Chevy's Fresh Mex, Arlington, Va. (Pentagon City)

My second mall meal this week was last night, when Robert and I went to Pentagon City, stopping off first to eat at Chevy's Fresh Mex.

Robert got the "Chevy's Super Cinco," an enormous platter of food that included a beef enchilada, chicken enchilada, pork tamale, beef taco, and cheese chile relleno. It's so much food, the chile relleno has to come on the side on its own plate. He also ordered (by accident) a small side of guacamole.



I had the Santa Fe chopped salad with chicken for dinner, and tried the waiter's recommended dressing, a vinaigrette made out of Chevy's salsa.



While I drank bunches and bunches of iced tea (I warned the waiter to bring a pitcher, but he didn't listen), Robert had dessert. He got the coconut cajeta. It was enormous! Using an oversized, heavy, margarita glass as a serving dish, they took vanilla ice cream balls and rolled them in toasted coconut, then drenched the ice cream in chocolate and caramel sauces and smothered in all in clouds of whipped cream. Then, they took little cinnamon cookies cut in the shape of saguaro cacti and inserted them in the top of the glass. It all looked very cute!

The Cheesecake Factory, McLean, Va.

We have lots and lots of shopping malls around here. It's not enough, though, for them to have just stores, they have to have things to entertain the shoppers, especially nice places to eat. I went to a couple of malls this past week.

Ian and I went to Tyson's Corner Galleria and Tyson's Corner Center in McLean, Va., Thursday. While we were at the Galleria, we ate at The Cheesecake Factory.

Ian started with a strawberry-banana daquiri and an order of their fried macaroni and cheese balls (which, Ian noted, were not made with macaroni, but with penne). For his main course, he had the spicy chicken chipotle pasta.




I had a sandwich they call "The Navajo." I ordered it not so much because I wanted it, but because I was curious. They were playing off the idea of some modern pow-wow food called a Navajo taco or an Indian taco, where a large, flat round of "fry bread" is covered with beans or chili and lettuce. Cheesecake Factory has made a large but very thin round of fry bread, then used it like pita to enclose a chicken breast, avocado, tomato, and lettuce. It was okay, though not the "authentic" Indian taste I was hoping for. It came with French fries.



Cheesecake Factory always serves enormous portions of food. Because of that, neither Ian nor I were hungry enough to order any dessert. Alas.

Eli's Restaurant, Washington, D.C.

In honor of Passover starting this weekend, for lunch today, I had a hot pastrami on rye sandwich at Eli's Restaurant, a place that is, to my knowledge, the only certified kosher restaurant in D.C. I started to have a big bowl of matzo ball soup, too, but I just wasn't that hungry....the sandwich and plate are somewhat bigger than they appear in the photo.

Hawk 'n' Dove, Washington, D.C.

After an afternoon at the Library of Congress, I stuck around long enough to meet Ian when he left his Capitol Hill office at six, and we walked up Pennsylvania Avenue to Hawk 'n' Dove, one of those old bars frequented by congressional staffers and interns, for happy hour and dinner.

Ian wasn't being very happy hour-ish, drinking only a single Coke. I had a glass of nasty cheap Miller Lite beer (but it only cost $2). My cheap beer entitled me to order a dozen chicken wings for only $2, so I did that. The chicken wings were done in a rather sweet sauce; I think it could have used a bit of spice and heat. Ian had one of their daily specials, a chicken tri-color tortellini alfredo. It also came with a side salad, though Ian had to ask the waiter to bring it after the pasta arrived, the waiter not yet having served it (Ian also had to go fetch his own silverware, since the waiter left the plate and ran off without having provided a fork).

The tables near us had two different waiters from ours. I saw our waiter taking care of a table on the patio as we left. What ever happened to the system of having a zone or section for a waiter to serve? Do all restaurants scatter their waiters around the dining room, bar, and patio these days? No wonder we can never find a waiter when we want one!

Before leaving, I made my way to their, um, rather "utilitarian" men's room, and was amused (given the clientele in this place, all dutifully serving us and going about the Nation's business) to find this on the wall:

This is the first time I've seen such a thing in D.C. I mean, after all, we don't have any truck stops here. I wonder if the machine gets much use? Was it installed in a Republican or a Democrat administration?

