Lauriol Plaza, Washington, D.C.

Tonight for dinner, Ian and I walked up to Lauriol Plaza between Dupont and Adams-Morgan for a little Mexican food. Lauriol Plaza, the sister restaurant to Cactus Cantina over by the National Cathedral, is actually a huge place with an outdoor patio, first and second floors inside, and a full rooftop seating area. While a tent-like fabric wall was in place for the winter, generally the rooftop is open air in the summertime. We were there for an early dinner, arriving about 5:45, and already all four big seating areas were starting to fill up. By 6:15, people were having to stand in line and wait for tables.

They had a full legal-size paper supplement to the menu with all of the evening's daily specials (the scallop and shrimp chimichanga was calling to me, but I maintained my self-discipline). Notwithstanding the many options, Ian ordered his usual Mexican meal, a naked chicken burrito (what they were calling the burrito gordo, but with him deleting the guacamole, cheese, salsa, lettuce, and tomato) with rice and pinto beans, plus an extra side of rice and black beans. I had the BBQ ranch chicken salad. It was an oversized bowl of salad greens with diced, barbecued chicken, corn, black beans, avocado, and cucumber, crowned with three intentionally cold fried onion rings. Since the pinto beans were flavored with bacon, Ian wouldn't eat them (he doesn't do red meats), and I became the beneficiary of the bowl. I had my camera with me tonight, but I forgot to take pictures until we'd already started eating.

Plato's Diner, College Park, Md.

I met my friend Kevin up in College Park, where he teaches at the University of Maryland, for a tour of the campus, a visit to his brand new residence, and dinner at a popular student eatery, Plato's Diner.

Plato's is one of those places that all of the students I know up at UMCP frequent and recommend. It's become, in the ten years or so it's been open, a campus tradition. So, I was looking forward to a great meal, as I've long been an afficionado of American diners.

Well, it was disappointing.

The food was okay—nothing was bad or anything—but I found everything rather mediocre. They did have a very impressive looking dessert case in the lobby filled with grandiose versions of classic American pies and cakes that all looked mouthwatering and very pretty. More on my dessert experience later.

Kevin had a hamburger and fries. Very basic. It was served on a kaiser bun and the vegetable garnishes were on the side.



I had the country fried steak (the skillet-fried version of a proper deep-fried chicken fried steak), which was unspectacular and lacking in seasoning. And the odd thing? The breaded beef steak came covered in turkey gravy! It was accompanied by some long green beans that had been cooked al dente, but they were olive rather than bright green, which just screams "steam table" to me. The French fries were thick and very good.



For dessert, we consulted with our very personable waiter, and he recommended several of the pies and some gooey cheesecake. Kevin picked the apple pie and I got the coconut cream. My pie was okay, but the pastry was very disappointing. The bottom especially was thick and had a taste that told me the pie had not been freshly baked.



I'm very picky when it comes to my diner food.

Several of the College Park residents told me later that I should have avoided all the American traditional foods and gone with the Greek entrees. The diner is owned by a Greek family (hence the name, "Plato," get it?), and the Greek and Greek-themed foods are supposed to be excellent. I'll have to try them the next time I'm in College Park.

After dinner, Kevin drove me all around the campus, and I was so thankful he kept me safe! UMCP is rated as one of the top college campuses in the country for crime! It was a pretty campus, though, at least what I could see in the dark, and I was surprised that it was so large.

Bistro Français, Georgetown, D.C.

This is going to be a double post of sorts, since I'm going to talk about two different meals at Bistro Français over in Georgetown, where we eat far, far too often.

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Last Sunday night at about 1 a.m., Ian dragged me out to dine with him. It was just a quick late night supper-snack.

Ian ordered a very healthy pommes frites and dessert, a gâteau de mousse au chocolat with an added scoop of crème de glace à la vanille, all washed down with Coca-Cola.





I'd actually planned to drink my dinner, especially since Bistro Français carries one of the more unusual beaujolais nouveaux, but, alas, they wouldn't serve me because the bar had had last call at 1:30, and by the time we were seated after a long, long wait at the unattended door and then a waiter actually wandering over to our table, it was after 1:30. So, I got stuck having to eat food. I ordered the artichaut vinaigrette, a lovely artichoke cooked in a light vinaigrette and served with a cold béarnaise sauce for dipping the individual leaves of the artichoke.



