The injustice of it all!

I know real food bloggers never take themselves this seriously...right? Thanks to Jason for passing this one along. Originally from the web comic Married to the Sea.

Evening Star shines (for the most part)

After a quick Target run the other evening, Jason and I found ourselves in the Crystal City/Alexandria area around dinnertime. I remembered that a colleague had recommended Evening Star Cafe in Alexandria's Del Ray neighborhood, so we decided to check it out.

Out of its cozy jewelbox townhouse setting (think Komi or Hank's), the homey neighborhood cafe serves eclectic American fare with a few twists here and there (for example, seared tuna - iterations of which can be found on virtually every menu these days - is treated to a decidedly non-standard carrot and coriander emulsion.) Indeed, the cafe has developed somewhat of a cult following with locals, and with good reason, as its charms are many. With its cheery but unfussy interior and prime location (just down the block from other foodie destinations like Cheesetique, the new Let's Meat on the Avenue butcher shop, The Dairy Godmother frozen custard shop, and a handful of great coffee shops), Evening Star Cafe has a lot going for it before you even open the menu.

And speaking of the menu, can we talk about the wine and beer menu for a minute? Evening Star Cafe partners with Planet Wine, its next door neighbor, to offer over 1000 bottles of select wines. The cafe also boasts several lounge spaces (separate from the main dining area) called Majestic Lounge and No. 9 line, giving Evening Star Cafe diners access to twenty beers on tap.

We started with the PEI Mussels, doused in a Roquefort cheese and chardonnay sauce. The mussels weren't quite as plump as ones I've seen elsewhere, but the sauce was dangerously addictive. At once creamy from the Roquefort and briny with the juice of the mussels. I didn't stop dipping the complimentary artisan bread until I'd sopped up the last delicious drop, which I washed down with a refreshing glass of Gruner Veltliner.

For my entree, I chose the brined and roasted chicken, served with jalepeno mac & cheese, braised greens, and thyme gravy. The chicken was amazing - tender and juicy with a golden skin. I was disappointed to find the jalepeno mac & cheese oddly greasy and flavorless, with none of the anticipated kick that one might expect with a spicy pepper as its main descriptor. Jason ordered the oven roasted barramundi with tasso ham & blue cheese grits, and tomato beurre blanc. I managed to sneak a bite of it, and found it suitably rich, the crispy skin of the fish giving way to its mild and pleasant flesh.

Sadly, I must say that I found the service to be totally apathetic. Our server was unenthusiastic at best, and that's when we had her attention. She appeared to lose interest completely about halfway through our meal, and we didn't see her again for quite some time. Finally, the hostess seemed to pick up on this, and came over to ask us how our meals were and clear our plates. After another long wait, our server made a grand reappearance to bring us the check. It was an odd dynamic, completely out-of-sync with the otherwise welcoming atmosphere. Ah well, I had good company and good food, and so overall it was a fairly positive experience.

After dinner, we stopped across the street at ACKC (Artfully Chocolate Kingsbury Confections), an outpost of which just opened in Logan Circle. (The website only lists the Logan Circle location right now...I think the Del Ray location was just recently rebranded as ACKC). A champagne truffle, or, ahem, two, was the perfect ending to a great, if imperfect, meal.

Full Circa

Last night, Jason and I wandered around the Kalorama neighborhood for a bit, taking pictures of the mansions and embassies as the sun was setting.  Having worked up a little appetite, we made our way down Connecticut Ave. in the direction of the circle, to see if anything caught our fancy for dinner.  I found myself mildly interested in Sette Osteria, but there seemed to be a bit of a crowd waiting to be seated, so we ventured onward.  To my surprise, Dupont's new-ish bistro, Circa, didn't seem overly crowded, and to my further surprise, we were able to score a table on the patio, no problem.

Since it seemed like a sort of neighborhood wine bar/bistro place, I decided wine was the way to go, and ordered a glass of Chilean Malbec, which was quite good (and, as I would soon find out, its sharpness was a nice contract to the cheesy doughiness of pizza I would order).  Jason got a formidable-looking cocktail called The Ultimate Mojito.  

Circa's got a nice little cocktail list and a good wine list, but I must admit, I was mildly disappointed by the food menu.  I guess, given the sophisticated palates of the surrounding clientele, I was expecting it to be a little bit more inventive, and it just seemed very...pedestrian.  Crab cakes, mac & cheese, bistro steak, etc.  Ah well, I suppose t'is better to do simpler things and do them well than to take on too much. They also probably get a lot of tourists walking in because of the location, and I suppose a really exotic menu might not do much to lure in casual passers-by.

In any case, I'd heard good things about the pizza, so I ordered the Capriciosso pizza - ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, mushroom, basil, and prosciutto.  The pizza was pretty good, despite showing no signs of the aforementioned basil.  In spite of my Chicagoan connections, I prefer thinner crust pizza, and Circa's was slightly thick for my liking.  Hard to go wrong with prosciutto and lots of cheese though, so I did a pretty good number on it.  Jason got the Free Range Chicken pizza, with sundried tomatoes, artichokes, chicken, mozzarella, and basil.  I swiped a piece, and it was decent, though the sweetness of the tomatoes verged on cloying for me.  

Service was sort of meh.  I got the impression that our server was trying to emulate the understatedness of servers in really haute cuisine types of joints, but the end result was just sort of awkward.  Think lots of weird silences and halted, barely audible responses.  Overall, though, it's a fine place to grab a casual meal, if you're not expecting much in the way of culinary revelation.  I think I'll have to give it a couple more tries to see if we caught it on sort of a blah night.  

Good to know:

Circa is located at 1601 Connecticut Avenue, NW, practically right across the street from the Dupont Circle Metro stop on the Red Line.  Just exit on the North side, and cross Connecticut as if you're going to Kramerbooks, but hang a quick left on Connecticut instead.  It's right on the corner.

The atmosphere is super casual and anything goes.  There were families in shorts, tee-shirts, and tennis shoes, and there were glitterati in sparkly dresses and strappy heels and both fit right in.

Photos by Flickr user M.V. Jantzen, who takes great photos of DC.  Check out his stuff sometime.