Dino: Great Wine List

With our friends Rusty and JP, late of our New Mexico adventure, we convened at Dino in Cleveland Park for a late Friday evening supper. Despite its proximity to Bardeo, one of our usual hangouts, we had never eaten at Dino, which has a reputation for an awesome wine list.

We got off to a slightly awkward start as there was no record of our OpenTable dinner reservation (which could have been my fault). However, the restaurant was not full and we were quickly and cheerfully shown to a table...we chose one in the quieter upstairs area.

JP and Rusty arrived rather damp from a tremendous thunderstorm that had caught them walking to Metro, and had to fortify themselves in the bar before facing the arduous set of steps up to our second floor table. Rusty had grabbed a glass of rose on the way up, most likely the Dal Maso Tai Rosso from the Veneto, which we all agreed (I helped myself to a taste) was pretty unexciting...not a great start. Meanwhile, JP, in need of more fortification, had tried a "spa" cocktail which mixed Hendricks gin, cucumber flavor, and lime juice among other things. It was tasty on first sip but we also agreed that the cucumber and lime were not such a good mix, the lime being a bit too acrid.

Things improved after that. Michael and I each ordered a rose tasting flight, which seemed expensive at $15 but it turned out to be three pretty hefty portions of wine. The only one I can remember is the first, a Littorai Pinot Noir Gris from Anderson Valley, which was off dry and delicious. The other two were also extremely tasty and increasingly hefty (in fact the third one seemed a lot more like a red than a rose to me)...so much so that when Rusty and JP had polished off their rather unfortunate first drink choices they joined us in the tasting sampler.

Since we were in no rush we ordered some appetizers for the table...a plate of burrata, a cured meat (salumi) plate, and an unusual black cabbage bruschetta which was, basically, upside down (the bread was on the top). All were tasty and quickly consumed. My impression was that the portions were not overly generous but when you have four hungry men picking at an appetizer, it's not going to last for long.

After the appetizers, we each had a half portion of pasta...Michael and I had boar tagliatelle and Rusty and JP had something else, all delicious (enough that I wished I had ordered a full portion) but not particularly memorable.

Service was very professional and attentive (and provided by an extremely attractive waiter, who caught the attention of more than one person at the table).

Having dessert waiting at the house, we finished our wine and departed, with a group of satisfied boys and plans to return soon.

Cafe St-Ex

I dropped by my friend Bill's house to visit with him, his mother (visiting from Boston) and his toddling daughter Eileen. After some pleasantries, we ventured around the corner to Cafe St-Ex, one of my favorite little places in DC.

We were seated promptly at an outside table, which proved to be a mixed blessing as it was early (6:30) and still quite warm. We all anxiously awaited the moment when the sun dropped behind a nearby apartment building.

The restaurant quickly filled up. We were there to catch up and keeping Eileen reasonably close to the table (she has recently become proficient at walking and is happily exercising this new power) took precedence over food and drink. Nonetheless, we had a very pleasant meal.

We started with a shared appetizer of "chicken confit sliders" which was perhaps the least successful dish I have ever had at this restaurant. There is probably a reason why I have never seen chicken confit anywhere else as I think it is just too insubstantial to stand up to whatever treatment it received. What we got was two small buns smeared with a chickeny paste which was more or less the exact consistency of tuna salad. Not bad, but not good, and distinctly odd.

Main courses were more successful. Bill and mother Jean had the burgers which were as good as always. I briefly pined for one but was very happy with my choice, a fried green tomato BLT which was both delicious and relatively light, given the heat, and accompanied by tasty sweet potato fries. (The regular fries that came with the burgers were also excellent).

With dinner, and before, I had a couple of Unibroue Maudite beers. I mourn the disappearance of Delirium Tremens from the draft beer menu here and hope the management will restore it (it is still on the bottled beer menu, at a staggering $24 per 750 ml bottle). However the Maudite was an excellent substitute, a bit darker than DT but with the same quality and overall taste. Bill had some sort of nondescript lager and Jean had a G&T, neither worthy of special note.

