Magic Gourd, Washington, D.C.

Laurent and I walked down to Columbia Plaza this evening to have Chinese New Year's dinner at the Magic Gourd. The restaurant wasn't really my first choice tonight, but he was tired and didn't want to do a lot of walking, so Columbia Plaza was close.

We had a plate of pan-fried noodles topped with a melange of vegetables, chicken, beef, and who knows what that we shared so that by eating long noodles, we would have long lives, according to Chinese tradition. The noodles were very well fried in some spots, even to the point that there were beyond lightly crunchy.



We also shared some sesame beef and some firecracker shrimp. Both came with steamed broccoli. The beef had an interesting vinegar bite to it. The shrimp had some small slices of jalapeño pepper in the sauce, but I didn't know jalapeños were native to China! The shrimp was my favorite of the dishes. We'd asked for "spicy" food, but I thought they both didn't rise above "mild."




The dining room was as full as I've ever seen it, so the limited staff did a lot of running around to try to keep up. The back dining room seemed to be filled with Greeks from GWU, mostly a bunch of Pikes and Phi Psis, many of whom were wearing their baseball caps inside at the tables. Oh, for the olden days.....when I was an undergraduate, had we done that (*especially* if we'd been wearing our letters), our housemother would never have let us hear the end of it.

I won $5 on a lottery scratch off. I look at that as an auspicious beginning to the Year of the Rat!

Restaurant Vero, Arlington, Va.

We didn't go out for pancakes last night.

We did do our part to try to eat a lot of rich food, though, to help clear out the larders before Lent. My friend Jevon, who used to office two doors away from me at Georgetown, and I ventured out to far west Arlington for dinner at a place neither of us had previously experienced, Restaurant Vero. I had to juggle both subway trains and Metro buses to get there, but it was worth the trip.

Restaurant Vero is very suburban. It's located in a mostly residential neighborhood in the end of a long shopping strip building that probably once held some kind of retail store. Inside, the walls are painted a very fashionable dark taupe with a hint of color I couldn't quite discern in the fashionably dark dining room. The space is essentially an el-shape, with the bar area in the thick foot of the el. The menu is surprisingly large for a small, independent restaurant, and they have a lengthy wine list with over two and a half pages just of red wines.

It was Mardi Gras, though, so we celebrated with Mardi Gras Abita Bock beers. They were surprisingly tolerable for seasonal beer from Louisiana, sort of hoppy, amber lager with a crisp finish.

While there was a page in the menu with daily specials, we both stuck with the standard dinner menu. Jevon started with a grilled Caesar salad. They took the heart of a head of romaine lettuce, grilled it, then drizzled it with Caesar dressing and freshly grated parmesan cheese and garnished the plate with a couple of blistered tomatoes and a parmesan crisp.


I had their miniature Maryland-style crab cakes. Three little tiny crab cakes rested on a plate covered in corn-tomato relish and a chipotle remoulade dollop rested atop each cake. I found the crab cakes to be quite good, and I'll be interested to try the crab cakes on the entree menu to see how the full-sized version fares.


Jevon knew as soon as he opened the menu what he wanted for his main course: pan seared duck breast. The presentation for this dish was interesting, since the duck was practically hidden by the other items. Dominating the plate was a large serving of butternut squash bread pudding, a very intriguing savory interpretation of the dessert classic; some raw European bitter greens and some sautéed julienne of carrot took up the rest of the space, nearly covering the duck. The duck itself came with a fig and cherry compote.


I opted for the slow roasted pork shank served on a bed of creamy Virginia-style grits. Sautéed rainbow chard surrounded the dish, and a sprig of fresh rosemary garnished the top of the pork. The pork was falling-off-the-bone tender. I wasn't overly fond of the tomato sauce enrobing the pork, but the pork itself made up for it. The grits were a nice touch, and I would have liked more of them.


The dessert menu was rather disappointing, given the fact that the restaurant has a pastry chef. It was basically the same stuff one sees at restaurants all over town. I thought my pear-almond frangipane tart with caramel sauce was tasty, but as far as D.C. restaurants are concerned, it was rather ordinary and nothing special.


