Dish, Washington, D.C.

Had a lovely dinner tonight at Dish, an American cuisine bistro in the River Inn, just a couple of blocks from here. The hostess seated me near the welcoming, warm fireplace and I had a fine view of the restaurant and the hotel lobby. I started with a chestnut soup that was so rich and smooth the texture resembled a caramel sauce, and it had a lovely chestnut sweetness to it. For the main course, I had a medallion of beef chargrilled to a medium rare presented on a bed of fresh creamed spinach and topped with a mound of fine shreds of fried potato.

Dessert was a warm apple and pear tarte with a scoop of cinnamon ice cream that was much more like an apple crisp, with that sweet crunchy topping. The tarte was garnished with a very very thin vertical slice of pear which had been bake-dried to potato chip-crispness. I don't know if I was supposed to eat it or not, but I couldn't resist, and it had a yummy, crunchy, toasted, sweet pear taste. Coffee with cream completed the meal.