Zengo (Chinatown)

Friday 04.01.11 

Zengo had a sizzling environment; busy Friday night (an hour wait list), a bit of a club atmosphere, a line of people from the double doors to the host stand and upbeat techno music playing at a noticeable volume. I refuse to call ahead to restaurants (or hair appointments), it goes against my personal belief...So this of course almost always puts us in the “first come first serve” bar areas when we go out. Although I think we’ve grown used to it and actually kind of like it. This time a tall gentleman who appeared to be a manager squeezed us into a small table on a corner within 3 minutes of walking in! Not too bad for a Friday night at Chinatown and yet again managed to get dinner on a Friday night in DC with no reservations J 

Navigating through the one page menu (which I like) it's not immediately clear what the concept is; this “Latin/Asian fusion” is not specific to any particular Latin or Asian culture but rather a conglomerate of Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Peruvian, Mexican and Caribbean which in my opinion contributes to the skewed, but popular misconception that the rich and diverse Asian and/or Latin cultures can all be thrown together under one huge umbrella, but ok, let’s get pass that. 

First drinks!

4/5 Stars or “Hell yeah!” 

I have to admit I am a sucker for this “nova martini” movement with exotic blends, I had the Lychee martini  and personally I thought it was excellent! Lychee always transport me back to my childhood  growing up in the Caribbean--right after school we used to love going to get a bag of “mamon” from a street vendor. The drink was not overly sweet (which is often the case with these drinks) and had an actual seedless lychee at the bottom, good stuff! Michi had a "Midnight Karma" which was Bombay Sapphire Gin, Blueberry and Lime.  She doesn't normally like "cocktails" (or gin), but she loved it!  No fake blueberry vodka or artificial flavors, just straight gin, REAL blueberries and REAL lime juice.  At $12 a drink they should be good... 

First course was Mahi Ceviche  3/5 Stars or “Pretty good”

Well executed and at first glance quite sophisticated; nice plates, presentation, grapefruit, avocado creme and sliced fresh jalapeno, great! But then they served the most generic cheap Mexican restaurant corn chips you could ever imagine! Perhaps a better tortilla could elevate this whole dish, maybe “Platanitos”? 

Next, Tuna Tacos 2/5 Stars or "good if I was already drunk"                                 Hard taco tortillas crumbled in our hands with first bite, tuna was well seasoned but slightly over cooked, and the tacos laid on a bed of guacamole?? Very awkward since Guac will usually add moisture as a topping, but when acting as the "bed" it just wets the tortilla outside so not only does it crumble with first bite, but now its crumbling in your guacamole covered hands. Really annoying actually, the Guac was also not fresh, by the oxidation it appeared to be made the day before. Sushi rice inside taco was interesting, made me contemplate what I was tasting for a sec…

Peking Duck Tacos 4/5 Stars (Hell yeah)

Hands down best dim sum of the night, duck was cooked perfectly, crunchy but not dry, and not overly sweet. They came with a sweet orange sauce and thinly sliced daikon acting as the "tortilla". This,quite frankly, was a genius contrast for the duck.

Achiote Pork Arepas. 2/5 Stars (good if I was a bit drunk)

We in America are obsessed with proteins (for example “meat lovers pizza”) and because of this we mostly destroy the magic balance of a dish.  This “antojito” was a clear example of that; there was a mountain of BBQ style pulled pork (??) over a really thin almost cracker like fried precooked white corn meal that I guess resembled an arepa. Again, really awkward to bite and the ratio was like 70% meat 30% carb (arepa) which is the complete opposite of how this dish would really work. On top of that, pork was way too sweet.

Pork Belly Steamed buns 2/5 Stars (ehhh...)                                                                I don't claim to be a "master of pork belly", but I can tell when it's done right or wrong...and this was wrong.  They used the SAME sweet BBQ or whatever seasoning as the pulled pork, but this time slathered it on the pork belly.  It wasn't given a good sear so it was just very fatty and soft inside of a very doughy (and also soft) steamed bun.  Texturally it was a mess..all soft, no crunch, no good.

I have to admit I’m always a little weary of “fusion” places; their concept tends to be ambitious, geared towards the easily impressionable and often poorly executed. Zengo teeters on the brink of this, they come out strong with some of their dishes and it seems like a fun place to go have a couple of drinks; they have interesting ideas that look good on paper and properly executed could be a great local’s destination.

Overall, this is a place for the slightly above average tourists looking for a bit more than a road food experience, or the easily amused young crowd looking to see and be seen, if you want a real fusion food experience go somewhere else. Zengo is a slightly above average product with really nice packaging at a stiff price.