It’s fall time and we’re weeks out from Thanksgiving!  And that means the pumpkin spice is wafting in the air.  Earls Kitchen + Bar in Tyson’s Corner is rolling out their new Canadian inspired Fall dishes and it’s a menu that hits a home run and it’s not your average fall menu.

I am not a fan of kale salad.  I know it’s a superfood and quite the trendy green, but it’s just not my cup of tea.  When the plate of Warm Kale Salad was set in front of me, I’ll admit, I turned my nose.  But being the type to try anything at least once that’s set in front of me, I dug my fork in and gave myself a hearty helping.  Let’s let’s start with this first…this salad was warm.  Not a straight out of the icebox salad, toss some toppings and dressing on top kind of salad.  The kale was warmed up which made it more tolerable for a non-kale lover to endure.  But the best part of this salad was tossing in of the roasted Brussels sprouts.  I love a salad that crunches and the Brussels sprout’s crunchy saltiness really brought this dish to life.  This salad was everything that I’ve ever wanted in a salad: salty, sweet and crunch.  The baby potatoes were roasted until the skin was crispy; the brown butter vinaigrette gave them a light sweetness.  I won’t go as far to say that this salad changed my opinion of kale but I will go as far to say that I will not hesitate to order this salad from this particular restaurant again.

A new twist on surf n’ turf.  Earls’ version of surf n’ turf is sushi and steak which is fine by me!  I love sushi and I love steak so it’s an incredible combination.  The steak comes out on a sizzling pan with great sushi flavors.  I felt that the marinated steak was a tad salty but had a great citrus flavor.  Two rolls are available: a California roll with pacific crab and a classic dynamite roll.  Most sushi connoisseurs turn their noses at a California Roll as not being “true sushi” but this is made with real lump crab with a tempura crunch.  The Dynamite Roll is probably not best judged by me since I am not very tolerant of spicy foods, but there was a nice chunk of pineapple in the roll that helped cool down the heat.

The next 3 dishes are not new to their menu but a reminder of some of their classic menu items.
To me Kung Pao is pretty much the same everywhere.  It’s not very imaginative and it’s just Americanized Chinese food.  Earls serves their Hunan Kung Pao with shrimp and Farkay noodles.  I enjoyed the noodles with the dish but am more accustomed to eating this dish with white rice.  Your mouth begins to water from just the smell alone of their Chimichurri Skirt Steak that comes out on a sizzling plate.  The meat was so tender and the chimichurri sauce was perfection.  It was slightly saltier than I like but I’d still eat a plate of it in a heartbeat.  I would’ve also loved to have the potatoes crispier like from the Warm Kale Salad.

Have I expressed that I enjoy crispiness? The Earls Bigger, Better Burger was crispy!  How they got that onion ring on the burger to be so crispy is beyond my understanding. This burger had no need for extra condiments such as ketchup because what seemed to be some kind of pico de gallo concoction of sweet tomatoes and onions gave the burger a powerful flavor.

And of course I had to save the best for last – dessert!  I tried their freshly baked Pumpkin Pie, Smores Skillet Cookie and Chocolate Sticky Toffee Pudding.  My favorite of the three was the Smores Cookie.  It tasted just like you made yourself a smore over a camp fire, but without the messiness.  I’m not a fan of pumpkin pie but theirs was actually really great.  It was light and fluffy kind of like biting into a cloud.  My least fave, which is actually an Earls Classic, was the Chocolate Sticky Toffee Pudding.  If you’re a chocolate lover, I feel that you’ll be disappointed in this dessert.  It doesn’t have the richness of a chocolate dessert but if you like chocolate, but can’t eat it because sometimes chocolate desserts and too rich for your consumption, this might be just the right dessert for you.

Go check out their new Fall Menu at Tyson’s Corner.  I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

-ADT