Peachy's Picks Washington DC: Mio Our Coverage Sponsored by Fresh Origins
Daniela and Manuel the owner-Daughter and Father winning team!
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The minute we arrived at Mio we were greeted with smiles and cheer from all employees, seated by Daniela with one L (this is someone that pays attention to detail and we love it!) and all were clearly enthused about their smashing venue: Mio. You say it me-o and the girl writing this that took six years of French asked what it meant. It means mine, and we can assure you you want it to be yours as well. It is much easier to be excited about eating dinner at a place that is excited by the experience they offer themselves (believe it or not, not everyone is excited about working at their respective restaurant - we can tell). In this temple of casual elegance, we were promptly asked if we would like a drink (right question, particularly on the stormy day we went on!) and we said yes. Mio has an impressive selection of wine and our panelist began with the Tempranillo, El Primavera from Rioja Spain shown above while Peachy began with the Garnacha, Campos de Luz, Spain, below. Peachy tried the above later. Each were ripe and robust and ideal for welcoming us and also paired well with the culinary extravaganza to follow. As you know we only mention what we like-if we don't mention the bread in a review that means it was not impressive. Mio has some of the best bread we've EVER had, and that is EVER as in every city we cover. When a restaurant cares to make such fresh bread and serves it hot with great butter, you know you are in for a great night. The butter at Mio is amazing (the best butter Peachy had before it was D'Artagnan truffle butter so it did have a very tough act to follow!!!) and Mio butter is defined by sofrito, garlic, onion, cilantro and culantro. We never had culantro before...Peachy would have been quite happy to drink this wine and eat this bread and butter all night and Mio would still have gotten a great review, but then you would think she was at church with a wine and bread menu. Mio is a bit like a church in the sense that you will worship the experience from the cuisine to the company.
As we began to sip our wine, Manuel the owner came over to greet us. He was just as upbeat as his team and clearly takes great pride in his culinary achievement: Manuel himself is from San Juan, Puerto Rico and began Mio in May 2007. We love it when we find people that are authentic and native to the cuisine they serve because that usually means greater excellence, and it certainly does in the case of Mio. Mio is by far the best Puerto Rican experience we have ever had. (Except for our Ellen Christine Millinery experiences...but we don't eat our hats!) The night we went was much quieter than other Latin places we've experienced and we love relative quiet and elegance. It is not good if we can't hear you during the review...or each other.
Manuel gave us a full tour of the kitchens, and everything we saw was pristine and sparkling clean and organized. If anyone offers to show us their kitchen we always want to see it but we don't ask. We publish kitchen pictures the way we see them...pictures are never edited.
Mio has beautiful modern decor with clean lines. The lighting is beautiful and the tables are well-lit. The above structure reminded us of the opening theme of Vikings (also Vikings 2)...
So they were friendly, and got the basics right like bread, wine, and a clean kitchen. But could Mio do octopus?
YES, silly. Of course they can do Octopus and here's the visual evidence.
You need to try the Pulpo a la Parilla con Aji, Panca y Amarillo, Yuzu, y Azucar Morena sobre Ensalada de Esparragos, and we call it Grilled Octopus with Panca and Yellow Chile, Yuzu, and Brown Sugar Sauce on an Asparagus Salad. It is bursting with flavors you didn't know existed and the Octopus itself is grilled to perfection. If you are an all-American meat and potatoes Peachy Deegan kind of person, you should go to Mio just for the experience of trying all these new items you've never eaten alone, nevermind put together. And you need to go to Mio-we have not seen a place in New York do South American/Puerto Rican cuisine the way they do it.
We next tried a trio of hits!
Please meet the Pork Purse. They've got it in the bag with this one, and you will delicately devour the dumpling with spiced ground pork wrapped in sweet guava sauce-a truly smashing combination!
Sitting in the middle, center of attention is the Alcapurria: ground beef with cilantro sauce, plantain, yugu and malanga, another combination you wouldn't know you liked until you tried it.
How could you resist anything with cheese? The Yuca with cheese-and that's provolone and manchego in a ketchup and mayonnaise concoction that is just delightful.
