The Diner, Washington, D.C.

Saturday night after the Kentucky Derby, Ian decided that since he was already in Philadelphia (he watched the derby at the horse track there), he should come on back to Washington. He wanted Mexican food so we could celebrate Cinco de Mayo. The challenge? Even on a Saturday night, where was there a Mexican restaurant that still had an open kitchen? I'd done some internet research and found a short, limited list, most all of which closed at midnight. We tried for the nearest place, an Alero on U Street. We got there in plenty of time, but we drove and drove and drove our Zipcar all around the U Street neighborhood looking for a place to park, and there just weren't any (have I mentioned this is one of the reasons I don't worry about not owning a car in D.C.?). As our circles began to broaden, I noticed we were approaching the Adams-Morgan neighborhood, so I decided to drive through there, since they have a lot of restaurants in Adams-Morgan.

Well, it was even more crowded in Adams-Morgan.

We drove around a bit there, braving huge crowds of pedestrians, and noticing that not only were there no on-street parking places, almost all of the better restaurants had valet parking for $20 a pop! Fortunately, I remembered a private parking garage just two blocks from the main strip, and I remembered the secret password to get the gates to go up, so we had a free place to park!

Well, we walked up and down the main drag a bit, trying a few places, but kitchens were closed and the hispanic restaurants were packed, but that wasn't to eat dinner, it was to watch some professional boxing performance. Then, we walked by The Diner. Now, The Diner is open twenty-four hours a day, so, we knew their kitchen would be open!

We got immediate seating in the area back by their bar. It was, as usual, rather dark and a little bit noisy, but not so much that we couldn't chat. We persued the menu for "Mexican"-themed entrees so we could continue with our original concept of celebrating Cinco de Mayo, though at that time is was already Seis de Mayo.

So, Ian ordered side orders of chicken fingers and of fries. LOL...are you surprised? He said they were good and put them on the order of the chicken fingers he'd had at Hard Times Cafe in Clarendon (which means good, but still not as good as the ones at IHOP).




I did a little better in my menu planning, selecting a Spanish omelette with pepper Jack cheese, salsa, sour cream, and jalapeño peppers, plus I had them add some ham; the omelette came with home fries and grilled toast.



For dessert, Ian had the Oreo cookie milk shake, and I just watched.