U Street has a sexy new attraction and it promises to make you swoon. The Fainting Goat, a new restaurant and bar lighting up U street, will serve you plenty of drinks, alternative music, and fine cuisine.
The restaurant features multiple floors with multiple bars. The upper floor provides a more private experience, with decor done in a dark wood. The entrance level features tall tables and tall mixed wood chairs opposite a bar and inset booths. Sultry pillows assuring intimacy adorn the booths, and an exquisite mirror covers one wall, hinting that this may be the place the social elite may go for a bit of privacy or sensuality—take your pick. The only source of dim lighting is the myriad of mismatched chandeliers and a candle on each table. Miniature crystal chandeliers light each inset booth. This simple yet elegant atmosphere is what makes The Fainting Goat so versatile. The lighting is dim enough for an intimate date, but bright enough for a family outing.
As I entered the restaurant, “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons was playing in the background and I was seated immediately. The menu is divided into sections titled by the goat theme: “Nibble,” “Graze,” “Chomp,” and “Feed”, with only the ingredients of meals listed. Staff promise this move is intended to provide an opportunity for them to discuss options with their customers, but it leaves the menu vague at best and downright confusing at worst.
Be assured, if you ask about a dish, your server knows how to sell it. My shrimp sandwich was described by my server as being like “enjoying lunch on the docks of a fishing town in spring.”
I enjoyed the “Goat Ricotta” as an appetizer, namely, bread spread with goat cheese, drizzled with flavor, and garnished with light greens. The simple tastes were delicious. Goat cheese haters, take courage: the goat cheese was mild, without its typical pungence. While this difference would appeal to broader masses, it could leave goat cheese connoisseurs wanting more.
The main course quickly followed—a shrimp salad sandwich of crème fraiche and lemon juice, served with potato wedges on a wooden board. The sandwich was true to my server’s description, and was light, unlike the usual mayonnaise-soaked shrimp salad.
The potato wedges were, at times, a bit undercooked, but were served with traditional ketchup and the house’s homemade version, made with cardamom and cinnamon. This alternative dip was chilled and refreshing and definitely an interesting change to the original condiment.
For dessert I had what the menu called “Banana,” and French-pressed coffee. “Banana” was, after all, a sliced, sauteed banana, on top of fried rice-paper, cardamom and cinnamon syrup, and topped with a light garnish. I have to admit to being skeptical of this trio of flavors at first, but the dish was divine. The texture of the cooked banana meshed beautifully with the crunch of the rice paper and syrup. This dish left me craving for more through the metro ride home.
Parts of the menu may seem pricey, but it certainly doesn’t exceed the average Leo’s or Epi costs. Though the Fainting Goat promises to woo you and give you opportunities for dining privacy, misanthropes beware. The dining staff never leave you alone for long, I personally was waited on by four different people throughout the night. I can safely say it was perhaps the best service I’ve ever had.
Despite the need for a menu-card makeover, diners, line up. Their kitchen holds odd hours for now, and tables are filling up fast.
Fainting Goat
1330 U Street N.W.
5 p.m. – 2 a.m. daily
