Gordon Biersch

Downtown near Chinatown, this microbrewery chain was surprisingly enjoyable. We had an office luncheon there, so we were confined to the glass fishbowl of a room, which allowed for an intimate affair without being bothered by the other lookie-loo's. The building, a renovated historic bank, was restored and augmented to emphasize the unique architecture of when it was built, but updated for a sleek brewery feel. Other microbreweries I've been to were sticky-floored burger joints with over-polyurethaned tacky wood furniture. GB is the anti-thesis of tacky. Except for the beer selection, I would have thought I was just in another trendy, big downtown restaurant. I had the ahi tuna salad, which was perfectly seared and sliced and topped with these wonderful spicy crunchy sticks. I tasted my friend's pulled pork BBQ, which had such unique flavor, I think I'll have that next time. As far as breweries go, this one gets an A+... But only a few stars on the grand scheme given that it is a chain. I recommend it for when your steak and potato in-laws come to town and you need to compromise between the fast and the furious of DC and Applebee's.

Oyamel

This latin small plates restaurant owned by the Jaleo people is on Crystal Drive in Crystal City. Unless you work in CC, or are on your way to the airport, there is no reason to visit this part of Arlington, with the single exception of this restaurant. The other Crystal Drive places can all be found elsewhere. I know of no other local Oyamel. I had tacos with pork and pineapple, the tamale and the mushroom quesadilla special. Plus 2 mediocre sangria. The service tonight was only ok, but that isn't standard here. There is an outdoor eating area too. Perfect on a night like tonight. Unfortunatly, my company was dull. A staple restaurant that the DC-ers ought to make the trek for sometime.

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I'm very sad to say that Oyamel left our fair hamlet and was replaced with Bebo -- an Italian place that left me wanting for service.

Logan Tavern

Last night I had dinner with Alyssa at Logan Tavern between 14th and 15th on P. Comfort food in a rustic environment. Convenient place to go if in Logan Circle. It was a beautiful day outside, but the wait for a cafe table outside was too long and we had plans later, so we took a table by the window. I had the snapper special, which was only ok. The highlight of my meal was my stoli dollie -- pineapple infused vodka. Darryl introduced me to these things here -- very few places in town do this. Not much more to say about this neighborhood restaurant. Nothing to brag about, but certainly a place to count on in a pinch.

Busboys and Poets

I’m continually amazed by the offerings of the U Street corridor. Last night before Yoga, Sean and I wanted a quick bite and so I offered we hit Busboys and Poets. This place seems to have an identity crisis. Unlike Kramer Books in Dupont which at least has “books” in its name and is seemingly a bookstore with an embedded restaurant, BB&P is a bookstore, café, decent hip restaurant and possibly even a venue for small scale events. Bring your laptop, they have wireless… a tacky accouterment for anybody having dinner, yet practical ability for anybody sprawled on their low and crowded lounges just having a coffee and a bowl of their pretty decent hummus. While I wasn’t interested in the bookstore or poetry reading possibilities, this place reminded me a bit of City Café in Baltimore – a staple stop for the city boy on the go there. I think that’s where BB&P is trying to go and has the potential, but the word of mouth about this place hasn’t yet hit outside of the U streeters. Who does their marketing? Sean had a glass of not-so-cheap white wine and a very bitter apple salad with some sort of goat cheese dressing that he didn’t rave about. I had a mozzarella and tomato burger which was perfectly sized. Our service by Princess, our waitress, wasn’t magnificent as she was distracted by her friends two tables over, my burger came with salad instead of my requested chips, my diet coke was awfully empty for a place offering free refills and when it was time for yoga to start, we had to send a rescue party into the back to get Princess to deliver the check. This is the type of service I would expect at McDonalds, not a trendy new place. Despite the service, its unique atmosphere will bring me back for a quick bite when it’s convenient, however BB&P isn’t a destination… not in my mind at least.

Lauriol Plaza

On a Friday night with the first 80 degree weather of the year at 8pm? what am I kidding? nope... that's where I decided to host a few friends for the evening... A staple restaurant of DC, sometimes you have to get back to the basics. The basics here being frozen margarittas. slurp! And I always get their crab enchiladas. We managed to steal a table after only 45 minutes waiting... I wasn't even into my second coctail when our buzzer went off. The shock and surprise... The large glass windows proved a nice show when the lightening storm began. I love this place. The salsa is slap-your-madre good! Can't wait to spend an evening on their roof bar.

Food Bar DC

The trivia game at Food Bar Thursdays no where compares to Titan on Wednesdays for the fun atmosphere. Titan's co-hosts for smartass make that evening, while the one host at Food Bar simply reads questions that are pre-printed in front of you on a sheet of paper in between trying to learn how to use iTunes as he is the resident DJ too. As a DJ, he apparently had Hollaback Girl on continual repeat. The questions, although a bit easier for the layman at Food Bar, don't have hidden themes or make the game fun -- although they do have a more local political flare to them than Titan. Food Bar food is terrible, but the drinks are good. I drank Liz Taylors all night, which is basically a purple raspberry cosmo. If you order a martini though like Topher, make sure you're pretty specific. His Gin with olives came dirtier than bath water and had to send it back. While the drinks are more cosmo, they also come with a more cosmo price requiring you to win a great deal to cover your bar bill, which we did. We won first place, which there is a cash prize of $100 and a $10 bar tab. Our drink bill for 4 people though was $86 so we all went home with $3 in our pocket.

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of course Smartass Trivia is now at Nellies

Matchboxx

Date night Friday found me at the hip new brick oven pizza place in Gallery Place. No reservations accepted was the only drawback, but that allowed me and my date to drink Martinis at the overly crowded bar. The bartenders had skills reserved for the Coyote Ugly sequel, but made a good drink. Try the Ginger Snap... fantastic. For dinner, none of their specialty pizzas wooed me, so I built my own with pesto, artichoke hearts, chicken and kalamata olives topped with mozzarella. Great pizza, great crust. Their menu is full of other things, but go for the pie... otherwise the hour wait for a table can be spent elsewhere for the same food. Make sure you get a table on the second or third floor... the first is too jammed with the bar.

I Ricchi

To dinner with Dr. Mike and Andrew tonight and we chose this place... mainly because 2 of us hadn't been there and it was the only place on opentable that would accept an 8pm reservation on a Saturday at 4pm. By far the best Italian food oustide of Italy and my Grandmother's kitchen that I've ever had. I started my meal with a sparkling wine spiked with raspberry puree and switched to a nice Sangiovese for my red meat meal. I chose 2 specials... the Risotto with Mushrooms to start and a medium rare ribeye slow cooked and served in this fantastic au jous. For desert, Tiramisu. The only annoyance was an overly attentive waiter, however one should expect that from an upscale Italian restaurant. This was the single largest purchase I've ever made in a restaurant on myself, not buying for another and was worth every penny of that $100 bill. Unknown and useful fact -- Free Valet parking!