Cafe La Ruche, Georgetown, D.C.

This past weekend Scott and I had a little late night dinner at Café La Ruche in lower Georgetown. I always like La Ruche because it is unpretentious and it generally is not on the radar screens of the typical Georgetown tourists. The food, too, is always consistent.

We managed to get a pleasant table on their outdoor patio, and we started off with a bottle of Ferrande Sauvignon Blanc, a white bordeaux. The Ferrande certainly isn't a great wine, but it was adequate for our purposes, and the light, crisp, slightly-grapefruit essence paired well with our food, though it's a sufficiently light wine that it probably wouldn't stand up to heavier foods or flavors.

Scott began his snack with a bowl of soupe au crabe, a crab soup that reminded me of the tomato-broth based Maryland style soups we often see around here, though without the harsh hot spices.

I got one of my favorites, an artichaut vinaigrette. Their version used a very large artichoke that was already largely disassembled in the kitchen. It came with a handmade mayonnaise dipping sauce.

We both ended up ordering the same thing for our main course, a croque monsieur sandwich, the French version of a ham and cheese sandwich that features a classic white sauce before being popped under the broiler. It came with a side salad dressed in a simple vinaigrette.

Dessert, of course, required a trip to the dessert case to make a personal selection. Scott ended up with a simple cheesecake garnished with slices of fresh orange, kiwi, strawberry, and some blueberries all in whipped cream. I had a slice of tarte banane au choclat, the banana tart with a big swoosh of chocolate icing and half a caramelized banana all on puff pastry, which I washed down with a little cup of espresso.

So, that was our little snack. Afterwards, we strolled down M Street and Pennsylvania Avenue back into town.