La Tasca Spanish Tapas Bar and Restaurant, Arlington, Va.

My friend Joe and I went to La Tasca Spanish Tapas Bar and Restaurant in the Clarendon area of Arlington this afternoon for lunch and a bit of a business conversation. Tapas are little plates of food, sort of small appetizer size, that are a Spanish tradition. As people drank sherry and wine in the late afternoon at Spanish bars, patrons had two challenges: staving off hunger until dinnertime in a culture that typically doesn't eat dinner until 10 p.m. and keeping flies and insects out of their glasses of sherry. Initially, bars served slices of hard sausages that could be placed over the tops of wine glasses as people drank and socialized, nibbling a bit now and then on the sausage, and that eventually evolved into what is now a plethora of tasty cold and hot dishes. La Tasca is part of a small chain in the United States with other restaurants in Alexandria, Baltimore, and the District that also just happens to be owned by an English company founded in Manchester that operates about 55 La Tascas throughout the United Kingdom.

We started off with sangria as we perused the menu, Joe selecting a traditional sangria tinta with red wine, oranges, and apples (and using it for his Kody Pose above), and me picking the cava sangria with Spanish sparkling wine (called a "cava"—think Freixenet Cordon Negro), brandy, Triple Sec, and grape juice.

After discussing our many, many options, we decided upon five tapas to share. They were, from left to right below, pollo al ajillo (grilled chicken in white wine and garlic, montado de salmon y queso fresco (smoked salmon and cream cheese on toast), and gambas al ajillo (shrimp sauteed in olive oil with garlic and guindilla peppers)in this photo...



and albondigas a la jardinera (meatballs with vegetable and tomato sauce), and espinacas salteadas (sauteed spinach with garlic, pine nuts, and raisins) in this photo.



Afterwards, we shared a tarta de café con leche y salsa de café, which was a light coffee mousse pie with Spanish espresso sauce and slivvered almonds garnished with a squirt of whipped cream and dusted with cocoa. I thought it was very nice, and Joe, who said he didn't want dessert, seemed to concur, as he ate most of it.



It was quite a pleasant afternoon, since Joe is an excellent conversationalist and quite intelligent. We're also both former lawyers looking for professional fulfillment via other avenues, so that gives us a lot in common to discuss. The food at La Tasca was very good and the service was attentive, two things I don't always find in tapas bars here in the District. I'm looking forward to another lunch with Joe soon.

La Crêperie, Arlington, Va.

Leo came home from work Wednesday night and wanted to go to shopping, so, off we went to Pentagon City. We had dinner at La Crêperie in Pentagon Row, and I found the usually good eaterie rather disappointing.

I had the hanger steak and fries. The fries were good. The hanger steak, however, was three little, thin, chewy slices of beef in a wine-spiked brown sauce. There was also a mound of frozen mixed vegetables on the plate, some of the lima beans suffering from freezer burn.

Leo had the sole in mustard sauce with the same fries as frozen vegetables I had. The "sole" looked more like a fillet of flounder meuniere to me, and Leo wasn't impressed with it at all. For dessert, he had a crêpe au miel et chocolat, a large French pancake folded in half, drizzled with chocolate sauce and honey, then sprinkled with chopped almonds. I had one bite of it and it was good, though I thought the crêpe had a bit of an off-taste to it as though it had been pre-prepared and held, absorbing some odors along the way.

Not a good night for La Crêperie.

Eeek!

Do you realize that Thanksgiving is in one week???

Bistro D'Oc, Washington, D.C.

Sunday evening Matt, Robert, Jon, and I met at Bistro D'Oc, a little French place across the street from Ford's Theatre which is quickly becoming one of my more favored French restaurants in town. It's in an old building in an older and still-not-gentrified part of downtown, so it retains that charm so common to true bistros in France. What's more, their Languedoc-style food from the south of France always satisfies and is quite delicious.

Whilst Matt and I drove around looking for a parking place (the Hard Rock Cafe is just down the block, hence the congestion), Robert and Jon had aperitif wine and cognac as they waited.

There were a number of interesting specials of the day listed on a white markerboard transported from table to table. We chose to order a few things from there as well as things from the standard printed menu.

Robert was feeling quite ducky, so he started with the pâté maison, a large slice of duck liver and pepper pâté served with fig compote, French olives, pickled onion, and cornichon pickles. It looked quite good, and Jon, who sampled a bit, thought it was nice, as well.



Then for a main course, Robert selected the confit de canard Grand Merè, a wonderful-smelling duck leg quarter roasted then fried in duck fat (the traditional confit technique), and served with mushrooms, potatoes, bacon, and shallots, then garnished with a sprig of fresh rosemary.