Cafe St Ex remains one of those great local places that makes me wish I still lived closer.

Santa Fe: Cafe Pasqual's

Back in Santa Fe with our friends Rusty and JP, we had been foiled (by the 40 minute wait) in our attempt to have breakfast at Pasqual's, ending up at the French Pastry Cafe for the second day in a row. That evening's dinner was planned for La Choza, so you can imagine our horror when we found that La Choza was not open on Sundays! (I suppose we should have checked, but it did not occur to us until we drove up). Tomasita's, our second choice, was similarly closed, so we decided to take a flyer on Pasqual's.

To our great good fortune, there was only about a 10 minute wait and we were ushered to a table overlooking the room. Then the feast began.

JP and I split appetizers of pupusas and tacos barbacoa, while Michael enjoyed grilled asparagus wrapped in Parmesan and Rusty had a simple romaine salad. For the main courses, both Rusty and Michael opted for the "sampler platter": chile relleno, chicken mole enchilada, and taco do carnitas, to which Rusty added the optional barbacoa skewer. JP went for the straight chicken mole enchiladas while I had the pork and green chile carnitas.

Without attempting to describe every dish, let me just say that all of them were fantastic. The mole was deep, rich, and spicy. The pupusas (a new experience for all of us) were fascinating. I don't think I even got a taste of the chile relleno, Michael gobbled it up before I could grab a taste. Everything had wonderful flavor and was simply amazing. With all of that we washed it down with beers to start and a very pleasant bottle of rose to follow...we were all impressed that asked to recommend a rose from the three on the interesting list, our friendly and professional waiter recommended the least expensive one.

Toward the end of the meal, Michael and I agreed that we had found our new favorite restaurant in Santa Fe...hardly an undiscovered gem, to be sure, but a wonderful and festive meal. It was not cheap (about $220 for the 4 of us with one round of drinks and a bottle of wine) but in terms of the quality of flavors and enjoyment of the experience, it was certainly the most memorable meal we have had.

More Santa Fe Dining

Rather than giving a full entry to each, in the interest of time I thought I would summarize some of our recent dining experiences in Santa Fe.

As always, the French Pastry Cafe was useful, friendly, and efficient. I had a cherry tart the first day that wasn't the best (a little dry and flaky). The cafe au lait was terrific. The chocolate croissants were the largest we have ever seen, and are good, not just big. The chorizo egg and cheese crepe is an excellent hangover treatment. We ended up here 3 of our 4 mornings.

Bobcat Bite. The burger is all it's cracked up to be, one of the best anywhere. The wait was not too long and the staff is remarkably friendly. We had a nice view of hummingbirds out the back window. Not too much to say for the decor, but the burgers were great.

Coyote Cantina. We ate here the first night; it was pleasant, friendly, and welcoming. The menu was interesting but the food fell a little bit flat, we thought. Not bad, just not memorable. Lively crowd and decent service. The charge for chips and guacamole seemed a little much.

Tune-up Cafe. Great breakfast/brunch our last day. Huevos rancheros were good, but left me a little hungry. The breakfast burritos could not be improved on. Friendly, funky atmosphere.

Aqua Santa. We had a very nice meal here which somehow, for us, did not reach the heights of our original meal. The room was crowded and hot (it was a pleasant, not overly warm evening outside) and the meal took a long time. Service was excellent. The food was good but not nearly as memorable as our meal at Cafe Pasqual the following evening. Much more romantic and elegant setting, though.

Bumblebees. As good as ever. Some odd anomalies there...the interior of a fast food joint, but cloth napkins. Serve yourself chip bar is a treat, but much of the salsa seemed a bit pallid (nothing really spicy). Tacos were good...the shrimp still is the best of the sampler platter. Next time I will skip the others and go straight for the shrimp. The mango soda was a little over the top for our taste.

Sadly, the tamale bar at the Whole Foods is no more. The guacamole bar is a poor substitute. It's still the best Whole Foods I've ever been in, however. We put together a meal for Rusty and JP (they were arriving late) which was terrific, and bountiful, but expensive...those items from the buffet really add up at $9 a pound.

