Tag: Michelin-star restaurants

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The Dabney – A Dinner Experience

Since the last two nights of dining in Washington were extremely noisy, I was hoping tonight would at least be a little quieter. I had read a lot about The Dabney and the chef, Jeremiah Langhorne. I had already looked at the menu so I kind of knew what my choices were. Described as serving “mid-Atlantic” cuisine, this place is a bit off the beaten path (close to the convention center but tucked away down an alley), but definitely worth a visit. It’s not a cheap date. These days, the mark-up on anything alcohol-related is how anyone who is running a restaurant is probably just breaking even. I get that. Still, once again our cocktails arrived after the first course. And the wine we ordered was not available. I’m assuming it’s because it was one of the cheapest bottles on the menu, so that’s what everyone before us got, too. The sommelier and the wait staff made up for both mistakes. First by offering us a German red that was double the amount we would have paid for the bottle they didn’t have. (Surprisingly good, but I would never have paid that much for a German wine. And I’ve lived in Germany.).

First Course

But let’s move on to the starters. How about duck confit lettuce wraps? Or something called a sugar toad? At first, I thought sugar toads might be frog legs. And I’m not afraid to ask about a dish I have never heard of (or an ingredient). Apparently, sugar toads are a type of local puffer fish. That’s kind of fun, right? So, after the duck, we moved onto the fish (they look like chicken wings!) with a feta and watermelon salad. They were fun to eat, the plating was decent, and finally, we could actually hear each other!

Luckily, I had a view of the kitchen. This meant I was able to watch the crew working and manning the wood-fired oven. I know some people do not like to watch their food being prepared/cooked, but not me. I want to see how they do it!

Here’s a fun shot of Chef Langhorne, very focused for service that Saturday night.

Second Course Plus One

We had both ordered the rockfish that I have to admit was just okay. Besides the portion being small, the fish was actually overcooked. I know cooking fish is tricky but come on guys! Perhaps because I was kind of unhappy with this dish (and expensive to boot), I started to look around – specifically keeping my eye on the pass. I kept seeing something that looked like a burger. I don’t remember seeing a burger on the menu (not that I would have ordered a burger in a Michelin-starred restaurant) but still, there were lots and lots of burgers hitting the pass. I asked our server what was flying out so quickly, and he said, “It’s the catfish sandwich.” A few seconds later he and I decided that I needed to eat one and perhaps because of the cocktail and the wine screw-up he added, “It’s on me.”

Lynn, meanwhile, was already thinking about dessert. I looked at him and thought he had heard the exchange between the server and myself, but apparently, he hadn’t. “We’re getting another course,” I told him. “What are we getting?” he asked. Okay, I guess he heard absolutely NOTHING. So, we sat and sipped our wine and waited for the catfish sandwich. Here it is! And yeah, it was as good as it looked. I know this is just kind of bonkers to eat a fish sandwich after our entrees, but whatever. I love to tell people that we are “professional eaters” and that usually silences them.

Dessert

There was a lot of dessert to choose from. But the people next to us were digging into a cheese plate with figs. I love figs and they seemed to have a lot of figs on that plate. That’s when I thought we should have that too. So, we did. And you know what else our server did before he handed us the bill? He sent over an extra plate of figs just for me since I had mentioned that 1) I loved figs and 2) I really loved the catfish. Thank you!

Did I mention that someone had written a Happy Anniversary card and had left it on our table? I don’t think I did. And this is why, restaurants like The Dabney (even with the so-so rockfish) get awarded Michelin stars.

Until our next “Let’s Go” Adventure.

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Monuments, Oysters, and a Two-Library Day

Kramer’s

I have to admit; I was a bit skeptical about a bookstore that did an all-day breakfast too. Was it just going to be like the cafe at Barnes & Nobles with overpriced coffee and muffins? Absolutely not. Kramer’s serves up delicious bagel sandwiches, funky omelets, and has a full bar regardless of what time of day you want a drink. The place was pretty crowded but after we had a really good breakfast, I was happy to see that the bookstore was even more crowded than the restaurant. And people were actually buying books, not just standing there reading them like it was a library! I, too, had to indulge and walked away with four novels (mostly food-related) that I knew purchasing there would be better than throwing more money at Amazon.

