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Restaurant Week Meets Up in the Air
Aug. 21st, 2010 06:08 amThere are several people in the D.C. area on Flyer Talk who get together for drinks and/or dinner (and conversation about miles) roughly monthly. Restaurant week is an excuse for a couple of dinners. This time out, the organizer snagged two six-person reservations and I managed to make it to both dinners.
For those who are unfamiliar with the concept. restaurants agree to offer a prix fixe meal. This time it was 3 courses for $35.10. If you choose where you go carefully, that's a good deal.
Monday night was at Vidalia, which is probably best described as upscale Southern. They offered a fairly good range of choices, only a few of which had up-charges (i.e. an addition to the price). I started with the shady lane salad, which was basically lettuces, radishes, and an onion vinaigrette. That was quite tasty, but it's also the sort of thing that's pretty hard to screw up. For the main course, I got the cornmeal crusted trout, which came with dirty rice. It was reasonably good, though a bit salty for my tastes. Finally, the lemon chess pie for dessert was outstanding, with a nice tang to offset the sweetness. The tables are far apart that you can converse easily. And the service was excellent. All in all, a good choice.
The best frequent flyer story of the night had to do a car rental bonus and the couple who used it by renting 9 cars at a time two weekends in a row to get enough miles for two round trip tickets to Paris.
Last night, we went to Acadiana. (There was a slightly different group of people each time, by the way.) This is the New Orleans style restaurant, run by the same people who run Ten Penh, Ceiba, D.C. Coast, and probably something else I am forgetting. Interestingly, they seated people as they arrived, without waiting for the whole group. The menu had about half a dozen appetizer choices and three dessert choices, while allowing one to order any entree off their standard menu. I started with their gumbo, which was tasty, though I probably should have added a couple of drops of tabasco to it. The snapper I had for the main course was delicious, as were the accompanying spoon bread and peas. The bread pudding for dessert was good, too. All in all, I would definitely eat there again. My only complaint was with a cocktail. I couldn't resist getting a dark and stormy and found their version too sweet and not gingery enough. It was also on the loud side.
Overall, it was a successful restaurant week. There is a dinner in Alexandria on Sunday night, but I have other commitments so will miss out. I'm sure our usual organizer will snag a couple of reservations for the winter week, too.
For those who are unfamiliar with the concept. restaurants agree to offer a prix fixe meal. This time it was 3 courses for $35.10. If you choose where you go carefully, that's a good deal.
Monday night was at Vidalia, which is probably best described as upscale Southern. They offered a fairly good range of choices, only a few of which had up-charges (i.e. an addition to the price). I started with the shady lane salad, which was basically lettuces, radishes, and an onion vinaigrette. That was quite tasty, but it's also the sort of thing that's pretty hard to screw up. For the main course, I got the cornmeal crusted trout, which came with dirty rice. It was reasonably good, though a bit salty for my tastes. Finally, the lemon chess pie for dessert was outstanding, with a nice tang to offset the sweetness. The tables are far apart that you can converse easily. And the service was excellent. All in all, a good choice.
The best frequent flyer story of the night had to do a car rental bonus and the couple who used it by renting 9 cars at a time two weekends in a row to get enough miles for two round trip tickets to Paris.
Last night, we went to Acadiana. (There was a slightly different group of people each time, by the way.) This is the New Orleans style restaurant, run by the same people who run Ten Penh, Ceiba, D.C. Coast, and probably something else I am forgetting. Interestingly, they seated people as they arrived, without waiting for the whole group. The menu had about half a dozen appetizer choices and three dessert choices, while allowing one to order any entree off their standard menu. I started with their gumbo, which was tasty, though I probably should have added a couple of drops of tabasco to it. The snapper I had for the main course was delicious, as were the accompanying spoon bread and peas. The bread pudding for dessert was good, too. All in all, I would definitely eat there again. My only complaint was with a cocktail. I couldn't resist getting a dark and stormy and found their version too sweet and not gingery enough. It was also on the loud side.
Overall, it was a successful restaurant week. There is a dinner in Alexandria on Sunday night, but I have other commitments so will miss out. I'm sure our usual organizer will snag a couple of reservations for the winter week, too.
