Stretching the dining dollar

We don't always eat out at elegant places. We do our share of the $1 double cheeseburgers at McDonald or the $5 footlong subs at Subway. I'm also a big fan of the street corner hot dog vendor. I just don't usually photograph and talk about these places.

Sometimes we head down to the D.C. institution, Ben's Chili Bowl on U Street, since they stay open til 2 a.m. on weekdays and 4 a.m. on weekends. They're celebrating their 50th anniversary this year. All of the local politicians make a special effort to come here during election years for photo opportunities, though I've yet to see photos of Senator Obama eating there.

Some will accuse me of heresy, but I've never really thought the chili at Ben's was that good. What I go for, though, is their world-famous chili half-smoke, a $4.95 special with D.C.'s own native sausage, the half-smoke, grilled and then put in a hot dog bun with lots of chili and onion; it also comes with potato chips. One of the other specialties there is their French fries, sometimes topped with chili, sometimes cheese, sometimes both. Below are cheese fries.


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Not long ago, Ian and I were in College Park with Kevin, where we grabbed dinner at Plato's Diner. Ian had a feta cheese omelette with accompanying home fries plus an order of French fries. Kevin had his usual enormous Greek salad, then the two of them split an enormous piece of their three layer strawberry shortcake with a big scoop of ice cream. I got the fried chicken blue plate, with cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes, and a choice of soup or salad; fortuitously, I picked the soup of the day, a delicious pumpkin bisque.

Robert and I were running errands in Columbia Heights the other day when a torential downpour started. Both for shelter and sustenance, we popped into Gloria's Pupeseria. Robert got the bistec encebollado, or steak with onions, and he especially loved the sauce on the meat. I got a huge bowl of sopa de pollo, a chicken and vegetable stew accompanied by those small, thick, Salvadorean style tortillas. We washed down our meal with glasses of horchata, that rice milk, vanilla, and cinnamon drink popular in Central America.

Both of these meals cost only about $10 per person, which, in Washington, is an extremely good deal.
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For just a little more money, Ian and I went to The Diner in Adams-Morgan a few days ago. For those so inclined, they have the advantage of a full bar, and, my favorite thing about them is that they are open 24 hours a day.

On this trip, Ian got an egg and cheese sandwich on an English muffin with home fries. I got a basic cheeseburger with pepper Jack cheese and French fries.


Then for dessert, I got the peach cobbler with an oat crumble crust and a scoop of ice cream, whilst Ian got the chocolate roulade, a chocolate cake rolled up with a mascarpone cheese filling.


So, those are some of our Summer 2008 budget dining favorites.

Cork Restaurant and Wine Bar, Washington, D.C.

Before we went to go see This Beautiful City this past Sunday evening, my neighbor Joel took me to one of his favorite hangouts, Cork Restaurant and Wine Bar, for a pre-theater supper. Cork is on 14th Street near the theater district.

Once we got there, we decided to sit inside (air conditioning can be a good thing). The hostess wanted to put us at a little tiny two-top table against a wall near the bar—which would have been cramped with just two wine glasses let alone dinner—so we asked to sit at the empty table in the front window. After all, most people were outside and there were just a few occupied tables inside. She wouldn't do that, saying it was a table for four. So, we said we'd sit outside, where all the two-tops were full and there were only two empty four-tops. So, she put us outside, taking up a "big" table on the busier and more popular patio. The entire time we were there, that four-top inside in the window never was occupied.

The menu at Cork is a bit different. They have a page of hot dishes and a page of cold dishes, all desiged to be shared. I didn't realize how much they wanted us to share things, so I ordered a soup and a hot dish, thinking the sharing was optional. Then the soup came. I'd ordered the chilled minted English pea soup, which I'd expected just for me, but which arrived in two small bowls. I hope Joel likes pea soup! The soup had herbed olive oil drizzled around the edges, a dollop of crème frâiche in the middle, and a little chiffonade of dried mint leaves atop the crème. I thought the soup had a nice, intense pea flavor, though it was, I felt, a little too salty. Cold foods always require more seasoning than hot foods, though, so perhaps they were targeting people who like a bit more salt than do I. Anyway, I always like cold soups on hot summer days. Joel liked it, too, though he said he prefers his soups a bit thicker.

Next, we got what I thought would be Joel's first course, the rosemary chicken liver bruschetta, a little bowl of a tasty chicken liver mousse served with sliced and toasted bread, a little ramekin of a fruity, caramelized shallot marmalade, and a garnish of mostly watercress in a bright lemon vinaigrette. Joel liked it so much he ordered a second one.


