Bistrot du Coin, Washington, D.C.

For nephew Ryan's last night in D.C. before flying to Oklahoma for Christmas break, he, Robert, and I went to Bistrot du Coin for a light supper. As it turned out, Robert only ate a little and Ryan didn't eat at all. I think it was all that French alcohol.

We started out with a late celebration of beaujolais nouveau night in mid-November with a bottle of Bouchard Aîné & Fils Beaujolais Nouveau 2006. I liked it quite a bit. Much like the Dubouef, it's a fruity wine this year, but the Bouchard had a lot more substance and complexity to it.

Meanwhile, we ordered food. Ryan didn't have anything but the free bread. Robert ordered the escargot à la bourguignonne. These are the classic French snails in garlic butter, but at du Coin they aren't served in shells, they come in a ceramic snail dish.



I had the pâté de campagne maison, a rustic country-style pork pâté accompanied by a tiny salad, cornichons, and delicious black olives, with some slices of grilled bread.



Robert wanted dessert, and they have some nice ones here. He selected the “La Tropezienne”, a very prettily assembled almond-studded brioche filled with orange blossom custard, then served over a mirror of light custard sauce and raspberry coulis.



After dessert, both Robert and Ryan had snifters of some of the more expensive cognacs on the menu. Ryan didn't really like the cognac, so he just chugged it. Alas. I keep trying to tell him how to appreciate fine wines and cognacs, but he persists in the college frat boy approach of just drinking to get drunk.



To wash down the cognac flavor, I guess, Ryan decided to order a glass of a very sweet, syrupy German eiswein that, naturally since it was sweet, he liked a lot. I think it was his first eiswein, since he didn't know why the stuff was so expensive or how it was made (the grapes are allowed to freeze on the vine to concentrate the sugar before they are made into wine).

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

Our friend Maxwell took nephew Ryan and me to brunch after we visited his church and watched him play altar boy.

He likes to cocktail, so he picked Annie's Paramount Steakhouse, where I've been many, many times for dinner, but never before dark; this was my first brunch there.

Max, an unrepentent southern Virginian from an FFV family, lives just a few blocks from the church, and always drives there. I guess it's an old Southern tradition. That was convenient, though, since he could drive us up to Annie's. The problem, however, is that we had to drive around for nearly fifteen minutes before he found a parking place big enough for his car!

Once we got there, it was clear that the entire staff knew Max and we quickly had a non-stop flow of bloody Marys coming to the table.

Meanwhile, Ryan decided he had to have some barbecued ribs, so he ordered a rib appetizer with three big ribs. As you can tell, he was ravenously hungry. And he didn't share.

Once we got to our main courses, everything was quite good. I always like Annie's; the steaks are good but still inexpensive. Max had steak and eggs with fried potatoes and fresh fruit.



Ryan had French toast with two big links of sausage, fried potatoes, and fresh fruit.



I ordered the country fried steak. What I got was delicious though totally not what I was expecting; they brought me a sirloin steak that had been sliced into fingers, dredged in flour and fried, then doused with gravy. I had country fries with mine.



Nobody did dessert, even Ryan. I think everyone preferred just to have another bloody Mary and call it dessert. After all, tomatoes are fruits, you know.

So, that was brunch at Annie's. Very good, as usual. Now that I realize they are open in the daytime (LOL), I may have to go back. Thanks to Max for his usual Southern hospitality.

Old Ebbitt Grill, Washington, D.C.

After our tour of the White House Christmas decorations yesterday, we walked across the street for lunch at Old Ebbitt Grill, one of the old, traditional restaurants in town that dates back to the 19th century. We had early reservations, so we were able to get right in.

There are so many good things on their menu, it's always hard to pick. Ian chose the grilled chicken pappardelle, a pasta dish with roasted eggplant, mozzarella cheese balls, and a marinara sauce. Robert had the walrus burger with bacon accompanied by French fries. Ryan selected the meatloaf with mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy. I had the lump crab cake accompanied by the most wonderful sweet potato gratin—rather like scalloped potatoes, though with sweet potatoes, and with a subtle spicy bite.









Dessert was fun as well. Ryan had New York style cheesecake with raspberry sauce, Robert had the pecan pie with vanilla ice cream, and Ian had the rum raisin bread pudding with vanilla ice cream, coconut cream and caramel sauce. I abstained.

Marshall's Bar and Grille, Washington, D.C.

Nephew Ryan finished his fall quarter at Dartmouth yesterday, and showed up in D.C. late last night for a quick pre-Christmas visit.

He immediately wanted dinner, so Robert and Ian joined us and we all went to Marshall's Bar and Grille for a late supper.



Dinner was simple. Ryan had chicken strips, Robert had a steak quesadilla, Ian had the chicken pasta, and I had a little rather cheap-quality ribeye steak.









For dessert, Ian had the amaretto cheesecake and Robert had tiramisu.

Yee Hwa Korean Japanese Restaurant, Washington, D.C.

After I got home tonight from the service and recital, Leo wanted to go to dinner and picked Yee Hwa Korean Japanese Restaurant in the West End. He's been wanting Korean food for weeks. I'm always reluctant to go, since I like eating Korean food, but I seem to be allergic to something or other that they use in cooking, cause I always end up feeling sick after dinner (and I can feel it starting already). It's happened in Korean restaurants all over the country, but, I eat it anyway.

To start, Leo started with hae mul pa jeon, an enormous double pancake made of rice, stuffed with scallions, and served with egg custard, five kim-chee and vegetable condiments, and a peppery dipping sauce. It was certainly big enough for a complete meal! And that was just Leo's appetizer! Meanwhile, I had a simple tossed green side salad, but it turned out to be huge and topped with lots and vegetables, accompanied by a big bowl of ginger-sesame-soy dressing.

