Clyde's of Gallery Place, Washington, D.C.

The University of Kansas had a reception Tuesday night at Clyde's over in the Chinatown/Gallery Place neighborhood for local honors alumni to meet the KU undergraduates in town this week as a part of the University Scholars program. I just went for the free cocktails and food.

They had mild chicken wings with ranch and blue cheese dressing dipping sauces, some crudités, a fruit and cheese tray, and sliced breads on a buffet table; the wings were good, but just way, way too hard to eat gracefully standing up. During the course of the evening, waiters passed trays with hot hors d'oeuvres, including grilled steak on toast, miniature crab cakes, spiced shrimp, spanakopita, and spring rolls. The shrimp created a problem, since they still had the tails and end of the shell on; there was no place to deposit the tail after eating the shrimp, so we had to hold on to it until we could find a passing waiter with a tray collecting dirty glasses and plates. The cocktails, though, were just beer and wine. So I drank the Clyde's house brand white wine. Lots of it.