Unfortunately, there were no duck desserts on the menu, so Robert had to satisfy himself with a custardy, warm raspberry brioche pudding swimming on a mirror of Cointreau-spiked apricot purée dusted with confectioner's sugar and decorated with a mint sprig. It was lovely and looked delicious. Quack.



Jon began with a potage parisien that required two waiters to serve. One waiter brought a soup plate containing only a small mound of shredded al dente carrots in the middle. The second waiter then carefully poured a thick, green potato and leek soup around the carrots, so as to leave the bright orange carrot center visible. A little tiny ramekin of crumbled gruyere cheese and little croutons was on the side to allow Jon to add them at will.



His main course was l'onglet de boeuf grille avec pommes frites, a thick, grilled tenderloin steak served with French fries and a little red wine reduction "Languedoc sauce." Judging from the rapidity with which it disappeared and the plate was licked clean, I presume it was good.



For his dessert, he chose the Griotte from the special daily menu. Now, "Griotte" is the brand-name of a special European fruit liqueur made from cherry juice and bitter-almond essences; I not sure, though, if there was any Griotte in this dish, since the whiteboard described it as cherries soaked in armagnac (an expensive, fruitier type of cognac or brandy) served over French vanilla ice cream with meringue and clouds of whipped cream. A thin almond cookie spear and a mint sprig adorned the top. Whatever was in it, both he and Robert raved about the alcoholic cherries.



Matt commenced with the cream of pumpkin soup with brie gratinée, a delicious soup I've had on previous visits. The photo doesn't show the brilliant orange color of the soup itself underneath all that melted cheese. His brie gratinée also had a little strip of gruyere melted on top.



A wonderfully fragrant l'échine de veau braise Bistro D'Oc served as his main course. It contained braised veal chunks, tomatoes, and olives along with a large mound of mashed potatoes.



For his dessert he chose one of his favorite desserts, the hot profiteroles. Profiteroles are little cream puff shells filled with balls of vanilla ice cream and then drizzled with chocolate syrup; Bistro D'Oc's version used hot, rich pools of hot fudge sauce instead of chocolate syrup, then dusted the entire dish with cocoa powder.



Choosing a simpler route for dinner, I ordered the croque monsieur, the traditional French ham and cheese sandwich. They took a croissant, sliced it in half, then dipped and fried it like French toast. Mounds of thinly shaved ham and slices of Swiss cheese got piled on the croissant, and after baking long enough to warm the ham and melt the cheese, it came to the table resting atop an ample supple of pommes frites; fresh mayonnaise came with the fries for dipping. It was one of the better croques messieurs I've had in D.C.



And, what would a dinner in D.C. be without a proper Kody Pose from our guest of honor?

Mitsisam, Washington, D.C.

Sunday afternoon we walked down towards the Capitol where the Washington National Opera simulcast was taking place and stood in the rain long enough to hear the Humming Chorus and the end of act two. Then the guys were getting peckish from lack of food, so we popped into the National Museum of the American Indian and headed to Mitsisam, their cafeteria specializing in American Indian foods from across the continent.

Jon just had a bag of chips and I just had a little pecan tart and a glass of sassafras tea. I was disappointed that they were out of fry bread! Because, I guess, it was so late in the day and attendance was way down due to the weather, more than half of the food lines were closed down, most especially the ones that served my favorite kinds of Indian food. All that was open were the Plains and the Northwest Coast counters. Robert and Matt, though, both opted for pulled bison sandwiches, with shreds of roasted bison meat piled up on a big kaiser bun and topped with a cabbage slaw of a sort. I didn't taste them, but they both reported that they were good. Matt also had some thick pumpkin cookies he liked a lot.

Matt posed for his Kody Pose using sassafras tea:

Mitsisam, Washington, D.C.

Sunday afternoon we walked down towards the Capitol where the Washington National Opera simulcast was taking place and stood in the rain long enough to hear the Humming Chorus and the end of act two. Then the guys were getting peckish from lack of food, so we popped into the National Museum of the American Indian and headed to Mitsisam, their cafeteria specializing in American Indian foods from across the continent.

Jon just had a bag of chips and I just had a little pecan tart and a glass of sassafras tea. I was disappointed that they were out of fry bread! Because, I guess, it was so late in the day and attendance was way down due to the weather, more than half of the food lines were closed down, most especially the ones that served my favorite kinds of Indian food. All that was open were the Plains and the Northwest Coast counters. Robert and Matt, though, both opted for pulled bison sandwiches, with shreds of roasted bison meat piled up on a big kaiser bun and topped with a cabbage slaw of a sort. I didn't taste them, but they both reported that they were good. Matt also had some thick pumpkin cookies he liked a lot.

Matt posed for his first of three Kody Poses for the day, using sassafras tea: