Brasserie Beck - McPherson Square, DC

If you guys got a nickel for every time I would fall off the face of the blogger planet and come back, you'd be rich. My apologies! Here is another of my many occasions trying new restaurants with either a Groupon or Living Social deal. I've heard about this contemporary European restaurant, Brasserie Beck, in the past and wanted to try it. There's street parking with the closest metro station being McPherson Square on the orange line.

The outdoor patio is pretty big along the side of the restaurant.

The interior is big with high ceilings and accented with their signature blue. The restaurant isn't an open space, but sectioned off areas with the kitchen in the center.

This was the 1st time I got to test out my new camera! So don't mind me...

I like when they give lots of bread and butter. We were so hungry we went through 3 of these...

The menu consists of contemporary European dishes with many classics like Croque Monsieur, Onion Soup, Duck Confit, Belgium Frites, etc.

For our appetizer, we shared the Crispy Veal Sweetbreads with Path Valley Squash Risotto and Sage Butter for $12. This was our 1st time trying the thymus glands of a baby cow and we liked it. Then again, anything fried is good. However, the dish had a heavy hand of salt.

Onto our main dishes, the bf ordered the Beef Carbonnade (Beef stew enhanced with Kasteel Bruin Beer) for $27. He thought it was good, but once again overly salty.

I ordered the Long Island Duck "Cassoulet" (Roasted breast, leg confit, pork trotter, braised mustard greens, flageolet bean ragout) for $27. I love duck, but this dish didn't do it for me. Overly fatty cuts of duck on top of flavorless greens and hard beans.

The service was attentive, so I'd say that was their strong point. Thankfully I had a deal because the food was not worth the high $20's. I wasn't a fan of the sectioned off interior either because I like beautiful open spaces. Overall, the bf and I weren't impressed.

1101 K St NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 408-1717
www.beckdc.com