La Cuvée Americaine: The American Blend

French wine

2010-06-11T23:11:00.000-04:00

Just got home from playing the piano at a concert tonight, and the reception thereafter. They had some really good French Chateau Saint-Etienne wine.

ThaiTanic

2010-06-10T22:31:00.000-04:00

Just discovered that ThaiTanic has a branch location in northern Columbia Heights when Morgan dragged me there for dinner tonight.

Cooking at home for a change

2010-06-06T21:48:00.000-04:00

Mmmm. Grilled pork chops for dinner, simply prepared with lots of salt and pepper and a little dollop of butter.

Symphony concert

2010-06-04T14:31:00.000-04:00

Out on the terrace for intermission sipping gin and tonics. Keeps us from getting malaria, you know.

McCourt

2010-06-02T02:12:00.000-04:00

I think I ate at least two pounds of shrimp at the reception tonight following the Tribute to (the late Irish author) Frank McCourt. Gotta take advantage of it whilst we can....who knows how much longer we'll have affordable shrimp—or shrimp at all! (Gee, thanks, BP!)

Wine list

2010-05-24T15:28:00.000-04:00

I can always tell a restaurant is bad when their finest box of wine has a missing kid’s picture on it.

Mexican

2010-05-23T21:41:00.000-04:00

Dining at Cactus Cantina with Morgan and I'm totally stuffed.

Trio

2010-05-20T22:01:00.000-04:00

It's a pleasant night, sitting out on the patio at Trio.

Elegant dining

2010-05-20T00:12:00.000-04:00

Now at Tastee Diner in a tuxedo.

Summertime

2010-05-16T20:20:00.000-04:00

Just ate a carton of ice cream for dinner. It seemed the summer thing to do.

Embarrassment of riches

2010-05-10T15:23:00.000-04:00

You know, the problem with those "10 mangos for $10" sales at the grocery store is that those mangos all tend to get ripe at the same time.

Social Safeway grand re-opening

2010-05-07T01:44:00.002-04:00

Just back from the brand new "Social Safeway" in Georgetown (it's 24-hour now). They held its grand re-opening earlier in the day and starting with an invitation-only cocktail party last night, in a brand new building at the old site. I took pictures. (Yes, I know the photography is bad, but I was trying to be surreptitious and use my Blackberry.) Didn't get any pictures of the sushi bar, butcher case, or fishmonger case, because we were there after midnight and they had put all those things away for the day. This new store is in close competition with Dean & Delucca for having the biggest and best selection of very pricey gourmet foods in the District. The "normal" stuff is still Safeway-cheap, but they are carrying a lot of high end stuff in this store.

Here's the link to the photo album over on Facebook (you don't need an account to view):

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2420759&id=9637217&l=9f44758b03

Julep!

2010-05-01T12:55:00.000-04:00

What time is the Kentucky Derby? Do I have time for a mint julep or two before post?

Hollywood in D.C.

2010-04-29T16:18:00.001-04:00

Ran in to and met former TV star Randolph Mantooth (John Gage in Emergency!) at lunch today on Dupont Circle, and he bought me a cheeseburger at Five Guys! He's a fellow Seminole Indian. Really nice guy.

Sigh

2010-04-27T14:02:00.000-04:00

After last night's glorious meal and music, I am now reduced to lunching at KFC and listening to the obnoxious thumping bass of a car out in the parking lot.

Masonic food

2010-04-27T01:20:00.001-04:00

Tonight's menu, for those of you who didn't come to my lodge's annual grand visitation. Yep, we cooked it ourselves.

The Doughnut Plant, New York, N.Y. (Manhattan)

2010-04-11T17:18:00.002-04:00

Creme brulee doughnut, $3, from the Doughnut Plant.

This tiny ball of doughnut contains custard cream on the inside, and the outside has been coated in sugar and broiled (propane torched) to give it the traditional hard crème brulée crust. Not sure exactly where this place is.....Lower East Side?? I'll have to ask Ian.

Lavandou Cuisine Provençal, Washington, D.C.

2010-04-03T17:30:00.000-04:00

Lavandou Cuisine Provençal is another of my favorite French restaurants around the District, this particular one emphasizing foods from the Provence region along the Riviera. It's located up in Cleveland Park, though, where I never go unless we have an unusual, specific reason, usually either to eat at Lavandou or at the Indian restaurant Indique; otherwise, there's nothing up there.

Lavandou means lavender. Many contemporary cooks will recognize lavender as one of the major ingredients in herbes de Provence, a commercial herbal cooking mixture. Of course, old, traditional food from that region did not include lavender in routine cooking, although today many chefs have started experimenting with it to help fulfill expectations from food tourists.

I'm actually not quite sure how we ended up here. We had been to the late Palm Sunday Mass and were driving around, looking for a place to eat where we could also find a place to park the car. Then, it started to rain very heavily. Somehow I discovered we were near Cleveland Park, so it seemed like a fun idea to pop into Lavandou. I actually wanted to go to the (newish) Irish pub next door, but Morgan was swayed by the big sign in Lavandou's window announcing half-price martinis.

Once inside, we got a very nice window table with a view of the rainy sidewalk and street. Morgan made me order a martini (remind me next time to call the gin) and he ordered a French 75.

Having come straight from Palm Sunday Mass, we were hoping to have hearts of palm salad, but, alas, there were no hearts of palm to be had.

For a starter, Morgan picked the escargots beurre d'ail. While he'd had snails before, it was his first time to have to negotiate the little critters in those big snail shells. Personally, my favorite part of escargot has always been the garlic butter, sopped up with crusty French bread. My starter was one of the specials du jour, a lovely salade de betterave et tomate au chèvre frais. Slices of heirloom tomatoes and poached beets interlayered beneath a mound of baby mesclun greens and all was dressed in a light vinaigrette and dotted with bits of fresh goat cheese. It was quite delicious!

We both endulged in seafood for our main courses. I switched to a nice house sauvignon blanc and Morgan had another French 75. After great consideration, Morgan finally decided to get the cassoulet du pêcheur, a hearty seafood stew with lots of fish, mussels, clams, and other goodies in a tomato-based provençal-style broth. I got les moules safran avec pommes frites, a nice, big bowl of mussels steamed in white wine, saffron, and cream, accompanied by a bowl of fried potatoes with a handmade mayonnaise—almost an aioli—dipping sauce. I always enjoy the earthy basic qualities of steamed mussels, and it seems like I get a double main course, since there's always the delicious broth to be drunk up at the end.

We weren't going to do dessert, but the things all looked so tempting. Morgan got a lavender-scented crème brulée served in a square dish, and I picked a traditional tarte tatin with vanilla ice cream. We couldn't decide what wine to drink with dessert, so we opted for cognac. Then, we couldn't decide which cognac to get, so we got one Martell and one Courvoissier. I thought they were both quite adequate.

And, thus, we ended our observance of Palm Sunday and kicked off Holy Week in a grand way.

Family way

2010-03-31T21:26:00.000-04:00

Out cocktailing with a pregnant lady and watching her drink iced tea and eat whole deep-fried dill pickles. LOL

Query

2010-03-14T16:17:00.000-04:00

Who wants to go out with me tonight to get a piece of pie to celebrate Pi Day?

Dining Out for Life

2010-03-11T21:02:00.000-05:00

We are participating in Dining Out for Life tonight to raise money for Food for Friends just by dining at Cafe La Ruche in Georgetown, a 35% sponsor!

Health Department warnings

2010-03-11T10:31:00.000-05:00

Beware! The five filthiest restaurants in D.C.: Gordon Biersch Brewery, Georgia Brown's, The Palm Restaurant, Toscana Cafe, and Capital City Brewing (Massachusetts Avenue). While I've eaten at four of these, fortunately, none of them are on my D.C. "favorites" list.
www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Hundreds-of-eateries-rack-up-health-violations-87267627.html

Oyamel, Washington, D.C.

2010-02-20T15:40:00.000-05:00

Lodge afterparty at Oyamel.

Liquid diet

2010-02-15T23:48:00.001-05:00

Chewy Jello-O at the George Washington University Hospital

Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant, Washington, D.C.

2010-01-14T23:45:00.000-05:00

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.

Bubbly

2010-01-14T02:50:00.000-05:00

Hit the post-New Years champagne sales and picked up a bottle of Henry-Detaly from France for just $19. It was very yeasty smelling on corking, but turned out to be a surprisingly pleasant wine for a "bargain." My only complaint was that it was highly effervescent and took forever to fill up a flute.

Rice to Riches, New York, N.Y. (Manhattan)

2010-01-03T22:29:00.001-05:00

After our pizza experience in So-Ho at Lombardi's, Ian wanted dessert, so we went across the street to a unique dessert shop called Rice to Riches, a speciality place serving only different varieties of rice puddings. I don't know if there are other rice pudding shops elsewhere in the country, but this was a new concept to me.

The shop is a long, narrow, deep store with a long counter that looks much like a futuristic ice cream store. They seemed to have dozens of flavors and varieties of rice pudding, and a huge selection of toppings and add-ins to be mixed into a pudding dish. We split a 14-ounce bowl ($8.50) and chose two different flavors. Ian picked "Coast to Coast Cheesecake" (though he almost got the "Cinnamon Sling with Raisins") and I got "Man-Made Mascarpone with Cherries." Side by side in the bowl, it was hard to see which was which, but they both had very distinct and delicious flavors. The puddings are served in translucent orange heavy plastic bowls with lids (Ian took it home to use as "Tupperware") and in lieu of spoons we got these little flat, stylized plastic paddles.

I really enjoyed Rice to Riches, and I'm going to convince myself that it's much healthier to be eating rice pudding than just plain old ice cream!

Lombardi's Pizza, New York, N.Y. (Manhattan)

2010-01-03T22:28:00.001-05:00

One night we decided to venture out to another historic restaurant. This time, we went to SoHo to Lombardi's Pizza, the very first pizzeria in the United States. They even have a big bronze plaque outside their door commemorating their achievement and 1905 founding.

Now, when pizzas first started coming over from Italy, they weren't at all like the modern pizzas we know today. They tended to be small appetizer flatbreads with only tomatoes on them, and it wasn't until the late 1880s that melted mozzarella cheese and fresh basil leaves were added (one legend says that that was to create the colors of the Italian flag). As the pizza came to America, the tomato mixture began to be replaced with tomato sauce, and American bakers used high-gluten wheat flour that allowed them to toss the dough to make it stretch and become very thin crusts. Eventually, Americans began to add other toppings and the pizza evolved to the Italian-themed quintessential American food that it is today.

We wanted to be traditional, though, so we ordered a large pizza margherita to share (the "original" kind with just tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil). It took a while to bake, but it finally arrived, piping hot and balanced on a cake pedestal.

I'll have to say that the pizza was just okay. I've certainly had better, even in the "traditional" New York or neapolitan style, but it wasn't bad. I enjoyed the chewiness of the crust, which had been baked in a stone oven. The biggest thing to give me pause about the pizza, though, was the price, since it was quite an expensive pizza at $20 for a large that wasn't really very large. And, on top of that, the restaurant does not take plastic! They are cash only! They have an ATM in the dining room, and we were wondering if they got a cut of the ATM fees. It was all an adventure, though, and we now can say we've eaten at the original American pizzeria.

The menu at Lombardi's is pretty much limited to pizzas, salads, and beverages.

El Cantinero Mexican Restaurant, New York, N.Y. (Manhattan)

2010-01-03T22:27:00.000-05:00

The night of the Great Pre-Christmas Blizzard, Ian and I were out walking around Manhattan when we decided that 1) it was snowing hard, 2) the wind was blowing those snowflake at high speed and they were attacking our faces like knives, 3) it was cold out, and 4) we were hungry, so we dashed into El Cantinero Mexican Restaurant down in the Village. It was late enough and the weather was getting sufficiently inclement that we were able to get immediate seating.

