The Tombs, Georgetown, D.C.

Ian gave his last final examination of the school year yesterday, so, to celebrate, we went to the classic Georgetown student eatery, The Tombs.

Ian had a Caesar salad without dressing, followed by chicken fingers and French fries. The chicken came with a very unexpected (but good) Chinese mustard dipping sauce.



I had the fish and chips. I love the chips/fries at The Tombs. They are lightly battered and seasoned before they are fried. The fish was different.....crunchy on the outside, just barely cooked on the inside, but what I've still not yet quite figured out is that I thought that rather than tasting like cod (the traditional fish for fish and chips), it tasted an awfully lot like farm-raised catfish!



Dessert was fun. We had a springtime strawberry theme. Ian had the strawberry shortcake, which turned out to be pleasantly authentic. They prepared a large, flat, buttery biscuit about four inches in diameter and split it latitudinally. On the bottom half, they placed a nice serving of fresh strawberries, then topped them with whipped cream, crowning the fruit and cream with the top half of the biscuit.



I had the strawberry-rhubarb pie with vanilla ice cream. It would have been pretty good had they not warmed the pie by popping it into the microwave—microwaves always ruin pastry. Otherwise, though, it tasted fine.



We'd gotten in a little late, so before we finished our meal, the clock struck ten, which is when The Tombs makes its conversion from a normal restaurant to a college bar. A manager goes around to all the tables to check IDs and they start blaring loud music over the sound system. Nonetheless, it was a fun evening.

India Curry House, Arlington, Va.

My friend Bruce is in town this week to personally investigate the American history he studies and teaches up in Canada. Thursday evening, Bruce came to Matt's and my office, and we went out for dinner in Clarendon. After walking up and down the streets perusing menus at various restaurants, Bruce decided that we should go to India Curry House. We've been here multiple times in the past, but always for lunch and their very reasonable and good lunch buffet, so this was my first time to order from the menu.

We started with vegetable pakora as an appetizer. Pakora are pieces of vegetables that are dipped in a batter made from a type of dried chickpea (garbanzos) flour, then deep-fried. Meanwhile, Bruce sipped on some fresh mango juice and Matt and I tried two of their Indian beers.




For our main course, we agreed to share entrees. We got a nice lamb korma (almonds and cream sauce), some spicy chicken saag (with spinach), and a chickpea and potato dish called channa masala (tomato sauce). Basmati rice came with the meal. We also ordered and shared some garlic naan and whole wheat roti breads. These are all pretty standard Indian entrees, but I thought they did them well.





After dinner, we were sitting around chatting a bit, and the manager brought us a complimentary dish of kulfi, the traditional Indian "ice cream." This one was flavored with mango and chopped pistachio nuts.

Oh, here's Bruce's Kody Pose for the evening.

Rí Rá Irish Pub and Restaurant, Arlington, Va.

Ah, such a busy week—with the next two promising to be even busier—with lots and lots of meetings and events. One pleasant event was a business lunch I had to have with one of the undergraduate student leaders from the main campus, who came down to Clarendon to discuss some joint ventures. We ventured out towards a strip of Wilson Boulevard with three fairly new eateries and chose the Irish place, Rí Rá Irish Pub and Restaurant, which has been open about a month now.

I guess Rí Rá, like many of the places in Clarendon, makes its money at night with the crowds of young professionals who live in the endless apartment towers in the neighborhood, because we went in at the height of the lunch rush about 12:30 and there were only three or four other occupied tables in the large dining room. I've yet to see any advertising about the place, though, and only knew of its existence and opening because of walking past it on the way to other places.

That large dining room is dominated by an enormous bar stretching across the length of the room. Naturally, the decor in the place is dark, wood paneled, and "Irish pub" looking.

We opted to share an appetizer recommended by our waitress, some little Irish potato cakes made from mashed potatoes, cheddar cheese, and scallions formed into bite sized nuggets and then deep fried. They came with a little ramekin of sour cream. They were different and had a good flavor, though the softness of the mashed potatoes made them fork food rather than finger food.

