As such, however, there has been much to catch up on: fancy lady-who-lunch lunches, day drinking (including trying fancy dessert wines I'm trying to track down), weird fried pig parts, previously untried cocktails, artisinal beers from my home states, and Oklahoma/Lebanese food buffets. I've been trying to squeeze in as much America into these past few weeks as possible, and what better way to do it than to consume it.
I came back and started at the beginning. Hours after nearly a day-long flight and a shower, I stumbled to Restaurant Eve, my favorite place for a fancy $15 lunch (that with dessert and wines, ended up being $50, but my intentions were good). I had an exquisite salad with kimchi-flavored radishes and sauteed mushrooms with crispily-fried garlic on top. I was too enthusiastic to eat my banh mi to photograph it, but exercised restraint before snapping a photo of "chocolate mousse" (solidly dignified rather than the soupy lukewarm state I usually find it in). The bartender, in what I viewed as a great sign for my highbrow summer drinking, brought me a glass of an Italian dessert wine on the house, which I'm trying to track down at Society Fair.
After that first lunch, all kinds of good food things started to happen. Fast. I bought fancy foods:
Tried homey foods at fancy bars (sliders and chili at Columbia Fire House, with an adorable little beer flight):
Tried homey foods at homey bars (Oohs and Aahhs on U Street, which boasts great fried chicken and catfish, along with sticky floors and crazy, raving men sitting outside the front door):
Tried homey foods from other cultures (well, Le Pain Quotitiden in Alexandria):
And homey foods from homey cultures (Lebanese is like Greek, here at Capers Mediterranean Buffet near my grandmother's house in Oklahoma City):
Tried homey foods (grilled bologna, hot dogs, and steamed vegetables) in my parents' home:
Tried elitisty, organic salads (kale with blueberries) and soba noodles in an old Packard showroom (Packard's in Oklahoma City):
Had fancy meats and drinks in a red-lit steakhouse in the old Buick showroom downtown (Red Prime in Oklahoma City)...
...Where we took pictures of our stuffed-selves bathed in the mildly-creepy red glow of the ubiquitous neon lights:
Watched a food show about homey food near my parents' home while I was at home (Leo's BBQ in Oklahoma City):
Had fried pig ears on a salad (left, at The Pig on 14th Street):
...And since I couldn't decide, he ordered two desserts...
...And then the Calvados, the memories-of-Normandy-inducing vision that Calvados is.
Then, of course, there was the beer: the bottles, snifters, and pilsner glasses of beer. Boulevard took top honors, in addition to those from New Hampshire, Washington, DC, Virginia, Oklahoma, Michigan, and Texas (Shiner with grapefruit, no less).
I adopted some bottles and brought them home in Alexandria:
I drank some (Oklahoma City-based Coop Ale Work's DNR beer) in downtown Oklahoma City before Blake Shelton's tornado relief concert:
I bought some local favorites (that weren't 3.2 point) at a liquor store near my parent's house (including Boulevard's elusive Tank 7, which I forgot and left in the fridge for the beer photo shoot):
I drank Devil's Backbone (not far from Charlottesville, VA) Vienna Lager on a Monday during which I'd otherwise be working (at Virtue):
I drank 3 Stars Brewery's Peppercorn Saison at the most celebratory-of-pork restaurant I've ever been to...
...That also brought Dotti and me two full bottles of beer to our table at the end of our meal (ok, one was root beer, but in a float, was probably more dangerous):
There was much to much of everything, a trend I hope summer continues to bring!
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