We stayed simple and hearty with our food choices. Ian got the chicken burrito and cheese enchilada platter, bare. I got the beef chimichanga and beef enchilada platter, and had the waitress give me Ian's unwanted guacamole and crema. Both platters came with rice, cheese-covered refried beans, shredded lettuce, and large slices of cucumber.

The waiter kept the free chips and salsa coming throughout the meal.

Ian wanted dessert, so I agreed to split a dessert burrito with him. They wrapped a banana in a flour tortilla, deep-fried it, and served it covered with vanilla ice cream, copious quantities of whipped cream, strawberry sauce, and a maraschino cherry on top. I'm glad we split it, since it was way more than I would have wanted to eat by myself.

I thought they did a pretty good job with the basic Mexican food at El Cantinero. One never knows how the Mexican food will be when one is not in Mexico or the American Southwest, so this was a pleasant surprise, especially since I've yet to find an adequate Mexican restaurant in Washington, D.C.

My only criticism of the place, and a major black mark in my book, is they served me a piña colada glass full of ice with some light tan liquid in it garnished with a lime wedge, charged me $5, and called it iced tea. Then, they wanted to charge me for refills! Needless to say, I stuck to water the rest of the meal.

The Cottage (UWS), New York, N.Y. (Manhattan)

2010-01-03T22:26:00.000-05:00

One night, Ian and I couldn't decide where to go eat. Ian decided he wanted Chinese, and, while I was amenable to the idea, I didn't want to go back to the same place we'd been before in Gramercy Park. So, Ian dragged us all the way up to the Upper West Side, where we went to another Chinese restaurant that offered free wine with dinner. We got there, and it turned out to be another of the three branches of The Cottage! It took me a bit to recognize it, though, since the arrangement and decor was completely different from the Gramercy location, and even the menus were different.

The restaurant was really quite crowded and noisy, and this location is about half as big as the Gramercy site. They were also doing a brisk take-out trade from the main cash register in the center of the dining room. We had to wait for quite a while to get seated, and it was rather awkward, since there was no real place for waiting patrons to sit or stand. Finally, we got a table, but it was a little tiny two top in a corner where the architecture of the room made it a very tight squeeze for us both to sit at the table. Service was quite brusque in that rushed way that can be seen in many Chinese restaurants, and clearly the waitresses were trying to get people in and out as quickly as possible.

Ian didn't want an appetizer, but he did want some crispy noodles, those fried strips of won-ton wrappers that Chinese-American restaurants often serve with soups; he didn't, however, want to pay the $1 charge for the noodles. So, I got a bowl of hot and sour soup, with which the crispy noodles came for free. It was interesting soup, with nice pieces of mushroom and more than the usual quantity of tofu. And, Ian ate my crispy noodles. Then, he decided he wanted more, so he ordered another bowlful and paid the $1 charge. LOL

For his main course, Ian ordered the chicken lo mein. The lo mein noodles were quite thick, and the large plate was laden with clearly enough lo mein for two. Instead of coming with a fork or chopsticks, a big pair of tongs came with the platter.

I was in the mood for something spicy, so I got the shredded pork in garlic sauce. There was a large quantity of pork, and quite a lot of green vegetables like scallions, celery, and Chinese cabbage. It wasn't terribly spicy-hot, but the garlic was a very strong presence.

This store wasn't as generous with the free white wine, and only allowed us to have two small carafes. The food quality was similar at both of the Cottage locations, but the Upper West Side store was much more crowded, noisier, and had less congenial service, so if I had to choose between them, I would definitely prefer the Gramercy location.

Pete's Tavern, New York, N.Y. (Manhattan)

2010-01-03T22:25:00.000-05:00

For brunch, Ian and I went to the historic Pete's Tavern, said to be the oldest continuously operating bar and restaurant in New York City. Even during Prohibition, the tavern became a flower shop and was a notorious speakeasy. Around a century ago, the tavern became famous as the location where writer O. Henry penned his classic short story, "The Gift of the Magi," a story I remember reading back in junior high school.

Since it was brunchtime, we both opted for daily specials. Ian got the four cheese omelette and I got the artichoke and mushroom frittata, which was really quite good. Both dishes came with home fried potatoes and warm blueberry muffins. Oh, we also each got a free bloody Mary with brunch, too!

After our egg dishes, we were still a tiny bit hungry, so we decided to split a piece of "Oprah's Red Velvet Cake," a dessert allegedly made from Oprah Winfrey's recipe. Now, I'm a bit of a fan of red velvet cakes, so I know a bit about them and how they are made. This was a good effort, but the layers of cake were a bit overbaked, and, hence, dry. It was still edible, but not worthy of carrying the name of a particular cajillionaire like Miss Oprah.

Still, it was fun being in a restaurant with so much history.

Casa Bella Ristorante, New York, N.Y. (Manhattan)

2010-01-03T22:22:00.002-05:00

After all my trips to New York over the years, I had never made it to Little Italy for dinner, so one evening, I dragged Ian there to find a nice Italian place to eat. We walked up and down the main drag of Little Italy looking for a mutually acceptable place before deciding upon Casa Bella Ristorante. Casa Bella seemed like a wonderful setting for a Godfather movie. It's a large place, full of customers and bustling with waiters. It was busy, but we were there late enough that we were able to be seated immediately. Now, some of the reviews I have read about Casa Bella were very critical of the service, but we had no reason to complain, and found our waiter and assistants to be quite accommodating.

Ian started dinner with ravioli fritti, a piece of deep-fried ravioli with a large boat of marinara sauce for dipping. I had a Caesar salad. We also got a carafe of the house chianti to last us during the meal, and it wasn't bad for a house wine.

For my main course, I selected the veal saltimbocca, a nice veal dish presented on a bed of sauteed spinach with a lemon, butter, and parsley sauce. The plate was decorated with cherry tomato halves and a couple of fried gnocchi. The meat came hot and tender, and I found the overall dish to be quite simpatico.

For his meal, Ian started with the spaghetti bolognese on the menu, and from there, asked the waiter for a simple sauce without meat. Well, "meat sauce" is the very definition of bolognese sauce, but the waiter didn't blink and tried to accommodate Ian's whims. I guess that what he ended up getting was a spaghetti with marinara sauce and an ample grating of parmesan cheese, all garnished with fresh basil leaves.

We had to have dessert, too. Ian got the Italian cheesecake and I got the tiramisu. I actually thought the tiramisu was pretty good, and it was nice to have one made with actual mascarpone cheese for a change.

So, that was our Little Italy experience. I thought it was kind of fun.

Private Roof Club and Garden, New York, N.Y. (Manhattan)

2010-01-03T22:21:00.004-05:00

After we wandered all over the Gramercy, Flatiron, and Chelsea (where Ian's office is) neighborhoods shopping and playing tourist, it was nearly midnight and Ian and I were ready for dessert. We'd been inside the private park there in Gramercy, so we decided to walk across the street to the Gramercy Park Hotel, and made our way up to the Private Roof Club and Garden. The bar is a nice place that runs around the perimeter of the floor with nice views of town and almost all of the seating is sofa and easy chair combinations, with all kinds of trees and plants providing privacy for the seating groups.

Unfortunately, the kitchen had closed at eleven, so our waitress said we couldn't get anything to eat or any desserts. So, we just ordered cocktails. I had a Sapphire martini and Ian got some kind of champagne cocktail, a berry bellini, I think it was. The only problem with this bar is that at most bars and restaurants, they deal in legal tender in one dollar units; here, everything seemed to be priced in twenty dollar units. I guess that's just a function of being in Manhattan and in a nice neighborhood.

Soon, though, our waitress magically reappeared bearing two desserts, a custard cream with fresh blueberries and raspberries and a warm chocolate buttermilk cake drizzled in melted chocolate—and, keeping with the magic, the desserts were "leftovers," so they were both complimentary! In celebration of that windfall, Ian promptly ordered another (different) $20 champagne cocktail.

The Cottage at Gramercy, New York, NY (Manhattan)

2010-01-03T22:20:00.001-05:00

Since Ian moved to an apartment on Gramercy Park in New York this past fall, I've wandered over a few times to visit and run around town with him. Try as I might (and I've been trying for years!), I still haven't been able to turn him into a gourmet or even an adventurous eater. When I ask him where decent places are to eat in his neighborhood, he usually just points to fast food or one of the ubiquitous Chinese take-aways. It, therefore, has become my mission to drag him out to different places to make him try new things, though that can be a major challenge given his Aspergerian aversion to change and his unhealthy fiscal frugality.

The first neighborhood place he picked for us to dine was a sit-down Chinese restaurant just a few blocks from his building called The Cottage at Gramercy. I'm not really sure how the restaurant got it's name, since "Cottage" doesn't really evoke an Oriental feel and the decor was more standard Chinese place than "homey." The most exciting thing about this restaurant for Ian is that they offer unlimited free wine to diners, which I suppose can be a good deal. The place was crowded and noisy when we arrived, and we had to wait a bit for a table. Once we were seated, they brought us a small carafe of inexpensive white wine, and away we went.

Ian ordered what I later found out was his "usual," the sliced chicken with string beans in a brown sauce. He got a very big plate full of very long green beans with some chicken breast and what looked like a lot of diced garlic and flecks of dried red pepper. I picked the "Neptune's Nest," a basket made of formed and fried Chinese noodles filled with a melange of seafood (including salmon) and vegetables, which I liked. Steamed rice came on the side. When we asked for more wine, they quickly and without question brought us another little carafe.

As usual, there was no dessert at the Chinese restaurant, so we moved along after our fortune cookies. I would not be opposed to coming to The Cottage again sometime.

Abuelos Mexican Food Embassy, Tulsa, Oklahoma

2010-01-02T17:55:00.002-05:00

On another Tulsa adventure, my friend Justin and I went to Abuelos Mexican Food Embassy for dinner.

We started with a big bowl of chile con queso, a white cheese dip, to supplement our complimentary dishes of salsa. I particularly like their "hot" version of their salsa, which has a nice, distinctly smoky taste.

We filled up so much on all that queso, salsa, and chips, we could have gone home then and called it a dinner, but we still had a lot of food to go!

Justin ordered the chicken and chile enchiladas for his main course. The chicken enchilada arrived covered with white sauce and melted cheese, and the chile enchilada was covered in a red, spicy tomato sauce. Rice and beans accompanied the enchiladas.

Feeling more adventurous, I tried one of the house specials, enchiladas de Cozumel. Cozumel, of course, is the famous Mexican seaside resort, so this dish featured all kinds of fresh seafood in a creamy white sauce. The enchilada was nicely stuffed full of seafood, and they didn't skimp there. Along with the enchilada, I got rice and steamed brocolli florets.

Desserts were equally adventurous. Justin picked the dessert nachos, and got an absolutely huge plate (enough for at least two or three) of cinnamon-dusted flour tortilla chips covered with ice cream, whipped cream, pecans, and several sauces. I had the tres leches cake, artfully presented on a pool of custard sauce decorated with raspberry purée and topped with a sliced fresh strawberry.

Shiloh Restaurant, Tulsa, Oklahoma

2010-01-02T17:54:00.000-05:00

After hitting the casino and one of the malls, we went to Shiloh Restaurant, a simple and modest eatery located in an old Kettle Restaurant by a small hotel in far east Tulsa. One really needs to know it's there in order to look for and find it, since there is only a tiny sign by the roadway, and it's easy to miss. Shiloh has been one of my favorite "comfort food" restaurants for years, and I understand they recently opened a second location in Broken Arrow.

They make some wonderful hot rolls at Shiloh that are provided complimentary for the table, and for those in the know, they also offer some delicious strawberry-rhubarb compote to put on the rolls. They should bottle that compote, it's so good. I wish they'd increase their percentage of rhubarb, though, since I like a tarter mix, but I imagine most of their clientele prefers the gentle sweetness of the strawberries.

