What Chefs do while on vacation.Returning from the Outer Banks pretty much meant a return to "work", although not in the sense it would a week later. It just meant we would allow ourselves to talk about it, think about it, maybe even go into the office and do a little of it... And attending a trade show at the start of the week certainly got those work juices flowing even faster. The Adams-Burch show is usually held during our winter closing, so it's a great time to check out equipment and supplies, talk to purveyors and see what's new. We considered tea pots and wine glasses and chef coats, as well as refrigeration, sauce pans and other exciting stuff. The show is usually held at the Redskins' Stadium in Largo, and since it is such a tremendously long drive over, the Adams-Burch company offers to spring for a hotel room. Of course we can't say no to that. And better yet, the hotel has a shuttle that will take you right to the Largo Metro stop. Downtown D.C., here we come.
First stop was Central Michel Richard, a bistro owned by the same man who runs the very fine dining spot in Georgetown, Citronelle. M. Richard moved to the U.S. from France in 1974 and went on to create a small empire of West Coast restaurants before deciding to concentrate his energies in Washington. Central has a very appealing atmosphere, with crazy stacks of plates and cups serving as sculpture, and a huge mirror above the bar which reflects the scene in the dining room. The kitchen is open, with tables directly in front for those so inclined. We sat at the bar for a glass of wine and wished the bartender would smile a little. Since we had a couple other places we wanted to try, we decided to move on for food.
Right around the corner as a matter of fact, to a place called TenPenh. Their bar was packed; luckily there was a table to be had, which we snagged - the last one in the bar. Very interesting menu, with lots of temptations. And guess what! it's Happy Hour! with $5 glasses of wine! We are on it! Duck springrolls! Shrimp dumplings! Octopus salad! Wow, we certainly are not in Kansas anymore. The place was packed - it's Tuesday don't forget - and buzzing.
Around another corner we headed to Cafe Atlantico. When we first planned to go into DC after the show, I tried to make reservations at Cafe Atlantico's "Mini Bar". Six seats upstairs + reservations made precisely one month from the day you want = a recipe for failure. I was too late to book us a couple of spots. We settled for the downstairs bar. The Bartender was really pushing the guacamole; apparently it is one of their signature dishes. But you know, we make pretty good guac all by ourselves, so we took a pass on that. We did not pass on the tuna ceviche however, and good thing too, since it was delicious. Kevin is considering doing some ceviche for our menu, so this was a good study. The second plate we had was an oyster preparation - fried oysters paired with sea urchin and complimented with oyster water "foam". I am not too crazy about this foam thing, but it was pretty amazing how the spit-like white foam on top of the uni was a very concentrated flavor of sea water. Not salt water, but sea, like seafood. Interesting. This was followed by another example of octopus - this grilled version was slightly better than the previous one at TenPenh, but still, grilled octopus tastes an awful lot like grilled chicken, so my feeling is, what's the point? Finally, Kevin had to get in a little bit more pork belly. Overall, the menu at Cafe Atlantico - by the famed chef Jose Andres - was the most interesting of the trip, and makes me definitely want to try for a seat at MiniBar in the future.
Back home in God's country, we continued to support the restaurant business. We managed to take in the Thursday Night Oyster buffet at the FishWhistle with our friends Roy and Molly, and managed to do some major oyster damage. They do a really good job with this locally popular special - the raw oysters are laid out on ice (yay!) in the dining room and after you have your fill of those, they bring you a selection of cooked ones. You can pick and choose the prep you want, and they will bring you more of your favorites as needed. We like to sit in the bar at FW and between Natalie and Kit, we were very well taken care of. Plus half of Kent County was there in the bar with us!
