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

Continuing our Restaurant Week adventures with the "extending" restaurants this week, yesterday, Robert and I ended up in Arlington at the La Tasca Spanish Tapas Bar and Restaurant. They have decided to make their Restaurant Week deal the Wednesday weekly special, so one can lunch now on Wednesdays for $20.09 for all you can eat tapas. Don't know how long that will continue.

Robert's a regular at this place. I've not been there for two or three years since I last went with my friend Jose, but the place is under different management now, and I enjoyed the leisurely afternoon ordering little plates one at a time. For those of you who've never before been to a tapas bar, the tapas are little individual plates of food, and it's kind of like making a meal out of a series of appetizers at a regular restaurant.

Robert started out with one of the daily specials with shrimp and large scallops covered in diced tomatoes and peppers and presented au gratin with melted white cheese the name of which escapes me. Next he had the solomillo de cerdo Iberico al Cabrales, a little slice of grilled pork tenderloin that had been wrapped in bacon and served in a white Cabrales cheese sauce, that he says is one of his favorite dishes there. Next he got the langostinos a la plancha, some jumbo shrimp with the heads on that had been grilled with sea salt. For a vegetable dish, he ordered the espinacas salteadas, a very interesting salted, sauteed spinach dish with pine nuts and raisins. Somewhere in there, he also ate an order of pan de ajo con queso, or garlic bread with cheese. For his dessert, he got the flauta rellena de crema de platano y carmelo con helado de chocolate, a deep-fried banana in puff pastry served with chocolate ice cream.

I began with the calamares andaluza, a nice, tender, fried squid calamari with garlic mayonnaise, then I had the montado de lomo, which reminded me of an Italian bruschetta topped with grilled pork loin. Next I had the buey al Jerez, a very tasty grilled flank steak with sherry mushroom sauce and served with diced fried potatoes. My dessert was the crema Catalana, in essence, a crème brulée with strawberries.

While Robert just drank Scotch with his meal, I tried a glass of the sangria blanca, made with white wine, brandy, peaches, and cinnamon, and a glass of sangria tinta, with red wine, triple sec, apples, and oranges. They had probably half a dozen other kinds of sangria, too. I like their sangrias—they could become addictive!

La Tasca is a small chain in the Washington-Baltimore metro area, so there are a number of other locations with similar menus for your Spanish dining enjoyment. In addition to tapas, they have a number of paellas on the menus, too, for those wanting a fuller dinner.

Vidalia, Washington, D.C.

Crispy pig tails? How about roast goat, frog legs, skate wing, or veal cheeks?

The menu options were nothing if not adventuresome at Vidalia today, one of my favorite restaurants that just happens to be on the Restaurant Week list this week. Vidalia is one of Washington's top eateries where they take Southern classics and elevate them to gourmet heights. Vidalia has been reviewed several times before in my blog, so I won't dwell on their sleek, contemporary dining room or other details of the ambiance.

My friend Joel and I were quite impressed by the large list of exciting choices in each of the course categories on the Restaurant Week menu. There were so many things we wanted to try just because they sounded intriguing. As it was, Joel started with the yellowtail hamachi with wasabi and several sauces, garnished with a little caviar. I got the salad of veal cheeks with sweetbread terrine. I got a little block of the terrine and several paper-thin slices of veal cheek on the plate topped by a salad of veal tongue, pickled mushrooms, and raddiccio with a truffled honey-mustard dressing.

After our exquisite appetizers, we moved on to main courses. Joel got one of Vidalia's classics, the shrimp and grits with andoille sausage and spicy shellfish cream. I got the slow roasted roulade of young goat, stuffed with goat sausage, and accompanied by sauteed broccoli rabe and natural jus. The standard goat entree also came with an eggplant puree, but I had them leave that in the kitchen, and they didn't replace it with anything. The goat was very mild and flavorful, and cooked to a medium rare.

We continued to have to make hard choices for dessert. Joel opted for the banana napoleon, and got a lovely, delicate tower of caramelized bananas, salted caramel mousse, and thin wafers of bittersweet chocolate. I had the Georgia pecan bar, served warm with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream.