Naturally, for dinner, I had the country-fried steak with gravy. If you look at the picture, you'll see some gravy on top of the steak. Fear not, Southerners, there's plenty more. In fact, they put gravy underneath the steak. Along with the steak, I got fried okra and a little dish of macaroni and cheese.

My mother got the chicken-fried chicken, along with okra and a side Caesar salad. My aunt wasn't very hungry (we'd been to the mall, and she'd gotten an order of French fries at the food court), so she just ordered a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich on homemade bread with some potato salad. I think the sandwich was bigger than she expected! We took a big go-box of blackberry cobbler home to my father, where it was quickly devoured.

Te Kei's Chinese/Asian Kitchen, Tulsa, Oklahoma

2010-01-02T17:53:00.003-05:00

We went to Te Kei's Chinese/Asian Kitchen, a pan-Asian local place that's very much like a P.F. Chang, with higher-end entrees and teas and what have you, plus an elegant dining atmosphere with quality Asian art and artifacts. Oddly enough, Te Kei's opened in Tulsa just a couple of weeks before the local P.F. Chang franchise opened just a few blocks away. Tulsans have continued to support the local place, as it's been open for five or six years now, and the food quality and service continue to be much of what I remember from their opening days.

We started our lunch with individual French press-style pots of their vintage green tea, something to ward off the December chill. I like their green tea. It has a nice, nutty, warm taste to it.

We did the luncheon specials for our meal. My mother chose the cashew chicken with fried brown rice on the side. It was more than she could finish, and included lots of brocoli, napa cabbage, mushrooms, and red bell peppers with the ample chicken white meat and cashews.

I had the Mongolian beef with brown rice. The serving was primarily well-flavored, tender beef with a moderate amount of heat, plus some woodsie mushrooms and a lot of scallions. A few red pepper strips and bean sprouts added additional color and interest.

For dessert, we split a piece of their banana cream pie. They take a cookie crust and glaze the inside of the shell with chocolate. Creme patisserie, bananas, and whipped cream fill up the shell, and then the whipped cream is garnished with shaved chocolate and a little sprig of fresh mint. It is always a nice bit of sweet to end the meal.

Oklahoma Christmas

2010-01-02T17:52:00.001-05:00

We sort of got snowed in on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in Oklahoma this year. I can't remember when we last had a white Christmas—we've often had an "ice" Christmas, but usually not white. The roads being what they were, we couldn't go out to eat (I doubt the restaurants were even open), so I had to throw a few things in the oven. Here's a little 22-pound turkey I did for Christmas just for my parents and me. Didn't have any fresh herbs to stick under the skin, so I had to use a few sprigs of parsley. This is the turkey before I carved it in the kitchen—it's always easier for me to cut things up there and put on a platter than to try to wield sharp instruments at the dining room table. We also had leftovers from the ham we had on Christmas Eve.

Xmas in New York

2009-12-24T21:33:00.001-05:00

Here are some chestnuts roasting on an open fire at one of the street vendor carts by Central Park.

Thanksgiving weekend wrapup

2009-11-30T23:40:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving Day, we'd planned on going to a big group pot-luck thing over on Capitol Hill, but there was some kind of drama amongst prospective guests and we had to regroup. I don't know the parties involved, so I don't know who got whom pregnant. Or whatever. We ended up with a bunch of guys from Laurent's rowing team coming over to his place for an impromptu dinner. Good thing there are still some grocery stores that were open on Thanksgiving Day! Our ultimate menu ended up being much more down home and much less Martha Stewart, although Laurent and I carried on with our original plans of him fixing deviled eggs garnished with red caviar and me fixing wasabi mashed potatoes with green peas (with Yukon Gold potatoes, white pepper, a couple of sticks of butter, and a couple of cups of heavy cream, naturally). Then I got to advise some of the other guys on what to buy at the store that was quick to prepare, and how to doctor up exciting things like Stove Top Stuffing and canned sweet potatoes. The whole thing turned out very well nonetheless, we were (overly-)sated, and there were plenty of leftovers to share. The highlight of the evening, though, had to be when we accidentally came across the Ms. Senior D.C. beauty pageant on television. Watching all those dignified elderly ladies pageant-walking and trying to sing and dance during their talent and evening gown competitions had us all in stitches!

Ledo Pizza, Washington, D.C.

2009-05-31T21:22:00.000-04:00

Shrimp and chorizo sausage pizza

Denny's, Grapevine, Texas

2009-05-31T19:07:00.000-04:00

Had a long layover in Dallas last night, so my friend David and his son Aaron met me at the airport and we drove to a nearby Denny's for dinner. How wonderful: I fly all the way to Dallas, only to go to a Denny's. We ate typical Denny's food, with the exception of one interesting new dish, a half dozen pancake poppers, which looked like little deep fried fritters dusted with confectioner's sugar and served with a bowl of syrup. Here are pictures of the food and of Aaron. Don't know why I didn't get any pictures of David.....Aaron took several of us, but that was with his own camera.

Wilson's BBQ, Tulsa, Oklahoma

2009-05-29T21:42:00.000-04:00

Tonight Tony and I had an early dinner at Wilson's BBQ up in north Tulsa. Wilson's is an authentic old time Tulsa barbecue joint in an iffy part of town. I did notice that they had spruced up the exterior of the building and the parking lot since the last time I was there probably five years ago.

Tony got the short ribs and I had the full beef ribs. Both platters came with bread, cole slaw, and baked beans. The ribs were, as always, delicious and messy. Good thing each table is stocked with a big roll of paper towels.

For dessert, I had a sweet potato pie and Tony got the buttermilk pie. I like their sweet potato pie because it's distinctly spiced and it doesn't taste of pumpkin pie spice as so many sweet potato pies I've had have done.

Villa Ravenna, Tulsa, Oklahoma

2009-05-29T21:41:00.000-04:00

Wednesday evening, I went to The Farm shopping center with my friend Tony, where we ate at Villa Ravenna, a northern Italian-style restaurant.

Now, Tulsa doesn't really have much of an Italian community, so there's no "Little Italy" like there is in some of the big cities like Chicago or New York. Nevertheless, Italian immigrants have come to town seeing the opportunity to bring their home town cooking to the Oklahoma prairie. The owners branched off of a family restaurant in Houston called Via Emilia, and they use the same family recipes from Ravenna, an Italian town on the north Adriatic Sea coast. Interestingly, it's in the old Casa Laredo Mexican location, a local chain that Tony's family has patronized for years. The new decor is mostly accomplished with lots of green and red Italian flag colors and bunches of plastic grapes on lattice arbors, but it looks more old-style Italian-American cafe than tacky.

We started off with glasses of chianti while we tried to read the menus in the very dark restaurant; our table was illuminated with but one lighted taper in the center. Tony ordered the avocado salad and I ordered the cream of mushroom soup. My soup arrived so hot I couldn't eat it at first. The bowl was filled with a nice, thick, flavorful soup.

For his main course, Tony got the veal parmegiana. I found their presentation and recipe interesting; there was a layer of ham between the veal and the melted mozzarella cheese. It came with a side of spaghetti.

Speaking of which, I had the spaghetti carbonara. The carbonara was good, but once again, the recipe was interesting and non-traditional. Instead of just using egg and parmesan cheese, they put a little bit of alfredo sauce on the pasta.

In lieu of dessert, we each had a little glass of limoncello.

Overall, I thought the restaurant was nice for Tulsa, but I have to admit that I'm rather spoiled by some of the wonderful Italian restaurants on the East Coast, so the Tulsa place didn't "wow" me. There were a number of interesting entrees on the menu, though, that I would love to try on a future visit, and I've since heard that the osso bucco here is fantastic, so I'll have to check it out for myself.

The Brothers Houligan, Tulsa, Oklahoma

2009-05-29T21:40:00.000-04:00

Wednesday my friend Bill took me to lunch at one of his favorite places in Tulsa, The Brothers Houligan. I'd been to the midtown location before, but this was my first time at their newish east Tulsa location.

The daily lunch special Wednesday was fried shrimp, so that's what Bill got. They brought him half a dozen large, butterflied, battered shrimp, and he thought they were very tasty. I got a luncheon-sized chicken fried steak. It tasted good. It was a long piece of round steak with a light breading on it, then the steak was covered in white cream gravy. Bowls of green beans, mashed potatoes, and cream gravy were presented family style for us to share.

El Guapo's Cantina, Tulsa, Oklahoma

2009-05-25T12:15:00.000-04:00

Sunday I drove to Tulsa and met my friend Tony for dinner. We went to a Mexican place downtown called El Guapo's Cantina and sat upstairs on their rooftop patio. El Guapo's specializes in Oaxacan style cuisine.

I ordered one of their house specialties, the enchiladas de molé poblano. Mole is a classic Mexican sauce made with unsweetened chocolate (remember, the Aztecs are credited with "inventing" chocolate and bringing it into our modern cuisine via the Spanish conquistadors) and roasted poblano chiles. The dish is made with smoked chicken corn tortilla enchiladas, smothered in the mole sauce, and sprinkled with Mexican cotija cheese, crema (Mexican sour cream), onions, and cilantro. It came with rice and beans. I liked it a lot, and thought the mole had good complexity and a nice mouth feel.

Tony ordered the smoked steak and cheese flautas. After a momentary problem when the kitchen sent him fish tacos instead and we had to wait for the flautas to come up (an attentive manager came over to apologize and comped the flautas for us), his food arrived and looked very artistic. They'd made long flautas, cut them on the diagonal, then arranged them over a bowl full of white cheese queso blanco dip with creamy salsa verde, crema, and pico de gallo. It doesn't look like all that much, but it's a substantial and filling dish. His rice and beans were on the side.

For dessert, Tony got the fried ice cream, which was presented on a large white plate with a lot of decorative strawberry sauce and chocolate sauce around the ice cream. I got the peaches and cream sopapilla relleno. Sopapillas are deep-fried pockets of pastry, and I'd expected to get one stuffed with peaches and cream. Their version, though, had peaches between two flattened sopapillas, with ice cream on the plate and garnishes of whipped cream and strawberry sauce.

The Coleman Room at Buffalo Run, Miami, Oklahoma

2009-05-25T12:14:00.000-04:00

Friday we drove up to the Joplin and Miami areas to do the annual family cemetery decorating. After we got done with that, we stopped by the Wyandotte and Peoria tribal casinos. Lots of little wins, but no bigger wins, so I spent all my meagre gambling capital in quest of the big money.

While we'd brought sandwiches from home for lunch, for dinner, we went to the Coleman Room at Buffalo Run (the Peoria casino), since my mother had never eaten there. Some of you may remember my previous review of the place from November 2004, shortly after the casino opened.

They had a special limited menu put together for Memorial Day weekend. My mother had the horseradish-crusted halibut. I had the prime rib. Both entrees came with a salad, baked potato, and a melange of steamed vegetables. Portions continue to be large. Both plates were garnished with an orchid flower and a sprig of rosemary.

For dessert, we shared a carrot bundt cake with cream cheese frosting I thought was surprisingly good, especially considering it only cost $4.

Not much has changed since the first review, other than they have their liquor license now. It continues to be a nice place for the area, but they still are small town and haven't fully trained their wait staff. A typical example of their training shortfalls is the waitress having to come back and ask my mother what kind of potato she wanted with her fish, after the waitress had initially said the fish came with rice, contrary to what the menu said. Apparently the staff hadn't been briefed on the menus.

Georgia Brown's Restaurant, Washington, D.C.