Monuments and Then Some

After breakfast and dropping the book(s) back at the hotel, we got back on the metro and got off somewhere near the Smithsonian. Then we walked. First to see the Jefferson Memorial where we convinced yet another tourist to take a picture of us. I had to direct her a couple of times until she got the shot I wanted (sorry!), but eventually, she got it right. Hint: you want to show all the columns at a certain angle, not just ONE column.

After seeing Jefferson and “oohing and aahing” over the beautiful ceiling, we headed over to see Franklin, Eleanor, and MLK Jr. I’m not sure how we had missed these monuments in the past, but we did.

Unlike the Eisenhower Memorial we saw yesterday, at least Eleanor and Franklin had a water feature going. And I loved the different sculptures they had made of Franklin, too. Especially the smaller one where he is in a wheelchair. (I also rewatched Atlantic Crossing recently on Netflix with Kyle MacLachlan and Sofia Helin so I was intrigued by these sculptures.)

After a short walk around Potomac Park, we found the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. Facing the Tidal Basin and described by the National Park Service as the “Stone of Hope,” I thought this 30-foot statue of Dr. King was really powerful.

Oysters on The Wharf

We had tickets to get into the Library of Congress later that afternoon but decided to check out The Wharf area and maybe get some oysters for lunch. I had a feeling that The Wharf would be similar to The Seaport in NYC and I was pretty accurate. There were lots of shops, bars, and restaurants. There were also a lot of people walking around. But then I realized it was probably because it was a nice day and you could easily grab something to eat or drink with a view of the water. I’ve also come to accept that many people don’t really like doing the touristy stuff in D.C. anyway, so this is probably where they ended up instead. (Or, maybe they just actually live here?)

We stopped at Rappahannock Oyster Bar (obviously to eat some oysters), but we also decided to split a shrimp and fried oyster Po’ Boy sandwich. While the sandwich had the potential to be good with all the fresh fish around us, unfortunately, it was dry. I think they just forget to put the rémoulade sauce on. Still, look at these amazing oysters!

The Library of Congress

Even with tickets we waited in a very long line. In the sun. I didn’t realize this place was so popular! But once inside, how had I missed knowing that the building was so ornate? And gorgeous! Obviously, I deserve an “F” for not doing any research on the building before we visited, so we had quite a bit to look at. You can’t get into the main reading room without a special ID card, but we climbed the stairs and got a view of the reading room behind a glass partition.

The ceiling, all the artwork, columns, staircases, and paintings were just amazing. Less amazing were the over-anxious security guards who were constantly yelling at the visitors not to stand and taking selfies on the stairs. I got it, but a lot of people didn’t. Afterwards, we walked over to the Capital. Then we made our way over to visit the Folger Shakespeare Library.

Another Library – Shakespeare

Unfortunately, the one room I wanted to see (the wood-paneled library) was not open that day because there was some sort of musical rehearsal going on in the space. See the books behind the glass? We did briefly walk through the exhibit on Shakespeare (not my favorite author by the way) and decided to just sit in the big room next to the library where everyone else seemed to have congregated as well. Since they had a cafe and it was the afternoon, I thought a European type of break would be appropriate. Well, we didn’t have coffee, but we did have some wine and then we shared a messy, but delicious, strawberry and rhubarb tart. And then we just sat for a while looking at the decorative plaster ceiling. It was quite lovely actually. And I’m really glad that we got to see everything that was on our agenda that day. We still had dinner to look forward to, and tomorrow we’re up early, leaving D.C., and heading to Virginia.

Until our next “Let’s Go” adventure.

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A Visit to Washington, D.C.

