IHOP, Arlington, Va.

We had a major crisis at IHOP last night.

Since my friend Ian was in town and staying with us, he, Laurent, and I went to the IHOP in Ballston. Now, ever since I introduced Ian to IHOP in October 2006, other than that first visit of ours, every single time we've gone to IHOP, Ian has ordered the chicken strips dinner. Every time. And that's what he did last night.

But they were out of chicken strips.

Ian was stunned. He didn't know what to do.

After thumbing through the menu over and over and over in a state of disbelief, he ended up ordered the components of a chicken strips dinner à la carte: Caesar salad with no dressing, French fries, green beans. He substituted a basket of cheese straws for the chicken.



Laurent had a big super stacker Philly cheesesteak sandwich with French fries. He ordered it with onion rings; they never came. We were just happy to get it, though, since for some reason, his order didn't get processed with the other food, and Ian and I were done eating by the time he got his food.



I had the new ham and egg melt, slices of ham, scrambled eggs, and melted cheese on thick toast, with a side of fries. The sandwich was pretty good.

Cactus Cantina, Washington, D.C.

After church at the National Cathedral Sunday, Laurent claimed utter starvation, so he and I walked up the street to Cactus Cantina for a quick brunch. It was crowded, as always, but we timed it just right to get squeezed into a table.

We got the ubiquitous chips and salsa as soon as we sat down. They have a different kind of salsa here, being a cooked salsa served hot, instead of the usual cold kind. We washed the chips down with some sangria.

Laurent was famished, so he got this enormous Triple BBQ platter with baby back ribs, grilled shrimp, and grilled fajita chicken. Large rings of grilled onions and green bell pepper adorned the plate, and a side plate with Mexican rice and their garlicky bean soup accompanied the meats.



I was daintier and ordered the burrito gordo, a hefty flour tortilla wrapped around a generous serving of shredded beef. I also got sides of rice and beans, plus a pile of large cabbage shreds with a few pieces of lettuce and tomato. The beef in the burrito had good flavor. I also like their rice, which isn't too tomatoey, but I'm not quite sure of what I think of their soupy and very, very garlicky bean soup.



For dessert, the choices were very limited, so Laurent had a flan and I had a slice of key lime pie. I thought my pie filling was very good, though I prefer a key lime pie in pastry instead of graham cracker crust and with meringue instead of bare as they served it at Cactus Cantina (or with whipped cream, as it also commonly done).



As always, the food at Cactus Cantina is decent enough Mexican-style stuff, and the cost, if one orders wisely, can be inexpensive by Washington standards (like my burrito, which was only $8). Sometime, though, I really need to try some of their brunch food when we go there for brunch!