2009-05-18T22:41:00.000-04:00

Our new housemate Sean arrived today from Phoenix. He starts his new job at the Senate tomorrow. This afternoon, I Metroed down to the Capitol with him so he'd know how to get to his office building in the morning, and we ended up walking from the Capitol down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House playing tourist. Once we were done, it was dinnertime and he was a bit hungry, so, as Washington is a Southern town, I thought we should have Southern food and we were off to Georgia Brown's Restaurant on McPherson Square for his first Southern repast.

He ordered the Carolina gumbo, a thick stew of shrimp, andoille sausage, crab, chicken, and duck with Carolina red rice. He seemed to like it, as he cleaned his plate. I had (for the second day in a row) the Alaskan halibut, pan-bronzed and topped with a cranberry maple sage pesto and presented on a bed of grilled asparagus and hominy. I'm glad halibut is in season.

For dessert, he got the peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream, and I had the bourbon pecan pie with chocolate sauce and whipped cream.

Clyde's, Busboys, and Poets

2009-05-18T21:40:00.000-04:00

Laurent and I went to go see Angels and Demons after brunch Sunday afternoon.

Before the show, we went to Clyde's of Gallery Place, where we started off with morning bloody Marys. Laurent had sirloin steak and scrambled eggs, which also came with deep-fried potato cakes and caramelized onion. Since halibut is in season right now, I got the pan-seared Alaskan halibut with green bean potato salad and spring vegetable slaw. They do a good job with fish at Clyde's, and my halibut was thick, meaty, and juicy. I thought the potato salad was unusual and good, too; made from slices of fingerling potatoes and julienned green beans, it was dressed with a spring onion vinaigrette.

After the movie, we popped in to the new Busboys and Poets location in Penn Quarter for desserts. After we looked at the menus, though, Laurent decided he was hungry again, so he ate an order of hummus and pita bread and a bowl of chili instead of having dessert. I stuck with the original plan and got the white chocolate banana bread pudding served warm with a scoop of coconut ice cream.

T.H.A.I., Arlington (Shirlington), Va.

2009-05-18T20:52:00.000-04:00

Saturday a bunch of us got together to help Laurent move to a new apartment. It was a little rainy Saturday, but we managed to move the stuff in between the moments of rain and nothing got wet. Laurent had a full slate of volunteers working different times throughout the day. After everything got to the new place, some of us stayed to help unpack boxes and put things on the walls and in the drawers. At last, we got done and some of us decided to go to Shirlington (a neighborhood of Arlington, Va.) for dinner. The day's cloudburst finally happened as we walked from the parking garage to the restaurant.

On the strong recommendation of Todd (who was driving), we went to T.H.A.I in Shirlington, a (believe it or not) Thai restaurant that turned out to be very nice with a luxurious contemporary Thai ambiance to the dining room and some exciting food presentations. Too bad I didn't have my camera along.

We started off sharing some appetizers. A supplemented order of spring rolls (the usual order was for three) came and they were unlike anything I'd had before. Each vegetable-stuffed, lightly deep-fried rolls was about one foot long and the four rolls were stacked in an interwoven architectural structure. A bowl of carrot dipping sauce came with the rolls. We also got an order of crab shu mai, which were open faced steamed dumpling stuffed with crab, pork, shrimp, and water chestnut accompanied by a ginger-soy dipping sauce, and presented on a long, narrow, rectangular platter.

Meanwhile, Laurent and Mary were drinking golden frozen margaritas.

For her main course, Mary got the king pad ped, a large oval platter of stir-fried chicken and both shiitake and wood ear mushrooms enrobed in soybean sauce and sprinkled with fried ginger root. Todd ordered a dish called "Penang Perfect," essentially a chicken curry with peanut sauce and coconut milk presented in a contemporary rounded boat-shaped bowl (he says it's what he always gets). Laurent selected the "Kapow Delight," a stir-fry of beef, broccoli, and basil leaves in chili-garlic sauce. All of these entrees came with steamed white rice. I picked the chicken pad thai, the traditional rice noodle dish with chicken, bean sprouts, egg, scallion, and peanuts, artfully arranged on a large square plate.

Desserts were spectacular. Laurent got the banana split bruleé, with caramelized banana halves topped with a row of coconut ice cream, Thai coffee ice cream, and strawberry sorbet, clouds of whipped creams, drizzles of chocolate and caramel sauces. Todd picked the flambé Thai banana, a showy dish of banana halves and segments with coconut ice cream sprinkled with diced orange peel, minced ginger, toasted coconut, and sesame seeds, then flambéed tableside with Grand Marnier.

T.H.A.I definitely goes on my recommended Thai restaurant list.

After dinner, we went to a nice little wine shop in Shirlington Village called the Curious Grape, where they vended not only wines, but cheeses, gourmet chocolates, and an assortment of stemware and accoutrements for wines. Todd got a couple of bottles of Locadi Moscato d'Asti, which turned out to be quite delicious once we got back to Laurent's new place.

Crisfield Seafood Restaurant, Silver Spring, Md.

2009-05-14T01:38:00.000-04:00

The other night Robert and I went to Crisfield Seafood Restaurant, just across the D.C. line in Silver Spring, Md. Crisfield's is one of those old eateries that's been around for over sixty years, and the place probably hasn't changed a bit in all those decades.

We'd never been to the place before, and misjudged it as more of an inexpensive diner than it turned out to be. Most of the entrees were in the $20-something range, about the same as one would pay in a more elegant establishment, and fried foods were predominant on the menu. While the food was tasty, I would have been happier had the prices been cheaper to reflect the casual diner-type atmosphere (complete with a large counter with bar stools).

We started our meals with bowls of soup, Robert electing the seafood chowder and me getting the clam chowder. Both were thick, rustic soups with plenty of seafood in them. I had the sense that my soup was super-hot because it had been being held on a steam table for some time during the dinner rush.

For main courses, we opted for sandwiches because they were only $9 or $10 each. Robert got the fried perch sandwich, and got two large filets on his bun. I had crab cake. The crab cake was excellent. It was thick and full of crab, and the outside was so evenly browned that I think it was deep fried instead of pan fried. Both sandwiches came on standard hamburger buns and were served with a nice, sweetish cole slaw (French fries were an available alternative).

I don't know whether or not we will go back to Crisfield's. It was certainly popular with a more mature, white crowd, and stayed full the entire time we were there. If we return, we'll want to try the main entrees and seafood platters.

Tastee Diner, Silver Spring, Md.

2009-05-11T01:47:00.000-04:00

Happy Mothers' Day to all the mothers on my readership list.

I just got in from Tastee Diner and a midnight Mothers' Day dinner of roast prime rib for only $14.95, and it was actually a decent meal. Came with collard greens and mashed potatoes with gravy. To answer my friend Justin's question, no, I'm not a mother (obviously), but we celebrate every holiday and use them as an excuse to go out to eat. :-)

Earlier today Robert, Spencer, and I made a Costco run to College Park. Afterwards, we popped into a KFC to grab a quick late lunch. There were two tables of adult families in the KFC celebrating Mothers' Day, complete with corsages and "dress up" clothing; it made me melancholy to think that some people could only afford to take their mother to a fast food restaurant for Mothers' Day. I'm thankful that my family isn't that financially strapped, especially during this national recession/depression.

El Tamarindo, Washington, D.C.

2009-05-06T00:50:00.000-04:00

We celebrated Cinco de Mayo with a late dinner at El Tamarindo in Adams-Morgan tonight. I'd had a DeMolay business meeting earlier in the evening, but that was just as well, since the Mexican restaurants in town were all packed tonight. Our 10:30 dinnertime coincided with right about the time the main dinner rush was starting to clear out, so, while the restaurant was still full in both dining rooms, we were able to be seated right away.

We started with margaritas, and they were good ones that actually had some tequila in them. Too bad the waiter was so busy he didn't ever ask us if we wanted refills, cause we would have.

Robert had the pollo de mole poblano, a nice, plump piece of chicken covered in roasted poblano pepper and chocolate sauce, garnished with a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds. It came with white rice and black beans. I had the chicken avocado salad, a large and surprisingly filling version of a chicken taco salad.

Ikea, College Park, Md.

2009-05-04T00:28:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I made an Ikea run to College Park. Laurent wanted to buy a new dresser and a desk chair. We ate lunch at the cafeteria there and I have to say I was very unimpressed with the crab cakes. Next time, I'll stick to the standard Swedish meatballs.

Pho Hiep Hoa, Silver Spring, Md.

2009-04-30T23:51:00.000-04:00

Robert and I found a new Vietnamese restaurant in downtown Silver Spring called Pho Hiep Hoa. I enjoyed the place a lot and will probably go back. We started with traditional garden rolls with peanut sauce and an order of something called shrimp paste. Ground shrimp is spiced and formed around a piece of sugar cane, then fried; the pieces were okay, but they had the feel to me of slightly overcooked shrimp. For our main courses, Robert had the daily special, "caramel shrimp," a casserole of large shrimp in a red, slightly sweet, chili sauce served with rice and a side plate of salad vegetables (we still don't know where the "caramel" comes from), while I had grilled meats on vermicelli. We washed everything down with Vietnamese 33 beer, a very light lager-style brew. For dessert, we had Vietnamese iced coffees.

Silver Spring, by the way, is in Maryland, and Maryland has several swine flu cases. I wonder if we were exposed to the virus at dinner and now we're going to start oinking?

Sala Thai, Washington, D.C.

2009-04-25T21:39:00.000-04:00

Laurent and I were on U Street later in the week and popped in to Sala Thai just in time to avoid the thunderstorm cloud bursts. I've been to their Dupont location before, but this was my first time in the U Street store. We had a great window seat to allow us to watch all the people hustling by with their umbrellas.

We both started with tom yum soup, Laurent's with chicken and mine with shrimp. This soup is made with coconut milk seasoned with lemongrass and ginger.

For our main courses, Laurent got the ka prow, a beef dish with red bell pepper and fried basil leaves in a chili paste sauce, extra spicy. He ate it all, but I think it ended up bothering his stomach. However, he **did** order it "as hot as you can make it."

I was going to order the pottery shrimp, a baked shrimp and cellophane noodle dish, but the waitress suggested the peppery shrimp instead, so that's what I got. A lot of shrimp in a mild white pepper and garlic sauce came with artistically arranged slices of cucumber, tomatoes, and shredded carrot and purple cabbage. Both dishes came with white steamed rice.

For dessert, Laurent had a fruit punch and I had a Thai iced coffee.

Dukem Ethiopean Restaurant, Washington, D.C.

2009-04-25T21:31:00.000-04:00

For some reason, I've ended up on U Street a bunch this past week.

Monday, John G from California was in town for a business conference on Africa, so when we went to dinner, I thought we should have African food, and we ended up at Dukem Ethiopian Restaurant. John had not had Ethiopian food before, so we got a combination tray, that being one of the easiest ways to try a variety of their foods.

Our sampler tray included beef tibs (cubes of beef sauteed with onion), lamb wot (lamb stew, spicy), and minchet abesh (ground beef in ginger and garlic sauce), plus collards, cabbage, yellow peas, lentils, and tomato salad, all served atop a large round of injera bread.

Along with dinner, since John's a big beer fan, we drank several Ethiopian beers, from a simple lager to a dark brown stout.

McCormick & Schmick Seafood Restaurant, Washington, D.C.

2009-04-25T21:11:00.001-04:00

My friend Justin gave me a gift certificate to McCormick & Schmick Seafood Restaurants, so I used it the other day at the D.C. location near Farragut Square. McCormick & Schmick is a national chain of high-end, white tablecloth restaurants with menus that change daily according to what is fresh from the water and in season. I heard a waiter talking to a nearby table, and she said that this is halibut season. By that time, though, I had already ordered, and decided to stick to my original plan.

