Clyde's of Chevy Chase, Chevy Chase, Md.

Thursday night my friend Caleb and I went to the Friendship Heights/Chevy Chase area for the grand opening of the new Bloomingdale's store. After our inspection shopping tour, we walked across the street to Clyde's of Chevy Chase for dinner. Clyde's, of course, is a small local D.C. area chain that includes several Clyde's plus 1789, Old Ebbitt Grill, and some others. Ordinarily, the restaurants are all pretty independent, but having been to Old Ebbitt just the night before, I was somewhat chagrined to noticed nearly identical menus at Clyde's of Chevy Chase and Old Ebbitt. Now, that's not necessarily a problem, since I love the food at Ebbitt, but I was expecting just a little bit more variety or I'd have chosen another restaurant.

Caleb started off the evening with a cocktail, and after perusing the drink menu at length could only find one thing he liked: a Pink Cadillac. So, here's a picture of Caleb doing a Kody Pose with a Pink Cadillac.

He also wanted an appetizer, so he ordered the calimari, with the special request that they bring him the deep fried version instead of the standard pan-fried calimari they usually do at Clyde's. It came with a chipotle pepper-scented aioli dipping sauce.

Our entrees were fairly simple. He ordered a steak sandwich. They brought him a great big open-faced sandwich that looked really good, though he was wanting a top slice of bread so he could eat it sandwich-style instead of with a fork. I thought the presentation was fun, though, and it included a cup of steak drippings for an au jus French dip-type option. It also came with French fries.


Since my waist line has sneaked up above 32", I decided to eat healthily and stick to a salad. I got the Santa Fe steak salad, a big bowl of romaine, black beans, and corn with some slices of steak on top in a simple chipotle dressing (the Clyde's group must get chipotles by the truck load, since not only was it the predominant seasoning Thursday night, we'd also seen it in the sweet potato gratin at Ebbitt the night before). Nevertheless, I found the salad to be quite adequate and to have a nice balance of flavors.

Old Ebbitt Grill, Washington, D.C.

What was going on in downtown Washington last night? The restaurants all seemed to be packed, yet there were no special restaurant events or parties going on. We were out about 9:45 or so last night to dine, and there were people everywhere!

My friend Michael is in Washington this week. He's from a little tiny town out in the middle of extremely rural western Oklahoma, and came to D.C. to do some research and reconnaissance for his tribe. It's been at least 2003 since I last saw him, so it was great to see him again in person and not just as a mysterious cyberpresence.

We walked around a bit to do some minor sight-seeing and landed at the historic, antebellum Old Ebbitt Grill, across the street from the Treasury department by the White House. Our waitress told us they'd had a lot of small private parties booked for the evening, but otherwise, we still don't know why Ebbitt and the other downtown places were so busy.

We started with a bottle of Ebbitt's house label white wine while we perused the menu. Micheal had been anxious to try a real Maryland style crab cake, so that was one of the reasons I picked Ebbitt, since they have excellent crab cakes that are actually mostly crab instead of filler. And, that is what he ordered, accompanied by a few green beans and their addictive sweet potato gratin (thinly sliced sweet potatoes baked in cream and brown sugar and spiced up with just a touch of chipotle peppers). He also had a cup of their New England clam chowder as a appetizer. He liked the chowder, though I was a bit concerned when his first spoonful had grit with the clam!


The entree special for the month is 1–1/4 pound steamed Maine lobster for just $18 ($28 if you get a "double"), so that's what I got. It was nice, as always, and I got a female lobster with roe. The lobster came with a little cup of cole slaw and some French fries.


I do need to come back soon and take advance of their oyster bar specials, now that the little bivalves are back in season.

Our waitress managed to tempt us with dessert, too. Michael got the chocolate brownie cappuccino, and interesting little thing with a large brownie and scoop of vanilla ice cream placed in a large, oversized coffee cup, then doused with liquid espresso and garnished with a cloud of whipped cream.

I had the rich and delicious pear upside-down cake with vanilla ice cream and a dulce de leche sauce. I'm ready for another piece right now.


It would be easy to sit around at Ebbitt for coffee and after dinner cocktails for hours, but Michael had to drive back to his hotel and be able to work early this morning, so we called it an evening. There were still people coming into the restaurant as we were leaving, and this was a Wednesday night! Must have been the full moon.

Oh, Michael was quite excited to join the pantheon of those honored by having Kody Poses taken of them and posted in my blog, especially since the original Kody is from Oklahoma, too!

Trio Restaurant, Washington, D.C.

Trio Restaurant has been a fixture on Seventeenth Street since the 1940s. As with many of the restaraurants on the Dupont Seventeenth Street strip, it's family owned and the family is Greek in origin. And, as with many of the restaurants around Dupont, it has and welcomes a large gay clientele. I've always just known Trio as a place to get a nice, relatively inexpensive meal in a friendly, fairly quiet atmosphere. It's a place you can get roast turkey and dressing every day, and I love the three varying "blue plate specials" they offer every day.

Ryan, Brian, and I went to Trio Thursday night for dinner. As always, the food was satisfying.

Ryan got creative (for him) and ordered a guacamole cheeseburger. It smelled good, and was large and juicy. It came with a cole slaw that I tasted that was okay, but wasn't a recipe that I personally favor.


Brian ordered the grilled salmon with hollandaise sauce and a melange of sauteed squash and a little bowl of garlic mashed potatoes (he'd ordered carrots, but they were out). Brian really liked the salmon and kept nagging me to photograph it again and again as he continued to eat it.


I started with a shrimp and couscous salad. It was unusual and good, with the shrimp straight off the grill and nicely seasoned, while the couscous was carefully chilled, giving a hot and cold contrast.


My main course was one of the daily specials, and surprisingly delicate grilled calf liver with onions scented with herbs and fresh sage leaves. The strips of liver had been sautéed gently just to the point of doneness, and they were excellent. The dish came with fresh, steamed broccoli tops and some garlic mashed potatoes. Best of all, my meal was economical, with the liver only costing $9.50!


We ended up staying for dessert, too. Ryan had a big strawberry sundae, I had a piece of white chocolate cake, and Brian nibbled on both.