Mattheison, who earned his toque during a five-year apprenticeship at Lespinasse — the one in New York, not the one that went belly-up here two years ago — works wonders with some of his dishes. The risotto, made with fat-grained, high-in-starch Arborio rice and served with fava beans and wild mushrooms ($13.50 at lunch, $16 at dinner) is nothing short of sensational, although you can skip the fava beans as far as I’m concerned.
So are starters like the warm goat cheese tart with tiny heirloom tomatoes ($9) and the crab cocktail with pickled papaya and green Zebra tomatoes ($11), or entrees like the duck confit with field greens, balsamic and pistachio oil ($15) and salmon paillard with baby watercress and warm herb emulsion ($14), all of which I sampled at several lunches with colleagues and ex-colleagues in August.
Still, even with Mattheison’s skilled hand at the range, which is in open view of half the restaurant, there can be mishaps. That was the case with the Atlantic halibut I ordered at dinner one Code Red evening when the temperature was still in the 90’s at 7 p.m.
I chose the dish, as I often do, by noting what people at nearby tables were eating. When it arrived, it looked just like the fish my neighbor was enjoying: lightly browned on top and perched atop a bed of haricots verts and baby red and yellow tomatoes, bathed in herb vinaigrette and accompanied by Yukon Gold potato gnocchi ($20). It was served in a white dish the size of a TV satellite dish.
But when I cut into the alabaster flesh, it was obviously undercooked, so I asked our waiter to take it back to the kitchen. He apologized and did so with dispatch, returning shortly with a replacement that was cooked perfectly throughout. It’s a superb dish.
My wife, meanwhile, tackled her huge bone-in rib eye steak ($26), which I talked her into ordering because a woman at the next table was eating it and it looked tantalizing. Also, I knew she wouldn’t let a recovering heart patient like me order it, and wouldn’t be able to finish it and she’d take it home and I’d have it for dinner the next day — which is exactly what happened.
The steak, from Georgetown Farms — I didn’t know they had farms in Georgetown — was served with dandelion greens and pommes frites. I sampled it and although it was great, I’ve come to the conclusion that steak, no matter how well prepared, is essentially boring after a few bites.
The best part was the frites, served in a conical metal contraption and wrapped in a page of The Washington Post that proclaimed, “D.C. tax-free week!” The frites were better than McDonald’s, but unfortunately, the tax moratorium applies only to back-to-school clothing and not to food.
We shared an order of Prince Edward Island mussels, served with tiny slices of Serrano chiles, thyme and lemon verbana ($9). But the dish would have been better off without the mouth-searing chiles.
Poste offers some excellent side dishes, including the frites ($4); a succulent summer squash and eggplant combination ($4) that my wife loved, as well as sautéed wild mushrooms ($5), which I loved so much that I ordered them at three of my visits.
Poste has a good selection of wines by the glass that includes seven each of red and white wines. We had the Landmark Chardonnay from Napa Valley ($9) and a Pighin pinot grigio from Italy ($7), both pleasant little wines.
The dessert menu lists eight mouth-watering choices, including an excellent plate of three fruit sorbets or ice creams ($6) and a vanilla crème brulee and rhubarb sponge cake ($7) that satisfied my sweet tooth.
What impressed me beyond the food and solicitous service at this 146-seat restaurant was when General Manager David Pressley came to our table and apologized for the undercooked fish. Pressley, a personable young man formerly with Todd English’s Olives Restaurant, made us feel like valued customers. And he assured us that he would find a top-rated chef to replace Mathieson.
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The other thing that impressed me was the décor, the work of the local husband and wife architectural team of Theodore Adamstein and Olvia Demetriou, who have designed several restaurants in the area, including Bistro Bis, Yanyu, Coco Loco, Marcel’s and the spectacular Zola, which opened in the Spy Museum next door to Poste, last month.
It’s an overused word, but stunning is not inappropriate when describing Poste. The main dining room is a dramatic space, with a 16-foot high cast-iron ceiling and skylights in what was once a mail sorting room, and exhibits an understated elegance. The black and white zebra-striped dinnerware and R2D2 Star Wars sugar dish are eye-catching and appealing.
Poste has two entrances. One is through the lobby of the Kimpton Group’s Hotel Monaco, which allows diners to almost rub shoulders with Chef Matheison and his helpers, who toil in an open exhibition kitchen facing the main dining room. (The restaurant, however, is independent of the hotel.)
But the way to impress a client or date is to enter through the cobblestone carriageway portal on 8th Street into the courtyard of the Tariff Building, which once served as Washington’s General Post Office and more recently housed the U.S. Tariff Commission.
The glass-fronted entry houses a dramatic bar that overlooks an outdoor dining patio. There’s another bar to the right, which was crowded with mostly young people each time I was there. The banquettes in the main dining room were a bit cramped and the noise level and cigarette smoke emanating from the bar area irritatingly high. The second, smaller dining room is quieter and free of second-hand smoke, but the air-conditioning was turned up so high during one luncheon visit that I asked to be seated in the main dining room.
Poste is a welcome addition to the booming neighborhood clustered around the MCI Center and the National Portrait Gallery, which, like many older buildings in the area, is undergoing renovation. The Spy Museum next door has become an instant tourist attraction as well, with block-long lines often waiting to get in.
With or without Chef Mathieson, the future of Poste looks bright.
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