And not a McDonald's in sight....

Ian and I had a late "supper" last night in Columbia Heights at Pollo Campero, the Guatemalan fast food chain that has moved into the D.C. area and soon will be seen nationwide, as they recently signed a deal with Wal-Mart to do in-store chicken shops.

Ian had the Camperitos, their chicken strip plate, with fries and a biscuit. I had the Campero chicken bowl, a mix of rice and beans with sliced chicken strips on top, plus salsa and fresh chopped cilantro. They were fine for fast food.



Next, we went two doors down to Julia's Empanadas, sneaking in just as they were closing, to get a couple of dessert empanadas. Ian had strawberry and cream cheese and I had pear with almond paste. The dessert empanadas are very artistically done to look like a little pouch and they are tied at the top with string.

Rumberos Latinamerican Cuisine, Art, Bar, Washington, D.C.

After Mass yesterday, Laurent and I Metroed up to Tivoli Square, where he took me to a surprisingly delicious brunch at Rumberos Latinamerican Cuisine, Art, Bar. That mouthful of a name is what the restaurant calls itself. They have a lot of different Latin American art, from the serious to the folk to the social commentary to the religious all over the place, and they play Latin music on the sound system. It's a pretty and relaxing space, with wall colors in complementary darker hues of reds, oranges, and yellows.

The brunch menus were moderately priced; I didn't get a chance to look at a regular lunch or dinner menu.

Laurent and I both started with bloody Marys. I liked their bloody mix, though those who prefer hot and spicy might need a bit more fire. I was particularly happy to see them serving their drinks with the traditional celery stick, something that's often missing in D.C.

Food choices were interesting. Laurent picked the omelet rumba. In the typical Latin fashion, the egg isn't fluffy or puffy, but very flat like a tortilla made from egg. That egg wrapped and encased an unusual mixture of black beans, sausage, plantain, onions, peppers, and cheese. A small serving of home fries and a thin slice of melon completed the dish. Laurent liked it, though he (as usual) would have liked to have had more sausage in the meal.



I had the chivito Uruguayo, an interesting sandwich with steak, ham, egg, and cheese, and I certainly made up for Laurent's perceived sparcity of meat. I also got a small serving of potatoes, but no fruit with my sandwich. I found it quite filling and full of flavor.



Laurent wanted dessert. He ordered the peras al vino tinto, pears poached in port wine with vanilla ice cream and a scattering of chopped walnuts, and shared half with me. It was delicious! The chilled pear halves had a wonderful deep ruby coloring and the wine was delicately flavored with lemon and just a hint of cinnamon. This qualifies as the most interesting dessert I've had thus far in 2008.



We're very much looking forward to another trip to eat at Rumbero's.

Elephant and Castle Pub and Restaurant, Washington, D.C.

After our big afternoon playing tourist downtown Saturday, Robert and I were hungry. He didn't want to get something at the Cherry Blossom Festival and then stand around and gnaw on it, he wanted some place where he could actually sit down and eat. So, we were across the street from some Pennsylvania Avenue restaurants and went to one of the ones that had immediate seating. So long as we sat indoors and not on the patio outside, that made our early dinner location Elephant and Castle Pub and Restaurant.

One of about two dozen restaurants in a chain located mainly on the two national coasts and in Canada, Elephant and Castle is an upper mid-range theme restaurant in the British pub mold. They feature a number of U.K. beers on tap and have several Americanized British food choices, plus standard American bar-restaurant foods with a British theme. Decor is clubby but bright and open, with a preponderance of cricket prints throughout.

Robert ordered from the "pub classics" page, selecting a stuffed Yorkshire pudding with roast beef, caramelized onions, and gravy, served with mashed potatoes and green beans. He found it surprisingly good. He washed it down with a pint of Pilsner Urquell.



