Le Chat Noir, Washington, D.C.

Monday is Bastille Day and I'm still trying to get inspiration for my menu for dinner that night. The quest for inspiration is requiring me to eat some French food this week, and last night we sought our muse by venturing over to Le Chat Noir, a little French place over in Tenleytown. Well, I thought it was Tenleytown; as it turned out, it was half way between the Tenleytown and Friendship Heights Metro stops.

"The Black Cat" is almost a suburban restaurant, sitting in an area that is essentially residential. A large covered porch is open to the air, but we chose to eat inside where the air conditioning was. Robert's subway train took a lot longer than expected to get to Tenleytown, so it was half past ten when we walked in the door. Even though they are open until eleven on weekends, they were already starting to close down, so we were a bit more rushed than we would have liked for our dinner experience. And, they were out of the duck special I had wanted. But, we managed to put together a very palatable meal.

Robert started with the terrine de canard, a slice of a loaf of fruited duck liver pâté served with little French cornichon pickles and some fig compote and garnished with a little pile of frisée.


I got one of the daily specials, the quenelles de saumon sauce poireaux. Quenelles are sort of poached, egg-shaped dumplings made from ground seafood, and these delicate dumplings were sauced with a traditional green leek sauce and garnished with diced cucumber and sprigs of fresh dill. I thought it a nice, light, summery dish.


For his plat principau, Robert got the old standard, steak frites. He reported it good, and I noted that the steak was thicker than most of the steaks we see around here at restaurants with a similar offering.


My plat was the noix de Saint-Jacques, three big, juicy scallops split into six medallions and sautéed until just done, then served on a mirror of gingered cream sauce. The ginger gave the sauce ever so slightly a bit of a spicy bite. Accompanying the scallops were a half broiled tomato topped with duxelles and a little mélange of sauteed seasonal vegetables, including celery root and leeks. Everything together made a beautiful combination.


To accompany our meal, Robert had a glass of the house Côtes du Rhône and I had a glass of the house white bordeaux.

The dessert list was typical French classics, although they did offer a patisserie tray we didn't inspect and a trio of different flavored crèmes brulees. I selected the classic upside-down, caramelized apple tart, the tarte tatin. Their version uses hearty chunks of apples instead of carefully arranged, thin slices of apple often seen at other local places. Both whipped cream and a little tiny bowl of vanilla ice cream accompanied the tart.


We enjoyed our meal at Le Chat Noir, even though the staff clearly was anxious to close up and go home. I thought the food was good and artfully presented. Perhaps soon we can go back, as there were a number of things on the menu I'd like to try, including the crêpes made of buckwheat flour, which are one of their specialty items. I also would like to look more closely at their wine list, which I didn't really peruse in our haste to order.

Lauriol Plaza, Washington, D.C.

Peter wanted Mexican food last night. We went through a list of the better places in town that approximate Mexican food, IMming back and forth, and discovered that he'd never eaten at Lauriol Plaza. So, we made dinner plans for after the work day, shooting for as early a dinner as we could to avoid the crowds and lines. We were pleased that a 6:30 dinner time got us right in to the main dining room without a wait (at least on an early in the week weeknight).

Since he's toying with some quasi-vegetarianism, Peter selected the Santa Fe Platter. It sounded like a really fun combination, with a cheese chile relleno, a cheese enchilada, and a guacamole taco, plus Mexican rice and a little bowl of black beans.


I got a beef chimichanga with rice and brown beans. The ample beef filling was flavorful, but the chunks of beef were a bit too big to neatly and easily eat in the chimichanga context. The guacamole on my plate—a garnish for the chimichanga—struck me as particularly good last night. I wanted more!


For dessert, Peter got one of the daily specials, a nice looking white chocolate mousse cake. He reported the cake to be just a touch dry, but the mousse and fillings were great and made up for it. I had the key lime pie, which turned out to be quite pleasant, neither too tart nor too sweet.



And, here's Peter (showing off his newly shorn hair) with one of his three margaritas sitting for his very first Kody Pose.

Wonderland Ballroom, Washington, D.C.

No sooner had I gotten home and undressed after our trip to Anacostia to Denny's, than I got a call from Joel, my neighbor across the street. He wanted to go to Wonderland Ballroom up the street for a nightcap. I went. He made me drink Belgian beer.