Rasika: A lesson for other restaurants

We went to Rasika on Friday, February 13th as part of our traditional pre-trip night out. Our reservation was for 6:30...I arrived just a couple of minutes early and Michael was less than 5 minutes late. I checked in with the very courteous host when I arrived and was offered the chance to sit at the table, but declined since I knew Michael was just a few minutes away (looking for parking, as a matter of fact).

By the time Michael arrived, the offered table was no longer available. The host solicitiously asked if we had a time problem, like a movie or theater curtain, and was assured that we did not. We waited peacefully for a few minutes and the host returned, visibly embarrassed, to say that he thought it might be 15 minutes or so until our table was ready. Perhaps we would like to have a seat at the bar (there was a small table open) and have a drink on the house while we waited? Well, indeed we would. And we were most appreciative also.

We each ordered a blood orange margarita, which was delicious, and the waiter also brought a complementary small plate of papadums with some of Rasika's delightful dipping sauces. We were in no particular hurry and it seemed like only a few more minutes (in reality, it was close to 7) before the host returned, still apologetic, and said he had a table for us.

On the way over to the table, the host apologized yet again and said the restaurant wanted to buy us an appetizer in exchange for the inconvenience. We said that this really wasn't necessary, that the drink was enough, but he insisted. So we ordered an tandoori chicken appetizer from the friendly and professional server. It arrived very promptly along with an unasked for but extremely welcome serving of the crispy fried spinach which is one of Rasika's signatures! We felt, frankly, a little overwhelmed by the largess.

Having consumed the appetizers and finished our drinks, we joked about being satisfied and leaving with a free evening. But of course we each had a glass of wine and an appetizer (Michael's lamb rogan josh was as excellent as ever, while my fish curry seemed a bit too refined -- i.e. bland -- but I suppose the chef didn't want to overwhelm the delicate fish, and the texture was excellent).

Having just paid for two glasses of wine and two entrees, plus a generous tip, we left having had a very economical evening. We made sure to stop on the way out to thank the host again for his generosity. His actions took what might have been a minor annoyance and left us with extremely positive feelings toward Rasika and reminded us why it may be our favorite restaurant in DC.

Vegetate: Just like the name says

We visited this restaurant near the convention center with our friends Jeremy and Jennifer to celebrate Jennifer's new job in the administration. She is a vegetarian and is always on the lookout for decent vegetarian places, which I suspect from my limited experience is a pretty tough search. Anyhow, Vegetate is in a neighborhood which one might say is, um...unpretentious? not yet suffering from gentrification? a throwback to yesteryear? Well, maybe all of the above, but the good news was that we found a parking place right in front (even better, there is a big picture window so I could keep an eye on the car, which I found vaguely reassuring even though the neighborhood isn't that bad, really. I think.)

The restaurant is very spare and minimal, kind of in the mindset of minimalist vegetarianism I suppose, but nicely lit and quite welcoming. There is a smallish dining room on the first floor and apparently some other seating on the second floor which we didn't see.

We were greeted and seated promptly as the room was not crowded. We quickly ordered wine from the short but interesting and very reasonably priced list, then turned to scanning the menu. I am sure Jennifer was relieved not to have to look at the tail end of the menu for the chef's vegetable plate or some other afterthought and instead to be able to choose from the entire menu. We were too. The menu was quite interesting and well split up.

At our table, various people ordered the vegetate burgers, risotto croquettes, a green salad, edamame, sesame crusted tofu, and a Spanish omelette...at least I remember all of those things. There might have been more. The burgers were surprisingly tasty if a little lacking in condiments (isn't ketchup a vegetable?) and the croquettes were quite good. I ordered the tofu as a "large plate" and it was quite a generous portion..I ended up giving a third of it to Jeremy, who can really pack it away, and a good chunk to Michael and still had plenty for myself. Michael was a little un-thrilled with his Spanish omelette since as he said, "I could make this at home" but I suppose there's only so much you can do with such a thing.