I had the Guinness meatloaf from the "dinner entrees" page. The plate consisted of two slices of meatloaf that had Guinness-spiked braised vegetables (carrots, onion, etc.) chopped and mixed in with the ground meat, then sauced with a mildly spiced barbecue sauce (I was expecting gravy, or at least that British classic, "brown sauce,"—think A-1 steak sauce, but with a tomato, date, and tamarind flavor) and a few cooked mushrooms, with a little ramekin of barbecue sauce on the side, plus a couple of scoops of some tasty garlic mashed potatoes with red skins and some green beans. I liked the meatloaf, though I think maybe the chopped vegetables could have been cooked a little longer.



For dessert, Robert had a lovely looking apple-berry crisp with vanilla ice cream. While what he was served was very good, he reported that there was no "crisp" to it, and he couldn't identify any kind of crust.



I had the bread pudding with golden raisins and a lightly Irish whiskey-spiked hard sauce. The piece I was served was huge—easily big enough for two servings—and tasted okay, but I thought it lacked any flavor outside of the raisins and the sauce. I also probably would have made it a little more custardy, especially since this is a "British" place.

Elephant and Castle Pub and Restaurant, Washington, D.C.

After our big afternoon playing tourist downtown Saturday, Robert and I were hungry. He didn't want to get something at the Cherry Blossom Festival and then stand around and gnaw on it, he wanted some place where he could actually sit down and eat. So, we were across the street from some Pennsylvania Avenue restaurants and went to one of the ones that had immediate seating. So long as we sat indoors and not on the patio outside, that made our early dinner location Elephant and Castle Pub and Restaurant.

One of about two dozen restaurants in a chain located mainly on the two national coasts and in Canada, Elephant and Castle is an upper mid-range theme restaurant in the British pub mold. They feature a number of U.K. beers on tap and have several Americanized British food choices, plus standard American bar-restaurant foods with a British theme. Decor is clubby but bright and open, with a preponderance of cricket prints throughout.

Robert ordered from the "pub classics" page, selecting a stuffed Yorkshire pudding with roast beef, caramelized onions, and gravy, served with mashed potatoes and green beans. He found it surprisingly good. He washed it down with a pint of Pilsner Urquell.



I had the Guinness meatloaf from the "dinner entrees" page. The plate consisted of two slices of meatloaf that had Guinness-spiked braised vegetables (carrots, onion, etc.) chopped and mixed in with the ground meat, then sauced with a mildly spiced barbecue sauce (I was expecting gravy, or at least that British classic, "brown sauce,"—think A-1 steak sauce, but with a tomato, date, and tamarind flavor) and a few cooked mushrooms, with a little ramekin of barbecue sauce on the side, plus a couple of scoops of some tasty garlic mashed potatoes with red skins and some green beans. I liked the meatloaf, though I think maybe the chopped vegetables could have been cooked a little longer.



For dessert, Robert had a lovely looking apple-berry crisp with vanilla ice cream. While what he was served was very good, he reported that there was no "crisp" to it, and he couldn't identify any kind of crust.



I had the bread pudding with golden raisins and a lightly Irish whiskey-spiked hard sauce. The piece I was served was huge—easily big enough for two servings—and tasted okay, but I thought it lacked any flavor outside of the raisins and the sauce. I also probably would have made it a little more custardy, especially since this is a "British" place.

Cherry Blossom Festival

Well, the cherry trees around the Tidal Basin were in full bloom the end of last month, and most of the petals have pretty much fallen off by now, but yesterday morning was the Cherry Blossom Festival Parade followed by the street festival that blocked off several blocks of Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House and a few adjacent streets. Robert and I happened upon the street festival by accident, having espied it from atop the new Newseum on the Capitol end of Penn, so we walked the nearly-mile down the street to see what it was. After all, the one thing these street festivals usually have is fun and interesting food!

They had Japanese bands playing animé music, some traditional cultural groups, and various forms of martial artists performing on four or five big stages around the area. One large tent was devoted to playing video games. There was a huge section of food booths and two large beer gardens, plus a block or so of various booths with organizations, information, and the occasional merchandise vendor. Lots of obviously not Asian people were running around in geis, kimonos, and Japanese themed t-shirts, while most of the people who looked Asian were in American clothes or Western European techno clothes. It seemed fun, but it had been a long day and we didn't stay long. I snapped a few pictures just cause.