We washed down our sumptuous repast with flutes of Mont Marcal Riserva Brut cava, a sparkling wine from Spain. As always, Vidalia did an outstanding job of presenting culinary excitement for Restaurant Week and showing off the range of the chef and what one can do with modern Southern cooking.

Harry's Tap Room, Arlington (Pentagon City), Va.

Well, Laurent and I went to Harry's Tap Room in Pentagon City today for their Restaurant Week lunch, but they were only serving brunch today and said the lunch deal was just Monday through Friday. Just as well, since we both got plenty of food to eat and spent half the money we would have spent had we done the R.W. menus.

They started off by bringing us a big basket of scones and little miniature blueberry muffins. The muffins were so airy and delightful; we endulged in quickly eating all of them after dipping them in a strawberry preserve sauce.

Laurent ordered the steakhouse omelette. The omelette was filled with slices of filet mignon, plus onions, spinach, bacon, cheddar cheese, and fresh basil, and served with home fries and applesauce. It was a large and hearty brunch dish.

I got a Cuban sandwich, very artfully presented on the plate with a wedge of carved fresh pineapple and a mess of long, hand-cut french fries; the sandwich itself was cut on the diagonal and speared with frilled toothpicks holding cherry peppers, and arranged with one half standing on its end.

Neither one of us wanted dessert, so we bypassed the very large sweet samplings at Harry's. Thus was our Saturday culinary adventure.

The Palm, Washington, D.C.

Some of my out-of-town friends come to Washington and New York and just gush about a series of restaurants called The Palm, usually making reservations at Palms in cities around the country as they travel on business. I've never been to a Palm before, so I decided it was finally time to take advantage of the Restaurant Week opportunity.

The Palm likes to capitalize on its rich and famous clientele of politicians and power brokers, so the walls are covered with caricature drawings of former patrons. Furnishings in the dining room are in medium shades and typical of high end steakhouses, being contemporary without being "modern." Booths line the periphery of the dining room, and the interior space is tightly packed with free-standing tables. As the restaurant was crowded during our visit, this packing of people into a confined space had the conversational noise level at the point my friend Scott and I nearly had to yell across our small table to talk.

Restaurant Week menu offerings vary widely from restaurant to restaurant. Some establishments go all out, creating a number of options per course to show off their skills, some places use their regular full menu (occasionally with a few, more expensive, items having an "up-charge"), and some places hardly make an effort at all. The Palm almost fell into the latter category. I was disappointed that their appetizer choices were rather boring and mundane, and the two we had were incredibly ordinary. The options were a mixed green salad, a Caesar salad, or a bowl of tomato soup. Scott had the soup. It came with a little packet of commercial crackers in cellophane. I had the Caesar, and I've had them just as good from inexpensive little diners.

The dessert course was also a bit disappointing, since there was but one choice, key lime pie. Now, the pie was good, but I wasn't overwhelmed or begging for the recipe, and it paled in comparison to the dessert tray we saw occasionally making the rounds of the room with enormous slices of cakes and other impressive looking desserts.

What The Palm did do, however, was focus the limited dining dollars on the main courses. Keep in mind that this is a restaurant that has $42 lobsters and $54 steaks on the lunch menu—they aren't cheap. There were four main course options on the R.W. menu, and from what we saw, they were all nice entrees, including a nice big slab of seared ahi tuna au poivre we saw at a nearby table. Scott got the broiled crab cakes with mango salsa, and he was very impressed that the two cakes were large and full of crab meat, instead of the filler that one finds so often in restaurant crab cakes.

I had the grilled sirloin steak. It was a nice little piece of aged beef and cooked precisely to the medium-rare I requested. What did surprise me a bit, though, was getting a plate with nothing else on it but the little steak....no potatoes, no vegetables, no garnish, nothing. They have a number of side dishes on the menu, but everything is à la carte, and the sides start at $8.

