WASHINGTON — On the second floor dining room of in historic Clifton, Virginia, executive chef Austin Fausett greets a table of guests and begins to walk them through the tasting menu.
鈥淭o start, we鈥檝e got a miniature smoked trout amuse-bouche, which is a little crispy bite of smoked trout. And then we鈥檙e getting a smoked mozzarella arancini with escabeche.鈥�
The guests sit quietly and listen to the four additional plates the chef describes.
鈥淎nother Coke, sir?鈥� a waiter asks one of the diners.
鈥淪ure,鈥� replies 12-year-old Austin Tengesdal. He takes a bite of the smoked trout hors-d’oeuvre placed on the white linen tablecloth in front of him.聽 鈥淢mm, it鈥檚 good,鈥� he says, as he reaches for the second roll on his plate.
In the six years since it opened, Trummer鈥檚 on Main has earned a reputation among D.C. diners for its locally sourced ingredients, carefully prepared seafood and innovative tasting menus. But these days, the dining establishment is catering to a new clientele with its tasting menu designed exclusively for children.
And it鈥檚 nothing like your typical children鈥檚 menu.
鈥淪o many times you have chicken tenders, you have cheeseburgers and maybe a bowl of pasta. We wanted to take that further and offer more to our guests and to our families 鈥� to try to offer healthy alternatives for the kids,鈥� says Fausett, who designed the menu.
鈥淭he idea is to introduce [kids] into some new ingredients, while still finding textures and flavors that work well for their palate, and exposing them to this type of dining and just the natural progression where our meals go from lighter fare to heavier.鈥�
The concept for the five-course Petit Gourmand 聽project stemmed from the personal experiences of owners Victoria and Stefan Trummer. With two kids under 5, the Trummers say dining out can be a challenge for the food-focused family. For starters, not all restaurants accommodate kids, and many that do don鈥檛 offer healthy or compelling options.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a way for both parents to be able to enjoy a tasting menu with their kid, but also for kids to be able to get involved in that and eat real food,鈥� Victoria Trummer says. 鈥淭here are no chicken fingers or French fries or mac and cheese. And I think all kids eat those things at some point in their life, but that shouldn鈥檛 be all that they eat when they go out.鈥�
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Claudia Tengesdal, 14, says if there was one food she could eat for the rest of her life, it would be cheeseburgers. Her brother, Austin, says he would go with boneless chicken wings. But that doesn鈥檛 stop the siblings from sampling chef Fausett鈥檚 next course.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a pan-roasted, organic Norwegian salmon with butternut squash puree and baby turnips, lavender maple syrup and some beet chips,鈥� Fausett says as the plates come out.
Claudia lets out a quiet, but enthusiastic, 鈥測es.”
鈥淵ou said 鈥榶es.鈥� Is salmon one of your favorite foods?鈥� the chef asks.
She nods.
鈥淎wesome,鈥� Fausett says. 鈥淐an I ask what your least favorite food might be — just out of curiosity?鈥�
Claudia thinks. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know 鈥� improperly made Brussels sprouts are not good.”
Fausett laughs and goes on to explain the tasting plates he prepared for Claudia and Austin鈥檚 parents, who are also seated at the table. Their plates are piled with a pan-roasted Maryland monkfish with a chorizo and clam ragout.
Owners Victoria and Stefan say another reason they created the Petit Gourmand menu is so parents who want to order the restaurant鈥檚 regular tasting menu can do so without worry that their children will get bored during the approximately 90-minute dining experience.
鈥淚f it was one dish and my son sat with one dish for an hour at dinner, he would be bored of it,鈥� Victoria says. 鈥淏ut if you keep bringing him new things, it鈥檚 something else to get him excited or get his attention.鈥�
Claudia and Austin鈥檚 mother, Erin Tengesdal, says from the time her kids were young, she鈥檚 tried to introduce them to foods that aren鈥檛 necessarily categorized as kid-friendly.
鈥淚 think that was one of the best things we did for us to be able to dine out, is to have them eat food that we want to eat,鈥� she says. 聽鈥淲e鈥檙e all very busy, so we don鈥檛 always get to have dinners together. When we do, it鈥檚 nice to 鈥� sit around the table and talk and enjoy great food together.鈥�
And that is exactly how the evening went. In between bites of smoked trout, Virginia ham, Emmentaler cheese and turnips, the Tengesdal鈥檚 filled their Thursday-night dinner with conversation about class schedules, sports practice, dance competitions and homework 鈥� all before the main course arrived.
But when the beef shortrib stroganoff and homemade papardelle pasta came out, Austin took a break from sharing stories with his family and dug right in.
鈥淢mm 鈥� the beef is so tender,鈥� he said after the first bite. 鈥淭he sauce is really creamy and the noodles are fresh,鈥� he said after a second. To wash it down, he took a sip from a fresh pomegranate-and-lime juice pouch, which Stefan Trummer designed to look like a Capri Sun.
Hearing this feedback is one of Stefan鈥檚 favorite parts of the Petit Gourmand project.
鈥淲hat is actually funny, and what I really enjoy, is that 鈥� the kids are the real critics. They don鈥檛 sugarcoat anything. If they like something, they tell you. If they don鈥檛, they tell you as well. As an adult chef, you need a much thicker skin. It鈥檚 like the toughest critic you can have.”
Both Claudia and Austin tried every dish on the seasonally rotating tasting menu, and that didn’t surprise Fausett. He says the key to coming up with items for the menu is to choose flavors that are familiar to kids and find a way to incorporate them in a more refined dish.
鈥淭hese are all flavors that kids like, and we鈥檙e just presenting them in a new way that involves them a little bit more and shows them what鈥檚 next in their dining lives,鈥� he says.
However, one dish needs very little refining, and that is dessert, because Chef Fausett鈥檚 option is one that pleases most every kid: a bowl of ice cream, served with all of the toppings for a make-your-own sundae, including hot fudge, salted caramel sauce, mini marshmallows, sprinkles, chocolate malt balls, Captain Crunch, skittles and the finishing touch:
鈥淲ho wants some whipped cream?鈥� the chef asks after delivering the sundaes.
Austin鈥檚 mouth is so full of ice cream he has to nod in response.
鈥淵ou gotta say 鈥榳hen,鈥欌�� Fausett says, as he squeezes the homemade cream into Austin鈥檚 already overflowing bowl.
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After the sundae bowls are scraped clean, Claudia and Austin sit back in their chairs and wait for their parents to settle the bill.
鈥淭hat was like one of the best meals I鈥檝e ever had. 鈥� Claudia says.
鈥淓verything was fresh, perfectly cooked, perfectly served,鈥� Austin responds.
The siblings go through the dishes and name their favorites, commenting on the salmon, the fried rice balls and the trout. And while it鈥檚 obvious they enjoyed aspects of every course, the favorite is unanimous: the ice cream.
Even if the Tengesdal children left the dinner table with more open minds and more refined palates, they still left as kids.
