Le Pigalle, Washington, D.C.

While Ryan and I were in the Dupont neighborhood picking up a DVD Friday night, we decided to grab dinner at a litte French bistro called Le Pigalle. This was my first time to Le Pigalle in its current form (it opened last spring); in January 2005 when I ate here, it was called "Peppers" and I remember having had a blue cheese hamburger with fries. Well, it's no longer a casual burger and beer kind of place!

Actually, I was a little apprehensive about trying this place. Even though the chef and management are alumni of Bistrot du Coin, the restaurant reviewer for The Washington Post majorly trashed this place in his review last month. Of course, Mr. Sietsema and I seem to have very different experiences at the same places. Some of the places about which he raves I think are crap and/or not worth the money, and some of the places he criticizes I find to be worthwhile. He gave Le Pigalle a zero out of four stars, but that very simply wasn't our experience.

We opted to sit on the large, red awning-covered patio and got a nice-sized interior table. We didn't go inside the restaurant, so I don't know what's in there, but through the windows we could see some big screen video monitors playing Europop music videos.

Ryan started off with one of those weird, fruity, pineapple juice and several kinds of alcohol "martinis." I took a sip and it was way to sweet for my tastes, so I stuck with my iced tea.

Meanwhile, I started off with the soupe du jour, a cold green pea soup. It was lovely. They made it very much like a vichyssoise, so it was cold, rich, and creamy. I could have eaten another bowl.



Our main courses were both very nice. Ryan had the canard aux trois poivre, two leg quarters of duck with a three pepper sauce. The duck had a nice crispy skin on the outside and looked to be tender and juicy on the inside. The sauce was served on the side in a separate gravy boat. He also got pommes frites with his duck.



I chose the salade Pigalle. This was a rather unusual French-style potato salad with fried bits of prosciutto and crumbled up bleu cheese served atop a bed of greens and crowned with a sunny-side-up fried egg. It looked a bit small on arrival, but it turned out to be nicely filling. The Post reviewer accused this salad of being a way for the restaurant to empty out its refrigerator, but all I can say, then, is that they have a very nice refrigerator.



Dessert was tempting. Some small confections brought to us on a dessert tray that looked fun and adorable. It was late, though, and I was full (and Ryan chose to spend his food budget on that big martini), so we had to pass, but I'd love to try some of them on a future visit.



So, there you have my tale. We noted none of the problems mentioned in the review, we found the hostess pleasant and quick, and our waitress did a good job with bistro-style service. I'll be happy to go back another time.

Cafe Asia, Arlington, Va.

The other day on one of those high 90-degree days, Leo and I were wandering around the Rosslyn neighborhood of Arlington going up and down surprisingly steep hills. To rest and cool off, we decided to have a late lunch on the main drag at Cafe Asia.

Cafe Asia is very popular with the after-work crowd, since they have an inexpensive happy hour and the arrangement and decor is low and Asian-contemporary, lending itself to good socializing. This particular afternoon, though, it was quiet and only a few tables were occupied. We got a nice two-top table by the window wall.

While I had my ubiquitous iced tea, Leo had a jar of ice cold sake. Then we ordered.

It was so hot that day, I wanted something light and simple, so I ordered the bun, a Vietnamese style noodle and lettuce salad with grilled chicken on top.

Leo started with a big plateful of fried squid a/k/a calimari cut into strips instead of the usual Italian-style rings that came with a hot, spicy, sweet and sour type sauce. I tried some of it, and it was light, tender, and very well done--I'd recommend it to anyone trying this restaurant.



For his main course, he had several types of fish and eel sushi. I neglected to take any pictures of the main courses, but I did get some of the appetizer and dessert.

Speaking of dessert, we split a mango sticky rice, which turned out to be some of the best mango sticky rice we've had at any of the Asian restaurants in the metropolitan area.

Copra, Baltimore, Md.

Once I got done with a meeting in Baltimore this morning, my friend John came and picked me up and, after a detour to his school to pick up some things from his classroom, we went to lunch in downtown Baltimore at a place called Copra, conveniently located across from John's condo and a half block or so from the church where he's the organist.

Copra's is a comfortable downtown cafe probably more popular for its bar and happy hour. While not a fish place, there was a prominent seafood odor when we entered. The place is done up in dark woods and colors in sort of a modern, clubby style.

Since Tuesdays are half price wine day, we decided to try a bottle of Los Caldos Doña Paula Malbec 2005, a nice little red from the Mendoza region of Argentina. I've been drinking a lot of Argentine wines of late because of their quality and affordability, and this particular malbec did not disappoint.

We ended up ordering the same food for lunch. I was having a hard time making up my mind, so I took his lead and followed along. I actually wanted some Maryland crab cakes, but they only had a crab cake sandwich and some small cakes for appetitizers, and there were no crab cake entrees. They also had a big selection of entree salads that seemed enticing, but I turned them down. What did we get? We had the meatloaf with tomato marmalade and baked macaroni and cheese.

The meatloaf was okay, though I'm not sure what made the tomato marmalade "marmalade" as opposed to just sauce. The macaroni and cheese also was quite tasty, but slightly on the salty side.



For dessert, we split a bananas Foster ice cream cake. It was better as it thawed a bit. The waiter recommended it over the carrot cake.



John was supposed to have had someone coming in for an audition at 1:30, but she called and rescheduled until "3-ish," which gave us time for a cup of coffee and a cognac (we originally ordered port, but the waiter came back and reported that the port bottles were in the bar but all empty!).

Here's a picture of John in his Kody Pose shortly after the wine arrived (and the wine spill made by the waiter cleaned up), followed by another with the cognac and coffee at the end of the meal.