I don't want to leave an unfavorable impression of The Palm. Keep in mind that I am reviewing a Restaurant Week lunch, not their normal menu. We were able to sample just a little of what a highly expensive, popular restaurant has been offering to packed dining rooms for decades. I think, though, that The Palm is fine for the expense account crowd, but even if I were inclined regularly to spend $30 to $50-plus on lunch every day, the place was a little too cramped and noisy for me, and the food didn't "wow" me, so it likely would not make the list for my regular restaurant rotation.

Adour at the St. Regis, Washington, D.C.

It's Restaurant Week in the District, and I opened this week's food fantasies today at Alain Ducasse's new local venture, Adour at the St. Regis Hotel. Our local establishment follows the ideas of Ducasse's eponymous restaurant at the St. Regis New York, serving contemporary French American food in a fresh, new environment in what used to be the Library in the hotel. The architects retained the ornate ceilings of the old dining room, but the lower portions are sleek, glass, chrome, and leather with a full glass wine wall on one side of the room. While the juxtaposition of old ornate and new contemporary sounds shocking, it was well done and came across comfortably.

Lunching with my friend Father Steven, we both enjoyed the food and the environment. The room was full, but the noise level was moderate and it was easy to carry on conversations. Service was generally efficient, but Fr. Steven's main complaint was that he had to ask twice for sweetener for his iced tea, and during the course of our meal, his empty $5 tea glass was never refilled.

Fr. Steven started with the sunchoke parmentier soup with bacon foam. A waiter brought a large, empty soup plate with bits of bacon and the bacon foam (a creamy looking, bubbly thing) on the bottom, then poured the sunchoke purée into the bowl. I chose the daurade tartare. Daurade is a French fish, and in this case, it was served raw like chopped sashimi, presented on a bed of guacamole and encircled by a spicy tomato essence. It actually was quite delicious.

For his main course, Fr. Steven ordered the grilled hanger steak. It came with potatoes boulangerie and some sauteed spinach. The steak was sauced with a red wine shallot butter. He ordered the meat rare and pronounced the dish very very good. I got the artisanal pasta with duck confit and chestnuts, a very unusual, yet good, combination.

There were two desserts on the menu, so we ordered one of each and split them both. One of the desserts was a coffee cremeux, in essence, a coffee-flavored mousse enrobed in dark chocolate and served with a little dish of sabayon sauce on the cocoa-dusted plate. Two "cigarettes" of meringue rested beside the cremeux. The second dessert was called a contemporary pina colada with coconut tapioca sauce. A base of tapioca was topped by a layer of finely diced tropical fruits, all supporting an egg-shaped bit of mango ice cream. It was sour and refreshing.

And thus was my first Restaurant Week adventure of 2009. For those so inclined to try it, Adour is extending Restaurant Week through next week, so you've plenty of time to try it out.

Pat Troy's Irish Pub and Restaurant, Alexandria, Va.

Had lunch in Old Town Alexandria at Pat Troy's Irish Pub and Restaurant. We even sat in "Reagan's Corner," right by the table where Ronald Reagan once had lunch in the pub.

Spencer had a steak and cheese sandwich. It came on a hoagie bun and was served with fries. Robert got the fish and chips and a Guinness.

I got the daily special, a smothered chicken, with the chicken covered in crab meat and little bits of ham in an anisette-scented cream sauce. It came with mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables. Sorry about the picture.....I took several, but they kept over exposing. The food tasted a lot better than it looks. The special seems to be a variation on a mushroom-topped "whiskey chicken" in cream sauce that's a regular feature on the dinner menu. Neither of them, however, are things I've ever eaten in Ireland.

Pat's seemed like a pleasant enough place, and we were late enough to lunch that the place was nearly empty and blessedly quiet for a pub. Of course, the down side was the wait staff was off doing cleaning tasks and seldom appeared, leading to spotty service. Everyone seemed happy with their food, though, so that was the important thing.

By the way, who in the world is Pat Troy?

Clyde's of Gallery Place, Washington, D.C.

Laurent and I caught the calm between the storms and dined at Clyde's of Gallery Place while the Capitals hockey game was going on in the nearby Verizon Center. We were okay until about time for the dessert course, when the game ended and people started flooding in.