Once we ordered, my guest got a corned beef reuben sandwich with sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and rye bread, accompanied by fries. I had the fish and chips, which were classic Irish pub fare: deep fried and oily. The chips, though, were "French fries" instead of the thicker-cut "chips." I was pleased, however, that they brought the traditional bottle of malt vinegar with the fish instead of tartar sauce.

While I wasn't particularly over impressed with the meal to that point, they redeemed themselves with the desserts. I was brought a tall, skinny glass filled with a rich milk chocolate mousse spiked with Bailey's Irish cream and garnished with a squirt of whipped cream. My guest had an even more impressive dessert: the Ultimate Guinness Sundae. The sundae started with a big, warm square of "blondie" brownie topped with a huge ball of—get this—Guinness beer-flavored ice cream, then it was sprinkled with spiced walnuts, drizzled with both chocolate and caramel sauces, and topped with clouds of whipped cream. He liked it a lot and reported that the ice cream really tasted like Guinness. Now, my question is, how would a twenty-year-old know what Guinness tastes like?

Rí Rá is a small mid-Atlantic chain with about eight restaurants. It will be interesting to see how they develop in their new Arlington location.

The Diner, Washington, D.C.

Saturday night after the Kentucky Derby, Ian decided that since he was already in Philadelphia (he watched the derby at the horse track there), he should come on back to Washington. He wanted Mexican food so we could celebrate Cinco de Mayo. The challenge? Even on a Saturday night, where was there a Mexican restaurant that still had an open kitchen? I'd done some internet research and found a short, limited list, most all of which closed at midnight. We tried for the nearest place, an Alero on U Street. We got there in plenty of time, but we drove and drove and drove our Zipcar all around the U Street neighborhood looking for a place to park, and there just weren't any (have I mentioned this is one of the reasons I don't worry about not owning a car in D.C.?). As our circles began to broaden, I noticed we were approaching the Adams-Morgan neighborhood, so I decided to drive through there, since they have a lot of restaurants in Adams-Morgan.

Well, it was even more crowded in Adams-Morgan.

We drove around a bit there, braving huge crowds of pedestrians, and noticing that not only were there no on-street parking places, almost all of the better restaurants had valet parking for $20 a pop! Fortunately, I remembered a private parking garage just two blocks from the main strip, and I remembered the secret password to get the gates to go up, so we had a free place to park!

Well, we walked up and down the main drag a bit, trying a few places, but kitchens were closed and the hispanic restaurants were packed, but that wasn't to eat dinner, it was to watch some professional boxing performance. Then, we walked by The Diner. Now, The Diner is open twenty-four hours a day, so, we knew their kitchen would be open!

We got immediate seating in the area back by their bar. It was, as usual, rather dark and a little bit noisy, but not so much that we couldn't chat. We persued the menu for "Mexican"-themed entrees so we could continue with our original concept of celebrating Cinco de Mayo, though at that time is was already Seis de Mayo.

So, Ian ordered side orders of chicken fingers and of fries. LOL...are you surprised? He said they were good and put them on the order of the chicken fingers he'd had at Hard Times Cafe in Clarendon (which means good, but still not as good as the ones at IHOP).




I did a little better in my menu planning, selecting a Spanish omelette with pepper Jack cheese, salsa, sour cream, and jalapeño peppers, plus I had them add some ham; the omelette came with home fries and grilled toast.



For dessert, Ian had the Oreo cookie milk shake, and I just watched.

The Tombs, Georgetown, D.C.

This morning I read a comment about playing the organ at Dahlgren Chapel on campus at Georgetown last Friday night in Matt's blog, and it reminded me that I hadn't written about our dinner at The Tombs, one of those quintessential campus bars and eateries.

The Tombs has been just a block from the main gate of GU for over forty years. What makes it interesting is that it's now owned by the Clyde's Restaurant Group, a management company that owns some of Washington's most exclusive, popular, and expensive restaurants like Clyde's, 1789, and Old Ebbitt Grill. Yet, The Tombs remains affordable and is packed (literally!) every night with GU students.

