Chevy's Fresh Mex, Arlington, Va.

Seems like it was just coffee break time and now it's lunchtime already!

Here's a report on a recent meal we had at Chevy's Fresh Mex in Arlington at Pentagon Centre. The food was typical of Chevy's, though I daresay the service was unusually slow and abyssmal.

We didn't have any appetizers, making use of Chevy's basket of warm tortilla chips and their excellent fresh salsa made from roasted tomatoes, so the salsa is reddish brown instead of bright red.

Entrees here have a bad habit of being way too huge for one person to eat (or at least way more than one should eat), often coming on three tiered plates. Examples are some of what showed up at our table: pork fajitas a/k/a carnitas and a mixed grill platter with grilled chicken, skirt steak, shrimp, and some baby back ribs in a sweet jalapeño glaze.




I was rather more dainty in my selection. I got the tamale platter, opting for one pork tamale in red chile sauce and one chicken tamale in green chile tomatillo sauce, both garnished with crumbled Mexican white cheese. Brown beans, Mexican rice, and some of their good sweet corn tomalito (sort of a light, sweet corn pudding) accompanied the tamales.



Desserts included the regular "chiquita sundae," a cinnamon-covered fried flour tortilla bowl with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce, and a seasonal specialty, individual pineapple upside down cake. I had the cake, and it was delicious. The cake was warm and light. A scoop of vanilla ice cream was garnished with whipped cream, caramel sauce, and toasted coconut.

Johnny Rocket's, Georgetown, D.C.

How is it that I always manage to find friends who get in culinary ruts and love it?

When I used to hang out with Tony, he always always always wanted to go to a cafe called Brookside by Day, where he always always always had the eggs Benedict. Then I ran around alot with Ian, and he always always always wanted to go to IHOP, where he always always always had the chicken fingers. Now, I'm finding that when Ryan and Robert are together, they always always always want to go to Johnny Rocket's where they always always always get high fat, high cholesterol, high calorie enormous hamburgers and Ryan always always always washes his down with a high fat, high calorie, ice cream milk shake.

:::sigh:::

The other night, we were out on a Georgetown shopping expedition, and after we were done, not yet having had dinner, I was in the mood for a little ice cream pick-me-up,Any yet still being on a budget, so I suggested we pop into the Johnny Rocket's for sundaes. And, in we went, but neither Ryan nor Robert could muster up the discipline not to order hamburgers with their ice cream. So much for my idea of an inexpensive break—those milk shakes cost as much as the burgers!

Anyway, Robert had a St. Louis burger, and interesting combination of bacon, Swiss cheese, and grilled onions. Ryan had The Original (basic, classic diner burger) and a strawberry milk shake. The waiter made a little too much milk shake, so he brought Ryan the leftover shake in the aluminum mixing glass.




And, sticking to my original intention, I had a simple hot fudge sundae and a glass of water. Ryan had to do a Kody Pose with his strawberry shake.

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

Wow, tomorrow is Annie's 80th birthday! Annie Kaylor is the owner of the famous Annie's Paramount Steakhouse on 17th Street east of Dupont Circle. To celebrate her birthday, the popular restaurant is giving away free pieces of birthday cake to diners.

Before Ryan's friend Riley headed back to Dartmouth this afternoon, they all got up surprisingly early after a long night on the town partying with Robert, and the four of us walked over to Annie's to meet our friend Max—who came straight from church—for brunch.

We all got basic Annie's brunch food. Max and Riley both got the 8 oz. sirloin steak with eggs, fried potatoes, and fruit. Robert got two large bloody Marys, a glass of champagne, and the three egg platter with bacon.




Ryan, once again, got the half rack of baby back ribs. They looked really good and had a lot of meat on them. We allowed him to use his fingers and gnaw on the bones. I had the soft shell crab platter special. The crabs were quite large for soft shells, and they'd been deep fried.




Max was quite nice and bought brunch for everyone. He was in fine form, looking quite dapper in his expensive Italian suit and Gucci loafers.




