Legal Seafood, Washington, D.C.

For dinner tonight, I thought I would try the much-heralded "Legal Seafood" on K Street just north of the hotel a few blocks. I first heard about the place in my Washington DC on $80 a Day book, and then it's on the hotel's list of restaurants in walking distance. It was a bit of a splurge, but the prices were very reasonable for fresh seafood in a full service restaurant.

I began with a cup of New England clam chowder. It was creamy and rich, and had small diced potatoes with the occasional bit of carrot and lots of bits of clam in the stew. My main course was the Boston scrod, which was topped with bread crumbs and baked, accompanied by a red pepper and zuccini rice and steamed heads of broccoli. With dinner, I drank a glass of 2002 Remery pouilly fume, which was nice with the chowder, but didn't quite stand up to the fish. Dessert was a very nice lemon sorbet which was not too sweet and which had a very refreshing "bright" taste to it. They brought a plate with two large hard rolls and a big crock of whipped butter, but I forgot to eat any of the bread or the oyster crackers which came with the chowder.

I definitely want to come back to this restaurant again. They had quite a nice menu with lots and lots of fresh seafood, and the lobsters I saw coming out of the kitchen looked quite yummy.

McDonald's, Arlington, VA

Had a very interesting experience in the Food Court at the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City: McDonald's has decided to offer a new Philly cheesesteak sandwich. The idea was intriguing! So, I tried it.

Let me warn you now, they are awful! I think this will be a shorter lived experiment than those nasty McRib sandwiches they tried in Oklahoma.

Magic Gourd, Washington, D.C.

Last night, I had a nice but late dinner at the Magic Gourd, a Chinese restaurant just a couple of blocks down the street from my hotel. I ordered a half crispy duck, and when it arrived, I was presented with a huge plate full of duck pieces resting on a bed of shredded cabbage, with a bowl of white rice on the side and a good sized bowl of deep brown, sweet, moo shoo sauce. For this to have been a "half" of a duck, the duck must have been turkey sized! In the Chinese tradition, the duck had been deep fried, then chopped into pieces with a large cleaver. I wish the Chinese didn't do that....it makes it rather hard to eat the pieces of duck, since there are always pieces and shards of bone to contend with, but the flavor is always so good, it makes the mess and the extra effort worth it. A pitcher of hot Chinese tea as well as orange wedges and a fortune cookie were complimentary additions to the meal. After I finished, the server brought a hot wet washcloth for me to wipe my hands. I may go back here eventually, too--there were several interesting things on the menu, including several Chinese lamb dishes.

Bertucci's, Washington, D.C.

After Epiphany Mass tonight at St. Paul's K Street, I wandered on down M Street to a restaurant called Bertucci's for dinner. I started with an "insalata" of iceberg lettuce, tomato, shredded mozzarella cheese, a couple of very very good black olives, and three unusual long, thin pepperoncini peppers in a rather ordinary Italian dressing. My main course was their scallop and shrimp Rossini, which is a fettuccine dish in a cream sauce enriched with a little tomato puree and enlivened with a little cayenne, and with the scallops and shrimp tossed with some chopped tomato, snipped parsley, sliced mushrooms, and capers, liberally doused with freshly grated parmesan cheese. The scallops were ever so slightly over cooked, but on the whole, I liked the dish a lot. The service was rather sucky, though. The floor was understaffed, with only two waiters trying to cover twenty-two four-top tables (only about a third to half full, but still!).

At the table next to mine was yet another of the "multi-generational" gay couples which seem to be so prevalent in Washington. I'm beginning to wonder if any of the college-aged boys in this town date boys their own age! Seems like everywhere I look is a college aged boy with a middle aged man. This one seemed to be undergraduate (he was too young to drink) and the man was 40-something; judging from their conversation, they were definitely a "couple" and not family or business colleagues.

Peppers, Washington, D.C.

Speaking of dinner last night, I had a very tasty "black and blue" burger—a blackened hamburger (Cajun spices) covered with melted blue cheese, and accompanied by spicy, waffle-cut fries at a sidewalk cafe on the corner near a townhouse I viewed called Peppers (not the same Peppers as is in Utica Square in Tulsa!). My other great accomplishment of the evening was finding an actual grocery store in that neighborhood that carried twelve-packs of Diet Dr Pepper......DDP is ***hard*** to find around here! Of course, that meant hauling it home on the subway and the several block walk from the station, but it's definitely worth it! ;-)