Thursday, January 18, 2007

Bistro Français, Georgetown, D.C.

For one of the great cities of the world, Washington, D.C., is rather unique in that there is virtually zero late night life. I suppose this is not all that surprising where the town's Chief Resident is known for going to bed before 10 p.m. and for ordering the White House Christmas tree lights turned off at midnight. The political appointees and bureaucrats all follow suit, so they roll up the sidewalks in D.C. after ten.

This "problem" manifests itself particularly for those who enjoy the city's rich and thriving arts community. Unlike New York, where people routinely go to a show or a concert and then head out to dinner, a Washington concert or show goer will be hard pressed to find a restaurant still open at 11 p.m. in or immediately near any of the three main theater/arts districts.

Thus was my problem after opening night of the ballet this week. What with a dress rehearsal all afternoon and a performance that night, as I don't ever eat before a performance, it turned out that I'd not eaten all day long, and I was famished. My friend Ian decided he wanted to take me out for dinner after the show, and since it was too late to go to his favorite IHOP (for some reason, the subway stops running at midnight in this city—see above), and even though I was exhausted, sore, and my legs were like rubber, he insisted that I come all the way to Georgetown to eat.

Limping and moving slowly, I made my way from the Kennedy Center to Georgetown, walking along the very shortest pathway that just happened to be along the Potomac to Washington Harbor and then up. That was the day the weather happened to change mid afternoon, moving from our "springtime" warmth to a little bit of real winter. The temperature had fallen below freezing. There was a brisk wind blowing off the river. That wind was so strong and chill that the festival marketplace at the harbor—usually jammed with people drinking and partying out on the patios of a half dozen restaurants—was deserted. But I trudged onward, fulfilling my engagement to meet Ian at Bistro Français.

omeletteThose of you who are regular readers of mine know that I'm no stranger to Bistro Français....and neither is Ian. But, it does happen to be the only sit-down restaurant anywhere within walking distance that stays open past midnight, and we tolerate their oft-times "Parisian" service (as it was on this visit) since there are no other options. The very first time Ian met in person, we did an opera followed by dinner at Bistro Français so he kind of thinks of the place as "our" restaurant. So, naturally, the waiter doesn't even have to ask him what he wants for dinner: a Coke, a water, and an omelette aux fromage suisse et fines herbs avec pommes frites.

I did the night owl prix fixe meal, so I started with the liver mousse and a glass of their house burgundy. It came with some interesting, smoky-tasting olives I couldn't place or identify. For my main course, I had the pork tenderloin on the recommendation of the waiter. It was okay, with the slices placed atop a tomatoey sauce. It came with a big serving of ratatouille, which, of course, I did not touch since I'm allergic to eggplant. I mentioned that to the waiter, but he just said, "Oh." Since the dish was his choice, not that I would have taken it, but I expected him to at least offer to replace the vegetable.

porktenderloin


Dessert was a nice little apple tart on puff pastry (with a corner eaten off before we remembered to take a picture).

appletart

Monday, January 15, 2007

Mimi's An American Bistro, Washington, D.C.

It's still the "weekend," so Leo insisted last night on going not only to dinner, but specifically to Mimi's An American Bistro up at Dupont Circle. And, thus, away we went, only to discover upon arrival that they'd developed and introduced a new menu just before the holidays.

They've gone down-scale.

The new menu is just a tiny bit less expensive (e.g., hamburgers are now $9 instead of $9.50); things have gotten substantially simpler, resembling more their sister restaurants Luna Grill or Busboys and Poets; and the choices have taken a substantial turn towards Middle Eastern cuisine. So much for the "American" bistro. The dessert menu, however, remains the same.

Leo started with an Eiffel Tower (champagne, orange vodka, splash of grenadine) that I thought was nasty, then moved to a Cirroc grapetini (Cirroc Vodka with white grape juice in a sugar-rimmed martini glass) that was light and sweet, while I was hitting the iced tea pretty heavily. Then, for food, he had the calamari with an interesting spicy, roasted tomato dipping sauce, then a simple grilled salmon with mashed potatoes and sautéed spinach. The salmon appeared nice and juicy, though the vegetables looked drowned in butter.

I had the house salad, a nice mix of greens with a lemony vinaigrette, and an avocado and mozzarella burger. Aside from being more medium rare than the medium I'd ordered, the burger was very good. The only problem was that the burger was probably five or more inches tall, almost impossibly big elegantly and neatly to eat. I had to squash it down and cut it in half even to bite into it. It came with some decent housemade fries. When walking over to Mimi's, I'd not intended (and probably wouldn't have bothered to go) to order a hamburger, but there wasn't anything on the newly simplified entrée menu that struck my fancy, and, other than the calimari, there was nothing on the appetitzer menu I wanted.

Between the two of us, we'd already tried all of the dessert offerings over the past couple of years, so we decided not to order any—just as well, as I was quite stuffed from my large burger.

There were other signs of the new economy at Mimi's. None of the waiters were singing! What made Mimi's so fun is the big grand piano in the dining room, where the waiters and waitresses took turns singing songs from the musical theater repertoire, plus the occasional well-known opera aria. Not only did our waitress tell us that my favorite tenor-waiter had been fired, but she explained that they now sang only on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Alas.

So, that's it, the "new" and changed Mimi's. The food, what it is, is still good and decently prepared for the price point, but we definitely missed the unique specialness of the old menu, and we especially missed the singing waiters. I think perchance that Mimi's has slipped off our regular rotation list.