Meanwhile, "my" main dish came, the duck confit with mushroom polenta. It was different, seeming more like it had been baked rather than fried. The duck was juicy, though, and fell off the bone. The polenta was good, too, but they served such a tiny, tiny dollop of it (it's hidden under the duck in the photo) one would think that corn meal mush was the most expensive item on the plate. Joel later explained to me that the chef at Cork used to be the sous chef at Citronelle, so that explains their nouvelle cuisine minimalism and tiny, single-taste serving sizes. Too bad, though, cause I would have liked two or three times as much polenta.


This being a wine bar and all, we had to have some interesting wines. We each got one of their wine flights. Joel got the flight of Spanish whites. It included Las Colinas Del Ebro, Garnacha Blanca, Terra Alta 2007; Gran Vinum, Albariño, Rias Baixas 2006; and Jose Pariente, Rueda 2007. The Albariño was his favorite.

I got the rosé flight. It consisted of Cune Rioja Rosado 2007, Domaine Terrisses "Grande Tradition" Gaillac 2007, and La Valentina Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Cerasuolo 2007. I preferred the last two wines, with the Montepulciano being my favorite.


They had a number of interesting desserts on the menu. Joel got "Lizzy's Goat Cheese Cake," a unique, crustless cheesecake made with goat milk cheeses. It came on a rectangular plate and looked like three little scoops of ice cream strewn with slices of fresh strawberries and a dusting of chocolate cookie crumbles that resembled coarsely ground black pepper. He liked it. With his cheesecake he drank a Château Loupiac-Gaudiet Loupiac 2003.


I had a very interesting sounding grapefruit financier, a cake made from almond nut flour, egg whites, and butter, scented with grapefruit, accompanied by little strips of candied rhubarb, and garnished with a few fresh blackberries. The grapefruit taste was very subtle. Much as with the polenta, I should have liked more of the candied rhubarb than just three little strips. I washed down the financier with a Degiorgia Moscato D'Asti 2006, a nice sweet sparkling wine served in a flute.


Cork was an interesting experience. The wines are fun. The food is good. The presentation is creative. Our waiter was efficient and informed. The sidewalk patio is nice. The company was excellent. It's not a place to go, though, if one is on a budget or very hungry! Nevertheless, I expect I'll be back.

Life in the Hood

This product is on sale in our neighborhood Seven Eleven store.

Florida Avenue Grill, Washington, D.C.

Sunday morning started very early with a quick breakfast at the Florida Avenue Grill. I only ordered things I could see them cooking, so I felt safer with their sanitation practices this time. That's not to say that they were suddenly in compliance with health practices—they weren't—but things weren't as egregious this time. It was a very slow period, so my waitress also served as short order cook at the grill as well as cashier, and they still haven't learned the concept of handwashing and/or plastic gloves.

I had the hotcakes and Virginia ham with what turned out to be an extra side order of grits (the menu has a column of breakfast platters that include a choice of grits, home fried potatoes, biscuits and gravy, etc., etc., but apparently the sides aren't for the hotcake platters in that column and that's not mentioned on the menu). The waitress dipped a big spatula into a vat of butter to oil the grill, then poured out batter from a big gallon pitcher to make the three hotcakes. The butter gave the hotcakes a nice, delicate, and flavorful crunch to the edges that one just can't get from vegetable shortening or oil. The ham also got fried on the grill, with the addition of a little water that created a sort of red eye gravy on the ham slice. The grits were dipped from a big pan on the steam table, then drizzled with butter from the pancake spatula; I thought the grits were lovely.

I think the Grill probably does better with its breakfasts than it does with its dinners. It's certainly not elegant or gourmet, but it's a nice, basic, down-home kind of cooking that can be very satisfying.

El Tamarindo Mexican and Salvadorean Restaurant, Washington, D.C.

A couple of hours after getting home from Thursday's cocktail party, Ian called, wanting to go to a midnight dinner. Options are very limited at that time on a week night, and since I didn't want to go all the way over to Georgetown, we agreed to meet in Adams-Morgan at El Tamarindo.

Ian brought a laptop to follow the scores on a Phillies baseball performance or something (West Coast??), so we sat back near the bar where he could get a WiFi signal.

I wasn't really that hungry, especially in view of the hour, so I just got a couple of pupusas con queso y loroco. It came with a little bowl of the traditional curtido (pickled cabbage) on the side. I'm still trying to figure out what the big deal is with Salvadoreans and loroco (those green flower buds they like so much in their pupusa fillings). Ian had a chicken burrito with rice and beans. We discovered they have a policy at El Tamarindo that they charge for chips and salsa after midnight. Ian moaned and whined so much about it to the waitress that eventually she brought him a free basket. Afterwards, Ian wanted a piece of tres leches cake, so we split one.