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Several weeks ago, Leo was in the mood for French food and we wandered off the bistro so he could get his franco-fix.

Leo chose the moules Niçoise, a baked mussel dish with tomatoes, olives, and garlic. He thought they were quite good.



I had the mousse de foie de volaille au sherry, which looked like a slice of pâté, but which actually was a slice of a liver mousse. It was light and very pleasant; they served it with olives and cornichon pickles.



We both decided to have daily specials for our main courses. Leo got the espadon grillés, a grilled swordfish presented with a large serving of ratatouille.



I had reins braisés de veau, huge portion of veal kidneys braised in red wine and enriched with a touch of tomato paste. They were very good, but a little went a long way; next time, I would be more inclined to have half as much and then use it as a first course rather than a main course.



For our desserts, we made our selections from the pastry tray rather than the menu. had the tarte au amande (almond tart) and I had a tarte au myrtille (blueberry tart). My tart was made with pâté sucrée filled with a crème patisserie, then topped with fresh blueberries and glazed with a fruit jelly.

One of the nice things about the bistro is that they have an early bird special offered in the early evening, but also repeated from like 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. as well, for only $19, which is why we had so much to eat. It's a great deal, as it includes a glass of wine, an entree (or what most Americans call an appetizer), a plat (or what most Americans call an entree), and a dessert (or what most Americans call dessert).

As usual, the food at Bistro Français was good but the service was very.......Parisian.

David Greggory Restau•Lounge, Washington, D.C.

My friend and legal colleague John was in town the past few days tending to some business on behalf of the Beverly Hills Bar Association, and after missing one another all weekend, we both finally found some time in our schedules, so he graciously took me to lunch yesterday. I selected a restaurant that was about a block from one of the embassies where he was meeting, so we ended up at David Greggory Restau•Lounge in downtown's West End.

I always enjoy David Greggory. They specialize in American classics that they "freshen" or "update" to be more interesting and rather more gourmet. Their bar/wine bar is a popular happy hour spot after work, and I keep meaning to go to one of their renowned "Aphrodisiac Bacon Dinners" they host monthly or one of their weekly "Pork and Pinot" parties.

While we perused the menu, I had an iced tea (still having work to do later in the afternoon) and John started with a glass of white wine (I forgot what he ordered), so that's what he used for his Kody Pose.



Meanwhile, our waiter took our drink orders and since John had mentioned his entree choice in the course of picking his wine, the waiter ran off without taking my order while I was momentarily distracted by turning off my ringing cell phone, so I had to wait for him to come back with the drinks before I could pick my food. Then he acted surprised.

I guess they don't have crabs and crabcakes in southern California, so John ordered yet again this weekend the crab cake for his lunch (he'd had a crab cake at brunch at Old Ebbitt on Sunday). He seemed to like this one, though, and commented on how it was actually crab instead of a lot of filler. Along with the crab cake was a spicy chipotle sauce, cole slaw, and battered French fries.



There was a chef's "whim" composed salad on the menu I selected. "Composed salad" is merely a euphemism for the chef's cleaning out the refrigerator, so he's going to throw on a bunch of stuff to get rid of it, and it usually turns out to be a good deal with a lot more "interest" than the standard entree salads. It was a good decision. Chef was getting rid of a bunch of poached salmon that not only was delicious, but that appeared on my salad in a larger serving that I would have gotten had I ordered a salmon entree. The mixed salad also had a "star" of warm, steamed asparagus on top. Twas a tasty and filling meal for me.



For dessert, John chose the tres leches cake with caramelized bananas, a version of the Latin American classic. I think he actually liked it! After dessert, he savored a cup of their coffee with cream and used this cute little cylinder the waiter delivered to the table with a diagonally cut tube on top with which to dispense raw sugar crystals.



As always, we had a great chat during lunch as John updated me on his California projects and I told him about the changes in D.C. since he was at the Pentagon. It's always nice to see him, as he gets back to D.C. all too seldom.