Washington DC: Proof (May 2013)

My spouse and I dined at Proof for dinner in late May 2013. We visited on a Sunday evening, and we made our reservation using the Open Table reservation system. Despite making our reservation several weeks in advance, we were led to one of the least-appealing table in the restaurant.
The restaurant is located across from the National Portrait Gallery/American Art Museum. The restaurant offers seating outside on the sidewalk, at the long bar, at high-top bar tables in the bar area, as well as in the dining room at tables and booths. Our tiny table for two was positioned directly adjacent to the service station, where wait staff and busboys came and went every few minutes to enter orders, restock and pick up glassware, silverware, and plates, pick up water pitchers, and so on. As soon as the hostess led us to the table, we anticipated issues, so we asked to be moved to another empty table (of which there were plenty), but we were told that ours was the only option available to us. Not a great start!

Prior to arriving at Proof, we had planned to order the $69 four-course tasting menu, but when we began to experience the “traffic” next to our table, we opted to order something more casual because it was clearly not the environment for an elegant meal. We did not even feel that our table warranted ordering two $30+ dollar entrees, so we each ordered two first-course (smaller) options and asked that one be served as our appetizer and the other be served as our entree. We sampled the asparagus salad, duck confit, crispy pigs head, and foie gras. The duck confit accompanied by scallion hush puppies was delicious. The crispy pigs head was overly fried and appeared more like mozarella sticks - the frying process removed any trace of unique taste or flavor. For dessert, we had a rhubarb cake and a selection of cheeses; the rhubarb cake was unremarkable. Charcuterie seems to be a real speciality of this restaurant; however, we had enjoyed some great meats, pates, and terrines the previous day for lunch (at Woodward Table), so we were not interested in ordering it again. The restaurant serves a complimentary crispy lavash, accompanied by labna (a yogurt spread). Our waiter was excellent, seeming to take a real interest in food and saying just the right things to seem knowledgeable.

We expected more from a Conde Nast-mentioned, 3-star Washington Post, #10 on the list of 100 best DC restaurants than we saw while dining at Proof. Perhaps sister restaurant Estadio is better? We probably would not return here - our meal was fine, but it was not anything special in a city with so many great restaurant choices.