Laurent started off with a bowl of French onion soup that he wanted so badly, he ordered it when the waitress was taking our drink orders. It was after 9 p.m.; I guess he must have been hungry. "Onion soup is onion soup," he explained, saying that things were only noteworthy when they are bad. Talk about damning with faint praise.

For his main course, he ordered the grilled onion-crusted Alaskan salmon on a pool of cauliflower puree and resting on a bed of sauteed spinach. The onion crust included breaded and deep fried onion straws. The dish met with his approval.

Keeping with the theme of the evening, I ordered the hoisin-sesame glazed Alaskan salmon entrée salad. A large slab of salmon nearly the size of Laurent's rested atop a bowl of mixed lettuce and napa cabbage with peanuts, black sesame seeds, vegetables, and a sesame dressing. It was quite nice.

Dessert was an interesting choice. On recommendation of the waitress, I got the Toigo apple pie with vanilla ice cream, and it was one of the best commercial apple pies I've had in a long time, with both the apple filling and the pastry being delicious.

Laurent, though, was still hungry, and decided to forego a sweet dessert in favor of a "Gallery Burger"—essentially a bacon cheeseburger topped with onion straws. He substituted a side of sautéed spinach and garlic for the French fries that normally come with the burger. Laurent's argument is that the protein from the burger is better for him than the "empty calories" of a traditional dessert.

We left just in time, as the place was getting so noisy we could barely talk. I never did hear who won the game.

Bardia's New Orleans Cafe, Washington, D.C.

Today we were at Bardia's New Orleans Cafe, about halfway down 18th in Adams-Morgan. Food was very good, though the service was very slow and haphazard. We both ended up with po' boy sandwiches, accompanied by Cajun fries. My po' boy was the "Bourbon Street," with sliced rib eye steak and sauteed onions, peppers, and mushrooms, plus a little provolone; Robert had the "River Catch," featuring fried catfish and remoulade sauce, which he washed down with an Amstel beer. Robert also got an order of beignets (hot, fried doughnuts dusted in confectioner's sugar), which he said reminded him of being in the French Quarter. I'll have to go back to this place again some time to try the etoufees, jambalayas, and gumbos on the menu. They also had half a dozen daily specials on the blackboard today, all of which sounded enticing, especially the corn and crab chowder, a big steaming bowl of which would have been perfect on this frigid day we're having.

So, that's the latest food report. Some people had complained I wasn't writing about food lately and they were afraid I was not eating. Be comforted to know that I'm far from becoming anorexic!

ShawarmaKing, Washington, D.C.

Earlier this week, we were at ShawarmaKing, a new place on the east end of Columbia Road in Adams-Morgan. They've a simple menu with beef and chicken shawarma and falafel sandwiches. Diners pick either a pita pocket or a large flatbread (for a "wrap") and their filling, then finish their sandwich from a toppings bar. There's no soda fountain, so drinks are sold by the can. I found my sandwich middle of the road, though Robert likes the place a whole lot (he'd been there before). It's a mom and pop kind of place, and the proprietors kept asking us how our food was.

Pete's New Haven Style Apizza, Washington, D.C.

We had panini at Pete's New Haven Style Apizza by the Columbia Heights Metro stop. Robert got the "Big Pete," a beef rib panino, and I got an "Olivia" with chicken and cheeses. The sandwiches are nicely pressed and grilled, then presented on long rectangular white plates with a serving of salad on one end. Good food and efficient service, with the only downside being that they are just a little bit pricy.

600 Restaurant at the Watergate, Washington, D.C.

Before going to the symphony last night, Kevin and I dined at 600 Restaurant at The Watergate for a quick pre-theater dinner. The theme of dinner was shells.

Kevin had shrimp in angel hair pasta and a red marina sauce, and the tail shells were still on the shrimp.

I had mussels meunière, a big pot of mussels steamed in their shells with white wine, cream, and scallions. Once I got through all the mussels, little pieces of my roll kept "accidentally" falling into the remaining broth, making me have to fish out the saucy bits and eat them.

