a “class difference” was an interesting decision by Ziebold and Laurent. Anyone who knows Ziebold’s story probably shouldn’t be surprised:  He began working in restaurants as a teenager after school at Café Maude and admittedly spent more time in the restaurant than in class.

Misspent youth not withstanding, he has quite a pedigree, having worked at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago in Beverly Hills, Jeffrey Buben’s Vidalia in D.C. and Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry in Napa. He was even charged by Keller to help open his then new NY City restaurant, Per Se. Ziebold has won a number of prestigious awards including Best New Chefs, Food & Wine in 2005 and Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic, from the James Beard Foundation in 2008. Given all this, his risk taking approach to fine dining establishments wasn’t particularly unexpected. It has led some to ponder if prime ingredients and top dishes are served at Metier with the lesser parts and renditions are left for Kinship.  However, after my meal, I’ll take those “lesser” dishes any day of the week. 

Sure, Metier is where you go do dinner before that big anniversary or because you forgot a loved-one’s birthday, whereas Kinship is where you go to celebrate your boss remembering how to properly pronounce your name, or your Doctor telling you that your cholesterol no longer keeps her up at night.  However, don’t be fooled by the menu which has categories such as “craft,” “history,” “ingredients,” and “indulgence,”.  This is an unpretentious place where the staff is helpful and eager to make sure you have a great dining experience.  Truly a very UnFoodie place – just go in with this cheat sheet to help make sense of the menu categories:

  – Craft that celebrates cooking techniques.

– History revisits classics or dishes that the Chef experienced while traveling.

– Ingredients celebrates a specific product.

– Indulgence highlights specialty items.

Walking into a relatively nondescript building, one would never guess it houses two of DC’s top restaurants. You find your way to a comfortable seating area, more reminiscent of a Restoration Hardware staged living-room.  I waited here while table was made ready – a nice way to meet and chat with other patrons.

Once seated, the staff explained the menu to me.  Since I was dining alone, some of the family-style shared dishes were not to be in my immediate future.  That was fine as many of the signature dishes were still an option and thats where I decided to turn my attention.

The first dish hailed from the History section of the menu – Kinship Sofrito Soup with garden aji dulce (a garden variety of South American pepper) served with a goat cheese and aji dulce crostini.

The soup was flavorful and delicately peppery, having some substance and heft while actually being light – sparce homeny corn and dice of onion, red or yellow pepper makes for good textural varieties. The crostini was satisfying and creamy with balanced sweet and vegetal topping that compliments the earthy broth.

No trip to Kinship would be complete without the next item from the indulgence section of the menu – Lobster French toast: Maine lobster on French toast with cucumber, nectarine, black sesame and fresh cream, bathed in sauce of poaching butter.

I’ll be honest, the French toast was a bit too eggy lending an excessive richness (I guess in all fairness, it did come from the indulgence section) that takes away from the lobster which didn’t feel as fresh as I’d expect. Overall, a good dish that could have been outstanding with better execution.

From the Craft section of the menu, I next tried the sautéd Atlantic porgy served over steamed summer greens and chorizo beignets and dressed with a white grape and almond emulsion.

The fish was well prepared, but the crispy skin drenched in emulsion was my favorite part of the dish. The beignets were packed with flavor and a nice contrast to the more bland fish.

For desert I ordered the raspberry cream puff which came filled with a salty licorice diplomat, labne sherbet with crumbled ginger molasses cookie.

I am a huge fan of licorice but found this to be an odd flavor amalgamation. The raspberry, licorice, ginger and labne were individually quite good, but in combination, just a odd jumble of flavors.

I was really surprised to also be served a mini ice cream sandwich – usually given as a special birthday treat, my server brought me this extra indulgence. This was a wonderful way to cap off the meal.

I ended by ordering a cup of tea and much to my delight was served yet another sweet – a peanut toffee that is delivered with a miniature hammer for cracking into manageable bites. The tea was good, the toffee was astounding. I was so full, I only had a bite – I had to take it with me to enjoy the next morning. Breakfast of champions.