We sat out on the patio until it closed at midnight, then went inside to finish up. Wonderland is always fun, being popular, but very casual, and totally not an S & M (stand and model) bar. It attracts a wide variety of people from all over the neighborhood. Joel, of course, is a regular, and very social with everyone.

Denny's, Washington, D.C.

A couple of years ago, I made the mistake of taking Ian to the IHOP in Ballston, the first time he'd ever been to an IHOP. Now, I have a hard time getting him to go anywhere else. Well, yesterday, he announced that he wanted to go to a Denny's. He'd never been to a Denny's before. (Remember, Ian is in line to the British throne (albeit distantly) and his father is a famous British punk rocker.....they aren't the type to go to or appreciate IHOP or Denny's.) So, we did the Internet search in quest of a local, Metro-accessible Denny's. And, lo and behold, we discovered one, way out at the eastern tip of D.C. across the street from the Benning Road Metro station.

Robert and I were already in the neighborhood doing our civic duty when Ian announced that was where we were going for dinner. So, alas, we went. And, as far as Denny's experiences go, it wasn't that bad and could have been a whole lot worse.

The daylight menu at Denny's is big. It took Ian a long time to look over it before he decided upon a Razzdango (Sprite with raspberry and mango) and a Moons over My Hammy without the ham. The "Moons" is a lot like the ham and egg melt he usually gets at IHOP. Robert got the Lumberjack Slam, a huge breakfast with eggs, bacon, sausage, a big slice of ham, hash browns, pancakes, and toast. I got the regular Grand Slam, plus some pancakes that Ian wanted me to get for him.




The food was all very tasty. I think the link sausage is better at IHOP, though, and Robert was distressed that his two slices of bacon appeared to be one slice torn in half. Otherwise, the food was fine.

Service started out great, but then deteriorated at the end. Ian had a hard time getting a refill on his drink. Robert and I both had little sides to our meals we had to remind the waiter to bring. It took a long time to get a check. Then, the waiter overcharged us, charging full price for two of the sides that came with the Slam breakfasts and should have been 99¢ each. We asked him to correct it, but when the ticket came back, he hadn't. Unfortunately, Ian was suddenly impatient to go and just threw his credit card at it and paid the bill, plus a bigger-than-it-should-have-been tip. Oh, well.

Martin's Tavern, Georgetown, D.C.

It's Sunday. I was going to go to church this morning and even plotted out Metro routes (it's a new place, far away), but I slept through it. Then, I was going to go to the 5:30 tonight, but I kept getting phone calls and just didn't get showered and cleaned up in time. I had a dinner meeting in Georgetown and I was going to go to the 10 p.m. Mass at the chapel on campus, but we got done with dinner at eight, and I didn't want to hang around the campus for two hours with nothing to do, so I just went home. Eh. Such have been my weekends of late.

Speaking of dinner, I went to eat with Seth, one of my Chevalier Court officers, to Martin's Tavern in Georgetown, since it's near the store where he works. We're planning an event next month.

He got the "shrimp scampi" (I hate the redundancy of that phrase!). It was the standard Italian-style preparation with lemon and white wine; he liked it, but said it wasn't the best he'd had; he also noted that the shrimp were slightly overcooked. The dish came with steamed vegetables and some rice.


What with all the rain out, I was in the mood for something hearty, and picked the pot roast. It was delicious. The meat was very tender and flavorful, and came with a small amount of roasted potatoes, good brown gravy, and just a few bits of roasted carrot, onion, and celery. I would love another plate of it right now!


I was in the mood for some dessert, but there weren't any specials today, and the standard stuff just didn't inspire me. Seth didn't want any either. So, we just finished our business chats and went home out into the rainy night.

Oh, he posed for a Kody Pose:

The Tombs, Georgetown, D.C.

After the fireworks display Friday night, there was no way we wanted to be back in the subway system for a couple of hours 'til the crowds cleared out. Not a problem, though, since we were in Georgetown. After a quick pass through Francis Scott Key Park right by the Key Bridge (it's the site of Key's former law office), where it might have been fun to watch the "rocket's red glare" had there not been so many sky-blocking trees, we wandered down M Street nearly to Wisconsin before Robert decided he wanted to go to The Tombs. Eh. The Tombs is directly north of the Key Bridge, so we were half a mile too far to the east. But, it looked like it was going to rain again, so we went up to Prospect Street and then backtracked to The Tombs.