One descends a narrow staircase into the basement of an old building where The Tombs is located. Inside, the place is heavily decorated with a clubby, collegiate feel and dozens and dozens of rowing oars from college crew teams all over the country, and a large, fan-shaped display over the fireplace of oars from major championships won by GU women's crew teams.

We started with an order of some very nice, creamy crab-artichoke dip to share, served with a basket of crusty bread. Then Matt decided we had to follow English collegiate tradition wherein we had to eat four courses at dinner, because "only three courses is middle class," so I ended up with a side salad and he got a cup of chili before we had our "main course" sandwiches. He had the buffalo chicken sandwich with lots of Tabasco. I had a very good barbecued pulled pork sandwich that would be worth putting on the regular food rotation. Both sandwiches were served with fries, and mine had a little bowl of cole slaw as well. Matt had the peanut butter pie for dessert and I had a little ice cream sundae.

State Dinner Menu

The state dining room, from a previous dinner

At long last, I've procured the menu for the state dinner in honor of Queen Elizabeth II and The Prince Phillip Duke of Edinburgh later this evening.

Here's what the Bushes are serving HM and HRH tonight:

Spring Pea Soup with Fernleaf Lavender
Chive Pizzelle with American Caviar

Newton Chardonnay “Unfiltered” 2004

Dover Sole Almondine
Roasted Artichokes, Pequillo Peppers and Olives

Saddle of Spring Lamb
Chanterelle Sauce
Fricassee of Baby Vegetables

Peter Michael “Les Pavots” 2003

Arugula, Savannah Mustard
and Mint Romaine
Champagne Dressing and Trio of Farmhouse Cheeses

“Rose Blossoms”

Schramsberg Brut Rosé 2004


I was a bit surprised to see they aren't serving a wine with the fish course. I guess they are expecting people to save some of their wine from the soup course--usually at a five course meal like this, four wines are served (wine isn't served with the salad course because the vinegar or citrus juice from the dressing would clash with the wine).

The wines are all American. The chardonnay is from Napa Valley, the "Les Pavots," a cabernet with about a third of it merlot, is from Oregon, and the champagne is from Napa Valley. I'm guessing that last year's rosé fad is going to continue this summer, since that's what they're serving tonight.

I've no idea what "Rose Blossoms" are during dessert. If I see anyone later this week who is there tonight, I'll inquire.

Entertainment for the evening is Itzhak Perlman, violinist, with whom I've worked several times at the OK Mozart International Festival.

The only person on the guest list who's not a current top government official who I know personally is Boone Pickens, the oil executive from West Texas and Oklahoma State University alumnus. I was rather surprised to see how many professional athletes were on the invitations list, including the jockey who won the Kentucky Derby Saturday, golfer Arnold Palmer, and some football player called Peyton Manning.

Taste of Morroco, Arlington, Va.

Last Wednesday, Scott came by my office to look around, and then he, Matt, and I went down the street to Taste of Morocco for a quick dinner before going gayting with the D.C. Ice Breakers. Neither of them had had Moroccan food before, so it was a fun expedition.

As we waited, one of the waiters brought and ceremoniously poured glasses of sweet, hot, Moroccan tea for each of us. Dinner started with a chicken bastilla, the distinctive dish with spiced chicken encased in crispy layers of phyllo dough, then dusted with powdered sugar and cinnnamon. Here's a before and after picture to show the inside of the bastilla.




Matt selected the tagine of chicken with preserved lemons and green olives, accompanied by bowls of white and saffron rice. He seemed to enjoy it.



Scott and I both got couscous, his vegetarian and mine with lamb. In both cases, a bed of couscous was mounded up with stewed vegetables (and lamb, too, in my case). Lots of Americans have heard of couscous, but don't really know what it is. The typical explanation of it being "semolina" doesn't help much either, since few non-cooks realize that semolina is just a type of coarsely-ground wheat flour made from "soft" (as opposed to "hard") wheat. That coarsely-ground grain is carefully steamed so that it swells up and makes a sort of light, fluffy pasta.




Since we were running short on time, we couldn't stick around for dessert and had to race over to Ballston. After the skate, though, everyone went to Chevy's Fresh Mex for beer, margaritas, and assorted Mexican-themed appetizers.