Then for dessert, we split an order of profiteroles, ice cream balls in cream puff shells drizzled with hot fudge sauce and garnished with whipped cream.

I thought the food quality had improved since the last couple of times we dined there. The restaurant is the closest restaurant to the Kennedy Center that isn't actually in the Kennedy Center, so sometimes I think they have taken their customers for granted; consequently, I was pleased to note the better food.

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

After the installation tonight, about two dozen of us wandered over to Annie's Paramount Steakhouse for a cocktail and most of us had food, too. We ordered a full range of menu and cocktail offerings, and I didn't even see everything that was eaten at our long, long table.

I got the sirloin steak salad, a great way to get a small sirloin steak at a lot cheaper price than ordering just the steak by itself (with a baked potato). The mixed greens and standard tossed salad vegetables came with nicely ripe wedges of tomato, Greek black olives, and hard boiled egg halves, and with the steak sliced and arranged on the side of the presentation. With supper I sipped a glass of Copperridge Cabernet Sauvignon.

Open City Cafe, Washington, D.C.

This morning I brunched with Laurent and his friends Mike and Kyle at Open City Cafe, up in the Woodley Park neighborhood. It's a very, very popular place with long lines of people trying to get into what seems essentially a combination coffee house and diner. They are related somehow to The Diner and to Tryst coffee house in Adams-Morgan.

Laurent, who still manages to have a 27 or 28 inch waist, ordered the OC Royale, a huge breakfast special with two eggs (his were sunny side up), sausage links, pancakes, hash browns, and wheat toast. That (plus two big bloody Marys) wasn't enough to fill him up, so he did dessert, too, getting an enormous wedge of cheesecake with a peanut butter top layer and an Oreo cookie crust.

Mike did the "eggs and meat," a couple of over-easy eggs with bacon and toast, and Kyle had the brioche French toast.

I had a Cobb salad and a nice, big cappuccino. Their version of a Cobb is interesting and not at all traditional. They used mesclun greens instead of romaine lettuce, and the toppings included whole cherry tomatoes, cucumber slices, and chopped artichoke heart; none of the toppings were arranged in the usual stripes.

Even though the restaurant was very busy and crowded, I found the service to be friendly and efficient.

Union Street Pub, Alexandria, Va.

After our tour of Mount Vernon, a bunch of us went to the Union Street Pub in Old Town Alexandria for dinner. The food was okay, but the service was **extremely** slow. I had an entree salad with chicken strips and blue cheese that was good, but I was quite surprised that the chicken turned out to be "buffalo" chicken.

After dinner, Scott and I drove back up to Bethesda for a night cap at the Front Page. Twas a fun, but long day!

Mount Vernon recipe

Martha Washington's Great Cake

This 21st century recipe adaptation is for a cake like what would have traditionally been served on Twelfth Night, the wedding anniversary of George and Martha Washington.

10 eggs
1 lb. butter
1 lb. sugar
1-1/4 lbs. flour
1/1/4 lbs. assorted dried or fresh fruits and nuts—based on what would have been available to Mrs. Washington, the following are suggested:

• 5 oz. pear (peeled, cored, and diced)
• 9-1/2 oz. apple (peeled, cored, and diced)
• 3-1/2 oz. raisins
• 2 oz. almonds, sliced

2-1/2 tsp. ground mace
2-1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 oz. wine
2 oz. French brandy

Preheat the oven to 350º. Separate the egg whites from the yolks and set the yolks aside. Beat egg whites to a "soft peak." Cream the butter. Slowly add the beaten egg whites, one spoonful at a time, to the butter. Slowly add the sugar, one spoonful at a time, to the egg whites and butter. Add egg yolks. Add flour, slowly. Add fruits and nuts. Add ground mace, nutmeg, wine, and brandy. Lightly grease and flour a 10-inch springform cake pan. Pour batter into pan and bake about 75 minutes. Allow cake to cool after baking.

