The Henri

[MarkS]

I hope he is not ditching Annapolis where Flamant was doing well.  He is reimagining Flamant as a bistro instead of a finer dining experience.

View this email in your browser   Chef and Owner Frederik De Pue is thrilled to announce that his newest restaurant, The Henri, will open later this month. Situated between the National Theater, Warner Theater and just blocks from The White House at 1301 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, The Henri brings an innovative dining experience to Downtown Washington, DC. The welcoming 8,000-square-foot modern bistro is an ideal location for both communal and private dining. The space focuses on a Bonnet Rotisserie and six versatile one-of-a-kind private rooms, including access to the building’s rooftop space that overlooks the Mall. Named after his grandfather, The Henri is Chef Frederik’s seventh restaurant, which he began planning and designing in 2019. Fueled by his passion for food and creating an open-door feeling, the restaurant is meant to be a unique experience for everyone as the possibilities are endless. Upon opening, The Henri will offer dinner daily from 4-11:00 p.m. with happy hour specials from 4-6:00 p.m. Lunch and breakfast will be added soon. The Henri was designed with everyone’s safety as a top priority and features the latest ventilation filtration systems and technology. The space and staff will adhere to all CDC and local COVID protocols.  CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE HENRI Copyright (C) 2022 Flamant. All rights reserved. We send special offers and news to customers who opted in through Open Table, Resy, Facebook or our website.  Our mailing address is: Flamant 17 Annapolis Street Annapolis, MD  21401 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe

[Tweaked]

Based on the description, I think this is in the old Chef Geoff's space.  

[KeithA]

3 of us tried out the Henri last Saturday. It had several pluses and some minuses.

Parking -The website and reservation emails very nicely point out that they validate 2 hours of parking in the garage next door - but it is a bit confusing to get from the garage to the restaurant and back. (we got up to ground floor fine into an office building lobby but it took us around the block and then that same door was locked when we tried to leave and the staff suggested we walk down the long driveway into the garage, which worked but not ideal).  Still the fact that there is parking available next door downtown is a real plus.

The setting - The restaurant is cut in half by a center hallway with the open kitchen on one side and the nice bar on the other. In both of these 2 rooms are the tables for the regular dining room too. We started with cocktails at the bar. The bar is pretty big, with comfy chairs which we saw several people getting food there. It looked like they have a special bar snack menu plus the regular menu available. Then we moved to a oddly shaped oval table with one chair and backing up to a wide bench with various pillows. I don't know how they would have seated more than 3 people at this table. A few other parties were seated at similar tables nearby and then either left or moved to other tables. There were also several tables like this in the dining, plus regular tables. It was also rather loud in the restaurant as the tables aren't too close together but the space is very open and sparsely furnished in a nice modern way but sound really carries.

Food/Drink - we each had one of their riffs on classic cocktails and really enjoyed them. Then, we started with a cheese plate. My wife and her friend picked them but we had good sized portions of 6 cheeses along with some cranberry mostarda (not the best), pear sauce (ok), and another fruity/sweeter sauce that was good, plus cornichons, and a basket of softer french bread. All of the cheeses were enjoyed a lot. However, the server couldn't tell us which one was which but we figured it out. They have a whole section of their menu for their special rotisserie grill so I order the lamb entree and cauliflower appetizer from that section. The rotisserie entree do not come with any sides so you need to order those a la carte. The lamb was good well cooked meat but nothing special. The cauliflower appetizer was surprisingly cold and not that tasty - very plain without much flavor. Much better was the crispy spinach side - kind of a french take on Rasika's well known and much beloved dish.  My wife had the entrecote steak frite and said it was cooked well but rather grisly and fatty. I didn't try it but I did steal some very nice fries. Our friend had the barracuda filet which I tasted and thought it wasn't great - also very plain and surprisingly so as it came with vegetables, a sauce, and what we all thought looked and tasty like not great vegetable kugel wedges. Dessert was better. My fave was the rich but not too decadent chocolate hazelnut dish whereas others liked the chocolate brownie. I also really enjoyed the fruit tart which was unexpected in a good way - a very thin crust topped with a white chocolate mousse and rings of pineapple on top of that. We also enjoyed a good sauvignon blanc with dinner and a couple of us enjoyed the "dry" port with dessert - which was actually semi-sweet but nice.

Overall it has the makings of a really nice restaurant which is trying to really make the most of its location near the theaters and downtown (they have a lot of private dining rooms in the back too), but they are still new and need to rethink those odd tables and work some more on the entrees to justify the high prices.