We all got birthday cake after our meals. It was a very delicious strawberry cream cake, with three layers of white genoise and a nice cream filling with a stripe of strawberry jam and sliced strawberries in between.



Meanwhile, Robert was enjoying himself. He had a couple of extra large bloody Marys delivered by this waiter. He also had the waiter bring him some champagne for the dessert course.




Happy birthday, Annie!

Thai Coast, Washington, D.C.

Last night after Assumption Day services, Laurent, Ryan, and I walked over to Thai Coast for a more earthly supper. Ryan wasn't happy about having to eat Thai instead of American food, but he didn't want to make one of his usual anti-Thai restaurant scenes in front of his cute new boyfriend, so he acquiesced. I think he actually enjoyed it and had a good time, but I'm sure he'll never admit that to me.

Laurent ordered the beef pad thai. The pad thai noodles were topped with ground peanuts and there appeared to be ample slices of beef. Laurent liked it and said it compared favorably with the pad thai at one of his usual restaurants.



Ryan got the sweet and sour pork. This dish actually looked healthy, since the pork was stir-fried slices without the usual Chinese breading and deep-frying.



I started with a little bowl of shrimp tom yum soup. As usual, the sweet and very sour broth was spicy hot and spiked with pieces of lemon grass. My main course was the crispy duck basil, a very tasty dish of honey-roasted duck slices deep-fried, then stir-fried with chiles, garlic, and basil, garnished with flash-fried leaves of basil and accompanied by steamed carrot slices and broccoli florets, plus miniature corn on the cob.




Laurent and Ryan each had mango sticky rice for dessert. Singhas washed down everyone's meal.

PS7, Washington, D.C.

Every now and then, one of the Restaurant Week restaurants decides to "hold over" another week (some two), giving more people the chance to sample their cuisine. We found one of those last night, and I'm very glad we did because this place is both under our nose yet off the beaten path, and we might not ever have found it without looking specifically for it.

Open less than a year, PS7 is the project of chef/owner Peter Smith, formerly the long-time chef de cuisine at one of my favorites, Vidalia. He found a space in the block just north of Chinatown and had a facility constructed in a very contemporary, high-style look. A large, open bar with glass-walled wine cellar occupies one half of the restaurant and the dining room (overlooking an outdoor patio) the other. Contemporary art hangs on the walls and a large, blue, wooden "wave" runs almost the length of the room. Even the restrooms are striking. The men's room is tiled in black with two illuminated large goldfish bowls embedded in one wall, pin spots over each of the urinals, and frosted glass lavatories illuminated from below. That, plus a spherical crystal chandelier with just two very low-wattage light bulbs provides all the light for the room.

The only menu they had was the Restaurant Week menu, and there was quite a nice range of choices in each category. They also had an elaborate cocktail and wine menu with some creative cocktail combinations and a short list of well-chosen wines.

Ryan's friend Laurent started with the tuna sliders. These were three tiny "hamburgers" on Parker House buns, filled with a spicy tuna tartare (raw, like sushi, then chopped and mixed with spice and cilantro). Ponzu and wasabi sauces graced the plate. A salad of long, thin julienne of cucumber rounded out the dish.



Ryan was less adventuresome and got the roasted tomato soup with basil crème fraîche.



I managed to pair some of my very favorite foods in my appetizer and entrée choices. I started with a crispy duck confit with spiced, roasted peanuts with a salad of arugula and pickled grapes in between paper-thin tuilles of potato. Yum! The duck was just exploding with flavor.



It was followed by an exquisitely prepared combination of braised breast of veal and roasted sweetbreads with a wild mushroom, cream, and wine sauce and topped with the shreds of dauphin potatoes. The sweetbreads were perfectly done and the veal was fork-tender and juicy. I was very pleased.



Laurent got a beautiful plate with a thick piece of pan-seared king salmon surrounded with a melange of fresh fruit and berries and blackberry-red wine sauce. He ordered it medium, and it looked very good on the inside without being dry at all. I also suspect there was a bit of a spice rub on the fish, though I forgot to ask him.