Friday found us visiting with a college friend of mine over happy hour wine and apps at the bar (of course!) at Cantler's on the back roads of Annapolis. From there we headed over to Robert Kinkaid's outpost on the City Dock - HellPoint Seafood. We'd tried it once before, but thought we give the dining room a go this time. I suppose everything would've been fine if we hadn't had the same server who was the bartender on our first visit. We didn't like him then and he wasn't any better this time. Here's how he started out his evening with us - we'd been seated but no one had come to the table for several minutes when he approached. He pulled out his pad, pen in hand and said, without any other greeting, "Okay, you guys ready to order?". Uh, no, we'd like some drinks first maybe? Food wise, not anything I would rush back for. I indulged in the fish and chips, while Kevin had the Mayan prawns. The F&C was fine, would've been better if the fish coating had stayed on the cod and been crisp. The huge Indonesian tiger shrimp were also fried, but more successfully. Overall, I don't think we have to rush back.
Finally, our last Big Night Out was on Saturday night - the last one we will have off for many months, so we wanted it to be special. We have heard alot about the new chef-owners of Elkton's Fair Hill Inn, from both sales people and customers. We booked a table for 7:30, and then called back to switch it to 6:30; alas, that hour was sold out, so we compromised at 7PM. It was a very pleasant way to spend our last free Saturday night - although once more, the server detracted more than added to the evening. I understand being excited about the menu and food you are serving, but this young lady was just a bit much to bear. "Isn't that delicious? Are you loving that?" After awhile you (I) just want to say "No, it sucks!" if only to shock her back to the real world. Kevin had the prix-fixe; I did the three course small plate thing again. The amuse may have been the best thing of the night - a faux-gras made of chicken liver. Other high lights were the salumi selection - made and cured in-house - and the seared scallops. Kevin's Sassafras River beef, raised locally in nearby Cecilton, was tasty, if heavily seasoned (which is one thing we really noticed in many of our meals - way too much salt. And we like salt. What's that all about? Over use of trendy sea salt?). My lobster course would have been much better had there been some sort of sauce over the components to tie everything together; without that it was simply a plate of scattered ingredients. (The gnocchi though, I could have eaten a plate of just them!) It was a lovely evening - although very quiet. I'm not sure where all the 6:30s were, but by 8:30, we were pretty much all alone. I revealed to the very charming maitre'd that I had worked at the FHI in a previous life, and he graciously offered us a tour of the wine cellar. In my day, this had held wine, but also the washer and dryer where we $2.15 hourly workers washed the linens...now it is a real wine cellar, with gorgeous brick archways, as well as the curing center for all sorts of hams and sausages. Nice. They are working extremely hard up there, making the Fair Hill Inn a true destination restaurant.
Okay, if you've made it this far, you are to be congratulated! I should offer an award at this stage for anyone who persevered to the bitter end...almost as bad as watching a slide show of your neighbor's vacation in Europe, eh?
Next up, some Head Line News!
Right around the corner as a matter of fact, to a place called TenPenh. Their bar was packed; luckily there was a table to be had, which we snagged - the last one in the bar. Very interesting menu, with lots of temptations. And guess what! it's Happy Hour! with $5 glasses of wine! We are on it! Duck springrolls! Shrimp dumplings! Octopus salad! Wow, we certainly are not in Kansas anymore. The place was packed - it's Tuesday don't forget - and buzzing.
Around another corner we headed to Cafe Atlantico. When we first planned to go into DC after the show, I tried to make reservations at Cafe Atlantico's "Mini Bar". Six seats upstairs + reservations made precisely one month from the day you want = a recipe for failure. I was too late to book us a couple of spots. We settled for the downstairs bar. The Bartender was really pushing the guacamole; apparently it is one of their signature dishes. But you know, we make pretty good guac all by ourselves, so we took a pass on that. We did not pass on the tuna ceviche however, and good thing too, since it was delicious. Kevin is considering doing some ceviche for our menu, so this was a good study. The second plate we had was an oyster preparation - fried oysters paired with sea urchin and complimented with oyster water "foam". I am not too crazy about this foam thing, but it was pretty amazing how the spit-like white foam on top of the uni was a very concentrated flavor of sea water. Not salt water, but sea, like seafood. Interesting. This was followed by another example of octopus - this grilled version was slightly better than the previous one at TenPenh, but still, grilled octopus tastes an awful lot like grilled chicken, so my feeling is, what's the point? Finally, Kevin had to get in a little bit more pork belly. Overall, the menu at Cafe Atlantico - by the famed chef Jose Andres - was the most interesting of the trip, and makes me definitely want to try for a seat at MiniBar in the future.
