Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant, Washington, D.C.

Poor Laurent was having a bad week last week, and a particularly frustrating Wednesday, so I rescued him from the remnant snow piles and brisk winds as he left the gym and spirited him off to Chinatown for dinner. It didn't hurt matters any that I happened to have a Christmas gift card to the restaurant, but I didn't tell him that! LOL

So, off we went to Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant, the only in-District store of this national chain of microbreweries with a pleasant, moderately-upscale menu. No doubt due to the weather, the restaurant was far from full when we walked in, so we were immediately seated near the bar area. This particular store is in a stunning setting, since they occupy the ground floor of a former bank building, and they have what amounts to a two-story tall space supported by Corinthian columns and all kinds of ornate stonework everywhere.

Still tired from his workout and wanting to maintain some semblance of healthy eating, Laurent decided to have the large spinach salad for dinner.  He had them add a sliced, grilled chicken breast to the salad, and also added a large slab of grilled salmon.  Spinach and protein.  Sounds healthy, I guess.  I don't know if he actually got any benefit, though, since he washed it all down with a tall glass of the brewery's winter brew beer!

Not being cursed with a gym addiction, I didn't feel the same culinary restrictions on my menu selections.  I chose the pasta jambalaya, a very interesting dish full of chicken, shrimp, and andoille sausage with lots of tomatoes, onions, and green peppers, plus lots of hot spices, all in the traditional jambalaya concept, but, instead of this being basically a rice stew, they substituted orzo pasta (little tiny pieces of pasta that look like fat grains of rice) for the rice, giving the dish a completely different texture and appearance.  I also got their side house salad, a pretty substantial little chopped salad full of cheese and bacon and candied pecans and other delicious things.

Our waitress was nice, friendly, and chatty, and talked us into ordering dessert.  I decided to get her favorite, the apple bread pudding with whiskey sauce and vanilla ice cream.  It was good.  Laurent got the hamburger of the day, a buffalo sauce/blue cheese burger, and a side dish of the day's vegetable, asparagus.  The kitchen messed up and brought him garlic fries, too, but the waitress didn't charge us for them.  She was quite amused; I don't think she'd ever had anybody order a hamburger for dessert before.

After dinner, we ventured back out into the cold and headed home.  I think dinner at least put Laurent in a somewhat better mood!

For those of you in the area, there's also a Gordon Biersch out at Tyson's Corner Center.