Ryan had meat and potatoes—this time the roasted hangar steak with some very interesting deep-fried potato gnocchi and a dice of cooked wild mushrooms in a blue cheese aioli, all topped with a wad of newly sprouted greens. It looked good, though he ordered it medium well, and I prefer steak cuts to be less cooked.



Desserts were not quite so spectacular as the appetizer and entree choices, but they were still above Washington standard. Ryan got a peach crisp with vanilla ice cream, the crisp being heavy with oats, and, from his description, I think perchance the peaches were not quite as ripe as they could have been.



Laurent had the Black Forest mousse cake, a thin rectanular slice of baked mousse cake layered with mousse and accompanied by a cherry compote and an egg-shaped dollop of whipped cream. Both were garnished with sprigs of mint.



I had the beignets with strawberry and chocolate sauce. These were the little small rectangular "doughnuts" that are so popular in New Orleans, in this case dusted with confectioner's sugar. It was a light but tasty ending to a very rich meal. Also with my meal, I drank a very nice Brut Rosé Cremant d'Alsace NV Willm—a sparkling wine we would call champagne if it were from the Champagne region of France instead of the Alsace.



Thus was dinner. I highly recommend PS7 for people looking for a nice change of pace with better American food. I think you'll find a few neat surprises.

Mitsitam, Washington, D.C.

I've mentioned Mitsitam, NMAI's American Indian foods cafeteria, a few times before. While I didn't eat there again this weekend, I did wander through the serving area and snap a few pictures.

Here are some foods from the Northwest Coast area of the United States. They have lots of seafood here, including oysters, salmon, and fish wrapped in leaves and steamed.

In the Great Plains area, they have a lot of things targeted more for the children, featuring bison (a/k/a buffalo) burgers and Indian fry bread. They also have several stews here.

One really tasty area is the South American station, where it's like eating what most Americans would probably call "Mexican" food. One of the things I like from here are the big, fat, tamale-like things they do with masa and stewed pork.

The Northeastern Woodlands station always has roast turkey and roast venison (though the venison was absent this week!), plus things like succotash, clam chowder, and "Indian pudding" made from corn meal and maple syrup. This week, they are having a strawberry festival in honor of the strawberry moon (which actually I think is already past).

Here's another shot of northeastern food, this one particularly showing the whitefish with green onions and corn.

Fogo de Chão, Washington, D.C.

Today I was supposed to meet Robert at the National Press Club for lunch, but he was feeling sick this morning and backed out. So, I cancelled my reservation and talked Ryan into going out for a late lunch (far be it for me to ask him to get up before noon!), since this is the last day of the "official" Restaurant Week (several others are extending another week, but that's not part of the official program). He looked at the available places and decided upon the Brazilian churrascaria Fogo de Chão on Pennsylvania Avenue in the Federal Triangle area.

For those of you who've never been to a churrascaria, it's a sort of Brazilian steakhouse, except instead of ordering a specific piece of meat, you select from various meats brought around the dining room by gaucho-trousered waiters bearing roasts skewered on swords. The waiters keep coming around feeding you until you are so full you are ready to pop. Fogo also has a fabulous salad bar with many delicious, high-end, gourmet selections.


So, we had all kinds of things from top sirloin to filet mignon to pork ribs to leg of lamb. Along with the meats, they bring sides, this time a garlic cheese mashed potato dish, some bread-like stuff that was a sort of cross between polenta and cornbread, and some sweet sautéed bananas.

After eating way, way too much meat, I made a little sojourn to the salad bar. Eschewing the traditional lettuces, greens, and salad materials, I filled up a plate with green and white asparagus spears, artichoke hearts, gigantic green olives, hand-carved broccoli spears, red and golden beets, Waldorf salad, parmesan cheese wedges, and some little balls of fresh mozzarella. I probably sampled only about a quarter of the offerings. They had a huge tray of smoked salmon and an assortment of thinly sliced charcuterie meats, but I passed, having already eaten enough animal flesh for the next week.

