David Greggory Restau-Lounge, Washington, D.C.

Last night we finally got around to dining at David Greggory Restau-Lounge, a popular "retro-forward" place in the West End we've walked past dozens of times on our way to and fro other destinations. It's also been on my radar screen since May, when the establishment was rented out for the exclusive 80th birthday party for gay rights leader Frank Kameny, and if 160 homosexuals party at a restaurant, you know it's good! (For those of you who don't recognize Kameny's name, he was Ph.D. Army astronomer and WWII hero who was the first person to challenge the Eisenhower Administration's policy that gay federal employees could be fired or denied employment for "sexual perversion" in 1957, eventually going to the Supreme Court in 1961; in 1971 he was the first openly gay person to run for public office; he led the local movement that succeeded in decriminalizing sodomy in the District of Columbia in 1993; he was one of the leaders of the movement to convince the American Psychiatric Association to vote homosexuality off the list of mental illnesses in 1973.)

Located in the ground floor corner of an office building at the corner of a busy three-street intersection, David Greggory takes up a surprisingly large amount of real estate, all of which has been decorated in a starkly contemporary, yet warm way. The luxe decor even carries over into the rest rooms, where floor to ceiling panes of frosted glass serve as partitions, floors and walls are polished red and brown marble, and bright copper bowls on glass countertops serve as lavatory basins. Different styles of contemporary art from eight different artists hang on the interior walls (the exterior walls are all windows) and are available for sale. This contemporary backdrop provides the canvas for the duo-restauranteurs' culinary concept, that of taking traditional comfort foods and "updating" them with world fusion ideas and 21st century foods and techniques. It's an interesting idea and rather fun, though I think I would tire of it rather quickly if I dined here often.

While we perused the menu, Leo sipped a DGtini, a vodka martini which looked and tasted very much like a margarita. His appetizer was the chicken empanadas, which were two small empanadas filled with smoked chicken and spices, then arranged in a small au gratin dish atop lettuce leaves, some very spicy guacamole, and something they called Salsa Mexicana. I had the deviled egg assortment; they brought me a plate with three egg halves, one filled with the egg yolk mixture with heavy herbs, one with minced smoked salmon, and one with lots of bacon crumbles; the eggs rested on a bed of watercress (at first I thought it was spinach, til I tasted the pepperiness of the watercress) with three grape-tomato halves, dressed in a drizzle of olive oil. We also were served a basket with tiny round wheat rolls, small wedges of foccacia, and small slices of what looked to be a wheat sourdough loaf.

This might be a good time to mention the restaurant's penchant for pork dishes. There were a lot of pork and bacon dishes on the menu, every Wednesday they have "Pork and Pinot" night, and they've been having monthly "Aphrodisiac Bacon Dinners," the next of which is Monday night. And, kosher and vegan diners should beware: many dishes and vegetables are seasoned or garnished with bacon.

They encourage compiling different assortments of small dishes to make up a dinner here, from appetizers to half-sized entrees to full-sized entrees. I like the possibilities here, since I prefer multiple courses at dinner and modern portion size is much too large for four or five course dinners. For our entrees, we both opted for half-sized entrees, and they were plenty big. Leo surprised me and didn't order the sea scallops on grilled spinach, but he got the seared jumbo lump crabcake (he's supposed to be allergic to crab). His crabcake arrived resting on two large, crossed, steamed asparagus spears, all floating on a mirror of mango shallot puree and accompanied by a red bell pepper relish. When I asked him how it was, he said, "It was good. It tastes like chicken." I opted for "Not Quite Mom’s Meatloaf," a surprising little dish which had an individual meatloaf stuffed with foie gras mousse that was then cooked and served rare in a pool of roasted tomato sauce and then garnished with diagonal stripes of whole-grain brown mustard and a very liberal sprinkling of crumbled bacon. The meatloaf normally comes with garlic mashed potatoes, but I asked for a non-carb substitute and got a large serving of braised greens. I liked the meatloaf, but if I get it again, I think I'll ask it be cooked a bit more than rare—it's not steak tartare!

For dessert, Leo had a Tres Leches cake with caramelized bananas. The "Tres Leches" that I'm used to from the Cubans in Miami was a yellow cake soaked with three milks—cream, coconut milk, and rum—and then frosted with whipped cream. David Greggory's version reminded me a bit of a banana upside down cake, with gooey banana slices militantly arranged on top, the cake being banana flavored, and, sadly, there was no rum involved. Don't know about the coconut milk, either, since Leo reported only banana taste. While he devoured the entire piece-of-cake-for-two, I drank a little espresso macciato.

One of the other little niceties of David Greggory was their free little boxes of matches—except they didn't contain matches, they are filled with little candy red hots.

On the whole, David Greggory is a nice restaurant (or "restau-lounge", as they call themselves) with a much higher standard and level of service than one would expect for their more modest West End prices. There were plenty of waiter's assistants running around tending to the tables, but our actual waiter was unfortunately scarce; in his defense, though, he and another waitress got pulled shortly after our arrival to tend to a party of 19 lawyers who came in without a reservation. So, next time you're on the M Street strip, consider this place for dinner and drinks.