I started with a cup of the seafood and corn chowder, a cream-based soup with crab, shrimp, and who knows what else in the mix. It came with a cellophane packet of oyster crackers. They also brought me a quarter-loaf of a very good sourdough bread, which I used instead of the crackers.

For my main course, I had the seafood Cobb salad. Greens dressed in what tasted like a crab Louis sauce were topped with stripes of various ingredients common to Cobb salads, plus stripes of popcorn shrimp, crab meat, and tiny bay scallops. A sliced avocado quarter garnished the salad. I thought it was a good and substantial salad. My only complaint was that the bacon tasted a bit old to me and some of the crunchy bits were too crunchy.

Asian Bistro Cafe, Silver Spring, Md.

2009-04-14T23:12:00.000-04:00

Friday night Robert and I went to Asian Bistro Cafe in downtown Silver Spring for dinner. He had the crispy beef and I had the shrimp in garlic sauce. The food was quite good, reasonably priced, and the servings were huge, with each dish easily being enough for two, especially if one were to have an appetizer and soup with dinner. Robert praised the beef dish, saying it was actually crispy instead of the soggy beef so often seen in restaurants these days. We'll have to go back to Asian Bistro again to try more items in the future.

Eggspectation, Silver Spring, Md.

2009-04-14T23:11:00.000-04:00

For Easter dinner Sunday, we went to Eggspectation in downtown Silver Spring. I had the "classic Benedict," their version of a traditional eggs Benedict dish on their page of a dozen different Benedict variations (if they were truly witty, they'd have sixteen). It was a good dish, but it wasn't what I would call "classic." Instead of the traditional Canadian bacon, they used Black Forest ham and some gruyère cheese, neither of which appears in the original recipe. The eggs were served with sliced fried new potatoes and some slices of fresh melon.

In lieu of dessert, I had a blueberry muffin, warmed, per the waitress's recommendation, by grilling. They split the muffin longitudinally and toasted the insides on a grill, giving the muffin a very enjoyable crunchy, textural interest.

Mama Ayesha's, Washington, D.C.

2009-04-07T21:59:00.001-04:00

Halfway between Woodley Park and Adams-Morgan is a Syrian restaurant called Mama Ayesha's that's been there since Dwight Eisenhower was in the White House some fifty years ago. Ayesha ran the place until her death during the Clinton Administration, and since then, younger generations of her family have continued to operate the establishment. When one walks down the street past the place, one can't miss it because of the big, bright mural painted on the side of the building showing all the presidential administrations during the eatery's tenure.

Ayesha's comes with good reviews and recommendations, though today was the first time I'd eaten there, when Robert and I stopped in for a late lunch while we were in the area.

They have a large outdoor patio seating area, and inside the restaurant, the right side of the dining room is devoted to the bar, while the left side has both banquettes and tables for regular dining. A water feature and a large number of artificial plants divides the two sides of the room. The ceiling is vaulted and decorated with a series of copper cups. Wall hangings evoke the feel of a Middle Eastern restaurant.

Robert opted for two side dishes for his lunch, a plate of falafel and a plate of betan'jan maglie, fried slices of eggplant drizzled in a garlicky lemon vinaigrette. He particularly enjoyed the eggplant dish.

I ordered the lamb couscous. As it turned out, we were between main lunch and early dinner, so the lamb shoulder they usually serve with the couscous wasn't quite done yet, so they asked to substitute a lamb shank stew called mouzat and served it on top of couscous. It was quite good, the lamb falling off the bone with the slightest prod of the fork.

We both passed on dessert and Arabian coffee, as we were in a hurry and still had things to do this afternoon before five o'clock.

Dupont Italian Kitchen, Washington, D.C.

2009-04-06T19:36:00.000-04:00

Kevin had a birthday last week, so we went to Dupont Italian Kitchen for dinner to celebrate. Twas a simple dinner, just salad, pasta, and a shared dessert.

Kevin picked one of the daily specials for his main course, a penne dish with tomatoes, basil, and asparagus. I had the calamari in red sauce over linguine for mine. Mine was good, with lots of tender squid rings and a fresh grating of parmesan cheese over the top.

For dessert, we had a very good piece of tiramisu.

Dupont Italian Kitchen is another of the older restaurants on the 17th Street strip that seems to be fancying itself up. The waiters are more dressed up now and they've a fancy bar inside now instead of just a service bar (the gay bar Windows, now known as the D.I.K. Bar, is still upstairs). The menu is still fairly simple, though, and they haven't significantly raised prices or gotten fancy with the food.

Sushi Go-Round & Tapas, Washington, D.C.

2009-03-28T23:40:00.000-04:00

Tonight while the Wizards were busy losing by a mere field goal in the adjacent Verizon Center, a group of us went to a unique Japanese place called Sushi Go Round & Tapas for dinner. While they have a traditional dining room and Japanese menu available (I never did figure out where the tapas part came from), part of the fun of going to Sushi Go Round is sitting at the sushi bar and making food selections from the plates circulating around the bar on a conveyor belt.

Lots of things went by that looked enticing. Items—sushi, sushi rolls, seaweed salad, desserts—are priced by plate color, and at the end of the meal, the waitress adds up ones bill by adding up the plates. Prices are surprisingly reasonable for the Verizon Center area.

We had to dawdle a bit after we finished eating, since we got done right about the same time as the basketball game wrapped up, and we didn't want to be caught in the crush of people packing into the Chinatown Metro station. On the way out, though, we got to see about a dozen D.C. police from the bicycle patrol all lined up outside Clyde's waiting for Saturday night action.

Dukem Ethiopean Restaurant, Washington, D.C.

2009-03-28T01:08:00.000-04:00

A bunch of us braved the messy drizzle tonight and went to Dukem Ethiopian Restaurant down on U Street for dinner. It was Spencer's first time to do do Ethiopian, so we steered him more towards the sampler platters instead of trying to pick one thing from the long and esoteric menu.

The samplers included tibs (cubed beef), wat (lamb stew), minchet abesh (ground beef), and an assortment of lentil and vegetable items. As always, they were served communal style on a big round of tef bread called injera, and additional pieces of injera were provided to use as a means of picking up the food and conveying it to ones mouth (no silverware!).

Laurent and I ordered our platters "spicy," but they came out rather mild, I thought. In anticipation of the spice, I ordered an Ethiopian beer called Meta, which is a rather sturdy lager in a short, squat bottle.

I always like the food at Dukem. It's one of the better places in town for Ethiopian food, but it's also very popular, so it's always loud and conversation can be challenging. Tonight it was very crowded and noisy, too.

Here's a picture of Spencer pondering his platter. In the next shot, Laurent dives in to the injera.

Ben's Chili Bowl, Washington, D.C.

2009-03-26T02:37:00.000-04:00

Tonight, Robert and I made a post-midnight grocery run to the 24-hour Giant, so, while we were in the neighborhood, we stopped at Ben's Chili Bowl on the way home. He got a chili half smoke and a cherry milkshake, and I just got some chili cheese fries.

We still have gotten to go to Ben's new Next Door, an upscale bar and restaurant next door. They keep more traditional restaurant hours, so we seldom get by during their open times. The menu looks a bit pricy, though.

Union Pub, Washington, D.C.

2009-03-25T23:59:00.000-04:00

Lunched today with Laurent at the Union Pub (again) on Capitol Hill near his office. He had a turkey burger and I had a grilled chicken sandwich. My sandwich was good, but hard to eat, since they used two chicken breasts and stacked them on top of one another; they kept sliding around as I tried to eat them. After we ate our healthy sandwiches, Laurent had a huge brownie sundae for dessert.

T.G.I.Friday's, Washington, D.C.

2009-03-22T22:45:00.000-04:00

After the symphony Thursday night, we popped over to the T.G.I.Friday's near the Metro stop for steaks from the $9.99 menu. My steak was tasty (once it finally arrived at the table), but it was certainly a tiny little thing. And, as typically happens at this particular store, there were problems. When the check came, they tried to charge us for more expensive versions of the steaks; when I pointed out the discrepancy to the waitress, she rather flippantly asked what I wanted her to do about it. Eventually, the adjustment was made, and we were able to go on our way.

Sbarro

2009-03-22T02:09:00.001-04:00

Sbarro is a national chain of low-end Italian food shops frequently seen in mall food courts. I happened to pass by one the other day with a friend who bought one of their pepperoni stromboli (think pizza burrito), and I noticed at the cash register they had placed a corporate looking sign that said,

Bon appetite
Horrors!

Don't they know that in Italy, to wish someone "good appetite" or good eating, one says, "buon appetito"? Perhaps they were confused by the French, who say, "bon appetit" (pronounced, "boh nap-pay-tee"). Nobody, though, mixes their French and their English and says "bon appetite."

Maybe they should just put up a sign that says, "Enjoy your meal."

La Tasca Spanish Tapas Bar and Restaurant, Arlington, Va.

2009-02-26T23:51:00.000-05:00

Continuing our Restaurant Week adventures with the "extending" restaurants this week, yesterday, Robert and I ended up in Arlington at the La Tasca Spanish Tapas Bar and Restaurant. They have decided to make their Restaurant Week deal the Wednesday weekly special, so one can lunch now on Wednesdays for $20.09 for all you can eat tapas. Don't know how long that will continue.

Robert's a regular at this place. I've not been there for two or three years since I last went with my friend Jose, but the place is under different management now, and I enjoyed the leisurely afternoon ordering little plates one at a time. For those of you who've never before been to a tapas bar, the tapas are little individual plates of food, and it's kind of like making a meal out of a series of appetizers at a regular restaurant.

Robert started out with one of the daily specials with shrimp and large scallops covered in diced tomatoes and peppers and presented au gratin with melted white cheese the name of which escapes me. Next he had the solomillo de cerdo Iberico al Cabrales, a little slice of grilled pork tenderloin that had been wrapped in bacon and served in a white Cabrales cheese sauce, that he says is one of his favorite dishes there. Next he got the langostinos a la plancha, some jumbo shrimp with the heads on that had been grilled with sea salt. For a vegetable dish, he ordered the espinacas salteadas, a very interesting salted, sauteed spinach dish with pine nuts and raisins. Somewhere in there, he also ate an order of pan de ajo con queso, or garlic bread with cheese. For his dessert, he got the flauta rellena de crema de platano y carmelo con helado de chocolate, a deep-fried banana in puff pastry served with chocolate ice cream.

I began with the calamares andaluza, a nice, tender, fried squid calamari with garlic mayonnaise, then I had the montado de lomo, which reminded me of an Italian bruschetta topped with grilled pork loin. Next I had the buey al Jerez, a very tasty grilled flank steak with sherry mushroom sauce and served with diced fried potatoes. My dessert was the crema Catalana, in essence, a crème brulée with strawberries.

While Robert just drank Scotch with his meal, I tried a glass of the sangria blanca, made with white wine, brandy, peaches, and cinnamon, and a glass of sangria tinta, with red wine, triple sec, apples, and oranges. They had probably half a dozen other kinds of sangria, too. I like their sangrias—they could become addictive!

La Tasca is a small chain in the Washington-Baltimore metro area, so there are a number of other locations with similar menus for your Spanish dining enjoyment. In addition to tapas, they have a number of paellas on the menus, too, for those wanting a fuller dinner.

Vidalia, Washington, D.C.

2009-02-22T19:31:00.000-05:00

Crispy pig tails? How about roast goat, frog legs, skate wing, or veal cheeks?

The menu options were nothing if not adventuresome at Vidalia today, one of my favorite restaurants that just happens to be on the Restaurant Week list this week. Vidalia is one of Washington's top eateries where they take Southern classics and elevate them to gourmet heights. Vidalia has been reviewed several times before in my blog, so I won't dwell on their sleek, contemporary dining room or other details of the ambiance.

