Saturday, August 25, 2007

Johnny Rocket's, Georgetown, D.C.

How is it that I always manage to find friends who get in culinary ruts and love it?

When I used to hang out with Tony, he always always always wanted to go to a cafe called Brookside by Day, where he always always always had the eggs Benedict. Then I ran around alot with Ian, and he always always always wanted to go to IHOP, where he always always always had the chicken fingers. Now, I'm finding that when Ryan and Robert are together, they always always always want to go to Johnny Rocket's where they always always always get high fat, high cholesterol, high calorie enormous hamburgers and Ryan always always always washes his down with a high fat, high calorie, ice cream milk shake.

:::sigh:::

The other night, we were out on a Georgetown shopping expedition, and after we were done, not yet having had dinner, I was in the mood for a little ice cream pick-me-up,Any yet still being on a budget, so I suggested we pop into the Johnny Rocket's for sundaes. And, in we went, but neither Ryan nor Robert could muster up the discipline not to order hamburgers with their ice cream. So much for my idea of an inexpensive break—those milk shakes cost as much as the burgers!

Anyway, Robert had a St. Louis burger, and interesting combination of bacon, Swiss cheese, and grilled onions. Ryan had The Original (basic, classic diner burger) and a strawberry milk shake. The waiter made a little too much milk shake, so he brought Ryan the leftover shake in the aluminum mixing glass.

stlouis
original


And, sticking to my original intention, I had a simple hot fudge sundae and a glass of water. Ryan had to do a Kody Pose with his strawberry shake.

sundaemilkshake

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Annie's Paramount Steakhouse, Washington, D.C.

Wow, tomorrow is Annie's 80th birthday! Annie Kaylor is the owner of the famous Annie's Paramount Steakhouse on 17th Street east of Dupont Circle. To celebrate her birthday, the popular restaurant is giving away free pieces of birthday cake to diners.

Before Ryan's friend Riley headed back to Dartmouth this afternoon, they all got up surprisingly early after a long night on the town partying with Robert, and the four of us walked over to Annie's to meet our friend Max—who came straight from church—for brunch.

We all got basic Annie's brunch food. Max and Riley both got the 8 oz. sirloin steak with eggs, fried potatoes, and fruit. Robert got two large bloody Marys, a glass of champagne, and the three egg platter with bacon.

steakeggs
threeeggs


Ryan, once again, got the half rack of baby back ribs. They looked really good and had a lot of meat on them. We allowed him to use his fingers and gnaw on the bones. I had the soft shell crab platter special. The crabs were quite large for soft shells, and they'd been deep fried.

ribs
crabs


Max was quite nice and bought brunch for everyone. He was in fine form, looking quite dapper in his expensive Italian suit and Gucci loafers.


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We all got birthday cake after our meals. It was a very delicious strawberry cream cake, with three layers of white genoise and a nice cream filling with a stripe of strawberry jam and sliced strawberries in between.

cake


Meanwhile, Robert was enjoying himself. He had a couple of extra large bloody Marys delivered by this waiter. He also had the waiter bring him some champagne for the dessert course.

waiter
robert


Happy birthday, Annie!