51st State Tavern, Washington, D.C.

For several years, I've always want to go to a little neighborhood bar in Foggy Bottom called the 51st State Tavern, primarily because their outdoor chalkboard was always advertising these great happy hour specials. But, Leo would never go. Ryan would never go. Ian would never go. Even Laurent (who went to school around the corner) would never go. Finally, though, I was able to get Robert to go, with just two magic words: chicken wings.

That's right, dear readers, chicken wings, for Tuesday at the 51st State Tavern is 10¢ chicken wings night.

The poor waiter had barely finished repeating Robert's beer order (the house brew) and my iced tea request before Robert was asking him to bring us forty chicken wings. Forty! That's a huge amount of chicken wings, but, hey, it only cost $4.00. Now, I'm not a big chicken wing afficionado as is Robert, but I dutifully forced my share of vinegary, spicy buffalo wings down, occasionally thinking to dip a corner into a little plastic container of chunky blue cheese dressing.

Would you believe that they didn't even provide finger bowls after the meal?

I don't think I could have eaten another wing, but I thought Robert was going to order another decade of them. He's decided to diet this week, though, so he abstained. And he wouldn't let me order dessert, either.

Robert wants to go back. But only on Tuesdays.

Thai Place, Washington, D.C.

We had a hard time finding an open restaurant last night after hearing the symphony concert, trying several places along the way only to be turned away by closed kitchens. Finally, we found a friendly face at Thai Place, just east of Washington Circle, and went in to dine.

Jim started us off with a spring roll appetizer, the fresh kind that hasn't been fried, with their special sauce and mix of chopped peanuts.


Not long after we got them did our food begin to arrive. Jim got the kee mow noodles with seafood and extra spice. I got the "Spicy Fisherman," a mix of seafood and vegetables in a light brown sauce served with white rice. We washed all of this down with a couple of vases of warm sake (yes, I know that's Japanese, but we weren't in the mood for Thai beer).



Finally, we got a piece of warm Thai coconut custard to split for dessert.



Once the restaurant ran us off so they could close, we walked next door to the Froggy Bottom Pub for a little nightcap. They're mostly a beer bar, so our liquor choices were limited, forcing poor Jim to have to drink Wild Turkey and I had to drink Dewars—the only nasty bourbon and whiskey they had in the bar.

Alas, we stayed out too late to take the subway home, so he grabbed a taxi and I made the mistake of taking the bus. Due to the hour and the timing of things, it took me an hour and a half to get home!

Red Rocks Firebrick Pizzeria, Washington, D.C.

No sooner had I gotten home last night from a long afternoon in the hot summer sun at a street festival downtown, than did Joel (who lives in the condominiums across the street) call me and want to go to dinner at the pizzeria up the street. I talked him into letting me have a moment to hop in the shower first, and then we walked up the street to Red Rocks Firebrick Pizzeria.

While the restaurant is built in a row house, they've converted the adjacent empty corner lot into a large outdoor patio seating area. We got a table out there, where eventually we watched the sun go down.

While we perused the menu, Joel got a glass of Delirium Tremens, a Belgian beer. Needing to rehydrate after my afternoon in the sun, I sipped iced tea. The menu is very simple, being mostly gourmet pizzas baked in their special fire brick oven.

Joel ordered a pizza salsiccia, a good sized individual pie that featured a fennel-scented Italian sausage as the primary topping ingredient. It looked like they were using fresh mozzarella on it, too.



I had a basil chicken panino with fontina cheese and large strips of roasted sweet red pepper, accompanied by a small green salad.



For his third beer, Joel switched to Chimay, another Belgian beer that they happened to have on tap. You can see his beers in his Kody Poses, below.

I've walked by Red Rocks many times, but I'd never before stopped in. It's always nice to try out the neighborhood eateries, and Joel is always a fun conversationalist and dining companion. Twas dark by the time we got home!

M'Dawg Haute Dogs, Washington, D.C.

What exactly is a gourmet hot dog?

Hot dogs, weiners, sausages—they all have a long history in the culture of Washington, D.C., not only because of the ubiquitous hot dog stands on nearly every street corner in the downtown neighborhoods, but we have our very own, famous, hot dog invention: the half-smoke.

So, when we were walking through Adams-Morgan the other night and came upon a gourmet hot dog shop, I was suspicious. Robert, though, claimed he'd heard good things about the place, so we went in.

M-Dawg Haute Dogs is a small storefront operation in the midst of the restaurant and club strip of 18th Street. It has a simple burger joint-type of decor and arrangement, with limited seating on tall bar stools around high topped tables. The ordering counter and toppings bar dominates most of the length of the room. The menu is posted on a large blackboard and features mostly various forms of hot dogs (including vegetarian options).

Robert ordered "The Hottie," a D.C.-style half-smoke, and reported it "quite good." He ordered it "uptown," a $1-extra option that entitles one to the use of an extensive topping bar rather reminiscent of the toppings bar at the falafel shops in the neighborhood (diners ordering their dogs "downtown" [free] are limited to pickle relish, onion, and standard table condiments). He also got an order of their battered French fries, bringing the cost of his "cheap" meal above the $10 mark.


I ordered a "Big Daddy," advertised as fish and chips ("certified" by some British board of fish and chippery or some such), but which turned out to be two pieces of fried fish on a bun allowing me to make a fish sandwich and with the same battered French fries as Robert got. I liked the fries a lot! The fish was good, too, for what it was, and I was particularly pleased that both my fish sandwich and my fries together only cost $5.95.


The dark mass on my plate is actually some very good purple cabbage that I guess I wasn't really entitled to, but there were no instructions on the toppings bar and none of the staff provided guidance. Robert didn't do much with his "uptown" other than get a few spoonfuls of chili, so we'll just say I was helping him get good use of his investment.

We wanted something sweet for dessert, but their ice cream freezer of ice cream confections was empty. Alas, we'd wanted large fountain drinks, too, but their soda fountain was broken, so they offered only soft drinks in cans. I hope that's not a regular thing for them there; they can't be without a fountain or dessert freezer if they are going to remain viable and successful. I get their impression from their Web site that they may be looking at this store as a prototype for a franchise operation. They've got a lot of kinks to work out, I think, before that is a realistic possibility, but their basic idea and concept is a good one.

The Pines of Florence, Alexandria, Va.

After touring the George Washington Masonic Memorial, as it was dinner time, we walked down King Street into Old Town Alexandria in quest of a non-national chain place to eat. While I'd been thinking of going down to all the places by the river, it was one of those hot, sultry, summer afternoons and Robert was getting hot, so we found a place on the west end of King Street, a mom-and-pop Italian ristorante called The Pines of Florence. We were quite pleased with our find, too, as the food was good, the servings large, and the prices cheap, with entrees being mostly in the $9 to $14 range.

Robert got the spaghetti carbonara. Now, the classic carbonara recipe has egg, parmesan cheese, bacon, olive oil, and herbs, but it looked to me like they'd added a splash of cream. Robert liked it quite a bit, and it was much prettier than it looks in the photo.


I got the veal osso bucco accompanied by some linguine, and all of the dish was covered in a thick tomato sauce with lots of onions, green peppers, and mushrooms and all with a buttery richness. The veal was pretty good. While I was disappointed (though not at all unexpected) not to be offered a marrow scoop, once I got through the meat and all that tomato sauce, I was pleasantly surprised to find a nice section of the leg bone with a big opening and an ample amount of bone marrow. The marrow was easily extractable with my table knife, and made a delicious spread on the bread they provided.