The "official" beaujolais nouveau party

Tonight, the official beaujolais nouveau party was at the French Embassy here in D.C.. Unlike Bistrot du Coin's party last night, the Embassy party has a limited number of tickets, admission is $65 per person instead of being free, and they have actual food with the wines (the Bistrot only served bread and only had one wine).

I didn't want to go to the Embassy party alone, and I couldn't find anyone around interested in French food and wine, so I stayed home. Probably just as well, since I'd be wanting to eat and drink everything, and that's not on my diet. But, had I gone, this is what they were serving:

Menu

Salmon steak in a dill sauce
Beef Bourguignon
Ratatouille of fresh vegetables
Scalloped Potatoes
Assortment of Charcuteries, Saussisson, Ham, pates,
Mousses, Terrines, cornichon, and onions
Assortments of Cheese, fruits, breads, and crackers
Seven Grain Salad: Wild rice, green beans, garbanzo beans,
Kamut, Millet, Barley, and Tomatoes
Salade Landaise: eggs, smoked duck breast, croutons, and mesclun
with balsamic vinaigrette dressing
Desserts & Mini Pastries


Beaujolais Nouveau Wines to be Presented

Domaine Manoir du Carra
Maison Lamartine
Domaine du Perret
Georges Duboeuf
Joseph Drouhin
Bouchard Aine

Beaujolais Nouveau 2005 Report

Le beaujolais nouveau est arrivé!

Once again, it's the third Thursday of November, and the newest crop of beaujolais nouveau has been presented. I'm just in from the annual party at Bistrot du Coin, where a totally packed restaurant welcomed the new wine and uncorked the first bottles at 12:01 a.m.

The trendy bistro, up near Dupont Circle here in D.C., removed all of its tables and chairs from its floor to allow for the huge crowd, and bouncers at the door had to regulate the flow of people in and out with a line remaining outside in the cold even when I left a little before 1 a.m. A disco sound system blared Euro-Pop (or is it Euro-Trash? I forget) music for those who wanted to endulge the fantasy that there was actually enough room to dance. As one made his or her way through the crush of people to the bars, the bistrot was giving away free glasses of wine. It wasn't a terribly elegant thing—they used those large red plastic cups—but they quickly had the crowd to where they were feeling no pain.


(this was right before I left, when the crowd had thinned considerably)

They served the Georges Duboeuf wine. I do believe this is the best beaujolais nouveau I've tasted in nearly a decade. The wine is very smooth and fruity with good color and aftertaste. It's not a dry wine, and it doesn't have the feeling of being "thin" or "tannic" in the mouth as have some in the recent past. The fruitiness is a good blend of all the desirable wine notes, and there's a touch of spice in the nose. This should be an excellent vintage with broad appeal. I heartily recommend it for everyone's Thanksgiving dinner.

Menu planning for the holidays

Thanksgiving is just a little more than a week away, and along with the fun and excitement of the family gathering and meal. But, for many people, Thanksgiving is a day which has them trembling and shaking in enormous stress. Why? They are cooking the family Thanksgiving dinner.

The vast majority of my friends share one personality trait in common: Obsessive-compulsive perfectionism. That means that for them, everything has to be "just so," and when things aren't perfect, they'll fall apart to varying degrees. So, being a veteran of designing and cooking dozens of family holiday dinners, let me offer a few of tips for your holiday sanity and success to keep you from falling apart and having to overdose on your Buspar or Ativan.

First, your family isn't going to be that critical of your results. They are just glad they they don't have to do the cooking! And, if you know that the one Asshole family member will criticize your meal, just remember that if your meal is perfect, the Asshole will find something else to criticize, so just smile, relax, and ignore the Asshole.

Second, keep the menu simple, small, and manageable. They already know you have impeccable taste, so you don't need to try to impress them with some fancy-schmancy ultra-gourmet recreation of standard Thanksgiving fare. Further, if you are like me, your stove only has four burners on top and the oven will only hold one turkey and one thin, flat casserole dish. Count!

Third, avoid food poisoning your family. Use a meat thermometer (don't have one? go buy one today) to cook your turkey to the correct 180-degree inside-thigh temperature (don't rely on those worthless little pop-up thingies) and bake your stuffing or dressing in a separate pan, not inside your turkey. Don't pre-set food on the table as it gets done, cause you want to keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold until serving time.

Fourth, NEVER NEVER NEVER cook a brand new recipe for the family dinner that you've never cooked at least once before. If you are bound and determined to cook something on the 24th which you've never cooked before, be it a brand new recipe or an old family tradition, prepare it once this week for the practice and experience.

Fifth, children will be children, and the presence of multiple children in the same room increases exponentially the liklihood that something will get broken. Keep that in mind when deciding what china and stemware to use and whether or not you have objets d'art in your home which need to be put away for the day.

Sixth, stash a bottle of your favor wine/liquor somewhere where no one can find it. This is for you and your spouse/significant other Thanksgiving night after everyone has gone home.

Follow these Six Rules, and I'm sure your family Thanksgiving dinner will be a marvelous success!