Text 5062, 136 rader
Skriven 2006-09-01 14:51:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: restaurant taste 190
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This should really be number 187, but it ain't.

My brother was really aching to go out for dinner
(and my father, almost immobile, is always eager
to do so), so he promised to get out of work by
7:30, that is to say on time. He requested that
we eat at a Continental place similar to the
Lia's that I wrote about earlier. So I picked
Jean-Michel, on Old Georgetown, which I'd heard
good things about - it's sort of a bistro but
with pretensions to being more. Called them up
and they said that today they were closing
around 8:30, maybe a little after. Made ressies.

At 7:40, Jonathan called home - he might be late if
he had to let the janitor in! The routine apparently
is that the janitor comes in around 7:45 to 8 and
stays for half an hour, during which a company
employee has to stay on premises, as the janitor
is on contract and intrinsically untrustworthy.
This employee is more often than not my brother.
But at 8:11 he roared by - turns out the director
of marketing was working late, so he was absolved
of this onerous duty (for which he is not paid).
My father wasn't ready to go. We got him ready 
expeditiously, and fifteen minutes later, even after
turning left on Old Georgetown instead of right, we
arrived at 8:32 - the lights were still on. I tried
the door: unlocked. If it had been locked, I guess
we might have just gone to Hamburger Hamlet across
the street or something (I've been there once -
when Jonathan graduated the first time from college,
I told him I'd take him wherever he liked (I
expected maybe Jean-Michel, or at least Tom Sarris'
New Orleans House of Prime Rib, which I treated him
to when he was in high school, and which I thought he
enjoyed a whole lot), and he instead unaccountably
chose Hamburger Hamlet, at which, after all the
rest of us obediently got burgers of various sorts,
he went off and ordered broiled salmon, which, to
give the place credit, wasn't too bad).

Anyhow, despite the fact that they all must have
wanted to get out of there, the Maitresse d' and
the waiters and subwaiters were all gracious. I
pressed people to order quickly.

My father, whose appetite is diminished, had the
cream of corn and lobster soup followed by the
escargot in puff pastry appetizer. I think he got
the short end of the stick. The soup didn't smell
like lobster or have more than tiny shreds of
knuckle meat - but he ate it all (I didn't get a
taste). The snails were too tender, almost falling
apart, as though in an effort to disguise their
vacuum-packed origins they had been stewed in stock
for an inordinate time. They tasted like vegetable
stock. The "in puff pastry" meant under a square
of Pepperidge Farm premade.

My brother honed in on the rack of lamb, one of the
two most expensive dishes on the list. It came medium
as ordered (he had little or no influence from me
growing up), four baby chops, a little timbale of
potato, no veg. It was pretty good, what there was of
it. This was the first time in a long time that he'd
offered a taste - I tasted from a discarded bone, on
which he left a bit of meat but no fat.

I had the smoked salmon appetizer (part of which I
ceded to both of them) - good but somewhat sticky
salmon sided with large quantities of capers and
minced onion and a salad in mustard vinaigrette,
the only vegetable of the whole meal. I was surprised
that no sides came with the mains, especially as there
weren't any on the menu. Perhaps they'd thrown them
out before we arrived, anticipating closing, even
though we had reservations. Then the quenelles de
brochet, sauce Nantua, of which the dumplings tasted
a little doughy, although one could still taste the
fish, but the Nantua was pleasant - actually, it was
lobster bisque boiled with extra cream, but who's
counting. The garnish instead of crawfish was chopped
shrimp.

There aren't wines by the glass on the menu, and I
figured I couldn't do a bottle by myself, so I asked
the hostess if this option was available. Of course,
said she, red or white! I must have looked shocked,
so she amplified, when I asked for white, Chardonnay
or Sauvignon Blanc? The Chardonnay was fruity, almost
unoaked, and probably Chilean or something. It was okay
enough so I had two glasses.

I'd pre-ordered an apple tart; my brother asked for
chocolate mousse; my father was full up. The tart was
quite good if plain: a disk of puff pastry, nice and
crisp, covered with thin slices of apple (nice and
soft) in a pinwheel arrangement, the center holding
a small scoop of caramel ice cream (not so intense nor
so good as Toscanini's, but still pretty good). The
mousse, not an enormous serving, was reported to be good.

Good things. They stayed open. The salmon and lamb,
as well as the apple tart and apparently the mousse
were quite good; the "Nantua" and the mustardy salad
were pretty good. The bread that greeted us, although
a little overcrusty, as it was the end of the day, had
been good earlier, and its butter was unsalted. Service
was surprisingly not bad at all, and we were not rushed.

Less good things. The soup appeared lackluster, despite
my father finishing it all. The quenelles were a bit
pasty. The escargot were peculiar and to me unappetizing
(although again my father finished them all). Portions
were very modest, despite their no doubt having extra
food in the kitchen at the end of the day that would
just be tossed (perhaps taken home by the staff, that
could be an explanation). No veggies! When you see me
complaining that there are no veggies, there are really
no veggies. Finally, the wine list was not special, and
the treatment of the by the glass situation was silly.

The bill was too much, but not much too much. On the
whole the Hamburger Hamlet option would have suited me
just as well.

Interestingly, a couple came in about 10 or 15 min later
than we did, and they were walk-ins, and in an effort to
make the situation clear to them, they were seated in
the booth nearest the kitchen door. They were still there
when we left.

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