Mitsitam Café

[neotoma]

ellen_fremedon and I went to the National Museum of the American Indian to see the "Identity by Design" exhibit, which is absolutely gorgeous and very interesting from a textile fan's point of view.

We ate at the Mitsitam Café inside the museum. The Mitsitam has five diffrent cuisine stations -- Northern Woodlands, South America, Northwest Coast, Mesoamerica, and Plains. We were interested in food that was unlike anything we could get elsewhere, so Mesoamerica (tamales without cheese) and Plains (buffalo burgers and buffalo steak) were ruled out.

I went to the Northern Woodlands and got a full spread. The soup was Peanut and Turtle, Venison Terrine for appetizer, the entre was Roasted Maple Turkey with cranberry relish, with two side dishes -- Wild Rice & Watercress salad and Roasted Vegetable Bulbs -- with Maple Agua Fresca to drink and Pinenut-Rosemary tart for dessert.ellen_fremedon had Three Sisters Soup (white bean, corn, and squash), Green Papaya and Sea Bass Ceviche, Mexican Hot Chocolate to drink and Indian Pudding for dessert.

Obviously we shared our food and spent much of the meal making happy foodie-noises at each other.

The Peanut and Turtle soup was mostly potatoes and lima beans with yellow-ish things that might have been sweet potato -- and might not. The turtle was a mild, reddish meat and the peanut was a foamy mild taste. The Three Sisters Soup had white beans, corn, squash and tomato and might have been made with a chicken stock base. The Vension Terrine was absolutely delicious and smoothly textured.

My Roast Maple Turkey was nicely juicy -- the maple was light enough not to be overpowering, yet still gave flavor to the turkey. The Green Papaya and Sea Bass Ceviche was light and tasty, though I didn't notice the papaya amid the bell pepper and onion bits.

The Wild Rice and Watercress salad was a delicious vinegarette that I'm fairly sure I can recreate. It was wild rice, watercress, pine nuts, shredded carrots, cranberries, and sunflower seed with vinegar. The Roasted Vegetable Bulbs were mostly tiny quartered and roasted baby squash, along with onions, scallion, and mushrooms, but very very good.

The drinks were quite unusual. Ellen's Mexican Chocolate wasn't too sweet or thin -- more like drinking a melted dark chocolate bar than anything else. My Maple Agua Fresca was not too sweet and spiced with chile.

The Indian Pudding was very simple -- maple syrup and corn meal, but tasty. The Rosemary-Pinenut tart was a bit more complex, flavored with lemon with the pinenuts.

Ellen decided that Mitsitam Café is *the* place that she will take visitors, and I agree. The food is excellent if you're willing to try the odder items, and instead of paying for the ambiance of a fancy restaurant, all your money goes into really tasty food. The menu apparently changes daily, and after 3pm some of the offerings are closed down for the day, so get there early for lunch, not late.

If you're visiting from out of town, the NMAI is at 4th and Independence, at the eastern end of the Washington Mall next to Air & Space. The closest Metro is L'Enfant Plaza -- you walk a few blocks north and east to get to it. The Mitsitam Café is inside, on the groud floor towards the back.