Back home in God's country, we continued to support the restaurant business. We managed to take in the Thursday Night Oyster buffet at the FishWhistle with our friends Roy and Molly, and managed to do some major oyster damage. They do a really good job with this locally popular special - the raw oysters are laid out on ice (yay!) in the dining room and after you have your fill of those, they bring you a selection of cooked ones. You can pick and choose the prep you want, and they will bring you more of your favorites as needed. We like to sit in the bar at FW and between Natalie and Kit, we were very well taken care of. Plus half of Kent County was there in the bar with us!
Friday found us visiting with a college friend of mine over happy hour wine and apps at the bar (of course!) at Cantler's on the back roads of Annapolis. From there we headed over to Robert Kinkaid's outpost on the City Dock - HellPoint Seafood. We'd tried it once before, but thought we give the dining room a go this time. I suppose everything would've been fine if we hadn't had the same server who was the bartender on our first visit. We didn't like him then and he wasn't any better this time. Here's how he started out his evening with us - we'd been seated but no one had come to the table for several minutes when he approached. He pulled out his pad, pen in hand and said, without any other greeting, "Okay, you guys ready to order?". Uh, no, we'd like some drinks first maybe? Food wise, not anything I would rush back for. I indulged in the fish and chips, while Kevin had the Mayan prawns. The F&C was fine, would've been better if the fish coating had stayed on the cod and been crisp. The huge Indonesian tiger shrimp were also fried, but more successfully. Overall, I don't think we have to rush back.
Finally, our last Big Night Out was on Saturday night - the last one we will have off for many months, so we wanted it to be special. We have heard alot about the new chef-owners of Elkton's Fair Hill Inn, from both sales people and customers. We booked a table for 7:30, and then called back to switch it to 6:30; alas, that hour was sold out, so we compromised at 7PM. It was a very pleasant way to spend our last free Saturday night - although once more, the server detracted more than added to the evening. I understand being excited about the menu and food you are serving, but this young lady was just a bit much to bear. "Isn't that delicious? Are you loving that?" After awhile you (I) just want to say "No, it sucks!" if only to shock her back to the real world. Kevin had the prix-fixe; I did the three course small plate thing again. The amuse may have been the best thing of the night - a faux-gras made of chicken liver. Other high lights were the salumi selection - made and cured in-house - and the seared scallops. Kevin's Sassafras River beef, raised locally in nearby Cecilton, was tasty, if heavily seasoned (which is one thing we really noticed in many of our meals - way too much salt. And we like salt. What's that all about? Over use of trendy sea salt?). My lobster course would have been much better had there been some sort of sauce over the components to tie everything together; without that it was simply a plate of scattered ingredients. (The gnocchi though, I could have eaten a plate of just them!) It was a lovely evening - although very quiet. I'm not sure where all the 6:30s were, but by 8:30, we were pretty much all alone. I revealed to the very charming maitre'd that I had worked at the FHI in a previous life, and he graciously offered us a tour of the wine cellar. In my day, this had held wine, but also the washer and dryer where we $2.15 hourly workers washed the linens...now it is a real wine cellar, with gorgeous brick archways, as well as the curing center for all sorts of hams and sausages. Nice. They are working extremely hard up there, making the Fair Hill Inn a true destination restaurant.
Okay, if you've made it this far, you are to be congratulated! I should offer an award at this stage for anyone who persevered to the bitter end...almost as bad as watching a slide show of your neighbor's vacation in Europe, eh?
Next up, some Head Line News!
Barbara, what a fun read! Thanks for the interesting gustatory tour. Glad you had such a great end to your vacation, and qually as glad, for all of your fan like us, that you're home. Connie G.
ReplyDelete