Clyde's of Chevy Chase, Chevy Chase, Md.

Sometimes Robert and I go to places a bit nicer, yet order basic food. An example was an evening when we went to some of the nicer stores in the Friendship Heights area, and dined at Clyde's of Chevy Chase. Now, Clyde's is one of those small local chains with some nice food that can be combined to run up quite a bill, especially with their seafood and more substantial beef offerings, but they also offer a plethora of moderately priced sandwich and salad items.

Robert had the steak and cheese sandwich with French fries. The sandwich was served on a long roll, cut in half, and had lots of thinly sliced beef.


I got the tuna melt, ordinarily served there on an English muffin, but I asked the kitchen to substitute something different, and they brought it out on toasted rye. This is definitely the Cadillac of tuna melts, with the mass of warm tuna salad being presented open face as though it were a crab cake sandwich on a large tomato slice, then topped with melted cheddar cheese. I also got fries, plus a dill pickle.



We couldn't resist dessert. Clyde's always does great ones, and this night was no exception. We split a "pavé chocolate cake," a fabulous creation with layers of flourless chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, and chocolate meringue presented on an elaborately chocolate garnished plate with decorative accents of mint sprigs, raspberry sauce, and fresh raspberries. Delicious.

Corner Bakery Cafe, Washington, D.C.

Corner Bakery Cafe is another national chain with locations all over the District. We went to the one at Union Station. Robert had the "uptown turkey sandwich," which I thought seemed rather ordinary, but he likes them.


I had a very interesting soup. They look a little round country loaf of bread, hollowed it out, and filled it to overflowing with their cheddar cheese-broccoli soup. Filling and good. Couldn't eat all the bread. Washed it down with a big iced coffee.

Ledo Pizza, Takoma Park, Md.

In the past fortnight, Robert and I have been out to dinner at a couple of inexpensive places serving simple but good fare. Here are a couple of them.

Ledo Pizza is a small national chain with a store in Takoma Park, Md. On our last trip, I tried the lasagne. It was okay. Nothing spectactular, but decent. Sauce was a bit sweeter than I prefer, but no real complaints.


The real star of the evening, though, was the pizza Robert ordered. A "personal" pizza—that means it's supposed to be for one. This "Ledo Deluxe Pizza" was covered in chopped pepperoni, ground beef, ham, and probably a full pound of bacon strips. Do you like meat? Order this. Robert couldn't finish it alone and had to take half home. Said it was good quality, too.

Logan@The Heights, Washington, D.C.

I can't remember if I've written about a local neighborhood place before called Logan @ The Heights, or more commonly by Columbia Heights denizens, just "The Heights," but they've recently decided to open for weekday lunches. The "Logan" comes from its elder sister establishment, the Logan Tavern, and the menus and concepts between the two places are similar.

Taking advantage of the new lunches, I had a chance to pop in a couple of weeks ago for a late lunch.

I ordered one of the popular reimaginings of an old comfort food standby, their crab and shrimp macaroni and cheese. It's a good multi-cheese mac and cheese made with penne instead of elbow macaroni, with the addition of the seafood, topped with panko bread crumbs before baking. Tasty, assuming one likes seafood. It came with a mixed green salad according to the menu, but the waitress came back later and said it wasn't included. I didn't want to pay for a side salad, so I didn't have one.

My luncheon companion picked the crispy tofu and veggie stir-fry entree. It came, served over a big ball of jasmine rice. It also was preceded by a salad, but our waitress apparently was new didn't know all the rules, so she offered a choice of all the salads. My companion chose the iceberg wedge with blue cheese and bacon crumbles. The problem came at check time, when she billed us for the wedge. I called it to her attention, and after she checked on it, she came back to say that only the mixed green salad was included, and the other salads were extra. I expected her to at least adjust the bill to credit us with the value of a mixed green salad, but she charged us the full value of the lettuce wedge ($4 more).



So, it turns out I should have had a salad and we should have gotten a $3.95 salad credit for the wedge. I probably should have spoken with the manager about it, but I didn't want to spend the time to complain, as I was in a hurry to get back to work, so I just "adjusted" the tip.

So, while the food at The Heights is okay, you have to watch them on their bills. Caveat emptor.

Salmeron Restaurant, Washington, D.C.

One of our favorite restaurants in the Takoma neighborhood of Washington, D.C., El Tamarindo, recently changed names and ownership. The restaurant is now called "Salmeron Restaurant," and from what we could tell on a recent visit, the menus, food, and kitchen staff are essentially the same as they were under the old name, providing Mexican and Salvadorean offerings. The El Tamarindo location in Adams-Morgan remains open and in operation under the old name.

