Evo Bistro

We had a Groupon that was expiring soon, so this past Saturday we made the trek out to McLean to dine at Evo Bistro. I had only been once before, with a large group, but had a good enough experience that I wanted Pat to have a chance to try it as well!

For starters, they have *significantly* expanded the size of the restaurant from last year...I think there are about twice as many tables now, and a lot more space. Which turns out to be a very good thing from a service perspective. My biggest peeve the last time I went was that my water glass was always empty, which I attributed to the tables being so cramped that the ewer simply could never access my glass! Problem solved.

We ordered: Piquillos Rellenos (Stuffed sweet Spanish peppers with mild mushrooms & goat cheese, pepper coulis), Buttifara (grilled Italian sausage with cannelloni bean stew), a sea bass special that came with chorizo, the Evo Crepe (Spinach infused crepe stuffed with all lump jumbo crabmeat), and the Escargot. I think. To be honest, we had been to a wine tasting that afternoon that ended up being much more epic that we had anticipated, so...Pat, correct me if I missed something or made something up! (hee) Most were okay, but did not blow us away. The rellenos were heavy on the goat cheese, the others were fine, but uninspired. The fish in the special was a tiny bit overcooked, and the chorizo did nothing for the dish. Way too salty, and took away from the delicate fish flavors.

But the escargot. OH, that escargot. I love me some snails, but these were by far and away the best escargot I had ever had. They were so good in fact that, much to Pat's chagrin, I told the diners at neighboring tables that they should order them, and insisted the waitress have some at closing as well. They were seriously that good. We managed to take a picture before I inhaled the last morsel, but as you can see, I'm looming in the background, ready to pounce. I would seriously go back for this dish alone.

For dessert, we had this pyramid-shaped chocolate cakey-thing with a hazelnut marzipan center, coated in chocolate. Generous portion, decently good.

So. Mixed reviews. Pretty good for suburbs dining, and better than some small plates restos I've been to in the city, but not top 5 meals. With the exception of my little mollusk friends...(portions x-posted to yelp.com)