Old Ebbitt Grill, Washington, D.C.

After our tour of the White House Christmas decorations yesterday, we walked across the street for lunch at Old Ebbitt Grill, one of the old, traditional restaurants in town that dates back to the 19th century. We had early reservations, so we were able to get right in.

There are so many good things on their menu, it's always hard to pick. Ian chose the grilled chicken pappardelle, a pasta dish with roasted eggplant, mozzarella cheese balls, and a marinara sauce. Robert had the walrus burger with bacon accompanied by French fries. Ryan selected the meatloaf with mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy. I had the lump crab cake accompanied by the most wonderful sweet potato gratin—rather like scalloped potatoes, though with sweet potatoes, and with a subtle spicy bite.









Dessert was fun as well. Ryan had New York style cheesecake with raspberry sauce, Robert had the pecan pie with vanilla ice cream, and Ian had the rum raisin bread pudding with vanilla ice cream, coconut cream and caramel sauce. I abstained.

Marshall's Bar and Grille, Washington, D.C.

Nephew Ryan finished his fall quarter at Dartmouth yesterday, and showed up in D.C. late last night for a quick pre-Christmas visit.

He immediately wanted dinner, so Robert and Ian joined us and we all went to Marshall's Bar and Grille for a late supper.



Dinner was simple. Ryan had chicken strips, Robert had a steak quesadilla, Ian had the chicken pasta, and I had a little rather cheap-quality ribeye steak.









For dessert, Ian had the amaretto cheesecake and Robert had tiramisu.

Yee Hwa Korean Japanese Restaurant, Washington, D.C.

After I got home tonight from the service and recital, Leo wanted to go to dinner and picked Yee Hwa Korean Japanese Restaurant in the West End. He's been wanting Korean food for weeks. I'm always reluctant to go, since I like eating Korean food, but I seem to be allergic to something or other that they use in cooking, cause I always end up feeling sick after dinner (and I can feel it starting already). It's happened in Korean restaurants all over the country, but, I eat it anyway.

To start, Leo started with hae mul pa jeon, an enormous double pancake made of rice, stuffed with scallions, and served with egg custard, five kim-chee and vegetable condiments, and a peppery dipping sauce. It was certainly big enough for a complete meal! And that was just Leo's appetizer! Meanwhile, I had a simple tossed green side salad, but it turned out to be huge and topped with lots and vegetables, accompanied by a big bowl of ginger-sesame-soy dressing.

Here's the pancake (the plate is oversized, by the way) with condiments and then in the next picture is the custard.





Ordering his usual Korean favorite, Leo got the dolsot bi bim bap. This is a classic, popular Korean dish that really is rather unusual. They take a big serving of rice in a big stoneware bowl and pile all kinds of chopped vegetables (but think more oriental vegetables) and stuff I don't know what is....I'm thinking maybe seaweed or some type of mushroom....on top, then they top it with a sunny-side up fried egg. It comes with a fiery hot pepper sauce.



I had a dish called man doo guk. It was very interesting. They made a bunch of demilunar beef dumplings they put in a beef broth along with some very thin slices of beef. There were a few cellophane noodles there as well, plus a lot of scallions and a little beaten egg drizzled in. The thing that made the soup so different, though, was the presence of seaweed in the broth. When I first tasted the soup, I was a little taken aback by the pronounced seafood flavor in a beef dish, but then I figured out it was because of the seaweed, and then I got used to it. They also brought me a little container of steamed white rice to go along with my soup.



After dinner, they brought us little cups of a cold ginger punch that was delicious and quite refreshing.

Lebanese Taverna, Arlington, Va.

Robert and I had dinner the other night in Arlington, popping in to Lebanese Taverna for some of their mezza offerings. Mezza is a series of small dishes similar in style to Spanish tapas, but with each serving being a little larger than the typical tapas. We were, fortunately, just early enough to be seated immediately; soon after, the place got crowded.

Robert ordered the laban b'khyar, a salad made of yogurt with cucumbers, garlic, and mint (sorry about the overexposed photo; it's hard to take pictures of white food in a white dish in a dark room) and the lamb and beef shawarma.





I started with the hommos special, the usual puréed chickpea and sesame seed dip, but what made it "special" is that it was topped with ground meat, pine nuts, and almonds. Then I moved to a Lebanese salad, which was a large lettuce salad with good sized quantities of tomatoes, cucumber, green peppers, parsley, mint, and onions all tossed together and in a light garlic dressing.





Neither of us opted for dessert. With our first courses, Robert drank a Reserve Du Couvent Ksara white and I had a La Dame Blanche Kefraya white; with the second course Robert had the Silver Selection Massaya red. All of the wines were from Lebanon.

And, here's Robert with his Kody Pose: