I have been itching to go to New Heights now for months.  In the whispers of foodie land I heard great things about Logan Cox, the chef and the creativity he has brought.  And I wanted to go before everyone realizes he is a genius and you have to make reservations a month in advance.  Can I just say with strong affirmation: now is that time.

I went during Restaurant Week- of all weeks to try out a new fabled legend, Restaurant Week is not it.  Still it was the only interesting place on the list with a reservation.  But man, if ever did a restaurant pull off Restaurant Week while still keeping it high end and creative, New Heights did.

New Heights is in an akward area of Woodley Park, but thankfully they have valet parking.  Downstairs is a small, but glamorous gin bar.  While everyone is touting dark woods and prohibition era cocktails, this bar keeps it really prohibition style with a huge gin list and house made tonics.  No nonsense just good gin.  It is glamorous in that it doesn’t try to hard, but feels particularly delightful to sit at.  It isn’t Gibson or Zaytinya glamorous, it is glamorous for people who don’t need other people to make them perfectly happy.  I particularly recommend the Krahn.

Then you go upstairs to a cozy, warm dining room.  The owner Kavita, is particularly friendly and you can tell she puts a lot of care into the oversight of her restaurant.  The server chilled our wine while we sipped various gins, and the bread basket with warm, moist cornbread gave promise to the rest of our meal.

The appetizer of chicken liver pate was smooth on perfectly crisp toast and eaten with the pickled vegetables had a really nice balance.  The artic char entree was creamy in texture on the tongue; however, the skin was crisp and had just the right amount of salt to balance out the sunchoke puree and broccoli rabe.  However, the real winner was the roasted pork loin that was cooked perfectly with perfect texture- a little crisp on the outside but juicy and incredibly tender on the inside- the smoked apple butter served with it made the bites a refined, homey taste that you could have eaten four plates of, paired with brussel sprouts and buckwheat polenta the dish had a great winter warmness to it.

Desserts were a nice finish to the very composed meal.  Ginger creme brulee had a wonderful taste of real, fresh ginger not something you get in many “ginger” dishes.  The toasted almond biscotti served with it was some of the best biscotti I have had.  I would love that recipe (hmm, this might have a follow up post).  The sugar and masala doughnuts were light cake doughnuts with good spice, but the chocolate dulce de leche sauce served over them was incredibly decadent, and you will want to finish any part not swabbed by your doughnut with a spoon.

The service was professional, not fussy, not too absent, he hit that fine line where he read you just right.  Wine glasses looking a little low, filled, but not after every sip.  Recommendations given when asked and very thoughtful to personal likes.  Courses explained as they arrived, and yet it was never intrusive.

And this was only Restaurant Week… I look forward to seeing what this place can do every other night of the week.  Next time I am bringing my gin loving girls with me.

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