A steakhouse named Medium Rare is pretty witty. Like many foodies, it has been my pet peeve when people order an expensive steak well done – at least go with the medium well.

What is medium rare?
Meat cooked medium rare would have warm bloody red center and cooked to 145°F (63 °C), which is minimum recommended by the United States Department of Agriculture for beef steaks to kill bacteria responsible for foodborne illness.  The recommended time varies for others, such as burger, and can be found here.

Image based on photo by Naotakem

The Restaurant – Medium Rare
Medium Rare follows the same concept as the famous French restaurant L’entrecote founded in 1960s. The New York branch of L’entrecote has been serving similar prix fixe menu with green salad with mustard vinaigrette/walnuts, steak entrée and steak fries for $24 since 2009. The Medium Rare restaurant in Washington DC has a minimalistic causal vibe. The tables are draped with disposable white paper sheets, instead of the tablecloth with causal and warm interiors. The food is served from open kitchen, where you can observe what cooks are doing with your food. The location is convenient, right across the Cleveland Park metro station in Washington DC.

The one prix fixe entrée for $20 in the Medium Rare restaurant consists; French country loaf (Pain de champagne), mixed green salad, and sirloin cap steak.

The Bread
Bread is the French country white rustic bread. The bread was fresh and had a nice crispy crust with fluffy inside.

The Salad
The simple salad is made with romaine lettuce and tomatoes and some sort of vinaigrette. The salad is a normal house salad, however we wished the greens in the salad to be slightly greener.

The Steak
The Medium Rare restaurant serve dry-aged sirloin cap steak sliced into about half dozen pieces with French fries. At first instant, when I saw the steak portion I was disheartened by the small portion size.

However, there is a food runner who brings you a second portion after you are done with the first.

The steak came smothered with a warm brown homemade sauce. The sauce was mildly sweet, slightly creamy, and look similar to gravy. I loved the sauce while my dining partner didn’t enjoy it much – maybe serving it on side is a better idea.

The Dessert
Among apple pie, chocolate fudge cake, sundae, carrot cake and cheesecake, we chose the carrot cake. The portion was just big enough to be split between the two people after the steak dinner. The carrot cake had plenty of nuts and was lightly spiced. I liked the cake because it was not overtly sweet – which may not be preferred by others. The price of $8 was bit high considering the price of entrée but not too bad.

 

The Drink
There is a limited selection of red wines, white wines and beers – four to five option each. I am fine with the minimalistic selection. They also serve coffee. I got cappuccino after dinner. It was one of the most expensive small cups of cappuccino I ever had – damage worth $6.

Vegetarian Option at Medium Rare
If you don’t eat beef and going there – why you would do is beyond me – there is rumored off the menu item with portobello mushroom instead of beef. I am not sure if portobello mushrooms are cooked medium rare as well.

The main attraction of the Medium Rare restaurant is its highly affordable prix fixe steak entrée, convenient location, and the causal atmosphere. The restaurant is already quite busy – without reservations, it took us nearly 45 minutes to 1 hour to get dinner on weeknight. The wait was worth the dinner.

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Posted in: Travel and Food | Tags: Dry-aged Sirloin Cap Steak, Medium Rare Carrot Cake, Medium Rare Cleveland Park, Medium Rare DC, Medium Rare DC Review, Medium Rare in DC, Medium Rare Review, Medium Rare Steaks, Medium Rare Steaks DC, Medium Rare Washington DC, Pain de champagne, Second Portion Steaks