We ordered mint juleps, but what we got were the palest mint juleps I think I'd ever seen. Aren't juleps supposed to be bourbon brown? There was a slight bourbon flavor, but otherwise, I would have sworn we got mojitos!

So, we switched to Bourbon Street teas, their bourbon-based version of a Long Island tea. It was okay.....but with the alcohol that should have been in the drink, I would have expected (especially after having had a prior drink) to get a little bit of a buzz, but I didn't. Eh. So, I gave up.

Meanwhile, Robert ordered a pitcher of nasty cheap beer (Miller Lite, I think it was). I'm not a beer person (especially when it's nasty beer), so I abstained. Eventually, we decided to pep things up a bit for him, and ordered a shot of Maker's Mark to drop in the beer glass. Unfortunately, they didn't have any shot glasses! All they had were little rocks glasses, and they were too big to put into the beer glasses, so we just dumped the bourbon into the beer and Robert drank it that way.

After he finished his beer, Robert was hungry, so he got a bowl of chili. I don't know why we stayed so long. The music was so loud in there, we had to write on paper to communicate!



Then, I don't know where it came from, but another pitcher and another shot of bourbon showed up. Robert didn't want to waste it, so he graciously forced himself to drink it, rather than send them back to the bar to be discarded.

It was after midnight by the time we left The Tombs. When we got out on the street, I soon discovered that Robert was a little more toasted than me (musta been the two extra pitchers of beer and two double shots of bourbon).....so much so that I didn't think it would be a good idea to deposit him on a Metro train and send him home to Takoma alone (and that was assuming that we could have walked him to a station!)....so we dragged Ian out and rented a Zipcar to drive him home.

IHOP, Takoma Park, Md.

After all of our Fourth of July festivities, we rented a Zipcar to take Robert home in Takoma Park, after which Ian insisted on going to the Tacoma Park IHOP.

Ian got his usual ham and egg melt without the ham with hash browns instead of fries, and paying an additional 99¢ for a little dressingless side salad. He also wanted some cheesecake pancakes—the speciality pancake this month—but didn't want to eat the whole pancake platter, so he prevailed upon me to eat the eggs, bacon, and sausage. So, I accommodated him. The IHOP there was really busy, but we had a good waiter for a change, and got in and out pretty quickly.




By the time we got back to Georgetown, it was 3:30 or after. The buses, unfortunately, had stopped running (at least where I was and where I was going). I didn't want to waste the money on the luxury of a taxi. Ian bought me a Diet Dr Pepper at the CVS, and then he made me walk all the way home.

Champp's Americana, Arlington, Va.

Independence Day afternoon, Robert decided he wanted to go to the mall at Pentagon City. Stupidly, I acquiesced. Why we went (especially in view of the crowds!) is a mystery. When I got there, I found Robert in the food court with a steak quesadilla from Taco Bell. He wanted a beer, so we went out to Pentagon Row to Champp's Americana, a popular nationally franchised sports bar. They were packed and we had to wait for a table.

In addition to a beer in one of those great big tall, thin, beer mugs, Robert got an order of chicken wings.


I decided to try something new, selecting the barbecued beef-stuffed onion rings. They weren't bad, but they were truly just an appetizer, not big enough for a substitute light meal. By the time I got to eat them, though, they were getting cold and a little bit soggy. This is because our food came before our waiter brought silverware and napkins, and it was at least fifteen minutes before he came by to check on us and we reminded him of our need. He was a perky little guy, but very airhead; once he took away my iced tea glass to get me a refill, then forgot to come back with it.


After the onion rings, I ordered the BBQ chicken chopped salad (had to keep an Independence Day barbecue theme going), but he put in the wrong order, and I got the Americana chopped salad instead, with chicken breast slices, apple slices, and dried cranberries, instead of the more substantial barbecued pulled chicken, bacon, and cheddar cheese I'd anticipated. Everything was so busy there, it was easier to just eat the wrong salad than to try to get it replaced.


So, the food was okay, but this wasn't a day when the service at Champp's shined.

Interestingly enough, it was about 8:00 or 8:30 when we left, and walking back through the mall, we noticed practically everything was already closed!