News about Ris Lacoste

In other restaurant news, I learned today that Chef Ris Lacoste of 1789 Restaurant is leaving after the first of the year to start her own restaurant. That's going to be quite a blow to 1789, and it makes me wonder if their corporate owners, the Clyde's group, is wanting to cut costs and quality. We shall have to see who they hire to take over next year. Lacoste has been there so long and has such a reputation and devoted following I can only imagine that friction has come up with the owners.

600 Restaurant, Washington, D.C.

After tonight's National Symphony Orchestra concert at the Kennedy Center, my friend Steven and I stopped for a late-night supper at 600 Restaurant, next door in the Watergate complex.

600 Restaurant is, surprisingly, the only place in the Watergate complex that stays open late to accommodate post-concert and post-theater crowds. I've heard that a lot of the casts, opera chorus members, and others gather in the bar after concerts and dress rehearsals, so I was anxious to try it. Once there, I could see why they just gather at the bar, since the food was a little on the pricey side (but really not that bad for D.C.). Foggy Bottom has a decided shortage of affordable restaurants with full bars.

When we walked in, we weren't sure if the restaurant was open or not. We saw quite a number of waiters sitting around, looking bored, and no customers in either the dining room or the bar. So, even though we didn't have a reservation, we didn't have a bit of trouble getting a good table! Eventually the dining room began to fill up a bit, but it was more from the Chinese opera crowd rather than symphony goers.

There were a number of very interesting entrees on the menu, from an Australian rack of lamb ($32) to a filet mignon (also $32) to a sea bass ($28) to Maryland crab cakes ($26). They also have a dinner prix fixe option adding two more courses for an additional $10, but I didn't think that was that great of a deal. We also decided we really weren't that hungry tonight, so we opted for several lighter morsels.

Steven chose the lobster bisque and a cheese tray for two. I had lobster bisque, a spinach salad, and the artichoke and borsin fondue.

I found the lobster bisque rather ordinary. It was kind of thin and garnished with a very light sprinkling of chopped parsley, and no sour cream, creme fraiche, or anything else to enrich it. The spinach salad was tasty. Had all the traditional stuff in it, with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing served in a little glass on the side. The cheese tray had a big chunk of gouda with the red wax still on it, a brie, a mild blue, and a chevre, plus berries and grapes and a whole bunch of water crackers. I'm not sure what I was expecting for the artichoke and borsin fondue. It was good, but think artichoke dip with little rounds of grilled baguette slices.

For dessert, I had a dinky bowl of fresh strawberries and blueberries with a squirt of commercial whipped cream on top. Steven had a creme brulee that looked good, but he reported that it was thoroughly chilled, which means the brulees had been prepared in advance.

By staying away from the main entree items, we were successful in crafting a decent, fairly inexpensive dinner tonight. I don't know that our late night experience is representative of 600 Restaurant's usual performance. Their credentials, reviews, and press are all pretty good, but I found our food to be fairly mediocre for an expensive restaurant, and lots and lots of corners had been cut to speed preparation and serving times.

Julia's Empanadas, Washington, D.C.

During the lunch hour today, I was in the MacPherson Square area northeast of the White House and happened upon a little shop called Julia's Empanadas at the corner of Vermont and K. Practically every world culture has some kind of meat pie, and the Latin American cultures are no different with their empanadas. I was struck by the artistry and care taken with the empanadas at Julia's, though; the pastry seams were very artistically joined and even decorated. They had a big variety of empanadas, too, including turkey, chicken, beef, spinach and cheese, and "Jamaican" (goat??), all of which they sell for the very reasonable price of $3.18. I had a "Chilean" empanada, which was a traditional beef and raisin recipe.

They also had dessert empandas, and I tried the pear and almond one, which had the pastry drawn up into a little bag shape, tied with a string at the top. I noticed on their menus that they have miniature "cocktail sized" empanadas, too, which you can order in advance for parties. It's a good place, and I look forward to going by again to try some of the other meats and flavors.