They had a lovely litany of dessert options. We both opted for the house special, a fruit cream, Ryan with the strawberry and me with the papaya. Think rich ice cream and fresh fruit whipped together until it was the consistency of a milk shake. The creams were presented in large bowled stemware on a large white plate heavily decorated with squirts of raspberry sauce and shakings of ground cinnamon.




One of the interesting things about the dessert service is the waiter came bearing a bottle of crème de cassis (blackberry liqueur), and on our request, poured a generous amount into the fruit creams. I thought the desserts were pretty fabulous.

The desserts, though, led us to a little bit of drama when it was time to pay the check. When we first sat down, we asked one of the waitresses how the pricing thing worked with Restaurant Week, and she said that "everything is included." Now, that's a pretty good deal, considering they usually charge about $30 for their all-you-can eat food at lunch, and R.W. is just $20.07. And, following the Restaurant Week pattern of appetizer, main course, dessert, we had salad bar, meat, and dessert. But, the desserts weren't included! What's more, those little fruit milk shakes were $8.50 each. That additional $17 was almost enough for us to have brought a third person! Ryan chatted with the waitress, though, and talked her in to taking the dessert charges off the check. So, all was well.

Now, it's dinner time, and I'm completely, totally not hungry.

Taberna del Alabardero, Washington, D.C.

It has been so busy this week, I've not had an opportunity to get out for Restaurant Week until today, and now that I've been out, I am so pleased with our choice! Ryan and I went to a late lunch at Taberna del Alabardero, an elegant Spanish restaurant just northwest of the White House.

The "Tavern of the Palace Guard" comes from an eponymous restaurant in Madrid, and has been in Washington for over fifteen years. The dining room is very attractive with a window wall to 18th Street allowing lots of sunlight into the room, where walls and ceiling are painted dark red with white ornamental architectural elements. Austrian shades in bold stripes cover the windows and also provide a presumptive room divider. Tables are covered with floor length golden yellow silk tablecloths topped with white cloths.

The Restaurant Week menu (for the uninitiated, during Restaurant Week, participating restaurants provide a three course meal for $20.07 at lunch and $30.07 at dinner) was rather limited, with only two choices per course, but we still were able to order different things and be happy.

Ryan opened with ensalada alabardero, the house salad with hard-boiled eggs, artistically carved tomatoes, and some delicious green olives (Ryan doesn't eat olives, so I took them).



I had the cold gazpacho soup. Their version is fully puréed, and the melange of vegetable flavors were nicely balanced.



For his main course, Ryan chose the trucha con arroz meloso de setas, judias verdes, y salsa Cantábrica, a grilled trout filet with a Cantabric sauce, accompanied by green beans and a risotto-like rice with mushrooms and cream. He said it was very good.



I had the pollo al ajillo con patatas al Romero, sautéed morsels of chicken cooked with garlic and presented topped with flash-fried rosemary-scented shreds of potatoes. While the potatoes, while good, weren't really that exciting, the chicken morsels were a pleasant surprise with their bold flavor and juiciness.



What excited me most about the restaurant is that after Ryan ordered his fish, an assistant came, removed his stock place fork and knife, and replaced them with a proper fish knife and fork! I loved it! (They were placed in the correct positions, but I moved them for the photograph.)



Dessert was a pair of very standard Spanish/Mexican desserts. Ryan had the flan tradicional, an egg custard flan with a dollop of crème chantilly and some strawberry sauce, and I got the arroz con leche, a rice pudding in a thick, rich, sweetened cream and garnished with aromatic cinnamon.




After dessert, I had a lovely little cup of espresso.

So, we had an excellent lunch in a lovely setting. I look forward to coming back again, though I will warn you that their prices are very definitely on the high side.....at their standard menu prices, this lunch would have cost twice the Restaurant Week rate. But, you know, it just may be worth it, and I'm very tempted to go back in September when they are having "Paella Month."