Next, we tried a plantain with a party on top of herbs, octopus and shrimp. Delicious!
Inbetween courses, we tried the Carmenere, Santa Digna from Chile. Its deep flavors of dark fruits celebrated our continuation of red wine and we'd order this again.
For her entree, Peachy chose the Filete de Cerdo con Manchego Frito y Salsa de Guayaba: Grilled Pork Tenderloin, Manchego Cheese, which brilliantly danced in a Guava/Red Wine sauce. Ms. I Don't Like Unfamiliar Sauces did enjoy this sauce and our apologies to Miss Piggy: the Pork Tenderloin was grilled to perfection and further enhanced by that sensational cheese. As you can see, the presentation was beautiful!
The coffee at Mio is amazing.
Of course, Manuel is driven enough to create his own coffee!
More on that later...Peachy took some home!
We love bread pudding-it's Irish-and now we know it's also Puerto Rican. Sweet bread pudding with rum butterscotch sauce is to-die-for and you'd best save room for it.
Also amazing was the Dulce de Leche Mousse with Spicy Chocolate Sauce!
Our esteemed panelist adds:
Mio was my introduction to Puerto Rican food, and it didn't disappoint. The interior is spacious and modern. The restaurant is divided into a large bar area, eating area, and a separate room for private functions. The atmosphere is very casual and laid back. Mio is family owned and operated by Manuel and his wife Karla. We were greeted by Manuel, and you can tell how passionate he is about Mio. His pride and attention to detail shows in the simple yet elegant decor and most importantly the food. He explained that Mio is inspired by Puerto Rican cuisine, but also has influences from Central and South America. Since we were new to Puerto Rican cuisine, he gave us a crash course on some of the ingredients. The most often used was sofrito, which consists of garlic, onion, chile, cilantro, and culantro. This is used as the base for many of the dishes. Our server, Daniela, was very knowledgeable of all the dishes and she too helped explain all the ingredients. Before we began, there was warm fresh bread, with a thin crisp crust, served with sofrito butter. The bread was light and airy, and amazing paired with the flavorful butter.
The red and white wines by the glass consisted of typical varietals from Spain, South America, and the US west coast. I started with a glass of El Primavera Tempranillo from Rioja Spain. This was a lovely wine typical of the Rioja region. I followed this with a glass of Felino Malbec from Argentina, which paired well with my entree. I finished with a glass of the Santa Digna Carmenere from Chile. All 3 wines paired well with the spices used in the dishes.
I ordered the pan roasted calamari appetizer, which was tender and delicious. It's nice to see calamari prepared in a fresh flavorful way, and it had a little spice to it. We also shared some Tapas which consisted of a fried pork dumpling with guava dipping sauce, a ground beef alcapurria on a sofrito base, and a bollitas de yuca with a ketchup and mayonnaise dip. The alcapurria is like an empanada stuffed with spiced ground beef. The bolitas de yuca is a yuca pastry stuffed with cheese. All these were delicious with their well paired dipping sauces. We were also treated to an escabeche, which was a seafood mixture of octopus and shrimp on a fried plantain cake. I thoroughly enjoyed every bite of it!
Now for the main course. I ordered the grilled duck breast served on a bed of cilantro lime risotto. The duck was cooked to perfection, and had a beautiful presentation to boot. A nice crisp skin with a medium rare center. The duck was tender and flavorful, which was balanced with the acidity of the risotto.
Lastly, dessert. I can't believe I had any room left for dessert after all the delicious food. We shared a dulce de leche mousse, and the bread pudding. The dulce de leche mousse was light and airy w/ a mellow caramel flavor. It was served alongside a spicy chocolate dipping sauce which had quite a kick. Something that I'm not used to in a dessert, but I couldn't help going back for more spicy chocolate.
The bread pudding also had a twist. It was moist and filled with 2 types of raisins and dried cherries. The consistency was smooth like a nice custard, like I'd expect of a good bread pudding. Both desserts were delicious and not overly sweet.
Overall, I would highly recommend trying Mio. Particularly if you like food with robust flavors. It was my first exposure to Puerto Rican cuisine and I'll be back to continue my adventure.
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Peachy Picks Mio!
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