words by Alex Nicholson, photos by Dakota Fine

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1905 serves French-American cuisine, it is a delightful little gem of a restaurant featuring excellent ambiance and supreme decor. It is located at 1905 9th St, just about a block below the U St corridor. -BYT

On Monday, 1905 hosted a tasting event for local food writers (disclosure: I helped coordinate the event). The reason for the party was to introduce 1905’s new brunch menu which starts on Sunday, and to showcase new dinner menu items.  It was a great night full of tasty food, free flowing drink and a nice mix of talented D.C. food writers, many who get name checked regularly on BYT.

The evening started with cocktails and two brunch items, a Spanish Tortilla and Creole Benedict. The Benedict features a fried rice cake topped with a poached egg and a crawfish hollandaise.  Other brunch items at 1905 will include:
•    Huevos Rancheros, traditional w/ mango salsa
•    Brioche French Toast, served w/ bacon or sausage, home fries and a mixed berry maple syrup
•    Smoked Trout Hash with potatoes, green onions and dill sour cream
•    Grits w/ Gumbo style shrimp served w/ home fries

The tasting then moved to the newest dinner items to be added to 1905’s menu, including:
•    Pan roasted shrimp with espelette, served over creamy coconut crab rice
•    Crawfish bisque with chives and Cajun spice
•    Red and gold roasted beet salad with arugula, toasted walnuts, goat cheese and walnut vinaigrette
•    Angus burger with red onion marmalade and Gouda (not a new item, but so good)
•    Chef's fresh saffron fettuccine with braised Ox-tail ragout
•    Chocolate bread pudding with whiskey sauce and vanilla ice cream

All of these new items are additions from Chef Jose Sanchez. A descendant from a line of family chefs, Jose's grandmother took to the kitchen nightly in Madrid at the family's restaurant. His father, Chef Juan Jose Sanchez, spent much of his career as executive chef to the D.C. Convention Center for 20 years and taught his son how to cook and run a kitchen.

Spending time at David Gregory in Bethesda and working under Chef (and Top Chef alum) Erik Hopfinger at Circa in San Francisco, an introduction to Spike Mendelssohn brought Chef Sanchez back to D.C. as the kitchen manager at Good Stuff Eatery, and moving on from there he took over the kitchen at 1905 in late 2008.

Brunch begins on Sunday, March 15th. Reservations can be made through Opentable.com or by calling (202) 332-1905.