Le Diplomate serves escargot with parsley, garlic butter, puff pastry, and mushrooms. (Photo by Erika Kauder)
Dish of the week: Escargots
Where to find it: Le Diplomate, Mintwood Place, Convivial, Requin, Bistro du Coin
Hailing from the Burgundy region of France, escargots—meaning snail in French—are one of the many delicacies of the country’s cooking. Most belong to the helix pomatia species. Popping a slimy, shelled mollusk into your mouth sounds repulsive at first. But when properly cooked—usually with generous portions of garlic and butter pastry—esgarcots become a savory, earthy, and tender bite.
“The dish is such an iconic french dish and one that represents the beautifully simple but elegant style that is classic French cooking technique,” says Le Diplomate executive chef Mike Abt.
The texture of the cooked snail is hard to describe to first time eaters, though it probably most closely resembles cooked squid or mussels.
Escargot is a common appetizer at both traditional and modern French restaurants—and D.C. has plenty of these go around. Along with being relatively easy to find, escargot dishes also tend to be fairly reasonably priced ($10 to $15 usually), so giving them a try or indulging a craving won’t break the bank.
Anyone seeking a textbook example should try the version at Le Diplomate (1601 14th St. NW). Escargots here ($14) are slowly poached in parsley butter and garlic and served with puff pastry. Chef Abt’s dish is flaky, rich, and oozing with garlic and butter.
“They’re almost impossible not to like,” he says, urging even the most squeamish eaters to give them a try at least once.
Bistro du Coin (1238 Connecticut Ave. NW) serves another classic rendition of “escargots a la Bourguignonne,” ($11.99) prepared with garlic butter. Over in Virginia, Mike Isabella’s Requin (8296 Glass Alley, Mosaic District, Fairfax) plates up Burgundy snails ($16) with puff pastry and wild mushroom while also enhancing the dish with pecorino cheese and a roasted garlic béchamel.
French chefs are well-known for pioneering new versions of classic dishes, and escargot is no exception. At the French-American Mintwood Place in Adams Morgan (1813 Columbia Rd. NW), the ever inventive Cedric Maupillier folds escargots into snackable hush puppies ($8) alongside a chevril dip. At his other restaurant, Convivial (801 O St. NW), Maupillier takes inspiration from “pigs in a blanket,” subbing out weiners for escargots on his menu of modern French appetizers ($11).
