Located on the corner of Washington and Water Street is one of SoNo’s newest restaurants, Washington Prime. On the menu are creative offerings from Executive Chef Jared Falco using ingredients from the land and sea. The interior is cool – with a island bar situated in the middle restaurant, foliage hanging from the ceiling, grassy walls, and a beautiful private dining room towards the rear of the restaurant. The food and cocktails, delicious.
While reviewing the menu, try their Moscow Mule or any of their cocktails, like the Hot and Dirty Martini (yup, there’s smoke coming out of that martini glass thanks to a cube of dry ice).
Popular menu items include a twist on the common Canadian dish Poutine. Served on a cutting board, Chef Falco’s version is made with oxtail ragu, house fries, cheese curds, and green onions. We’ve had poutine many times in Canada and this pretty much lives up to the poutine standards, but with more fancy toppings. We approve.
The Knuckle & Claw was an interesting dish that’s worth trying. On a bed of blue corn grits are lobster claws smothered in a lobster sauce and topped with a colorful selection of tobiko (flying fish roe).
The Fried Chicken Wings were dressed in a kimchi sauce and garnished with scallions and chili. The skin was crispy, but had a little too much sauce on it for my liking. I did like the flavors and the amount of heat in each bite.
We loved the Octopus. This dish may not look appetizing, but the grilled octopus is amazing – tender and flavorful. The pickled peppers, duck fat marble potato, and pepper emulsion compliment the octopus very well.
Since the cooler temps have rolled in, we recommend warming up with a cup of New England Clam Chowder made with sweet corn, potato, little neck clams or their Lobster Bisque with parsley creme fraiche.
Washington Prime also fires up great steaks, which are cooked in 900 degree specialized infrared broilers. All of their steaks are USDA Prime Certified and sourced by Pat LaFrieda Meats in NYC from Creekstone Farms in Arkansas City, Kansas. All steaks come with a choice of 1 sauce: prime steak sauce, horseradish cream, bernaise sauce, maple truffle chili sauce, chimiccuri sauce, umami bomb sauce, or warm clarified butter. We tried their 32 oz Porterhouse Steak, cooked medium with New Potato Salad and House Slab Bacon on the side. The steak was tender and juicy, and had a good amount of char on it. The potato salad was excellent and something you don’t see everyday – made with apricot, queso fresco, and sweet onion. We were disappointed with the house slab bacon – it was dry (it needed more fat) and lacked flavor. I did find the foie gras powder as an interesting component to the dish.
For the seafood lover, we recommend trying the Grouper which is presented with Carolina gold rice, tomato, shaved asparagus, and topped with a creamy carrot butter sauce. It’s moist, light, flavorful, and delicious.
Overall, we enjoyed our dinner at Washington Prime. Most of the dishes we tried were great. We did like the flavor combinations in the dishes and the uniqueness of the menu. If you’re in town, do stop by. And don’t forget to try the poutine and let us know what you think.
Washington Prime
141 Washington Street
South Norwalk, CT
www.washingtonprimect.com
Tel: (203) 857-1314