Hard Times Cafe, Arlington, Va.

Yesterday is believed to be the 1,515th anniversary of the death of Saint Patrick. We celebrated the feast of St. Patrick on Friday; since this is Holy Week and the church officially transferred the feast day, it would have been inappropriate to "celebrate" yesterday, so we went to dinner in solemn commemoration.

Ian (with a name like "Ian," do you think there's a chance he's of Irish ancestry?) wanted to have our commemoration at the quiet and solemn Hard Times Cafe in Clarendon across the street from the Georgetown branch campus building. There were so many solemn commemorators at Hard Times that it was difficult for us to hear one another's quiet devotional commentary during dinner.



We began our meal with the ritual consumption of sacramental beer, shared from the same pitcher. We then segued into whetting our appetites with jalapeño poppers, some jalapeño peppers stuffed with cheese, breaded, and deep-fried, then served with strawberry preserves as a dipping sauce. We were so distracted by our religious devotion that we forgot to photograph them until they were half eaten.

For our main courses, Ian had the breaded chicken tenders dinner, with the chicken accompanied by "roadhouse" fries (Ian had to eat potatoes as part of his Irish observance) and a little cup of cole slaw. Ian, who's big on tradition (he insisted on eating at Hard Times because that's where we had eaten last year), also had this dish the last (and only) time he was here.



I had a bowl of the terlingua chili, which they consider to be their "spicy" option amongst their four chili offerings (but not what I would consider to be spicy). It's okay, but it really does need some side dish offerings like a cole slaw or corn bread, since I don't find this to be as complex a blend of flavors as their Texas or Cincinnati chilis. I just ate crackers with mine, and while that was fine, it was a little boring.



Ian got the apple lava cake for dessert. This is very similar to the chocolate lava cakes that have been rather ubiquitous on local chain restaurant menus, except it uses a generic white cake batter and apple filling. It is served with whipped cream, and Ian also got a scoop of vanilla ice cream to go with it. I was going to have dessert, but as soon as the waitress took Ian's order, she ran off to the kitchen to place his order and never asked me what I wanted. Perhaps the waitress was just trying to turn her tables more quickly; we noticed that she was quick to remove plates, sometimes before we were completely done (like, she tried to take Ian's dessert plate when he'd momentarily laid down his fork but when there was still half the food there).

After dinner, Ian wanted something sweet to wash down all that nasty beer, so he ordered a Bailey's Irish Cream on the rocks. Once again, the waitress didn't ask me what I wanted to drink. Her pattern of service made this a very economical meal for me.