My friend Joel and I were quite impressed by the large list of exciting choices in each of the course categories on the Restaurant Week menu. There were so many things we wanted to try just because they sounded intriguing. As it was, Joel started with the yellowtail hamachi with wasabi and several sauces, garnished with a little caviar. I got the salad of veal cheeks with sweetbread terrine. I got a little block of the terrine and several paper-thin slices of veal cheek on the plate topped by a salad of veal tongue, pickled mushrooms, and raddiccio with a truffled honey-mustard dressing.

After our exquisite appetizers, we moved on to main courses. Joel got one of Vidalia's classics, the shrimp and grits with andoille sausage and spicy shellfish cream. I got the slow roasted roulade of young goat, stuffed with goat sausage, and accompanied by sauteed broccoli rabe and natural jus. The standard goat entree also came with an eggplant puree, but I had them leave that in the kitchen, and they didn't replace it with anything. The goat was very mild and flavorful, and cooked to a medium rare.

We continued to have to make hard choices for dessert. Joel opted for the banana napoleon, and got a lovely, delicate tower of caramelized bananas, salted caramel mousse, and thin wafers of bittersweet chocolate. I had the Georgia pecan bar, served warm with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream.

We washed down our sumptuous repast with flutes of Mont Marcal Riserva Brut cava, a sparkling wine from Spain. As always, Vidalia did an outstanding job of presenting culinary excitement for Restaurant Week and showing off the range of the chef and what one can do with modern Southern cooking.

Harry's Tap Room, Arlington (Pentagon City), Va.

2009-02-21T18:46:00.000-05:00

Well, Laurent and I went to Harry's Tap Room in Pentagon City today for their Restaurant Week lunch, but they were only serving brunch today and said the lunch deal was just Monday through Friday. Just as well, since we both got plenty of food to eat and spent half the money we would have spent had we done the R.W. menus.

They started off by bringing us a big basket of scones and little miniature blueberry muffins. The muffins were so airy and delightful; we endulged in quickly eating all of them after dipping them in a strawberry preserve sauce.

Laurent ordered the steakhouse omelette. The omelette was filled with slices of filet mignon, plus onions, spinach, bacon, cheddar cheese, and fresh basil, and served with home fries and applesauce. It was a large and hearty brunch dish.

I got a Cuban sandwich, very artfully presented on the plate with a wedge of carved fresh pineapple and a mess of long, hand-cut french fries; the sandwich itself was cut on the diagonal and speared with frilled toothpicks holding cherry peppers, and arranged with one half standing on its end.

Neither one of us wanted dessert, so we bypassed the very large sweet samplings at Harry's. Thus was our Saturday culinary adventure.

The Palm, Washington, D.C.

2009-02-20T22:05:00.000-05:00

Some of my out-of-town friends come to Washington and New York and just gush about a series of restaurants called The Palm, usually making reservations at Palms in cities around the country as they travel on business. I've never been to a Palm before, so I decided it was finally time to take advantage of the Restaurant Week opportunity.

The Palm likes to capitalize on its rich and famous clientele of politicians and power brokers, so the walls are covered with caricature drawings of former patrons. Furnishings in the dining room are in medium shades and typical of high end steakhouses, being contemporary without being "modern." Booths line the periphery of the dining room, and the interior space is tightly packed with free-standing tables. As the restaurant was crowded during our visit, this packing of people into a confined space had the conversational noise level at the point my friend Scott and I nearly had to yell across our small table to talk.

Restaurant Week menu offerings vary widely from restaurant to restaurant. Some establishments go all out, creating a number of options per course to show off their skills, some places use their regular full menu (occasionally with a few, more expensive, items having an "up-charge"), and some places hardly make an effort at all. The Palm almost fell into the latter category. I was disappointed that their appetizer choices were rather boring and mundane, and the two we had were incredibly ordinary. The options were a mixed green salad, a Caesar salad, or a bowl of tomato soup. Scott had the soup. It came with a little packet of commercial crackers in cellophane. I had the Caesar, and I've had them just as good from inexpensive little diners.

The dessert course was also a bit disappointing, since there was but one choice, key lime pie. Now, the pie was good, but I wasn't overwhelmed or begging for the recipe, and it paled in comparison to the dessert tray we saw occasionally making the rounds of the room with enormous slices of cakes and other impressive looking desserts.

What The Palm did do, however, was focus the limited dining dollars on the main courses. Keep in mind that this is a restaurant that has $42 lobsters and $54 steaks on the lunch menu—they aren't cheap. There were four main course options on the R.W. menu, and from what we saw, they were all nice entrees, including a nice big slab of seared ahi tuna au poivre we saw at a nearby table. Scott got the broiled crab cakes with mango salsa, and he was very impressed that the two cakes were large and full of crab meat, instead of the filler that one finds so often in restaurant crab cakes.

I had the grilled sirloin steak. It was a nice little piece of aged beef and cooked precisely to the medium-rare I requested. What did surprise me a bit, though, was getting a plate with nothing else on it but the little steak....no potatoes, no vegetables, no garnish, nothing. They have a number of side dishes on the menu, but everything is à la carte, and the sides start at $8.

I don't want to leave an unfavorable impression of The Palm. Keep in mind that I am reviewing a Restaurant Week lunch, not their normal menu. We were able to sample just a little of what a highly expensive, popular restaurant has been offering to packed dining rooms for decades. I think, though, that The Palm is fine for the expense account crowd, but even if I were inclined regularly to spend $30 to $50-plus on lunch every day, the place was a little too cramped and noisy for me, and the food didn't "wow" me, so it likely would not make the list for my regular restaurant rotation.

Adour at the St. Regis, Washington, D.C.

2009-02-18T22:39:00.000-05:00

It's Restaurant Week in the District, and I opened this week's food fantasies today at Alain Ducasse's new local venture, Adour at the St. Regis Hotel. Our local establishment follows the ideas of Ducasse's eponymous restaurant at the St. Regis New York, serving contemporary French American food in a fresh, new environment in what used to be the Library in the hotel. The architects retained the ornate ceilings of the old dining room, but the lower portions are sleek, glass, chrome, and leather with a full glass wine wall on one side of the room. While the juxtaposition of old ornate and new contemporary sounds shocking, it was well done and came across comfortably.

Lunching with my friend Father Steven, we both enjoyed the food and the environment. The room was full, but the noise level was moderate and it was easy to carry on conversations. Service was generally efficient, but Fr. Steven's main complaint was that he had to ask twice for sweetener for his iced tea, and during the course of our meal, his empty $5 tea glass was never refilled.

Fr. Steven started with the sunchoke parmentier soup with bacon foam. A waiter brought a large, empty soup plate with bits of bacon and the bacon foam (a creamy looking, bubbly thing) on the bottom, then poured the sunchoke purée into the bowl. I chose the daurade tartare. Daurade is a French fish, and in this case, it was served raw like chopped sashimi, presented on a bed of guacamole and encircled by a spicy tomato essence. It actually was quite delicious.

For his main course, Fr. Steven ordered the grilled hanger steak. It came with potatoes boulangerie and some sauteed spinach. The steak was sauced with a red wine shallot butter. He ordered the meat rare and pronounced the dish very very good. I got the artisanal pasta with duck confit and chestnuts, a very unusual, yet good, combination.

There were two desserts on the menu, so we ordered one of each and split them both. One of the desserts was a coffee cremeux, in essence, a coffee-flavored mousse enrobed in dark chocolate and served with a little dish of sabayon sauce on the cocoa-dusted plate. Two "cigarettes" of meringue rested beside the cremeux. The second dessert was called a contemporary pina colada with coconut tapioca sauce. A base of tapioca was topped by a layer of finely diced tropical fruits, all supporting an egg-shaped bit of mango ice cream. It was sour and refreshing.

And thus was my first Restaurant Week adventure of 2009. For those so inclined to try it, Adour is extending Restaurant Week through next week, so you've plenty of time to try it out.

Pat Troy's Irish Pub and Restaurant, Alexandria, Va.

2009-02-16T01:45:00.000-05:00

Had lunch in Old Town Alexandria at Pat Troy's Irish Pub and Restaurant. We even sat in "Reagan's Corner," right by the table where Ronald Reagan once had lunch in the pub.

Spencer had a steak and cheese sandwich. It came on a hoagie bun and was served with fries. Robert got the fish and chips and a Guinness.

I got the daily special, a smothered chicken, with the chicken covered in crab meat and little bits of ham in an anisette-scented cream sauce. It came with mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables. Sorry about the picture.....I took several, but they kept over exposing. The food tasted a lot better than it looks. The special seems to be a variation on a mushroom-topped "whiskey chicken" in cream sauce that's a regular feature on the dinner menu. Neither of them, however, are things I've ever eaten in Ireland.

Pat's seemed like a pleasant enough place, and we were late enough to lunch that the place was nearly empty and blessedly quiet for a pub. Of course, the down side was the wait staff was off doing cleaning tasks and seldom appeared, leading to spotty service. Everyone seemed happy with their food, though, so that was the important thing.

By the way, who in the world is Pat Troy?

Clyde's of Gallery Place, Washington, D.C.

2009-02-07T00:32:00.001-05:00

Laurent and I caught the calm between the storms and dined at Clyde's of Gallery Place while the Capitals hockey game was going on in the nearby Verizon Center. We were okay until about time for the dessert course, when the game ended and people started flooding in.

Laurent started off with a bowl of French onion soup that he wanted so badly, he ordered it when the waitress was taking our drink orders. It was after 9 p.m.; I guess he must have been hungry. "Onion soup is onion soup," he explained, saying that things were only noteworthy when they are bad. Talk about damning with faint praise.

For his main course, he ordered the grilled onion-crusted Alaskan salmon on a pool of cauliflower puree and resting on a bed of sauteed spinach. The onion crust included breaded and deep fried onion straws. The dish met with his approval.

Keeping with the theme of the evening, I ordered the hoisin-sesame glazed Alaskan salmon entrée salad. A large slab of salmon nearly the size of Laurent's rested atop a bowl of mixed lettuce and napa cabbage with peanuts, black sesame seeds, vegetables, and a sesame dressing. It was quite nice.

Dessert was an interesting choice. On recommendation of the waitress, I got the Toigo apple pie with vanilla ice cream, and it was one of the best commercial apple pies I've had in a long time, with both the apple filling and the pastry being delicious.

Laurent, though, was still hungry, and decided to forego a sweet dessert in favor of a "Gallery Burger"—essentially a bacon cheeseburger topped with onion straws. He substituted a side of sautéed spinach and garlic for the French fries that normally come with the burger. Laurent's argument is that the protein from the burger is better for him than the "empty calories" of a traditional dessert.

We left just in time, as the place was getting so noisy we could barely talk. I never did hear who won the game.

Bardia's New Orleans Cafe, Washington, D.C.

2009-02-05T19:40:00.000-05:00

Today we were at Bardia's New Orleans Cafe, about halfway down 18th in Adams-Morgan. Food was very good, though the service was very slow and haphazard. We both ended up with po' boy sandwiches, accompanied by Cajun fries. My po' boy was the "Bourbon Street," with sliced rib eye steak and sauteed onions, peppers, and mushrooms, plus a little provolone; Robert had the "River Catch," featuring fried catfish and remoulade sauce, which he washed down with an Amstel beer. Robert also got an order of beignets (hot, fried doughnuts dusted in confectioner's sugar), which he said reminded him of being in the French Quarter. I'll have to go back to this place again some time to try the etoufees, jambalayas, and gumbos on the menu. They also had half a dozen daily specials on the blackboard today, all of which sounded enticing, especially the corn and crab chowder, a big steaming bowl of which would have been perfect on this frigid day we're having.

So, that's the latest food report. Some people had complained I wasn't writing about food lately and they were afraid I was not eating. Be comforted to know that I'm far from becoming anorexic!

ShawarmaKing, Washington, D.C.

