REVIEW - The Partisan

Some of you may recall one of my first reviews was of Red Apron in Penn Quarter here in DC, an excellent place to grab a quick deli sandwich or some cold cuts to go. Red Apron actually shares a space with its sister restaurant The Partisan, which is a narrow and buzzy sit-down establishment that sources its proteins through the Red Apron butchery. As you can imagine, this place is, uh, not very vegetarian friendly so look away now if that's your thing. (Though if you want, you can actually get a bunch of quite delicious veggie pasta, salads, and partake in the rather excellent wine list.)

The occasion was Graham's birthday which meant he'd gotten yet another year further into the dreaded late twenties period of one's life. The only solution was red meat and quite a lot of it. 

Luckily, The Partisan didn't disappoint. From the sushi-style (!) menu of charcuterie to the spiral-bound entrees menu categorized by protein (Pig, Duck, Poultry, Beef, etc), fellow carnivores are going to be completely spoiled for choice and maybe even a little overwhelmed by the meaty options.

Some highlights from our meal, made even better by bottle(s) of red from the surprisingly diverse and affordable wine list:

This is definitely required eating. If you had to get one single dish at this restaurant, it should be a big charcuterie plate, some bread and wine. Left to right: their tete de pho (literally like pho in meaty spread form), sopressa and pork liver terrine.

Seriously this one is practically NSFW (It's porchetta)

The absolutely bang- on medium rare butcher's cut steak on top of blue cheese grits, hanging out with whiskey-braised lamb ribs and brussels sprouts salad.

We also did manage to squeeze in some seafood, which was either deep fried or carb-oriented:

Salt cod fries. Kind of like bacalao fritters on crack.

Squid ink bucatini with some charred uni. Because YOLO

The only minor let down of the night was when the rabbit pot pie came out with a distinctly fishy flavor but the waiter was more than happy to remove it and kindly had the dish taken off the total bill at the end. No harm done (and I guess I can probably learn to make a pot pie pretty easily at home. Squid ink pasta, not so much.)

So, the verdict: 

Food: 4.5/5. For a meat eater, you can probably count on one hand the other restaurants in this city that will give you this much variety at such a high level. 
Drinks: 4/5. Awesome wine selection but not much in the way of liquor selection in the bar in the back (but that's not why you came here, right?)
Ambiance: Narrow, cozy, tons of mood lighting. Try and get a table in the front section - tables in the rear of the restaurant next to the bar can get loud and crowded.

Jasmine says: Solid four chomps. Totally worth the meat sweats. Come with a date or a big group of friends - it's good for (pretty much) everyone. 

The Partisan is located at:
709 D Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20004
Reservations available via OpenTable.

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