D.C. Eats - Ocopa and Masa 14, By: V

Tuesday night Mirona, Sonia and I met up at a new restaurant in the H Street NE neighborhood, Ocopa.  Ocopa offers fine Peruvian cuisine, but definitely at a substantial cost.  This isn't the Peruvian Chicken styling of all the delicious "pollo" restaurants you find scattered in northern Virginia, no no, here at Ocopa they truly do offer fine cuisine.  While the food was good, and the dessert in particular had excellent flavors - think honey ice cream, dark chocolate ganache and pearls, and fried quinoa -- I'm not certain I'll be making a trip back.  

We shared two Cebiche dishes, which were good, but not anything super amazing.  Then we shared the Lomo Soltado, which is a filet of beef served with potato confit (fries in some oil) and some delicious tomatoes that were grilled till a softened, smoky flavor.  If you want to have upscale Peruvian cuisine, this is probably the only place in D.C. that offers it, so go for it!  It is a new experience after all! 

This Sunday Sachin and I headed to brunch with my roommate, Shelly, and another friend and her boyfriend for an unlimited tapas brunch at Masa 14.  Asian-Latin Fusion restaurants, Zengo and Masa 14, are both Richard Sandoval Restaurants in Washington, D.C., and home to some delicious and unique cuisine.

Hands down the Smoked Chicken Hash was the table favorite.  We ended up ordering quite a few rounds!  The based of the Hash are Masa 14's famous Wok-Fried Home Fries, which are absolutely delicious and soft.  The dish is then tossed with caramelized onions, chilis, yucca and topped with a poached egg and creamy chipotle hollaindaise. Incredible!

While I didn't take a picture of everything that was delicious, here are a few of the other table favorites:

- Seared Salmon Salad
- Cubano Panini
- Roasted Cauliflower

Whatever you do don't go for the mushroom frittata, truly disappointing.  But, everything else was phenomenal!