Greenwood
By Phyllis C. Richman
Washington Post Restaurant Critic
From The Washington Post Dining Guide, November 1996
Greenwood is tucked away at the top of the escalator in a K Street mini-mall, a hard site to love. At night the mall is deserted, but at lunchtime the scene is more lively. Chef Carole Greenwood has added heartwarming touches - stacks of cookbooks, each topped with an apple, and racks of newspapers. She's had rustic murals of giant fruits in Caribbean colors painted to cover the walls.
The menu is limited to seafood and vegetarian dishes - five or six appetizers, six or seven entrees. Greenwood has plucked flavors from the Middle East, Europe and Asia. Baklava is savory and vegetarian
- with eggplant, potato, walnuts and a wild mushroom glaze. Thailand's pad thai is made with lobster, Vietnam's pho with mussels.
Greenwood's signature appetizer is a trio of dips - spicy lentil, Mediterranean carrot and beet-caraway - set on a plate of Belgian endive, baguette slices and purple olives. Among entrees, I've loved the cobb salad with its bright red tomatoes, good blue cheese, delicious smoky, crunchy strips of shiitake "bacon" and perfect asparagus. Another delicious, almost-meaty dish is the tuna burger, plain fare made glorious with coarsely chopped fish grilled as rare and juicy as a tuna steak. It's served with a tiny mound of delicious tomato salad, a whole head of oozy, soft, roasted garlic, fine tartar sauce and vinegary mango relish to spread on the bun, and a mountain of truly wonderful french fries. Seared tuna steak is a more glamorous and equally excellent variation.
Other dishes can be stodgy: a too-cute crab cobbler or misguided pad thai, heavy lentil dishes or underseasoned pastas. Salads and sandwiches are the creations most likely to live up to expectations. And desserts show Greenwood at her best, paying attention to the seasons with sweets featuring sweet potatoes, apples, pears, cranberries - whatever is best in the market.
