Freddie's Beach Bar and Restaurant, Arlington, Va.

My friend Jon dragged me out to dinner tonight. He selected Freddie's Beach Bar and Restaurant in the Crystal City neighborhood of Arlington for our dinner. It turned out to be a fun place with decent food and very reasonable prices. It's decorated in a beach theme, and we even had plastic sand buckets and shovels on our table to hold our condiments. While Freddie's has a general menu for a general clientele, the restaurant has a decidedly gay emphasis; many people think of it as the one and only gay bar in Northern Virginia. It was almost a sport for us to watch straight couples (some with children) walk down the street and ponder eating at Freddie's.....would they come in or not?.....would they stay if they came in? Some stayed. Some couldn't flee fast enough!

All of the menu items at Freddie's have cutesie names. Jon ordered the "Girlfriend," a grilled chicken sandwich (personally, I thought that for a gay bar, the sandwich should have been tunafish or something). It came with fries. He only ate the chicken and pickle and left the Kaiser roll and other vegetables.


I got the "Crabbers Basket," five large shrimp that had been stuffed with a little bit of crab meat, breaded, and then deep fried, accompanied by some sweet potato fries and little cups of both cocktail sauce and tartare sauce.


After dinner, I wanted something for dessert, but there was nothing on the menu that sounded good for a hot summer night outside on the patio. So, I ordered a Hawaiian salad from the appetizer menu, much to the waiter's surprise. The salad was a base of romaine topped with mandarin oranges, walnuts, and shredded coconut; it was supposed to have been served with a pineapple Ranch dressing, but arrived with blue cheese. It met my needs, however, for something light and sweet after the meal (though I think were I planning the recipe, I'd have included pineapple chunks, used macademia nuts instead of walnuts, and I'd have used a light, sweet, fruity vinaigrette).


Oh, that's our waiter above with the salad picture. Look for him Saturday night on the Freddie's float in the Capital Pride parade.