Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 778-2233
Visited: August 10, 2008
NOTE:
I'm breaking my own rules by posting a review on this food blog from a prior visit to a restaurant that was originally posted on another blog. I copied this review is from my personal blog because today I was saddened to find out that Farrah Olivia is closed...damn... Apparently this great restaurant closed back on April 29, 2009. I feel stupid for not going back. In honor of Chef Morou and Farrah Olivia, here's the review originally written back on August 10, 2008.
Our first anniversary was celebrated yesterday at the renowned restaurant called Farrah Olivia where gifted chef/owner Chef Morou cooked up an incredible meal for the wife and I. For those of you that don't know Chef Morou, he is an incredibly talented chef that beat famous chef Bobby Flay on an episode of Iron Chef America.
We were lucky enough to get the boys asleep at a reasonable time and my Mom and Dad were kind enough to hang out at our house in case the boys decided to wake up. Thankfully the boys stayed asleep and my parents spent most of the evening chatting and watching television.
Back to the dinner...
Did I mention the food was amazing? That and the fact that the wait staff (especially our waiter) were all amazingly kind and very attentive. We were also lucky enough to hit the last day of restaurant week and I opted for the three course meal. the wife ordered the beef fillet cooked medium-well. Once we ordered, one of the waiters brought out a palate cleanser; honey dew juice with fresh carrot froth mixed with cilantro. What simply delicious way to start off our dinner!
Next, my appetizer arrived which was called Shocked Escolar; a white tuna cooked rare lightly encrusted with spices and then chilled. The tuna was served sliced with a delicious wasabi sauce and soy juice caviar (caviar like bubbles made of flavored soy). Each bite was incredible and the presentation of the food was spectacular and full of vivacious color. the wife and I did our best to eat in a civilized manner but we still ended up devouring the appetizer in no time.
Next, the main courses were brought out. the wife's beef fillet was served with a homemade BBQ sauce on the side made up of beef stock, cumin and other spices. It came with two sides, a delicate flan made of cauliflower and white asparagus and the other side of sweet corn cooked with black corn truffles. The beef was so delicate and full of amazing flavor just bursting through the tender meat. Chef Morou had also sent the beef fillet out with a special spice mix served on the side consisting coffee and cumin. YUM YUM YUM!!
My main course was two salmon medallions cooked medium and served with fried cous cous and a citrus picked watermelon rind. The dish was so beautiful it looked like a painting as the color were astounding. The tender pink of the salmon blended with the orange green and red of the fried cous cous side which contrasted with the bold yellow of the picked watermelon rind. Along the edge of the plate, the entire feast was accented with a line of green basil sauce. The dish was a work of art and the flavor was even more impressive.
Again the wife and I devoured our food and shared our food while doing our best to look well mannered and refined. :-) Everything brought out to use thus far was a gastronomic treat and we couldn't wait to see what desert brought us.
As desert arrived, we were impressed that they knew it was our anniversary. Chef Morou had kindly sent out a complimentary and very special dessert for the wife and I to enjoy made up on pine nut cookies, raspberry candies and chocolate truffles:
Our second dessert was a delicious coconut panacotta served with fresh pineapple pieces and a sweet cilantro sauce.
Let me just tell you that BOTH desserts were delicious! Just a quick side note...I would've posted pix of our appetizer and entrees, but the food was so delicious and we were so ravenous that we didn't think of taking pix. Plus we didn't want to look too touristy by taking pictures of all of our foods. We figured it would be okay to take pictures of the desserts as one of them was made special for us by Chef Morou.
To wrap up the night, Chef Morou was kind enough to come out of the busy kitchen to hang out with us. We thanked him for the delicious meal and generous hospitality.
It's very impressive when such a famous chef takes the time to come out to talk to regular folk like the wife and I. The best part of our chat, was that Chef Morou is such a kind and personable individual that comes off as being very sincere and genuine. At no time did we feel like he was rushing us or trying to run back into his kitchen...he talked to us for almost 30 minutes and we laughed it up and recounted his experience on the Food Network show "The Next Iron Chef". By the way, for those of you that didn't watch it...he was robbed! He definitely should have beaten out many of the other chefs with his innovative and creative dishes.Anyway, I digress.
Chef Morou thanked us for coming as we thanked him for having us at this wonderful restaurant. He also asked that we return for our 2nd anniversary, and we replied we'd be more than happy to come back.
All around it was a great night filled with amazing food, great company courtesy of my beautiful wife and a great chef's incredible vision and culinary creativity. I think we may have to pay Chef Morou another visit before our 2nd anniversary. :-)
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