My dining companion ordered the Trios Burritos, a combination plate with a beef, a cheese, and a chicken burrito all covered in cheese, served with lettuce, sour cream, guacamole, and an orange half. The plate ended up being nearly licked clean, so I gather it was good.


I had the carne de puerco, a dish of fried chunks of pork topped with a tomato sauce and served with salad and Spanish rice. I thought the pork quite tasty, though I would have preferred that the dish come with fried yuca root instead of the rice. Both meals came with the hearty Salvadorean-style tortillas.


We'd also gotten there early enough during the evening that our first margaritas were really cheap with happy hour prices (I forgot how much, but it was cheap enough to entice me to have one). The margaritas were unusually good for happy hour, and they poured the tequila with a free hand, always a plus with me.

McCormick and Schmick, Washington, D.C.

Had a nice K Street lunch with Kevin this week. Strangely, especially considering all the financial legislation negotiations going on in D.C. this week, there were very few lobbyist where we went, a place normally very popular with the K Street crowd.

Kevin decided he wanted to go to McCormick and Schmick's, one of the top "casual," but very very pricey, seafood restaurants in town. Fortunately, their lunch menu doesn't get to the $$$$ level as it does during dinner.

Kevin started with a bowl of Maryland crab soup. This was the thin broth kind with a touch of tomato and hot spicyness (Old Bay Seasoning?). Then for his main course, he had a Maryland crab cake sandwich with fries. Musta been in a crabby mood that day. Pa dum pum.




I opted for the seafood Cobb salad. A huge salad, the traditional diced turkey breast was replaced by a wide strip of seafood featuring crab meat, popcorn shrimp, and little bay scallops. It was delicious. It could have used just a touch more dressing, and I would have preferred that they had diced the avocado and given it its own stripe as per tradition, but this are nit-picking complaints.

Washington Square Diner, New York, N.Y.

Thursday evening I met up with Ian for dinner. He chose a neighborhood diner for our meal that he'd been wanting to try but hadn't yet sampled called the Washington Square Diner, located in the Washington Square area near New York University.

It's a basic, but pleasant diner. I couldn't quite determine the ethnicity of the place; the menu has a "Mediterranean Specialties" section, yet I didn't hear any Greek, French, or Italian being spoken; I did, however, hear the wait staff speaking New World Spanish.

Ian ordered a muenster cheese omelette with home fried potatoes and toast. He liked it, and the serving portions were ample.


I got the chicken pot pie. What a great choice I made! The pot pie came in a large au gratin dish with puff pastry covering and folded over the dish and baked to a flaky, golden brown. Inside the dish was a flavorful chicken sauce filled with lots of chicken meat, carrots, onion, peas, and potatoes. The whole dish was great, with a rich taste, and it was very, very filling! I almost gave up on it, thinking I might have to take some home, but I didn't want to waste a drop!


Now, diners are usually known for their pies, so I decided to order a piece of their banana cream pie for dessert, and Ian offered to share it. That was a mistake. This was just not their area of culinary expertise. There was a cream base topped by some brown banana slices and some crunchy sugar (did they top the pie with bananas and sugar and broil it? I don't know where the "crunch" came from), then a thick layer of commercial whipped cream topped that. If you go to the diner, skip the banana cream pie.



The nicest thing about our meal was the cost, with both of our entrees being under $10. And they say one can't eat in New York City on a budget.

Miyagi Japanese Restaurant, New York, N.Y.

Last Thursday when I got to New York for my business trip, I found time for a late lunch in Manhattan's West Village at a little Japanese place called Miyagi. What caught my eye as I walked down the street was their blackboard out front announcing an $8.25 lunch special. Only $8.25? Well, that's as good a Washington prices, and I was expecting New York to be significantly more expensive. So, in I went.

It was late, with only two other tables occupied, and they were finishing up, so I got my choice of tables. A man who appeared to be an owner or manager waited on my table and saw to my needs. We had a little bit of communications challenge due to accents and languages, but we figured everything out.

I started my lunch with a fried baby octopus appetizer. Four baby octopi were breaded in panko breadcrumbs and quickly deep fried until just tender, and I thought them very nicely done.


Next, I ordered the tempura and sushi lunch box special. A generous serving of vegetable tempura came with a California roll in a laquered box, preceded by a choice of either miso soup or a green salad (I got the salad). The tempura was light and crispy, and the sushi roll was standard and tasted fresh. Hot green tea was served with the main course.


Thus was Miyagi, and it was a delightful find.

Heartland Brewery and Rotisserie, New York, N.Y.

Our lawyer friend and Californian John came to New York City this past weekend, the same time I was there, except his mission was to watch the final baseball performance from Yankee Stadium on Sunday. Ian and I met up with John at his hotel after he got settled in Saturday night, planning to take him somewhere nice for dinner. It turned out, however, that this was John's very first ever trip to NYC, so we embarked upon an abbreviated nighttime walking tour of midtown Manhattan, including a venture up to the top of the Empire State Building.