I was actually quite satisfied and uncharacteristically didn't order dessert, but Jeremy and Michael ordered the apple crisp which personally I felt was long on crisp and a bit short on apple (it was also vegan, which is an awfully high hurdle for any kind of baked goods and one for which this particular dish fell a little short).

The tab, with two glasses of white for Michael and a bottle of pleasant but undistinguished red for the rest of us (some sort of Chilean Malbec, as I recall) came to a bit under $90 per couple before tip which qualifies as a cheap night out in my book. Service, I must say, was a bit erratic as our waitperson tried to take an order for wine about four times in the first five minutes we were sitting; evidently becoming bored with our indecision, she retaliated by disappearing from some time after that until we had to flag down reinforcements. She then made appearances at irregular intervals thereafter before apparently being replaced by an understudy.

I can't say that the food or ambiance at Vegetate were great, but they were certainly pleasant. Vegetarian cooking, like kosher cooking, puts a fairly stiff handicap in front of the average chef and seems only fair to grade on some sort of a curve; with that in mind I will say that it was a very enjoyable evening and were I for some reason looking for a vegetarian dinner, this would certainly be worth a repeat visit. I will also say that post-dinner, I did feel quite satisfied and yet very comfortable so maybe there's something to this vegetarian stuff after all.

Founding Farmers: Great, Except for the Food

I met my friend Bill for lunch downtown and he suggested that we try Founding Farmers, which is right around the corner from his office at the World Bank, instead of one of our usual 19th Street standbys. Having taken a look at the menu on line, I happily agreed.

On a snowy and cold day in DC, the dining room did not appear full at 12:45 when we walked in. Nonetheless, the courteous hostess said there would be a 25 minute wait for a table (perhaps the open tables were reserved?). But we were welcome to sit at the bar, and so we did.

There were lots of positive things we found about FF. The menu is very well constructed, with lots of appealing options mostly oriented toward comfort-type foods (meatloaf, chicken pot pie, entree salads, and so forth). The prices are very fair for a downtown restaurant and the portions are generous, to say the least. Unfortunately the food was not very exciting.

Bill and I split a "flatbread" with prosciutto and figs and mascarpone. The portion was generous -- three good sized slices. When I think of flatbread I expect a kind of thin crusted pizza. This was, however, literally a kind of flat bread. Not that flat. It sort of resembled a piece of country wheat bread with stuff on top, more like what you might expect from bruschetta. The topping was of good quality but the mascarpone was smeared on the top like butter and made the whole thing rather greasy. In general I would say the dish lacked seasoning.

While I was intrigued by some of the comfort food options on a cold snowy day, and Bill initially was leaning toward a salad, we ultimately opted for burgers...I had the simple cheeseburger and Bill had a "Frisco" burger with a variety of toppings including avocado. Mine was a very generous portion for $10, almost more than I could eat (and that's saying something!). The meat was allegedly hand ground but frankly I could not tell the difference. I had ordered it medium rare and I thought it was a tad underdone but frankly medium rare is a matter of opinion and this was certainly within the range of tolerance.

The big disappointment is that this big, attractive burger just didn't taste like much. It tasted like a big pile of unseasoned meat. The fries that came with it were limp and also not particularly flavorful (which of course did not stop me from eating most of them in the interest of research). It would appear that the kitchen's supply of salt had been exhausted...perhaps they had used it all to clear up the sidewalks in front of the restaurant and there was none left for the food. Or maybe there are salt and pepper shakers on the tables and we missed out by sitting at the bar.

With the burgers we each had a beer (Stone IPA, quite tasty, although they were out of my first choice, Bell's Two Hearted Ale). The food and beer came to just under $40 which I thought was an amazing bargain for a generous lunch in the heart of downtown. I just wish the food had been tastier. I will try it again, though, in the hope that perhaps I just chose badly, since I would love for a place like this with an attractive setting and very fair prices to succeed.