Here's the pancake (the plate is oversized, by the way) with condiments and then in the next picture is the custard.





Ordering his usual Korean favorite, Leo got the dolsot bi bim bap. This is a classic, popular Korean dish that really is rather unusual. They take a big serving of rice in a big stoneware bowl and pile all kinds of chopped vegetables (but think more oriental vegetables) and stuff I don't know what is....I'm thinking maybe seaweed or some type of mushroom....on top, then they top it with a sunny-side up fried egg. It comes with a fiery hot pepper sauce.



I had a dish called man doo guk. It was very interesting. They made a bunch of demilunar beef dumplings they put in a beef broth along with some very thin slices of beef. There were a few cellophane noodles there as well, plus a lot of scallions and a little beaten egg drizzled in. The thing that made the soup so different, though, was the presence of seaweed in the broth. When I first tasted the soup, I was a little taken aback by the pronounced seafood flavor in a beef dish, but then I figured out it was because of the seaweed, and then I got used to it. They also brought me a little container of steamed white rice to go along with my soup.



After dinner, they brought us little cups of a cold ginger punch that was delicious and quite refreshing.

Lebanese Taverna, Arlington, Va.

Robert and I had dinner the other night in Arlington, popping in to Lebanese Taverna for some of their mezza offerings. Mezza is a series of small dishes similar in style to Spanish tapas, but with each serving being a little larger than the typical tapas. We were, fortunately, just early enough to be seated immediately; soon after, the place got crowded.

Robert ordered the laban b'khyar, a salad made of yogurt with cucumbers, garlic, and mint (sorry about the overexposed photo; it's hard to take pictures of white food in a white dish in a dark room) and the lamb and beef shawarma.





I started with the hommos special, the usual puréed chickpea and sesame seed dip, but what made it "special" is that it was topped with ground meat, pine nuts, and almonds. Then I moved to a Lebanese salad, which was a large lettuce salad with good sized quantities of tomatoes, cucumber, green peppers, parsley, mint, and onions all tossed together and in a light garlic dressing.





Neither of us opted for dessert. With our first courses, Robert drank a Reserve Du Couvent Ksara white and I had a La Dame Blanche Kefraya white; with the second course Robert had the Silver Selection Massaya red. All of the wines were from Lebanon.

And, here's Robert with his Kody Pose:

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.

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

My friend Joe and I went to La Tasca Spanish Tapas Bar and Restaurant in the Clarendon area of Arlington this afternoon for lunch and a bit of a business conversation. Tapas are little plates of food, sort of small appetizer size, that are a Spanish tradition. As people drank sherry and wine in the late afternoon at Spanish bars, patrons had two challenges: staving off hunger until dinnertime in a culture that typically doesn't eat dinner until 10 p.m. and keeping flies and insects out of their glasses of sherry. Initially, bars served slices of hard sausages that could be placed over the tops of wine glasses as people drank and socialized, nibbling a bit now and then on the sausage, and that eventually evolved into what is now a plethora of tasty cold and hot dishes. La Tasca is part of a small chain in the United States with other restaurants in Alexandria, Baltimore, and the District that also just happens to be owned by an English company founded in Manchester that operates about 55 La Tascas throughout the United Kingdom.

We started off with sangria as we perused the menu, Joe selecting a traditional sangria tinta with red wine, oranges, and apples (and using it for his Kody Pose above), and me picking the cava sangria with Spanish sparkling wine (called a "cava"—think Freixenet Cordon Negro), brandy, Triple Sec, and grape juice.

After discussing our many, many options, we decided upon five tapas to share. They were, from left to right below, pollo al ajillo (grilled chicken in white wine and garlic, montado de salmon y queso fresco (smoked salmon and cream cheese on toast), and gambas al ajillo (shrimp sauteed in olive oil with garlic and guindilla peppers)in this photo...



and albondigas a la jardinera (meatballs with vegetable and tomato sauce), and espinacas salteadas (sauteed spinach with garlic, pine nuts, and raisins) in this photo.



Afterwards, we shared a tarta de café con leche y salsa de café, which was a light coffee mousse pie with Spanish espresso sauce and slivvered almonds garnished with a squirt of whipped cream and dusted with cocoa. I thought it was very nice, and Joe, who said he didn't want dessert, seemed to concur, as he ate most of it.



It was quite a pleasant afternoon, since Joe is an excellent conversationalist and quite intelligent. We're also both former lawyers looking for professional fulfillment via other avenues, so that gives us a lot in common to discuss. The food at La Tasca was very good and the service was attentive, two things I don't always find in tapas bars here in the District. I'm looking forward to another lunch with Joe soon.

La Crêperie, Arlington, Va.

Leo came home from work Wednesday night and wanted to go to shopping, so, off we went to Pentagon City. We had dinner at La Crêperie in Pentagon Row, and I found the usually good eaterie rather disappointing.

I had the hanger steak and fries. The fries were good. The hanger steak, however, was three little, thin, chewy slices of beef in a wine-spiked brown sauce. There was also a mound of frozen mixed vegetables on the plate, some of the lima beans suffering from freezer burn.

Leo had the sole in mustard sauce with the same fries as frozen vegetables I had. The "sole" looked more like a fillet of flounder meuniere to me, and Leo wasn't impressed with it at all. For dessert, he had a crêpe au miel et chocolat, a large French pancake folded in half, drizzled with chocolate sauce and honey, then sprinkled with chopped almonds. I had one bite of it and it was good, though I thought the crêpe had a bit of an off-taste to it as though it had been pre-prepared and held, absorbing some odors along the way.

Not a good night for La Crêperie.

Eeek!

Do you realize that Thanksgiving is in one week???