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.

Rumberos, Washington, D.C.

After lodge Monday night, Robert, Michael, and I went to The Heights for a drink, but they closed early (they supposedly stay open til 11 p.m.) and didn't serve us, so we walked up the street to Rumberos Latinamerican Cuisine, Art, Bar. Robert and I drank caipirinhas, while Micheal had an arepa de aguacate and a cappuccino. Arepas are characteristic of the main body of South America. They are similar to Salvadorean pupusas and Mexican gorditas, but instead of being a stuffed, thick, corn tortilla, they're more like a thick corn tortilla sandwich. His "aguacate"was filled with avocado, red pepper, onion, tomato, Venezuelan white cheese, sour cream, and mayonnaise.


Robert tried multiple times to take a Kody Pose picture of Michael, but he always closes his eyes when there's a flash.

Combinacion Restaurant, Washington, D.C.

Before doing some last minute grocery shopping with Robert Monday afternoon, the heat and humidity were so oppressive just walking the two or three blocks we did, we popped in to Combinacion Restaurant, a tiny, mom-and-pop type, Salvadorean place for lunch and something cold to drink. We were the only non-native Spanish speakers in the restaurant, and I found it helpful to talk to the waitress in my limited Spanish.

Robert got a flank steak dinner he thought was good. The steak was covered with grilled peppers and onions. He also sipped a Corona. I got two pupusas revueltas and two chicken tamales from the à la carte menu, and washed it down with a glass of horchata, a refreshing Latin American drink made from rice, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. I thought my tamales were particularly good, though the pupusas were only average. Unfortunately, I'd left my camera back at the lodge, so I didn't get any pictures.

California Pizza Kitchen, Arlington, Va.

While David and I were finishing up our brunch Sunday, Robert called. He was head chef for the lodge meeting last night, and he wanted me to go with him to do a Costco run down to Pentagon City so he could pick up some groceries in anticipation. So, I went home and fetched the granny grocery cart and met him down at Pentagon City. We filled up the cart and started to trek home, but the things he bought required refrigeration (like fresh chicken!), and, in view of the 98º heat Sunday afternoon, we ended up getting a Zipcar. The only problem with Zipcars, though, is that once one is done with it, it has to be returned to the pickup location. That put us back down at Pentagon City after the mall was closed and with limited dinner opportunities. Consequently, we ended up at the California Pizza Kitchen there in Pentagon Centre.

Robert ordered the kung pao spaghetti, a pasta dish with a Chinese theme. While he ate it all, I think he had my usual feeling about the "international" pasta dishes at CPK, that they approach an idea, but they never quite drive it in for the touchdown.


I had the CPK Cobb salad—always a safe choice. They have the interesting variation of substituting diced beets for the traditional sliced black olives.


Now, I'd planned just to have brunch Sunday as my only main meal, so the CPK excursion was extra, but, even though I'd been healthy and dietetic with a salad, I opted to get a piece of tiramisu. It's the only dessert at CPK I like (though the chocolate banana royale cake can be good if the cake isn't too dry). I restrained myself, though, and only ate two-thirds of it; Robert kindly volunteered to eat the remaining third.

Afterwords Cafe, Washington, D.C.

Went to brunch Sunday with my next door neighbor David, planning to have a little business meeting for a non-profit, but our third meal companion was a no-show. Alas. We'd picked the restaurant because it's near where he lives! But, I always enjoy going to Afterwords Cafe in the Kramerbooks bookstore on Dupont Circle, a place I've patronized now for nearly thirty years, and it's always fun dining with David.

Sunday brunch at Afterwords includes complimentary orange juice and ones choice of a bloody Mary, a mimosa, or a strawberry mimosa (second cocktails are just $1.50). I had a bloody. Our waiter, a cute jock boy with blond hair, ice blue eyes, a little turned up nose, and a very infectious smile, talked David into a bloody Mary, but David ended up not liking it (too spicy for him), so the waiter brought him a strawberry mimosa. We also got orange juice, and the juice was freshly squeezed.

David selected the crunchy Cajun catfish, something he'd had before as a dinner entree but not as a brunch item. It looked quite good. The very large piece of catfish was breaded in cornflakes, then fried. It looked nicely juicy on the inside. The fish rested on scrambled eggs, and all was garnished with a dollop of basil hollandaise. Also on the plate were diced potato home fries and wedges of orange and grapefruit.


I ordered one of their specialty eggs Benedict dishes, in my case, substituting the Canadian bacon for a tomato slice and avocado and using crostini instead of English muffins. My plate also had the potatoes and citrus. Twas yummy.

New Big Wong Chinese Restaurant, Washington, D.C.

Friday nights have been Chinese food night for Ian for years, so Friday when we went out for a late dinner, that's what he wanted to eat. We picked the New Big Wong Chinese Restaurant in Chinatown, since their kitchen is open until 3 a.m. on Fridays, and it's a place Ian has taken visiting out of town guests.

Ian wanted their very economical dinner special, but those are only available during the early dinner hour, and we were there too late for that. So, he created his own dish and specified to the waitress exactly what he wanted: pieces of chicken breast, baby corn, and snow peas in a spicy brown sauce. He got it, and seemed pleased with the result. It was a big plate; he ended up needing another bowl of steamed rice to eat it all.


I got the pork lo mein, made with spaghetti rather than a flat noodle. I found it tasty and the serving size was surprisingly big—it would be an easy dish to split at lunch with a little bowl of soup or an appetizer.