RESTAURANT WEEK DC: Suggestion #1 - Ambar, DC’s First Balkan Restaurant

Ambar, DC’s first Balkan restaurant, is also offering guests the opportunity to experience some of the best traditional dishes from the Balkan Peninsula, prepared with a modern twist.  Ambar, located at 523 8th Street SE, will offer special lunch and dinner menus from January 25 through February 7.  For lunch, guests can order a soup and two sandwiches from the featured menu, or opt for an entrée salad, dessert and soft drink for $22 per person (tax and gratuity not included). Seasonal soups options include Veal Soup with root vegetables and crème fraîche and Zucchini Soup with potato and sundried tomato.  Signature salads at lunch include Spinach Salad with Fried Chicken, organic baby spinach, celery stalk, carrots, cherry tomato and horseradish dressing and Mixed Green Salad with Shrimp, roasted squash, caramelized red onion, roasted peppers and pomegranate dressing.  Sandwich options include Vienna Schnitzel Sandwich with crispy veal, ajvar emulsion, frisee salad, tartar sauce and sundried tomatoes; Creamy Chicken Salad Sandwich with ajvar emulsion, iceberg lettuce, lemon vinaigrette and a celery stalk; Marinated Shrimp with ajvar spread, arugula, lemon vinaigrette, blue cheese and crispy prosciutto; Smoked Trout with beet carpaccio, cucumber, dill, mayo and pickled jalapeño; Wild Forest Mushroom, with herb roasted mushrooms, baby arugula, horseradish dressing, hardboiled quail egg and red onion and Crispy Cheese of smoked gouda, organic slaw, tartar sauce ajvar emulsion.  For dessert, guests can choose from sweet treats such as Capri Cake withfresh raspberries, vanilla pudding and dolcela hit icing and the Three Chocolate Cake withmilk chocolate, white chocolate, dark chocolate, mascarpone and strawberry yogurt.

 

For dinner, guests will enjoy unlimited small plates from Ambar's featured menu including meat mezze, kajmak bar, spreads, homemade pies, flatbreads, soups and salads, vegetables, meats and poultry, sausages and seafood priced at $35 per person (tax and gratuity not included).  Standout dishes include Spicy Crab with ajvar, cilantro pickled chilies; Urnebes, aged cow cheese with ajvar and chili flakes; Meat Pie with crispy phyllo, yogurt and garlic yogurt; Mushroom Pizza with shitake, crimini, button and oyster mushrooms, arugula and cheese; Balkan Salad with tomato, pepper, cucumber, onion and aged cow cheese; Cabbage Casuela with braised cabbage, dry pepper and yogurt and somun; Leek Croquette with an ajvar emulsion and panko crust; Lamb And Veal Kebab with spicy ajvar sauce and pickled jalapeño; Stuffed Sour Cabbage with pork belly, cabbage juice, jasmine rice and yogurt; Slow Cooked Pork with Yukon potato smash with kajmak and cabbage slaw; Grilled Calamari With Gremolata with fresh herbs, diced pepper and lemon, and Mediterranean Branzino with tomato, garlic, spinach and baked tomatoes.  For the perfect pairing, guests can enjoy bottomless drinks for an additional $15 per person.  Featured beverages include Sarajevo Old Fashioned, Mojito, Pomegranate Collins, Mango Lemonade, Margarita, Cricova Sparkling Wine, House Red and White Wine, Dos Equis, and Miller Lite.

Ambar will be extending their Restaurant Week offering from January 25 through February 7.  

Ambar is open for lunch Monday through Friday, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.  Dinner is served Sunday through Thursday, from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m.  For more information, please call (202) 813-3039 or visit http://www.ambarrestaurant.com/.