2009-02-05T19:39:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week, we were at ShawarmaKing, a new place on the east end of Columbia Road in Adams-Morgan. They've a simple menu with beef and chicken shawarma and falafel sandwiches. Diners pick either a pita pocket or a large flatbread (for a "wrap") and their filling, then finish their sandwich from a toppings bar. There's no soda fountain, so drinks are sold by the can. I found my sandwich middle of the road, though Robert likes the place a whole lot (he'd been there before). It's a mom and pop kind of place, and the proprietors kept asking us how our food was.

Pete's New Haven Style Apizza, Washington, D.C.

2009-02-05T19:38:00.000-05:00

We had panini at Pete's New Haven Style Apizza by the Columbia Heights Metro stop. Robert got the "Big Pete," a beef rib panino, and I got an "Olivia" with chicken and cheeses. The sandwiches are nicely pressed and grilled, then presented on long rectangular white plates with a serving of salad on one end. Good food and efficient service, with the only downside being that they are just a little bit pricy.

600 Restaurant at the Watergate, Washington, D.C.

2009-01-25T18:47:00.000-05:00

Before going to the symphony last night, Kevin and I dined at 600 Restaurant at The Watergate for a quick pre-theater dinner. The theme of dinner was shells.

Kevin had shrimp in angel hair pasta and a red marina sauce, and the tail shells were still on the shrimp.

I had mussels meunière, a big pot of mussels steamed in their shells with white wine, cream, and scallions. Once I got through all the mussels, little pieces of my roll kept "accidentally" falling into the remaining broth, making me have to fish out the saucy bits and eat them.

Then for dessert, we split an order of profiteroles, ice cream balls in cream puff shells drizzled with hot fudge sauce and garnished with whipped cream.

I thought the food quality had improved since the last couple of times we dined there. The restaurant is the closest restaurant to the Kennedy Center that isn't actually in the Kennedy Center, so sometimes I think they have taken their customers for granted; consequently, I was pleased to note the better food.

Annie's Paramount Steakhouse, Washington, D.C.

2008-12-15T01:45:00.000-05:00

After the installation tonight, about two dozen of us wandered over to Annie's Paramount Steakhouse for a cocktail and most of us had food, too. We ordered a full range of menu and cocktail offerings, and I didn't even see everything that was eaten at our long, long table.

I got the sirloin steak salad, a great way to get a small sirloin steak at a lot cheaper price than ordering just the steak by itself (with a baked potato). The mixed greens and standard tossed salad vegetables came with nicely ripe wedges of tomato, Greek black olives, and hard boiled egg halves, and with the steak sliced and arranged on the side of the presentation. With supper I sipped a glass of Copperridge Cabernet Sauvignon.

Open City Cafe, Washington, D.C.

2008-12-15T01:44:00.000-05:00

This morning I brunched with Laurent and his friends Mike and Kyle at Open City Cafe, up in the Woodley Park neighborhood. It's a very, very popular place with long lines of people trying to get into what seems essentially a combination coffee house and diner. They are related somehow to The Diner and to Tryst coffee house in Adams-Morgan.

Laurent, who still manages to have a 27 or 28 inch waist, ordered the OC Royale, a huge breakfast special with two eggs (his were sunny side up), sausage links, pancakes, hash browns, and wheat toast. That (plus two big bloody Marys) wasn't enough to fill him up, so he did dessert, too, getting an enormous wedge of cheesecake with a peanut butter top layer and an Oreo cookie crust.

Mike did the "eggs and meat," a couple of over-easy eggs with bacon and toast, and Kyle had the brioche French toast.

I had a Cobb salad and a nice, big cappuccino. Their version of a Cobb is interesting and not at all traditional. They used mesclun greens instead of romaine lettuce, and the toppings included whole cherry tomatoes, cucumber slices, and chopped artichoke heart; none of the toppings were arranged in the usual stripes.

Even though the restaurant was very busy and crowded, I found the service to be friendly and efficient.

Union Street Pub, Alexandria, Va.

2008-12-10T21:10:00.000-05:00

After our tour of Mount Vernon, a bunch of us went to the Union Street Pub in Old Town Alexandria for dinner. The food was okay, but the service was **extremely** slow. I had an entree salad with chicken strips and blue cheese that was good, but I was quite surprised that the chicken turned out to be "buffalo" chicken.

After dinner, Scott and I drove back up to Bethesda for a night cap at the Front Page. Twas a fun, but long day!

Mount Vernon recipe

2008-12-10T21:09:00.002-05:00

Martha Washington's Great Cake

This 21st century recipe adaptation is for a cake like what would have traditionally been served on Twelfth Night, the wedding anniversary of George and Martha Washington.

10 eggs
1 lb. butter
1 lb. sugar
1-1/4 lbs. flour
1/1/4 lbs. assorted dried or fresh fruits and nuts—based on what would have been available to Mrs. Washington, the following are suggested:

5 oz. pear (peeled, cored, and diced)
9-1/2 oz. apple (peeled, cored, and diced)
3-1/2 oz. raisins
2 oz. almonds, sliced

2-1/2 tsp. ground mace
2-1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 oz. wine
2 oz. French brandy

Preheat the oven to 350º. Separate the egg whites from the yolks and set the yolks aside. Beat egg whites to a "soft peak." Cream the butter. Slowly add the beaten egg whites, one spoonful at a time, to the butter. Slowly add the sugar, one spoonful at a time, to the egg whites and butter. Add egg yolks. Add flour, slowly. Add fruits and nuts. Add ground mace, nutmeg, wine, and brandy. Lightly grease and flour a 10-inch springform cake pan. Pour batter into pan and bake about 75 minutes. Allow cake to cool after baking.

Modern Adaptation of an 18th-Century Icing

Beat 3 egg whites and 2 tbsp. powdered sugar. Repeat additions of sugar until you have used 1-1/2 cups of powdered sugar. Add 1 tsp. lemon peel grated and 2 tbsp. orange-flower water. Beat until the icing is still enough to stay parted when a knife cuts through it. Smooth it onto the cake. Let it dry and harden in a 200º oven for one hour (Note: icing will be brittle when cut with a knife).

We went on a candlelight tour of Mount Vernon, George Washington's plantation home south of Alexandria, last Saturday evening. A light snow fell as we walked through the estate. We got the aforementioned cake recipe in the house. Before going to the house, they had us in a "hospitality area" with a real camel and a great big fire in an iron cauldron, where they gave us hot cider and little paper-thin gingerbread cookies. There were period actors in the house to tell about things, and 18th century dance lessons in the greenhouse.

Vino

2008-12-09T22:25:00.000-05:00

Tonight I've been sipping a pleasant little shiraz from "The Little Penguin" winery in southeastern Australia. Twas only a $7 bottle at the local Safeway. It's light for a shiraz, but it's a nice medium-bodied wine with a strong fruity note and a little spiciness.

Amazement

2008-11-17T09:22:00.001-05:00

Kevin went to Plato's Diner and ordered something other than a Greek salad!

Lodge dinner

2008-11-11T06:15:00.000-05:00

Mmmm.....scallopped corn and acorn squash for breakfast! Brought home some leftovers last night after dinner at lodge last night, so now I have a refrigerator stocked with side dishes. Got elected junior deacon, so last night was the last time I'll have to cook dinner. It went very well and smoothly, but I had Robert, Scott, and Kevin around to help, and extra hands always make a big difference.

Last night's menu included red cabbage slaw, cinnamon apple pork chops, scalloped corn supreme, buttermilk mashed yams, baked acorn squash, maple cornbread, and pumpkin bread pudding with brown sugar vanilla sauce. We also drank up the last of the Smithwick's Irish Ale we had remaining from last September.

We're dark Thanksgiving week, so all that's left this year is a degree in early December and the installation of officers the middle of the month, and both of those are catered events, so I'm essentially done. Yay.

Meanwhile, I need a new tuxedo. :-/

Tonight's dinner party

2008-11-09T01:43:00.000-05:00

Hosted a nice dinner tonight for the Nation's Capital Court of Chevaliers, a DeMolay organization, over at the Belmont Mansion. Guys from the lodge volunteered to cook and serve, and we had a lovely menu of ribeye steaks with mushroom sauce, sugar snap peas amondine in lemon butter, saffron rice, salad of mixed greens and honeycrisp apples in balsamic vinaigrette, brie and camembert cheeses, and German chocolate cake.

People came from northern and southern California, Nebraska, Texas, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Montreal, Venezuela, and, of course, D.C.

Food and fellowship were great, and I had a fine time (aside from getting re-elected as grand commander, which is always a mixed blessing).

Nellie's Sports Bar, Washington, D.C.

2008-11-07T01:45:00.002-05:00

Robert and I went to Nellie's Sports Bar tonight for dinner. It was happy hour, too, with domestic beers and vodka rail drinks (albeit tiny ones) for just a dollar apiece.

The menu at Nellie's is eclectic. Not only do they have the standard, expected burgers and nachos, they also have hummus with pita bread, plus a number of South American specialties not frequently seen on D.C. menus. Tonight we decided to try some of the South American food.

An arepa is a traditional Venezuelan dish that can best be described as a sandwich made with a cornmeal English muffin instead of bread that is split and stuffed with goodies. Robert got one filled with chorizo (Mexican sausage), and I got mine with ropa vieja and queso blanco (white cheese). Ropa vieja is more of a Cuban-style shredded, stewed beef, and I notice their tasty version is also available as a stand-only entree; I'll have to order it on a future visit. The arepas came with frijoles refritos, tortilla chips, pico de gallo, crema (sour cream), and some fried plantains. While Robert was rather blasé about his meal, I enjoyed mine quite a bit. It's different, though, and the cornmeal bread can be a bit of an acquired taste.

For dessert, we both got the bread pudding. It was okay, but I thought something was missing.....a whiskey sauce? Ice cream? Something. We both managed, however, to eat all of our puddings.

Pizza

2008-11-07T01:42:00.000-05:00

This is a pizza. It's so big it's served on two cafeteria trays. It's covered in meat. Yum.

The Post Pub, Washington, D.C.

2008-11-01T22:35:00.001-04:00

Just around the corner from the Washington Post offices is a little pub called the Post Pub, a place said to cater to the journalistic crowd from the Post and others. Friday, Kevin and I went there for lunch, but we didn't see anyone famous. Of course, I could have seen a really famous reporter there, but I have no clue what any of them look like.

Kevin got a hot pastrami sandwich with chips (thick cut French fries) and a little cup of cole slaw. It looked really good, and had an ample quantity of meat on the grilled rye bread.

I got one of the daily specials, the fish and chips, it being Friday and all. The fish serving was small (but it wasn't an expensive dish), and I was a little disappointed that there was no malt vinegar for the fish (it's an English tradition), but otherwise it was good. The tartar sauce was interestingly full of vegetables and not the standard pickle relish. I found the cole slaw to be interestingly hot and spicy.

For dessert, we each had a piece of carrot cake. The cake was okay, though a little on the oily side. It had lots and lots of raisins in it. I suspect the cake had been held for a while, since our decorative carrots on the icing had sort of melted into the top.

It being Halloween and all, they were serving Vampire's Kisses and Blue Zombies from the bar. We weren't drinking, but the cocktails looked fun.

Dirksen Senate Cafeteria, Washington, D.C.

2008-10-29T23:13:00.001-04:00

We had Senate bean soup, cornbread, and birthday cake (for Przemek) tonight for dinner, inspired by my lunch this week in the Dirksen Senate Office Building cafeteria. It's long been a tradition in the Senate that Senate bean soup is on the menu every day.

I "discovered" the "secret" that distinguishes Senate bean soup from just any old average navy bean soup. Well, it's not really a secret....I hear there are a number of recipes out on the Internet that disclose it. What they do in the Senate kitchens is that once the beans are cooked and done, they thicken the soup by adding instant mashed potato flakes!

