No Great Shakes

Well, truth be told, I did two more RW events last weekend. You haven't seen the reviews on here for two reasons: primarily, I am lazy; secondarily, neither were fantabulous. So I shall give the briefest of run-downs.

Friday night the Boyfriend and I went to the Fourth Estate at the National Press Club. I had been during August's RW and had a fantastic time. This time, not so much. We weren't exactly treated rudely, rather we were treated indifferently while those dining around us were treated to a much warmer hospitality. Understandably, this left us feeling a bit awkward and out of place. The food was yummy, though. I started with a salad that was drowned in too much vinegar, but recovered over a delightfully prepared and presented duck. It was served with parsnip mashed potatoes (my favorite!), a mushroom sauce and fresh currants. I've always wanted to try a fresh currants because they are just so pretty! I know that sounds silly, but really- what a gorgeous berry! Actually, this dish was the epitome of dinning out: it was presented beautifully AND it was tasty. (Maybe I should think of taking pictures? Hmmm... ) The Boyfriend had a steak, which sadly he did not enjoy as much as he had hoped. However, the sauce with the steak- a mushroom burgundy which he allowed me to sample- was simply divine. When our dessert came it was brought by a different server who was very warm and friendly, informing the Boyfriend that the dessert he had chosen was a personal favorite. After an hour of icy service it was almost shocking to be acknowledged that way, but in a nice way. I wish the whole meal had come with that kind of atmosphere.

Saturday night we dined at Bombay Club, a downtown Indian eatery. My love affair with Indian food is a fairly recent development, despite having grown up in a town highly populated with Indian families. I'm Irish by background, you see, and can rarely handle anything hotter than table pepper. But I'm learning, really I am! About a year ago I discovered three things: 1) One can learn to appreciate spicy food, 2) Spicy food can be adjusted to be less hot for wimps such as myself, 3) Indian food is some of the best on the planet! Since then I've been keen to try as many different Indian restaurants as possible, and Bombay Club has a very good reputation. It also has an expensive reputation, hence the RW reservation!

Sadly, Bombay Club was doomed not to impress. The food was excellent and the service was perfectly attentive. The problem, you see, is that I have become accustomed to a little place over in Clarendon called Delhi Club, which serves wonderful food in a lovely atmosphere at half the price of Bombay Club. The Boyfriend and I definitely enjoyed our meals, but we both confessed afterward that we would never choose Bombay Club over Delhi Club. (Yes, I do promise to do a write up of Delhi Club on this blog the next time we eat there!)

The one thing that I can really remark on from that meal was the dessert. We both had the same thing, a kind of saffron infused ice cream. I'm a big fan of savory ice cream, having sampled basil flavored ice cream in Charleston a few years ago. If you've never tried this, you should. I can't recommend you will love it, but it's a fascinating experience in which your taste buds and your brain go back and forth in a conversation something like this:

Taste buds: "Wow! That's really basil-y!"
Brain: "That can't be right- it's ice cream. Try again!"
Taste buds: "Hmmm... yep! Still really basil-y! But sweet, too!"
Brain: "What? Oh, I'm so confused..."
Taste buds: "Well? Do we like this or what?"
Brain: "I'm not sure! Just keep eating it and I'll get back to you..."

I make absolutely no guarantees that your experience will be exactly like that, but I promise you it will be interesting.

There are my two reviews from the final RW experiences of January '07. Not one "this was fabulous!" among them. Sigh. Still, I look forward to August! I plan on trying more new places in August and re-visiting ones I've already been to less. Have no fear, though- there will be lots of reviews written between now and then!

Up this week: Cleveland Park goes Mexican... and then turns around and goes Italian the very next day!