Harry's Tap Room, Arlington VA

Forgot to mention our brunch Sunday morning at Harry's Tap Room in Arlington. Svet and I were meeting friends of his, and while we waited for everyone to arrive, we sat in the bar cocktailing. I had a bloody Mary; it came in a tall pilsner glass; it was garnished with enough vegetables to make a complete salad, including a foot-long stalk of leafy celery, a jumbo olive, a cocktail onion, and a cherry pepper, plus a wedge of lime. Once everyone had arrived, we were escorted to the upstairs dining room with a lovely view of Clarendon Boulevard and all the shoppers.

I ordered a Cobb salad, which was made of an unusual assortment of greens including bitter greens like curly endive, and had large fingers of panko-breaded chicken strips on top, served in an unusual bowl with the rim on the sharp diagonal. The greens were pre-tossed in a tasty, creamy bleu cheese dressing, allowing the toppings to remain unhidden by dressing for the presentation. Svet had an individually wrapped baked brie en croute accompanied by a mound of red grapes. Svet's two friends both had different variations on eggs Benedict, one an "original" (though they used shaved ham instead of the "original" Canadian bacon) and the other using a lot of smoked salmon as the meat, both accompanied by little square bowls of creamy grits. The serving plates for the Benedicts were very interesting: they looked rather like a large bow tie. We also got a big basket of assorted biscuits and muffins including some delicious blueberry muffins and some scones or biscuits I thought looked like they were full of raisins but turned out to be chocolate chips. I liked this place, and I'm looking forward to returning.