We had Sunday brunch at Central Michel Richard is a six-year old restaurant that still manage to cook delicious American food with a touch of French flair. This restaurant was conveniently close to the National Mall.
Festively decorated and bustling with the holiday brunch crowd, our server still managed to be friendly and efficient. It’s an upscale bistro that serves a very fair priced prix fixe menu for $25 and bottomless drinks $10. We started off with drinks of Bellini, Bloody Mary, mimosa, and orange juice — all were nicely made.
One of my friends started out with the French onion soup. A small cast iron pot full of the piping hot soup (fantastic for that chilly day) that’s flavorful and had good depth.
My other friend has goat cheese Caesar salad. While possibly a touch overdressed, this was a delicious salad with the salty tang of the goat cheese dressing and crunchy croutons.
The French toast brûlée with passion fruit sauce was mine since it seems different than the typical French toast. The sweet, dark golden brown saucer sized French toast landing on top of a creamy yet vibrantly tart and sweet passion fruit sauce.
The mushroom and cheese grilled cheese sandwich topped with an egg was great even if it’s mostly a vegetarian dish. The bread was nicely crisp and the mushroom and cheese filling was seasoned perfectly and gooey enough without being too much. The mixed salad with the slices of ripe tomatoes on the side made us happy.
The eggs benedict was textbook good. Hearty, rich but have a good contrast of textures of creamy and soft from the hollandaise and poached egg, delicately crisp with the English muffin and the salinity of the ham.
The steak and eggs was a substantial dish. A tender grilled skirt steak was well seasoned and the potatoes were delicately crisp and yet creamy on the inside. My friend was a very happy person.
For desserts, we shared the bowl of mixed fresh berries, a not too sweet chocolate mousse with crunchy chocolate pearls, and the signature Eggceptional. The latter is a pair of miniature buttery tart shells filled with a sweet-tart lemon curd. The best pièce de résistance was the seasonal Snowman ($9 supplement and it’s served until the end of January) topped off a sparkler. The snowman is a baked meringue filled with a rich, flavorful vanilla ice cream sitting on a pool of soft whipped cream, with a ring of blueberry sauce.
We had a great time at the restaurant. The food was textbook good and it was flavorful. I’d definitely would come back next time in D.C.
To view more photos of this visit, please CLICK HERE or view the gallery below:
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Information:
Central Michel Richard
Website
1001 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest
Washington, DC 20004
Phone: (202) 626-0015