After we'd been there for a while, seven 20-somethings came in to eat and were seated at the table next to us. Judging from their loqatiousness and conversational topics, I suspect they'd been out drinking for a while. They ordered food and wanted more drinks. It was after last call, though, but the waitress acquiesced, though she told them if they ordered, they'd have to be done with the drinks in twenty minutes. Then, right at 2 a.m., the waitress came and collected the glasses, in compliance with D.C. liquor laws.

Well, at the table was a certain loud female (we'll call her "Meagan"), an '07 Georgetown Law alumna and an associate at one of the big downtown firms, who started throwing a fit about her drink being taken away. She argued with the waitress and later a manager that they weren't going to pay for their drinks and claimed she didn't know they were going to be taken away (which would be an interesting argument, had the waitress not been standing right by Meagan when I heard her tell the table they'd have to finish their drinks in twenty minutes). The manager mentioned calling the police if they weren't going to pay the bill, and then Meagan started throwing her lawyer-weight around and arguing how she knew the law. After the waitress and manager moved on, Meagan kept loudly proclaiming how horrible the food was, how she'd never come back again (yay!), and asking the people at her table if there food wasn't just the worst they'd ever eaten. Turns out some of the other guys at her table were lawyers, too, and she was talking about them suing the restaurant for her.

Needless to say, she was being very disruptive to all the other tables in the dining room at the time. I was trying to ignore them, not really being interested in her discourse with her friends about the "definition of slut," in addition to other weighty topics, though I did note a few of the rises in conversation, such as the couple of times some of the embarrassed young men at her table were trying to calm her down, including a time when I wasn't sure if she was trying to text or email or call somebody on a Blackberry and one young man got very annoyed with her and said she wasn't being "cool."

Well, things calmed down somewhat until check time, when she started up her demands and insults with the waitress again. The waitress, I suppose to calm things down, had taken Meagan's drink off the tab but not all of them, since I think Meagan was the only one who hadn't completely finished her drink in time. But then, something happened that particularly bothered me. Now, loud, obnoxious, boorish, drunk females are nothing new to Adams-Morgan, but I found this to be a problem. The other guys at the table put cash in for the tab, but Meagan took all the cash and paid the bill with her credit card. She then loudly proclaimed to her companions that she was going to submit the bill to her boss and get reimbursed for the evening!

With seven people having dinner and drinks, that certainly would be an undeserved windfall to her pocket. What's worse, though, she wasn't entertaining on behalf of the firm, they didn't discuss any business at all, and some of her companions even questioned the validity of what she was proposing to do. She claimed her boss did this sort of thing all the time, and she wouldn't even notice when the reimbursement request came through. So, will Meagan be defrauding her law firm? What if the firm turns around and bills the illegitimate business expense to some client? Does her firm have a practice of submitting illegitimate business expenses for reimbursement? Do they bill clients for their personal non-business related meals and entertainment? And, what sort of example is being set if some of those table companions were summer associates, learning "how things are done" by lawyers in the real world?

Well, I don't know any of the managing partners at Meagan's firm, or I might have dropped one of them an email or mentioned her at some cocktail party where I saw one. Witnessing this potential breech of professional ethics still has me a little uncertain; I suppose I should just ignore it and mind my own business. What would you (especially you lawyers) do?

Pourhouse, Washington, D.C.

Thursday night, Robert and I went to a cocktail party at Top of the Hill in the Pourhouse complex on Pennsylvania Avenue between the Capitol and Eastern Market. I think he was planning on having "dinner" from their hors d'oeuvres, but all they served was a thin spinach-artichoke dip with pita bread wedges, chips and salsa, cheese cubes, and crudites with Ranch dressing, and once people started to arrive, they didn't last long. Soon after we got our first drinks, young Capitol Hill staffers started pouring in to the Pourhouse, causing them to far exceed the fire marshal limits for the room; I don't know where they came from or why they were there. Then our waits in line at the bar to get our second drinks were just way, way too long with all those kids there, and we had the drinks consumed before we could get back to our seating area. So, we decided to leave to escape the sardinesque throngs. We ended up walking all around the neighborhood, checking out the progress on the rebuilding of the Eastern Market, walking down Barracks Row, inspecting the new baseball arena neighborhood, then looking for Laurent in his neighborhood over by Waterfront, before Metroing home.