Disappointment at Evening Star

The other week, I went to the Evening Star in Del Ray. This was my first experience with this particular restaurant. The Evening Star is owned by the Neighborhood Restaurant Group which also owns Vermillion, Tallula, Eat Bar, Buzz Bakery, and my favorite, Rustico.

It was Friday night and the place was packed. As there were no tables in the dining room, we took a spot in the upstairs bar and lounge area. I was there to catch up with friends and did not intend to order any food until I had a look at the menu. The menu included Beef Carpaccio with grilled watermelon, Grilled Asparagus Salad, and Oyster Sliders.

I ordered the Smoked Duck Salad which had a grilled peach stuffed with Camembert and pickled Cipollini onions. I had been begging my husband to grill peaches all summer and the one attempt was disappointing as they were not free stone peaches. And this grilled peach was another disappointment. The peach was hard and tasteless. It being peach season, I had assumed I would be served a wonderful ripe peach. A local peach would have won brownie points. I was expecting a tender, juicy peach that taste of wood and smoke.

The Camembert was bitter and did not pair well with the peach. The smoked duck was sliced thin like bacon and laid out in strips on the bottom of the plate. For $11, I was hoping for more duck or at least more greens. The small ball of greens seemed to be a garnish, not a salad. The dressing left no lasting memory.

The space seemed nice but I cannot comment on the service as we did not have table service. It was rather loud and hard to enjoy conversation. I had big expectations as I love Rustico and enjoyed Vermillion but this was a big let down. It only takes one bad peach to spoil my salad. Next time, I’ll just go to Rustico.

Uptown Sushi

At first glance, the menu was off putting as it contained fusion items for those afraid to eat raw fish. You could order a sushi burrito, chili cheese fries, lobster sliders, and cheese pizza for the kids. But we were not disappointed. We started off with the Gyoza dumplings and Zensai Trio, both were delicious. The trio was calamari, seaweed salad, and oshinko pickle, I could eat that every day. The calamari was tender and I love its texture combined with the seaweed.



I ordered Tangy Shrimp with coconut rice which was scrumptious. The coconut rice was incredible and its sweetness played nicely with the tangy shrimp. Patrick ordered a big bowl of raw fish served with sushi rice, called chirashi. It was like sashimi but build your own. It was lovely and served with a real shiso leaf. We also ordered some sushi rolls to share, I love eel delicious eel. Even though they have a huge menu, they can still make some wonderful sushi.


The dining room was empty, everyone else seemed to be there to watch the game. The service was decent and the food was worthy of the price tag. They also have an international noodle bar, they seem to be trying anything to drum up business. I plan to return for another food orgy and hope they are still in business.