Modern Adaptation of an 18th-Century Icing

Beat 3 egg whites and 2 tbsp. powdered sugar.  Repeat additions of sugar until you have used 1-1/2 cups of powdered sugar.  Add 1 tsp. lemon peel grated and 2 tbsp. orange-flower water.  Beat until the icing is still enough to stay parted when a knife cuts through it.  Smooth it onto the cake.  Let it dry and harden in a 200º oven for one hour (Note:  icing will be brittle when cut with a knife).

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We went on a candlelight tour of Mount Vernon, George Washington's plantation home south of Alexandria, last Saturday evening. A light snow fell as we walked through the estate. We got the aforementioned cake recipe in the house. Before going to the house, they had us in a "hospitality area" with a real camel and a great big fire in an iron cauldron, where they gave us hot cider and little paper-thin gingerbread cookies. There were period actors in the house to tell about things, and 18th century dance lessons in the greenhouse.

Vino

Tonight I've been sipping a pleasant little shiraz from "The Little Penguin" winery in southeastern Australia. Twas only a $7 bottle at the local Safeway. It's light for a shiraz, but it's a nice medium-bodied wine with a strong fruity note and a little spiciness.

Amazement

Kevin went to Plato's Diner and ordered something other than a Greek salad!

Lodge dinner

Mmmm.....scallopped corn and acorn squash for breakfast! Brought home some leftovers last night after dinner at lodge last night, so now I have a refrigerator stocked with side dishes. Got elected junior deacon, so last night was the last time I'll have to cook dinner. It went very well and smoothly, but I had Robert, Scott, and Kevin around to help, and extra hands always make a big difference.

Last night's menu included red cabbage slaw, cinnamon apple pork chops, scalloped corn supreme, buttermilk mashed yams, baked acorn squash, maple cornbread, and pumpkin bread pudding with brown sugar vanilla sauce. We also drank up the last of the Smithwick's Irish Ale we had remaining from last September.

We're dark Thanksgiving week, so all that's left this year is a degree in early December and the installation of officers the middle of the month, and both of those are catered events, so I'm essentially done. Yay.

Meanwhile, I need a new tuxedo. :-/

Tonight's dinner party

Hosted a nice dinner tonight for the Nation's Capital Court of Chevaliers, a DeMolay organization, over at the Belmont Mansion. Guys from the lodge volunteered to cook and serve, and we had a lovely menu of ribeye steaks with mushroom sauce, sugar snap peas amondine in lemon butter, saffron rice, salad of mixed greens and honeycrisp apples in balsamic vinaigrette, brie and camembert cheeses, and German chocolate cake.

People came from northern and southern California, Nebraska, Texas, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Montreal, Venezuela, and, of course, D.C.

Food and fellowship were great, and I had a fine time (aside from getting re-elected as grand commander, which is always a mixed blessing).

Nellie's Sports Bar, Washington, D.C.

Robert and I went to Nellie's Sports Bar tonight for dinner. It was happy hour, too, with domestic beers and vodka rail drinks (albeit tiny ones) for just a dollar apiece.

The menu at Nellie's is eclectic. Not only do they have the standard, expected burgers and nachos, they also have hummus with pita bread, plus a number of South American specialties not frequently seen on D.C. menus. Tonight we decided to try some of the South American food.

An arepa is a traditional Venezuelan dish that can best be described as a sandwich made with a cornmeal English muffin instead of bread that is split and stuffed with goodies. Robert got one filled with chorizo (Mexican sausage), and I got mine with ropa vieja and queso blanco (white cheese). Ropa vieja is more of a Cuban-style shredded, stewed beef, and I notice their tasty version is also available as a stand-only entree; I'll have to order it on a future visit. The arepas came with frijoles refritos, tortilla chips, pico de gallo, crema (sour cream), and some fried plantains. While Robert was rather blasé about his meal, I enjoyed mine quite a bit. It's different, though, and the cornmeal bread can be a bit of an acquired taste.

For dessert, we both got the bread pudding. It was okay, but I thought something was missing.....a whiskey sauce? Ice cream? Something. We both managed, however, to eat all of our puddings.