When we realized that certain trips we took from Long Island (notably to Washington, D.C. and further south) would now take us twice as long when we moved permanently upstate, we decided a trip to our nation’s capital would be in order.

Last time we were in Washington was between Christmas and New Years. The streets were empty and it was bitter cold. This time the streets were filled with tourists and school groups.

Our first stop after checking into the hotel was a walk down to the National Mall where we thought we’d pay Abe Lincoln a visit. This has always been my favorite “monument” in D.C.; there is such a presence in the massive stone structure which always has a humbling effect on me when I see it.

After visiting Abe, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner at Kinship. I always love to stumble upon some interesting architecture along the way – whether it be a hidden courtyard or intriguing passageway.

Kinship

Kinship is a one-star Michelin restaurant near the convention center. What brought me to this restaurant was the inventive menu. I have to say, I loved the restaurant; the service was outstanding and most (but not all of the dishes) were superbly prepared. Here were some of my favorites: lobster “French toast,” celery root salad that looked like it had dollops of goat cheese around it but which were actually tiny meringues and finally potato crusted pike.

The next morning we woke up to pouring rain but determined to sight-see as much as possible. On the agenda that day, a trip to the National Portrait Gallery to see Kehinde Wiley’s portrait of President Obama as well as Amy Sherald’s portrait of Michelle Obama. Neither disappointed and I was pleasantly surprised that we picked the correct time to visit since the gallery was not that crowded.

And even though we had visited the National Portrait Gallery before, we didn’t remember the beautiful building! I also loved reading about the history of the structure – it is one of D.C.’s oldest buildings and housed the U.S. patent office at one point. Here’s a shot of one of the hallways.

Julie’s Kitchen

We also paid a visit to the National Museum of American history to revisit Julia Child’s kitchen from her house in Cambridge, MA. We had seen it once before but it had since been moved to the ground floor of this museum as part of a “Food” exhibit. I spent a lot of time staring at her kitchen and imagining her cooking in the space.

Look at those blue cabinets! And those funky kitchen chairs!

I also loved the fact the exhibit included her much-earned degree from the Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris. Problem is when I looked at the diploma I only saw Meryl Streep (as Julia Child in the film “Julie and Julia”) not Julia herself! I guess that means Meryl did a really good job portraying her.

We stopped to have a bite at Michel Richard’s Central near the mall area since it had been decent on our two previous visits. This time however, we were disappointed. In fairness, I’m not a big fan of brunch menus but usually can find an omelet or a club sandwich. This time around they had neither and I was stuck with eggs benedict with a couple of slices of smoked salmon which although they visually looked OK, they came out cold and not very appetizing.

After lunch, we headed over to visit the Botanical Gardens. So many flowers! So many plants! And mangoes! The visit brightened up the gray and rainy Sunday afternoon.

It’s Always Happy Hour Somewhere

Actually it was nearly 6 p.m. and we had a good two hours to kill before dinner so we headed over to the Old Ebbitt Grill for oyster happy hour. The restaurant was packed with locals and tourists alike. Tourist question of the day: Why are you dragging your luggage through the restaurant? Could you not have left the bag at the hotel or checked it somewhere? Ditto for toddlers. TODDLERS DO NOT BELONG IN BARS. This in my mind is non-negotiable and I’m all for restaurants that ban kids in certain areas.

The bar was crowded but we managed to squeeze in and order a couple of drinks and a dozen oysters. The drinks were fare, ditto for the oysters. It may be described as an “iconic tavern,” but I won’t be back.

Mediocre Sunday Eats

Sunday turned out to be our day of not-so-good eating, since dinner that night at Le Diplomate (again a place we had been to before) served us a too-salty plate of tuna carpaccio and a tough steak frites. (Although the fries were good.)

The day wasn’t a total waste however, since checking our “Pacer” app, we had walked this much! And burned off 800 calories (theoretically) of uninspired cooking!

Until our next “Let’s Go” adventure.