I made plans with a fellow THIHer to go to dinner at Zest on Wednesday night, but as soon as word spread, we had a table of 6 when we arrived.  While I’d love to say that my wit and charm were the reason that so many wanted to share a meal with me, the truth is, everyone in neighborhood is talking about Zest.

Zest opened at 735 8th Street SE on Monday.  In that short time I’ve read thoughts and reviews everywhere from the neighborhood listservs to Don Rockwell.  I’d already heard great things (about the hangar steak), and not-so-great things (an uninventive wine list and too bright lighting).  I was excited to check it out for myself.

Overall, Zest is a welcome addition to the neighborhood.  There are plenty of things to rave about.  The lamb shank was incredible; the meat fell off the bone and the polenta and 24 hour tomatoes complimented the lamb very nicely.  My dining companions were generous enough to let me sample each of their meals.  The meat dishes were by far the highlight (that talk I had heard about the hangar steak was accurate, and the leg of lamb sandwich was beyond delicious – I plan to go back and have that for lunch soon).  The cocktails that I sampled were also excellent – I opted for the blood orange Manhattan, which was a nice take on the classic.  I also love that the vodka martini comes with a choice of olives!  And, the prices at Zest are truly reasonable (the lamb shank is 16.95), which is a treat.

All of that said, there is room for improvement. The vegetarian at the table didn’t fare as well as the meat eaters.  Undaunted by there only being one vegetarian entree (a spinach fettuccine), she ordered a selection of sides and appetizers.  The seasonal soup was tomato, and it, along with the spinach, tomato and eggplant dips we ordered for the table to start were definitely the strongest of the meat-free choices we sampled.  The caramelized beet and heirloom tomato salad on the other hand… well, it deserves its own paragraph.

I am willing to cut a new restaurant a lot of slack in its first week.  Our service was really slow at first, but that’s not a big deal the first week.  The complaints about the lighting seemed a bit unfounded to me.  It was brighter than a lot of spots around the Hill, but the light wood and Warhol-esque paintings of the monuments were a nice change from the dark wood bars we’ve gotten used to.  But, the caramelized beet and heirloom tomato salad was inexcusable.  First, heirloom tomatoes in December just seems misguided and while our vegetarian friend suspected as much going in, her choices were limited and she was hungry.  The tomatoes were mealy, and the beets would have been better off simply roasted instead of carmelized (they were mushy and way too salty).  The menu said the salad came with a goat cheese biscotti, but the salad arrived without one.  Everyone at the table was interested in the idea of a savory biscotti, and we asked the waitress if she could remedy the oversight.  She brought us two, which was perfect so we could all have a taste.  Have you ever put something into your mouth and immediately wished you could take it back?  Yeah, that happened here.  To every single one of us.  The word “rancid” comes to mind, but then you’d think that it’d gone bad.  It was truly, truly awful. I’ll spare you some of the more colorful descriptions of its taste that my tablemates and I came up with, but I have to say that it really did taste like this was not the first time it had been eaten, if you get my drift. It prompted us to wonder if it’d been left off on purpose, but then why not just tell us they’d changed the dish?

I want to love Zest, and I see a lot of potential there.  I am eager to go back after the holidays and give it a whirl once they get into a groove and work out some of the kinks.  The majority of the food that I sampled was really good, and Zest has the potential to really carve out a niche for themselves.  I’d really like to see their small, but mostly competent menu revolve with the seasons (thus preventing the tomato salad in December), and I think they could stand to add some more creative vegetarian entrees.  But, overall, I think Zest has the bones to become a real gem on the Hill!