Wednesday, August 29, 2007

I need proof


Last night J-lo, Danielle and I headed out for a little vino and catching up. We haven't see Danielle in AGES; it was so great to see her and chat for a few hours.

We decided to meet at Proof on the corner of 8th & G NW, across the street from the National Portrait Gallery. (Which is soooo totally worth a visit, BTW!)

Before I go to much further, our purpose of going out was for a drink. Dinner was not our goal, although we noshed, we didn't dine.

I arrived at Proof early and put my name down for a reservation about 30 minutes later, knowing I was early and to accomadate slow metro. Once D & J arrived, we walked in and were seated immediately, towards the back. The restaurant is a little dark, in a good way. The general feel was nice. There weren't many people at the tables at this point. Out waitress was right behind us to see what we might need while we looked at the menus-wine and food.

We were given these crisp little crackers to crunch on while we looked over the menu. There are plenty of wines by the glass--that's where we were going, so we didn't look through the pages of bottles of wines. I had bubbles from Italy. J-lo had a gewert from Austria. Danielle had cotes from ____? I can't remember where here cotes du rhones from. I think that's what she had. So we had our bases covered, reds, whites and bubbles. All delish!

As I said we weren't really there to eat, but we flipped open those menus as well. Done! Cheese board and charcuterie board! While we enjoyed our beverages, the little work booth next to us started preparing our boards.

We chatted and drank and nibbled all night. Service was incredible, the boards were tasty good! After a few bites of proscuitto, we had delicate pork fat was melting on our lips, which was complimented by the cheeses and wines! Heaven! The cheeses were good. I focused on cows milk cheeses that were tasty. Tried some goat/sheep milk cheeses...no, sorry! Not my thing, really I tried!!! The breads were toasted and crispy. Mustard, tangy! And honey that rocked! Almost spicy.

We wiped our boards clean and had few more glasses of grapes. I wanted something more to go with my bubbles. Sticky Pudding with butterscotch sauce. Great flavors. The pudding was tiny, tiny bit dry, but the great ice cream and sauce remedied that.

I have to give a great shout out to our wait staff. Stacey, I think was her name, our waitress, was on for us and we really appreciated all her help and great attitude. She helped make it a great night!

By the time we left, the restaurant was packed to the gills! I hope it continues to have great success.

I'll go back to Proof. Perhaps I'll get something off the menu for dinner, or maybe I'll just stick with the Boards! The bill was about $120 for three of us; a little spendy, but worth it for a good night out.

Proof
775 G Street NW
Washington, DC
202.737.7663

4 comments:

Dancer in DC said...

Very good - and to be fair that bill included 2 - 3 glasses of wine each, which was a big part of the bill.

Now that we've sampled so much on the boards, we could easily do a less expensive selection of 2-3 on each and it becomes very affordable.

I completely agree that the service was excellent, and our server was most helpful when I asked for recommendations on wine and some cheeses.

The restaurant was definitely full but not noisy or cramped. A well-designed little place right in the heart of downtown. Thumbs up!

[Note - I think we prefer some of the board selections better at Sonoma on the Hill, but the overall style is nicer at Proof. Either is an excellent choice depending on what area of town you happen to be in.]

Anonymous said...

This is the first positive user review I've heard. Interesting. Maybe they finally got their ducks in a row.

Stef said...

Is Proof new? I haven't heard of it, but I think I'll have to try it. I like Sonoma for special spendy nights out, but Cap Hill is a little off my usual beaten path. I love having something right in my usual 'hood!

ScottE. said...

They are new, I don't know when they opened, but it's been fairly recent.