After our tour in the chilly New York night, we stopped in at the Heartland Brewery and Rotisserie there in the Empire State Building for a late supper. John's a big beer fan, so it seemed like an appropriate place to take him. The place was busy when we arrived, but they were, nevertheless, able to afford us immediate seating in their downstairs dining room.

Service was rather slow both after we were seating and throughout the evening, though I liked our waiter, who seemed responsible but over worked with too many tables. The only real problem we had was that one of Ian's beer glasses came to the table with a large L-shaped crack in it, but the waiter immediately rectified the problem once we pointed it out.

John ordered the maple-cured pork loin, the pork getting a maple syrup and bourbon glaze and being served atop a bed of maple-glazed sweet potato purée. He reported the pork was juicy and very good.


On the waiter's recommendation, I got the smoked chicken salad, but substituting the smoked chicken for rotisserie chicken. The mixed greens base included dried cranberries, pecans, and a blue cheese-balsamic vinaigrette. It was fine as far as chicken salads go, though nothing particularly outstanding.


Ian ordered a Caesar salad with dressing on the side, a bowl of chicken noodle soup (the noodles were penne pasta), and then later an order of spicy fries. He also got a sampler flight of six of the in-house brewery's beers. I took tiny sips of all of them, and the only one I really liked was the India pale ale (IPA), a strongly bitter, hoppy brew that Ian didn't like at all, but I reveled in the bitterness. There was also an oatmeal stout that tasted a lot like espresso with hints of chocolate. John, having been a brewmaster in his past, took over the beer education lessons for Ian, since it's not an area of my interest or expertise.




For dessert, Ian and I split a chocolate chip cookie pie, or at least we were supposed to have. This was a warm, thick, chocolate chip cookie in a pastry crust topped with vanilla ice cream. The literally three small bites I got were tasty; Ian unapologetically snarfed down the rest of the pie as though he were inhaling it. I was rather annoyed that the waiter only brought us spoons with which to eat a piece of pie. Had to ask him for a fork. :-/



After dinner, we walked the tired John back to his hotel. I think Sunday after I left to return to Washington, John and Ian got together for a late lunch, but I've not yet heard a full report on that yet.

Winter's coming

Roasted chestnuts from a New York street vendor.

Hooters, New York, N.Y.

Ian needs to smile more and show more teeth.....
he looks a bit too determined to be standing outside a place like this

Just off Times Square near Broadway is another of those awful Hooters restaurant stores. Ian likes to go because he thinks the chicken strips/fingers are good. Robert gives me that excuse, too, though he claims it's because of the chicken wings (my ex David said this, too). I don't know why they think this. They've all made me go to the chain, and I've yet to be impressed by either the food or service.

Ian and I went to the Times Square place and had a surly waitress. I found the chicken strips to be overcooked. Ian was disappointed because this particular store does not offer the full range of sauces he's used to eating at other stores. We got a dozen strips to split, plus I got the tiniest little styrofoam cup of mediocre and bland potato salad and Ian got a small but expensive serving of curly fries.



The one thing I can say about the Times Square Hooters store is that they are by far the most expensive and most limited Hooters I've ever experienced. In their defense, though, unlike many of their fellow New York restauranteurs, I will point out that they offer free soft drink refills. That's a given in the rest of the country, but rather rare in NYC.

It does me no good to "review" these places, since obviously their patrons have non-culinary interests and they seem not to care about my opinions. And I've yet to see any owls.

Cooking time

Here's a quick report amidst the New York stuff to mention what's going on this week in D.C. Monday was lodge night. We initiated six new Entered Apprentices, including our friend, actor/dancer Scott. I played mostly Mozart and Haydn, plus a little Sibelius and sang a little Mendelsohn aria from Elijah.

For dinner, Robert and I fixed cream of crimini mushroom soup, seven large pot roasts, a heap of roasted vegetables (new potatoes, carrots, onions, and cabbage), store-bought dinner rolls, and for dessert a great big banana pudding. Simple fare, but it had a favorable response.

I tried the new mini-Nilla Wafers, but I think next time I do a banana pudding, I'll use the regular wafers. The little ones just didn't soak up enough of the liquid to be useful.

I did the pot roasts with my prime rib technique where I cover the beef with kosher salt, coarsely ground black pepper, and fresh rosemary, then put them in a 500º oven for 20 minutes before reducing the heat to 325º for the long-term roasting. I also made a big batch of beef gravy, but it decided not to boil or thicken until practically everyone was done, so I didn't serve it. Eh. The challenges of cooking for nearly three dozen.