Logan Tavern, Washington, D.C.

Tonight we had a great party at one of the P street bars, but after a couple of hours, we were all hungry, so quite a few of us meandered down the street to the Logan Tavern, where we grabbed dinner and more cocktails. Below is our waiter.



Things got exciting at the restaurant when a skillet caught fire, and instead of dealing with it in the vented open kitchen, someone carried the smoking skillet to the dishwashing area and put water on it, which created clouds of smoke and set off the smoke alarms! Strobe lights flashed and an obnoxious beep beep beep......beep beep beep......beep beep beep.....pummeled our ears for a good fifteen to twenty minutes before the Washington D.C. fire department showed up to turn off the noise. At least the beeping was in tempo with the thumping of the background music. Meanwhile, the restaurant could have been burning down, but none of the guests got up to evacuate.







The restaurant gave us all free desserts for putting up with the noise. The most popular dessert at the table seemed to be a mango-flavored key lime pie. I was hoping to get to see the firemen, but even though two trucks showed up, only three guys got out and walked around. Finally, though, all the excitement died down and we got to finish our dinners in relative peace.

Hard Times Cafe, Alexandria, VA

One of Leo's friends was starring in a play at the Lee Center for the Performing Arts in Alexandria last night, so we wandered down to Old Town to see him. After the play, Leo and I walked up to King Street, where we were in quest of an open restaurant at 11 p.m. We landed at a greasy-spoon looking place called the Hard Times Cafe, which, Leo tells me, is actually some kind of small chain with over a dozen cafes in the D.C. metropolitan area. Hard Times considers itself a chili parlor, and this particular cafe was decorated with old Oklahoma and Texas area photographs, flags, and memorabilia, with some Patsy Cline record playing incessantly on the jukebox. I heard the waitress tell another table they should go select something different from the jukebox if they didn't like that Cline song which was on perpetual repeat.

Since it was my first visit, the fun waitress brought me a little chili sampler—a special square, ceramic plate with four little wells to hold the different types of chili. And the chilis were interesting: a "Texas" chili made with ground beef and a little too much grease; a "Cincinnati" chili based on a rather sweet Greek recipe including cinnamon (my Tulsa readers will recall their trips to the originally-Greek-owned Coney Islander and the unique taste of their chili, which is a similar cinnamon-scented recipe); a "Terlingua Red" chili which was meatier and spicier than the "Texas"; and a "vegetarian" chili which was an abomination composed of mushrooms, onions, peppers, and peanuts.

I ended up with a Frito chili pie made with the Terlingua Red. It was a big bowl of Fritos (they forgot to crush them!) with a couple of ladles of chili, then handfuls of diced tomatoes, onions, and shredded cheddar cheese, with a big dollop of sour cream on top. Leo ordered an "authentic coney dog," which turned out to be a huge platter with two coneys and a mound of French fries, plus a pickle spear he gave to me to eat. Little squares of sweet, cakey, "northern-style" cornbread came with our entrees.

Many of you won't like Hard Times Cafe, but I like this kind of white trash food, so there's a good chance I'll be back. I want a big plate of chili mac (spaghetti and chili)! They also have racks of ribs. The food was good, the waitress was very friendly, and the kitchen was surprisingly fast.

Chadwick's, Washington, D.C.

I had a lovely lunch yesterday of some delicious fish and chips at Chadwick's in Friendship Heights, where I met up in the rain with my friend Robert for a shopping excursion at Mazza Gallerie and other area stores. The fish was fresh, flaky, and flavorful, and I was pleased that the waitress brought us a bottle of malt vinegar, which is the traditional British fish accompaniment, instead of high-calorie tartare sauce. Robert had the same. For first courses, I had a bowl of clam chowder and he had a big basket of fried calimari and jalapeño peppers (a combination I would never have thought of, and I noticed he didn't eat the peppers).