Food.Fun.Stuff: New Chef, New Wine, New Attitude

Ever since Tallula welcomed in its new executive chef, Barry Koslow, change has been no stranger to the modern American restaurant. For starters, the menu has changed. We had the pleasure of getting a taste of the new offerings and were quite impressed with how tender they could make an octopus. The Charred Spanish Octopus prefaced the four-course meal alongside chick peas, pearl onions, sun dried tomatoes and sherry vinaigrette. Tallula's new wine director, Juliana Santos, suggested the 2008 Stadt Krems, Gruner Veltliner (*Kremstal Austria) to compliment the first course (*She also added this is a good wine for veggies).


The second and third course consisted of a Pacific Halibut and Pan Roasted Duck Breast which we prefer the latter. The duck was "Long Island Style" (*We have to chuckle at this...) and matched perfect with the licorice style Spanish Wine that Santos suggested (*2007 Vina Carles, Carinena/Garnacha, Priorat Spain). For those that prefer halibut, Koslow's spin on the juicy, thick fish is one that we like: He crusts it with lentil & applewood smoked bacon. The saltiness of the bacon leaves no need to add anything extra to the fish.


Dessert. Now you know we're not good dessert judges, so we will leave this up to the pro's (*Those that engage in heavy consumption of all things sweet). We did munch on a bit of the Chocolate-Toffee Brownie Cake with dessert wine, NV Fonseca 10 year Tawny Port (*Douro Portugal). We could've done without the dessert wine (*It was a blend of different wines, but we feel like one of the wines should have been left out of the mix...) but the dessert was pretty tasty considering our taste buds are not friendly to many sweet treats.


Vegetarians don't fret. We checked out what they have to offer vegetarians and it almost makes us want to convert. Hawaiian Hearts of Palm salad, Roasted Summer Squash Tart and Spinach Fettucini made the cut for the vegetarian menu options. It took everything in us not to devour the Spinach Fettucini on the vegetarian's plate who was sitting next to us.


New chef, new wine director and new menus. We love change. With local ingredients and creative touches to the menu, Executive Chef Koslow is making sure Tallula does not lose its rap as being one of the top places in Northern Virginia for modern American cuisine.