Weekend Restaurant Round-up I

After trying four restaurants for the first time this past weekend, the bf suggested that I do a weekend food summary on this blog. Like many twenty-somethings with full time jobs, I do most of my food venturing on weekends. This weekend was especially packed due to the Georgetown-UConn men’s basketball game on Saturday. I didn’t try any food there, so will spare you on the details of pretzels, hotdogs, and various other overpriced fried delicacies.

After the game (anti-climactic, by the way), Mike and I met up with his high school friends at RFD (Regional Food and Drink) bar at Gallery Place/Chinatown. I was impressed by the large space and the beer selection for a bona fide sports bar with TV’s everywhere you look. I was less impressed by the huge crowd of college students. But this may have been an anomaly, as the game did just get out. We only stayed for one drink, so I don’t have much to say, but they had a good selection of craft brews on tap. My Founder’s Pale Ale was excellent.

Three hours later, I found myself at Brasserie Beck on 11^th and K with a group of friends. We were drawn by the special happy hour they are doing for the entire month of January. From 5-7 every day, all their draft beers are half off. This means that the Bavic pilsner is now $2.50 and the Christmas Ale is now $6.00. This was a great opportunity to try some brews I would normally not get. My Christmas Ale was a robust mix of malts and hops and winter spices that left the taste of anise lingering in my mouth. My second beer, the 1810 Oktoberfest, was slightly disappointing due to an unexpectedly sour taste. But the chorizo and fennel moules frites that we shared as a group were delicious. There was just the right amount of chorizo and the fennel did not overpower the dish. Even though we were a group of seven hogging a huge section of the bar area, the service was very nice and not a bit condescending. We felt comfortable to linger, though we were soon off to our respective engagements.

My engagement was dinner at Oyamel with Mike. This is a place we'd been trying to go to for a while now, but were last thwarted by the snomg before Christmas. Going along with Tyler Cowen's recommendations, we got the stuffed pablano with pork, a black rice dish, the grasshopper taco, a barbeque pork taco, and a grilled lamb chop special. The pablano was the best item we got. The pepper was just stuffed with pine nuts and a creamy goat cheese. Some pomegranate seeds added a nice touch. The grasshopper was something I'd wanted to try for a while, and it was much more acidic than I'd expected. Slightly disappointing was the rice, which was much too salty. Oyamel was excellent overall, though. Looking forward to trying their sister restaurant across the street, Jaleo.

After this Saturday fest, Sunday's dinner came as a major disappointment. Through DCist, I had found out that Scion Restaurant in Dupont was hosting a tasting of the Sierra Nevada-Dogfish Head collaboration brew, Life and Limb. $12 for a six ounce sample of that plus two food pairings, we were told. We were also told to arrive early as there would be many people, and that there would be Sierra Nevada and Dogfish reps on hand. So, while we got there early as told, we still had to wait in the bar for 20 minutes until we could sit...at the bar. Second, there were absolutely no reps of any kind to be seen. Third, the "pairings" with the Life and Limb were merely braised pork belly and a scoop of chocolate mousse -- i.e. two pretty unimpressive food items. The Life and Limb was great, though not really something I'd drink normally. It tasted like a dubbel with some added hops.

Even though this was already off to a shaky start, Mike and I let our laziness get the better of us and decided to stay for dinner. This went no better. My glass of water was dirty from the pitcher, which had some fragments of margarita mix in it. When I pointed this out to a waiter, he took the glass away without bringing another back. Our main courses were slightly better, but did not make up for the poor experience. I got the burger, which is apparently the only thing worth having, but made the mistake of getting it with a pasta salad on the side that tasted like it came out of a giant tub. Mike got goat cheese pumpkin ravioli, which was a fair choice. Anyway, I guess the lesson learned here is not to a single beer event lure you to places you never would have gone to otherwise.