Over the weekend, we were at Pentagon Row to hit the Harris Teeter store and World Market, so we ate dinner (during rush hour!) at Saigon Saigon, a Vietnamese restaurant which is way around to the side of the shops, well off the beaten path. Saigon Saigon is owned by a local Vietnamese family which also owns Saigon Asia in Virginia Square and Saigon Crystal in Crystal City; it's quite a good place to know about, since the establishment is in a nice, contemporarily decorated space and the prices are amazingly cheap for busy Arlington shopping districts.
We started with spring rolls, Leo's being the fried "crispy" variety, and mine the uncooked rice paper-wrapped variety. The crispy rolls came with a fish sauce for dipping and mine came with a peanut sauce; I thought the peanut sauce tasted thin and had no real flavor to it, though the roll itself was good. For our main courses, Leo had a big bowl of beef pho, the traditional Vietnamese noodle soup accompanied by a plateful of vegetables, sprouts, mint, and such to add to the broth as wanted, which he said was quite good. I had the bun cha gio—vermicelli with grilled pork. It was delicious. Vietnamese vermicelli is a rather unique dish, almost like a big salad what with all the lettuce, plus a good sized quantity of vermicelli noodles, and a very large serving of succulent strips of grilled pork on top all come in a big bowl to be mixed, and fish sauce can be added to serve as a salad "dressing." Since all they had that night for dessert was fried bananas, we opted not to have dessert.
Saigon Saigon is an excellent bargain, and I'm sure we'll be back again to try some of the other items on their menu.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
News Cafe Cucina Italiana, Georgetown, D.C.
Last Thursday when I got home from a reception in Arlington, Leo was both hungry and wanting to Christmas shop, so we walked over to Georgetown to accomplish both missions. After the shopping was done, we were on M Street, so we decided to pop into a place called News Cafe Cucina Italiana, a/k/a News Cafe Italian Kitchen. The restaurant name is an interesting mystery; we've walked by the place multitudinous times, and I hadn't realized it was an Italian place; there's also no explanation as to what "news" has to do with the restaurant, since it's not near any publishers or broadcasters and there was no evidence of journalism in the decor; in fact, it looks pretty much like any other D.C. area restaurant with the exception of the tile mosaics leftover from the previous tenant, a Moroccan restaurant, and the bright ruby walls in the front dining area.
It was close to 10 p.m. when we wandered in and we were immediately seated at a small table along the banquette side of the dining room. They were still doing decent business at that hour and during our visit. Due to the late hour, we chose to have a light supper with just one main course (the Italian tradition is two).
Leo started with some kind of martini concoction which contained green apple vodka and some melon liqueur (Midori?); I took a tiny sip and thought it was nasty, but he likes sweet drinks. I contented myself with a couple of glasses of the house champagne (which was actually a dollar cheaper per glass than the house chianti). He asked for and got bruschetta (which was not on the menu) for his antipasto, and I had the zuppa del giorno: assorted wild mushrooms in vegetable and mushroom broth (tasty enough, but I would have preferred them to have added a splash of cream). For our main courses, he had the linguini frutti di mare, which was assorted shrimp, squid, scallops, and seafood in linguine with a mildly spicy red tomato sauce, and I had one of the evening's specials, a bed of linguini in a white Alfredo sauce with a whole lobster which had been cut in half resting on top. The lobster's claw meat had been removed, dipped in melted butter, and placed in the thoracic cavity for ease of eating, and I enjoyed my lobster and pasta quite a lot. For dessert, Leo had the tiramisu, which I tasted, and it seemed good; it included real ladyfingers (laid horizontally rather than vertically, though), mascarpone cheese, and tasted of both espresso and Kahlua.
While the food was tasty at News Cafe, I found the service to be rather dismal. We quickly ate our two little breadsticks, and those were never replaced during the meal. My champagne glass stood empty for quite some time before the host (not the waiter) asked if I wanted another. We only saw the waiter when our orders were taken and the food delivered, then he was gone until it was time for the check; even then, we had to wait an inordinately long time for him to pick up the cash and bring change.
The other problem was the ventilation system. We were in a designated non-smoking section, but there was a man at the bar smoking a cigar, and that dreadful smell permeated the entire restaurant. I mentioned it to the host on the way out, and his only comment was "I know." All I can say is His Honor the Mayor had better not veto that anti-smoking-in-restaurants bill, or I'm going to be quite cross with him.
It was close to 10 p.m. when we wandered in and we were immediately seated at a small table along the banquette side of the dining room. They were still doing decent business at that hour and during our visit. Due to the late hour, we chose to have a light supper with just one main course (the Italian tradition is two).
Leo started with some kind of martini concoction which contained green apple vodka and some melon liqueur (Midori?); I took a tiny sip and thought it was nasty, but he likes sweet drinks. I contented myself with a couple of glasses of the house champagne (which was actually a dollar cheaper per glass than the house chianti). He asked for and got bruschetta (which was not on the menu) for his antipasto, and I had the zuppa del giorno: assorted wild mushrooms in vegetable and mushroom broth (tasty enough, but I would have preferred them to have added a splash of cream). For our main courses, he had the linguini frutti di mare, which was assorted shrimp, squid, scallops, and seafood in linguine with a mildly spicy red tomato sauce, and I had one of the evening's specials, a bed of linguini in a white Alfredo sauce with a whole lobster which had been cut in half resting on top. The lobster's claw meat had been removed, dipped in melted butter, and placed in the thoracic cavity for ease of eating, and I enjoyed my lobster and pasta quite a lot. For dessert, Leo had the tiramisu, which I tasted, and it seemed good; it included real ladyfingers (laid horizontally rather than vertically, though), mascarpone cheese, and tasted of both espresso and Kahlua.
While the food was tasty at News Cafe, I found the service to be rather dismal. We quickly ate our two little breadsticks, and those were never replaced during the meal. My champagne glass stood empty for quite some time before the host (not the waiter) asked if I wanted another. We only saw the waiter when our orders were taken and the food delivered, then he was gone until it was time for the check; even then, we had to wait an inordinately long time for him to pick up the cash and bring change.
The other problem was the ventilation system. We were in a designated non-smoking section, but there was a man at the bar smoking a cigar, and that dreadful smell permeated the entire restaurant. I mentioned it to the host on the way out, and his only comment was "I know." All I can say is His Honor the Mayor had better not veto that anti-smoking-in-restaurants bill, or I'm going to be quite cross with him.
Monday, December 12, 2005
The Sign of the Whale, Washington, D.C.
After going to the Advent Lessons and Carols service at St. Matthew's Cathedral last night, a small group of us walked down M Street to a pub called The Sign of the Whale for a pint of beer and half-priced burgers. Our table was right by the roaring fireplace in the bar area, where three television sets were each tuned to different sports channels. My hickory burger was tasty, though very messy to eat (nice touch of grilled onions, too); the hickory sauce was a touch sweeter than I prefer, but still good; I thought my French fries with mayonnaise for dipping were excellent. I drank a pint of Foggy Bottom Ale, a local microbrewery product, which tasted like beer (I'm not a beer person). Others liked it, though I thought it a touch fruity and possibly flat, but beers are not my area of expertise. I noticed the pub also had a separate dining room in the back, and there was another area upstairs, though it was closed last night.
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