Alamo Grill, Georgetown, D.C.

Ian and I decided to have dinner in Georgetown tonight as a combination farewell to fall semester and early Christmas celebration, and Ian was in the mood for Mexican food. So, we planned to dine at Alamo Grill on 31st Street between M Street and the canal.

We checked their Web site for hours (it said open til 11 p.m.) and then just to double check, I called about 8:30 and was told 11 p.m., so we walked all the way over to Georgetown, arriving about 9:45.

And they had already closed their kitchen! The manager came over and said basically the same thing, not being particularly sympathetic when I mentioned I'd called for the closing time and had walked all the way over from downtown. I sent him into the kitchen to see what might still be available, but when he returned, he said everything was already put away. He made no invitation to come back another night nor did he offer any kind of discount or free appetizer or something for a next visit as an "apology" for closing over an hour early.

So, my warning to you is not to make any special trips to Georgetown to eat at Alamo Grill.

Chef Geoff's Downtown, Washington, D.C.

After attending Christmas Lessons and Carols at St. John's, Robert and I wandered in to Chef Geoff's Downtown for brunch. A festive jazz quartet played Christmas songs in the front dining room. We wanted to be able to chat, though, so we asked to be seated in the back dining room.

The food was pretty much as usual. It's not bad, but it's not special. "Mediocre" is a word that doesn't really communicate well the quality of the food, since that word has more negative connotations, so, perhaps "average" is a better choice, but I don't know what to consider "average" for D.C.

Anyway, Robert had the eggs Benny, their version of eggs Benedict, with home fries. I noticed that the poached eggs, which are supposed to be served with runny yolks absent specific request, were actually a little beyond medium.



I had the American chopped salad including chicken, bacon, and blue cheese, but I found the lettuce to be rather limp (dressed before I'd ordered it?) and the salad to be very bland. With our meals, I had a mild bloody Mary and Robert had a couple of extra-spicy bloodies made with Absolute pepper vodka.



Dessert was better. Robert had a pear-cherry crisp topped with cinnamon ice cream that he thought quite good.



I had an interesting gingerbread trifle made with a thick butterscotch crème anglaise sauce and accompanied by a little poached pear resting in a pool of butterscotch crème anglaise.



After dessert, Robert had a glass of the Cockburn port. Then he decided to do a Kody Pose for us.



Chef Geoff's isn't a bad place, it's just more like an upscale Denny's. Lots of people love it and think the food is wonderful; I just have never shared that enthusiasm.