La Grande Boucherie DC — Restaurant in Washington

Parking was a little difficult to find but they do have several garages around. We arrived way earlier than our reservation and had asked if there was a possibility to be sat earlier. She said she had checked us in and that she would find us at the bar if there was anything sooner.

We were here on a Wednesday night around 6:00 PM, and it was pretty busy. There was live jazz music, and we found 2 seats at the bar at the end on the main floor. We ordered some draft lagers (Kronenbourg 1664). It was very refreshing, light and easy to drink. The bartender was attentive. We waited out the extra hour and 15 minutes at the bar before going back downstairs to ask if the table was ready. We were asked to go back up the stairs and wait and someone would take us to our table.

We were escorted upstairs to the 3rd floor at one of the tables overlooking the main floor. The jazz music and the restaurant was overall pretty loud and even when the jazz music had ended, the music that they played after was still quite loud.

Our server was pretty attentive at first but I think as the restaurant got busy, the service kind of tapered off a little. We ordered the Waygu Carpaccio and the Mousse De Foie Gras. For our drinks, we ordered the Harvest Moon 75 Cocktail and my friend ordered a standard Old Fashioned. The Old Fashioned was pretty good and I liked the Harvest Moon 75 but the last 1/4 of the drink ended up being very sour.

The Waygu Carpaccio was delicious - it was very tender and the truffle mayo, horseradish, the large capers and the pepper complimented it very well. The Mousse de Foie Gras came with a large salad on the plate, gherkins, two crostini and a cherry compote/sauce. The foie gras was delicious and paired very well with the salad and the cherry on top of the crostini. The gherkins were very briny I don't think it paired well with the dish at all. I did wish there was more crostini to use with the mousse.

For our dinner, we ordered the In-House Dry- Aged Ribeye which came with brussels sprouts and carrots and the Filet Mignon Au Poivre but I swapped out the mashed potatoes for fries. For our dinner drinks, I ordered a glass of cabernet sauvignon and my friend ordered the Boucherie Old Fashioned. I had asked for the glass of wine list and my server asked if there was a specific wine that I would like and I had told him that I was looking for a Cabernet Sauvignon so he just brought me the glass. The Old Fashioned was good, a little sweeter than a standard but I didn't really get the lavender that was in the description.

The In-House Dry-Aged Ribeye was delicious, and you could definitely taste that hint of blue cheese in it. The carrots were really good and actually tasted more like the brussels sprouts which were surprisingly kind of bland. The Filet Mignon and the green peppercorn sauce it came with was very good and cooked well. The fries were a let down. They were not crispy at all and just a little soggy but they were seasoned very well. I asked for my leftovers to be packed up and I let our server know that I was a little disappointed that the fries weren't crispy and realizing it now could have been the reason that my fries were not packed up.

For our dessert, we opted for the Milk Chocolate/Caramel Tart and the Basque Cheesecake with the Sea Salt Caramel sauce. Desserts surprisingly took awhile come out. They accidently brought out the chocolate sauce first which I didn't notice initially. The chocolate sauce when we tried it was good but could have been warmed a little more, it was a little thick. The server took some time to come back for us to let him know that we had ordered the caramel sauce. He took the whole thing away and brought out a new one with the caramel sauce. Cheesecake was good but the sea salt caramel and the tart were very, very sweet. Too sweet for my taste but good and would have been good with some coffee. I could only eat a couple bites of each.

Overall, the service was okay and the food was mostly good. Building was beautiful and it was certainly...

Great service and ambiance - food was 😑 (truly disappointed by the “luxury” burger) . First and foremost I always go into a place with a fresh perspective.

1.) Zeno’s service was impeccable. He was attentive, courteous, and extremely nice. Probably the best part of the meal. 10/10.

2.) Absolutely impressive reveal of the main atrium / entrance. Very cool surroundings, paintings, decor, and super interesting ambiance. Live music, parties on the second floor, main dining room is bustling it was super fun.

3.) bread butter salt and awesome Arnold Palmer’s were the best food / drinks of the night. Great lemonade and unsweetened iced tea. Good Ice. Great butter with maldon salt to sprinkle.

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Here’s the truth about the food and can be improved upon in to enhance the entire experience! I hope they do and I’d be happy to try it again if improved upon.

1.) fries were soggy and under seasoned - make them in smaller batches. Good garlic aoli but can’t overlook that steak frites the frites were beta.

2.) that’s a no from me dawg - Boucherie “waygu” burger - first bun to beef ratio was way off. Too much bread and the brioche seemed too hard. Just put the patty on that soft French bread provided for free (obviously they have a lot of it) and is 10000x better than the bun.

The patty was too small. I know it’s waygu but maybe blend it with other cuts. Smash burger for crust and texture. Maybe double it in thickness or do two patties. Overall solid cook and nice sear but those dinky potato chips with the small slice of cheese - cmon. Those potato chips were so beta and did not create a textural experience. It was gross.

The concept of the chips was going for back yard summer burger vibes but the chips were soggy and didn’t provide a crunch for textural contrast. The execution was way off. Way off.

There was some onion sauce on the bottom of bun. Pair that with some un ripe tomato and butter lettuce and you have thr perfect storm for an epic disaster zone back of the bun blow out. That just made the burger construction too sloppy and didn’t add much. 2nd bit - everything came out the back.

I would strongly recommend the burgers and fries at Le Diplomat or Et Viola! For a similar price point I expect a bomb burgers like at the places I highly recommend.

French onion soup didn’t hit. Very very limited flavor and SOUPer bland.

Marrow was an interesting presentation with pickled red onions and micro greens. I think a charred bread and spread would round it out. I would suggest the pickled onions and micro pickles greens as a side salad with a marrow vin-egret with charred bread and roasted marrow.

FYI Door leading out to the street is broken or under repair. As I’m leading out on the curb you see an “unmanned” red carpet and velvet ropes just there. On the side walk. Attention to detail is missed.

High hope for the food but the service and atmosphere carried the evening.

Other wise pretty cool spot and would happy to help and try again with a fresh perspective if the burger is improved upon or upgraded in anyway.

When you go...

We had a lovely evening amongst the ambiance of the restored bank that now houses Boucherie. It is undeniable that the setting is grand: soaring ceilings, Beaux Arts details, white tablecloths, fine china, and details recalling Old World Paris from a century ago.

We had come for a pre-opening dinner, and the staff were very friendly. We started with three appetizers: escargot, French onion soup, and a tomato salad.

The escargot was rich and earthy. It paired well with the bread. It lacked some depth that could have been helped with more garlic, but that is a personal preference. I normally avoid this dish, but I was very pleased by this version of it.

The tomato salad was a bit of a miss: since tomatoes are not in season, it is bold to put so much focus on them as an ingredient in this dish. In August, this would be an incredible side to order, but in April, the tomatoes were hard and lacked flavor, which a mild dressing did little to help. I think the dressing was designed for tomatoes with stronger flavor. That said, I can see this being very delicious when the season is right. It is a refreshing salad that would be perfect to break up the richness of French cuisine.

The French onion soup was divine. It has a perfect beef broth base, but most interestingly, it has a four-cheese topping. It seems so obvious that adding different cheeses would improve this simple soup so much. I suppose we are so used to the milder classic cheeses they put on top. With this blend, it created a wonderful set of flavors to enhance the broth.

For the mains, we had two steak dishes, one of them being Steak Frites. These did not disappoint. The meat was perfectly executed and presented — this was bistro food at its best. The herb butter on top worked very well with the meat and wasn’t overpowering. Likewise, while the fries have some room for improvement, they were overall very good.

For dessert, my favorite course, we had a classic, crème brûlée, and a modern take on the lemon tart. The crème brûlée has a creamy, proudly vanilla flavor. It was classic, which I appreciated. The burnt sugar crust had a good hardness to the surface, but could have been slightly thicker (I’m splitting hairs here!). The lemon tart was marvelous: a passion fruit jam center was placed atop a pistachio cream, which all sat above the lemon custard. The shell was not too hard or soft, and the three distinct flavors came together very well. Most importantly, both desserts looked beautiful.

The drinks were well done, too. Some people had red wine, and I had the Boucherie old fashioned, flavored with plum, and their house cocktail, La Vie en Rose, which is a sparkling cocktail. They also have a full bar and can create most classic cocktails (we ordered a Manhattan with bourbon). These were all very good.

The menu and ambiance are strongly executed, elegant, and treated with great care. I will certainly make this a spot I return to time...