Jevon, on the other hand, ordered a milk chocolate mousse cake that unexpectedly displayed the artistry that one should get from a restaurant with a pastry chef. It was really more of a mousse capped by chocolate wafers, but the fresh strawberry sauce and fresh fruits provided balance and variety to the plate. Sprigs of mint garnished both desserts. We also had coffee with our dessert, and Jevon in particular thought the coffee helped to balance out the sweetness of the mousse.


Restaurant Vero is a fine place. There are a lot of things on the menu I'd like to try, and based on their performance with the duck and pork plus my crab cakes, I think they warrant another visit. The food was good and the service was well trained and inobtrusive. I also found the prices to be surprisingly moderate for the food quality.

Jevon was excited to have the opportunity to join the Kody Pose gallery, so here he is with his Mardi Gras beer.

Chadwick's, Georgetown, D.C.

We were shopping in Georgetown Saturday and decided to get Saturday brunch at Chadwick's. Ian had the eggs Idaho, and interesting combination of hollowed out potato skins filled with scrambled eggs and scallions (and ordinarily bacon, but Ian asked for them without) served with a large ramekin of sour cream, plus a side order of home fries.


I had the pulled pork sandwich with cabbage slaw and a square of macaroni and cheese that had an interesting hint of cayenne pepper in it. I thought the barbecue sauce was a bit too sweet, but I dealt with it, since sweet sauce seems to be the preference of most diners.



All very basic food, but tasty and filling.

We had a bit of a snafu when the order arrived. The waiter misheard Ian's request for no bacon, and thought Ian wanted more bacon. The egg dish had bacon scrambled into it and he brought him a side order of bacon. But, he took it all back and quickly corrected the problem.

Tapeo, Arlington, Va.

During a shopping expedition to Pentagon City last week, we felt a bit peckish and stopped in for a drink and a nibble at Tapeo, a Spanish tapas bar in Pentagon Row, the shopping area behind the mall and around that little ice skating rink.

We each split an order of mozzarella fritta (fried mozzarella sticks on a mirror of tomato sauce and garnished with pico de gallo) and then a chicken burrito. The burrito—cheaper than a burrito from Chipotle or Baja Fresh—came with rice, salad, and guacamole, but no tortilla chips.



There wasn't any Spanish beer on tap, so we had a Yeungling. Ian also had a frozen piña colada. The bar has an interesting blender with a mechanism on top that crushes the ice cubes before dropping them into the blender jar with the drink.

Martin's Tavern, Georgetown, D.C.

After our evening at the Kennedy Center for the Mahler, our little group headed up to Georgetown for an aprés-concert supper at Martin's Tavern. Even though it was 11 p.m., the place was busy and we had to wait a bit for them to empty and then clear a table for us.

Robert drank Dewars on the rocks, Laurent had some kind of cloudy beer, Ian did Coke and I had tea.

For starters, Laurent got the French onion soup. It smelled strongly of beef broth. Ian had a simple side salad.



For main courses, Ian got the penne with tomato vodka cream sauce and added grilled chicken. Robert had fish and chips with cabbage slaw (and it was a big slab of fish, too).


Laurent had the Martin's Delight, an open-face turkey sandwich topped with Welsh rarebit (cheese) sauce and slices of tomato and bacon served in a little iron skillet. I had a Cobb salad with long strips of grilled chicken breast and avocado.



After our meals, Ian and I got dessert. He got the bread pudding in bourbon butterscotch sauce (everyone loved the sauce but thought the bread pudding was "eh") and I got the carrot cake.



Laurent and Robert drank their dessert, each having an Irish coffee.


The food for the evening was generally okay. The problem? Service. Yes, I know it was a busy evening, but not only was our waitress seldom around, it was nearly impossible to get her attention when she was in the dining room. Drinks were not refilled. Inquiries about the satisfactory preparation of our food were not made. Plates were cleared only because there was a busboy running around, and many of our requests had to be relayed through the busboy. Other nearby tables with different waiters seemed to be getting much more satisfactory service, so it wasn't a universal issue.

When we left, we timed it perfectly, as the Circulator bus was just then coming down the street to take us home.