My lunch on the Hill was fairly simple. I had a slice of pepperoni pizza, a big side of macaroni and cheese (delicious!), steamed broccoli, and a large fountain drink. My colleagues both had reuben sandwiches, one with a green salad, and the other with fresh strawberries and pineapple chunks plus a container of jalapeño poppers; both got soft drinks. Eating in the Senate cafeterias is not cheap—these simple meals cost about $32 for the three of us.

I wanted to take pictures, but there were signs up in the cafeteria that specifically prohibited taking photographs of the food!

A few months ago, the Washington Post reported that the Senate was going to privatize their cafeterias. There's no evidence that the transition has taken place as yet.

Fellowcraft night

2008-10-28T01:33:00.000-04:00

We passed seven new Fellowcrafts at Federal tonight. And yet I was actually home before 11!

Dinner was boring tonight, but everybody ate it all. I was feeling depressed and unmotivated today, so I didn't even have any plans specifically in mind until I went to the grocery store this afternoon. We ended up with lasagne (plus one pan of meatless lasagne), country style green beans (you know, the kind that simmers on the back of the stove for several hours and has ham and butter and onion and bacon in it?), garlic bread, a big green salad, and store-bought key lime pie. Simple and boring. I cooked for 36, thinking we'd have maybe 28, but we had about 42 or 43 show up for dinner. Those who showed up more than half an hour late for dinner didn't get any lasagne, and I was having to fight off people coming back for seconds as it was.

Cafe La Ruche, Georgetown, D.C.

2008-10-23T01:53:00.002-04:00

This past weekend Scott and I had a little late night dinner at Café La Ruche in lower Georgetown. I always like La Ruche because it is unpretentious and it generally is not on the radar screens of the typical Georgetown tourists. The food, too, is always consistent.

We managed to get a pleasant table on their outdoor patio, and we started off with a bottle of Ferrande Sauvignon Blanc, a white bordeaux. The Ferrande certainly isn't a great wine, but it was adequate for our purposes, and the light, crisp, slightly-grapefruit essence paired well with our food, though it's a sufficiently light wine that it probably wouldn't stand up to heavier foods or flavors.

Scott began his snack with a bowl of soupe au crabe, a crab soup that reminded me of the tomato-broth based Maryland style soups we often see around here, though without the harsh hot spices.

I got one of my favorites, an artichaut vinaigrette. Their version used a very large artichoke that was already largely disassembled in the kitchen. It came with a handmade mayonnaise dipping sauce.

We both ended up ordering the same thing for our main course, a croque monsieur sandwich, the French version of a ham and cheese sandwich that features a classic white sauce before being popped under the broiler. It came with a side salad dressed in a simple vinaigrette.

Dessert, of course, required a trip to the dessert case to make a personal selection. Scott ended up with a simple cheesecake garnished with slices of fresh orange, kiwi, strawberry, and some blueberries all in whipped cream. I had a slice of tarte banane au choclat, the banana tart with a big swoosh of chocolate icing and half a caramelized banana all on puff pastry, which I washed down with a little cup of espresso.

So, that was our little snack. Afterwards, we strolled down M Street and Pennsylvania Avenue back into town.

Tishri

2008-10-22T18:37:00.000-04:00

Last night was the Feast of Tishri at the D.C. Scottish Rite Center. The Council of Kadosh hosted the feast in basically what amounted to a table lodge format. Twas lots of fun, and the food was excellent. They used Atlantic Catering, the same group that did our heavy hors d'oeuvres and raw bar last Saturday night.

In between nine toasts during the evening (slosh, slosh), our menu began with individual Caesar salads. Then for the main course, they passed bowls and platters family style, giving us our choice (I think most everyone's choice was to take one of everything) of crab cakes, filet mignon, or stuffed chicken breast. I had the crab and filet, including seconds on both. The crab and filet were both delicious—I saw them making these things in the kitchen earlier in the afternoon. They were roasting whole beef tenderloins and slicing them into individual filets, and they'd make up a little bit of gravy to help keep the meat moist whilst waiting to serve. Along with the meal we had roasted garlic mashed potatoes and green beans amandine. I loved the green beans. They were in lots of butter and the almond slices had been toasted and heavily seasoned before being scattered on the beans.

For dessert, I had the cheesecake, though there was also a chocolate layer cake as an option. They also served coffee with dessert, though I was a little disappointed that instead of those little packets of half and half, they used liquid CoffeeMate.

With dinner and for our toasts, our table drank a Domaine Saint Martin Saint Véran 2005 white burgundy for our white and Agua de Piedra Gran Reserva Malbec 2005, a fine wine from the Mendoza region of Argentina, for our red. I stuck with the red for the evening, and the malbec was very nice with the filet. It had nice complexity with a dark berry nose and a smoothness that was unexpected for a South American red. Kevin made us get the bottle of white for him, but then once we got it, he didn't drink it, so Peter finished it off.

As we left for the evening, we were given these nice gold-embossed red bags with fruit and nuts—mine had an apple, an orange, a plum, a bag of trail mix, and a little packet of customized M & M's in the evening's colors of red and yellow.

Vegetable offenses

2008-10-20T13:36:00.000-04:00

If people are going to use French, they really, really must start using it correctly! I mean, look at this picture! Not only did they misspell bean (haricot) but they pluralized the adjective without pluralizing the noun!

Jyoti Indian Cuisine, Washington, D.C.

2008-10-13T23:11:00.001-04:00

Just back from lodge. Very good meeting tonight, though I was run ragged a bit, jumping from junior deacon (Kevin is sick tonight) to and from the piano. It's so much easier when one is just a steward.

Dinner was simple. We decided to honor Christopher Columbus (it's Columbus Day), so I served Indian food. After all, he was looking for India, so we brought India to Columbus.

Indian spicings aren't my forte, so I had the meal catered by an Indian place in nearby Adams-Morgan, Jyoti Indian Cuisine. Meanwhile, I made mango ice cream balls for our dessert—I can do that much! LOL

Our menu ended up being chicken tikka makhanwala, lamb rogan josh, saag paneer (spinach and homemade cheese), aloo gobhi (cauliflower and potatoes), basmati rice, naan (bread), salad vegetables, raita (yogurt and cucumber sauce), chutney, tamarind sauce, cilantro sauce, and mango ice cream. I brought home a little bit of leftovers, but most everything was eaten.

Only two more dinners and one lunch to cook!

51st State Tavern, Washington, D.C.

2008-10-10T09:45:00.002-04:00

Tuesday is 10¢ chicken wings night at the 51st State Tavern in Foggy Bottom. Twenty chicken wings? $2.00. It's a great place to get stuffed for just a little money. It's also conveniently located near Trader Joe's. This is a Tuesday-only happy hour special, and the beers are only $3, too. Anyway, here is my plate of wings: I'm still learning my new camera, so a couple of pictures have a bit of motion blur. It liked to do "red eye" flash a lot, so I have to wait and watch for it. And here's our crew:

Old Europe Restaurant, Washington, D.C.

2008-10-06T18:23:00.004-04:00

It's the Oktoberfest time of year! I went out to celebrate with my good friends Peter and Paul, who took us to Old Europe Restaurant in Glover Park (upper Georgetown). Fortunately, they had reservations, because the place was packed!

We, of course, had to try the Spaten Oktoberfestbier to drink, and it was sold by the litre and half-litre in big beer steins.

Paul started his meal with the soup of the day, a Bavarian mushroom with some croutons made of herbed pretzels on top. It had big chunks of mushrooms and looked quite good.

Peter had the Gulasch Suppe, a beef goulash soup that he made quick work of.

Next we moved to the salad course. Peter and Paul shared a large Salat des Hauses, their house salad with lots of lettuce on top of a salad made of pickled carrots, onions, and cucumbers, plus lentils. It looked quite hearty.

I had the Gemischter Rote Beete Krautsalat, and interesting mix of pickled beets, red cabbage, and sauerkraut arranged in equal thirds atop a green salad, all garnished with a tomato wedge and alfalfa sprouts. I liked the sweet and sour taste a lot. In Germany, these salads probably would not have come with the lettuce.

For main courses, Paul and Peter both did schnitzels. Schnitzels, of course, are very thin veal steaks that have been breaded and fried, and sauces and sides distinguish the different types. Paul had the Jägerschnitzel, which came with a "hunter sauce" of mushrooms and cream. It came with spätzle noodles and steamed vegetables. Peter had the Schnitzel "Old Europe," the house version of a Wienerschnitzel served with egg. It came with a potato and a bread dumpling, plus a bowl of red cabbage.

My entree was enough meat to feed a small army. I got the Schlachtplatte, a "butcher's plate" that included countless different kinds of German meats and sausages, including Weißwurst, smoked Rippchen, liver dumplings, blood sausage, and pork shank, served on a bed of delicious German sauerkraut and a accompanied by a side dish of warm German potato salad. The pork shank was way overcooked, but I loved the Weißwurst (white sausage), and all the other things were great, too.

After all this food, we didn't need dessert, but between the beer and the celebration, we got some anyway. Peter got the Schokoladenkokosnußtorte, the German version of the American "German's chocolate cake" (it's named after the inventor, not the ethnicity). It looked good.

Paul got the Haselnußetorte, and said the hazelnut flavor was subtle and the cake was creamy tasting.

I had a Bavarian cream with fresh mixed berries, topped with a little pastry and some whipped cream. It was light, but that was exactly what I needed. Yum.

Such a fun festival! This was the first time I'd been to Old Europe, and it was a very enjoyable evening. They even had an elderly blind German lady come in to play the piano while we dined!

What made the evening even more fun, though, was a special gift. Peter and Paul felt sorry for me after losing/misplacing my camera, and they wanted to see more decent pictures of my meals in my food posts, so they bought me a new digital camera! Thanks Peter and Paul! I'm excited to start using it, though I'll have a bit of a learning curve before I can take great pictures. My next post will have some of my early efforts with the camera.

Carrabba's Italian Grill, Cockeysville, Md.

2008-10-06T13:32:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I made an official visitation as grand commander of D.C. to Cockeysville, Md., where the Maryland State Association of DeMolay Chapters held its annual Honors Day to confer the Degree of Chevalier and the Legion of Honor. After the ceremony, Peter and his friends and I went to a nearby Carrabba's Italian Grill for a combination breakfast/lunch/early supper. I was surprised that none of them had ever been to a Carrabba's before. It's one of those national chains, this one based out of Houston, and I always think of them as being a little better than a Macaroni Grill or an Olive Garden.

Peter's friend's ex-girlfriend's boyfriend and I both had the manicotti. Peter's friend and Peter's friend's ex-girlfriend both had the mezzaluna, a half-moon shaped chicken ravioli. Peter had the lobster ravioli. All of our meals came with salads.

We'd grabbed little pastries at the reception following the investitures, so we didn't end up ordering dessert at the restaurant. The others were all driving back to New York and we were off to D.C.

Annie's Paramount Steakhouse, Washington, D.C.

2008-10-06T10:09:00.000-04:00

In a completely different neighborhood across town, it's a different world. I had midnight brunch at a neighborhood place called Annie's Paramount Steakhouse the weekend before this last one. I got a cheeseburger and fries. I particularly like their fries. They are thick, very crispy on the outside, and soft as air on the inside. Robert was in a more gourmet mood. He ordered the prime rib. For his sides, he got a baked potato and some steamed carrots (in big coins, or "bonne femme"). I was pleasantly surprised to see with the recent menu changes that the prime rib now automatically comes with Yorkshire pudding.

I always like eating at Annie's, and their all-night dining on Friday and Saturday nights is especially nice. They recently remodeled the dining room and added an upscale room upstairs, but I have to confess I really preferred the old, run-down place.