Text 17126, 98 rader
Skriven 2008-11-30 08:04:00 av Michael Loo (1:18/200.0)
Ärende: non-txgvg meals 291
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DC meals

My friend Susie took me to the Tabard Inn, which is near
her office. This is an old hotel, perhaps as famous as its
Canterbury namesake; it sports a checkered history, figuring
in investigative reporter liaisons, left-wing meetings, and
other types of dalliances, both in reality in fiction. The
restaurant, though, is nondescript and innocuous in appearance
and has a sedate-looking clientele; mealswise it's partway
between watering hole munchies and lah-di-dah capital D
Dining with aspects of both.

As we didn't want to get drunk drunk, I was constrained by
the half bottle list: chose the Chehalem 3 Vineyards Pinot
Noir 07, which is your quintessential inexpensive Pinot,
light bodied, pinkish red, thin, but with good apricot and
cherry flavors. Went fairly nicely with white wine food.

I had the seared black cod with fennel shavings, olives,
tomatoes, Puy lentils, and beurre rouge, a good-size portion,
rare as ordered. The dish was a little busy, and aside from
the lentils, which were earthy and delicious, tended to
accentuate the richness of the fish. I gave Susie a nice
chunk and downed the rest slowly though not without pleasure.
Beurre rouge, by the way, is like beurre blanc but made with
a light red wine. It was more butter than red, though, and
could have been replaced with a more acid sauce to cut the fat.

Her shrimp and butternut squash risotto was a moderate portion
dumped unceremoniously and sans garnish onto a dinner plate:
quite ugly, actually. The dish was rich and delicious; though
there were only three 16-20 shrimp, the serving was satisfying
but left room for dessert, which is the way main courses
should be.

Chocolate espresso pot de creme was extremely rich, extremely
caffeine-ridden, and delicious. Perhaps too bitter for the
average bear, but I enjoyed every bite, except for the few
that Susie took. This was nicely accompanied by a pair of
not-very-sweet not-very-rich cinnamon cookies.

She ordered apple crisp, as her somewhat puritanical mother
had frowned on crisps, which henceforth have always had the
appeal of the forbidden. It was good, though altogether too
healthy-tasting.

I ordered the Courvoisier VS at an extortionate rate, but the
bar was out, and all the other Cognacs were more expensive. I
shrugged and asked for the Kelt VSOP for 5 more bucks. It
tasted just like Courvoisier, but at least VSOP, so that was
semi-fine. The bill all told, two main courses, two desserts,
half a bottle of modest wine, and a Cognac: let's say that it
broke into three figures without tax or tip or breathing hard.

=

Meskerem, on 18th St. in Adams Morgan, is a short walk from
where I was staying. It's the best known of the Ethiopian
restaurants in this Ethiopian-rich city, and I was expecting
quite a bit. What I got was a somewhat better than fair meal
for a fair price.

I was seated at a little spot overlooking two college students
out for a big treat meal; both of them were more sightly than
the rather dull room and the colorful-in-a-not-so-good-way
passersby on the street. It was cold; I guess the profit margin
on Ethiopian food doesn't justify turning the heat on when it's
40F ... maybe the management got Celsius and Fahrenheit mixed up.

I had yebeg kay watt, lamb stew in a somewhat spicy red sauce:
this version was the most mildly and simply spiced that I've ever
had, and the meat was the toughest (varying, from piece to piece,
between beefy, muttony, and buffaloey, which makes me think that
it was made of salvaged pieces from other dishes). It was also
extremely lean, the possible health benefits from this negated by
an extremely heavy hand with the butter in the sauce. This was
served on your usual gray sponge bread (injera) along with a
lovely red lentil dish and another less lovely dish of big brown
lentils, pickled onions, and lots of mustard. Portions are
generous but not enormous; this made up for by a basket of extra
injera on the side (this came cold). The help was pretty
attentive - a surprise, as I have found that most Ethiopian
eateries operate in several time zones at once, and it may be
hard to flag down someone for beer or more injera or whatever.
My waitress kept coming by, offering water (and bringing some
even after I said no), bread, asking every five minutes whether
everything was all right.

Harar is a very light, lightly hopped lager. It would have been
most welcome had it been 40C outside.

I got out of there for under $20, a rarity in Washington, and
in less than an hour, a rarity in Ethiopian restaurants.

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