Side Trip....

Let’s take a brief respite from royal palaces in Scotland, and take a quick visit to one of our own.

Alert readers will remember that I have a long time friend living in DC who helps us spend our tax dollars by doing HR kind of stuff for the Government.  As such he does have some connections, and was able to secure a slot for a West Wing tour of the White House.  It’s not easy to do, but can be done.  Since the tours have to be conducted after (normal) business hours, ours was scheduled for eight thirty.

So, what are you going to do in DC to take up the time before that?  Why, of course you go to dinner!  So we planned dinner at six thirty, and then over to the WH for the tour.  Great plan. Since we wanted to be in the general vicinity, he offered the choice of Ceiba or Kinkead’s (the original one on Pennsylvania).  Although we have been to both, Kinkead’s has been the site of great meals, and we hadn’t been there in years, so we opted for that.  So up the road in Flutter Mobile II (a lovely car by the way) arrived at his digs, had a pleasant glass of wine and some tapenade toasts along with a nice little basil leaf stuffed with goat cheese, pine nuts, and home grown cherry tomato bits.  Quite nice. Refreshed, the four of us headed out to dinner and the tour.

I have always liked the space at Kinkead’s, the upstairs is composed of several nooks and crannies with tables and booths tucked here and there, which gives some sense of privacy. 

We were seated at a nice little table overlooking the avenue outside, and were presented with menus

Composed of a “traditional” side (where the signature pepita crusted salmon lives) and a Chef’s specials for the day kind of thing.  Sit down, server arrives with menus and the wine list, and asked if we would like tap or bottled water (tap is fine), and would we care for anything else while we were looking at the menu.  Since I wasn’t driving I levied the drink test and asked for a DMOTRWAT.  It arrived and had the tell tale red hue (see glass above menu), so I asked about dry Vermouth and was told that it was NO vermouth but with bitters.  In the spirit (ha ha) of things I accepted it.  Since we were sort of on the clock, we got down to business ..  Starters included two “Salad of Soft Lettuces with Gruyere, Scallions, and Dijon Dressing”, an heirloom tomato salad and I went with the mussels described above (and risking the front of my shirt).  In honor of the bivalves I also ordered a glass of Sancerre.  Entrees were two of the “simply grilled salmon”  MFO who ordered before me took my thought of  the special seared scallops, (with English peas) so I diverted and went with the soft shells (partially described above).  Bread, butter, and conversation filled the gap and before long the first courses arrived (served to ladies first with the proper order, no “who had the…” here).   In my dottage, I am getting less self conscious about shooting the food with my little point and shoot (which is good and bad), but try to be discreet so the composition is not always magazine quality..

the mussels were in a wonderful broth with the little aioli lathered toasts soaking it up and the shell fish were meaty and very tasty, and all stayed off my shirt by the way, almost a first.

Everybody else enjoyed their salads which were very pretty. And with just the right timing, the main courses arrived..

As you can see the scallops and salmon were lovely.   And here are my Soft Shells.

Soft Shells are always an enigma with me.  They seem to vary widely in size and taste. To be (as I always try to be) objective and honest, I was not thrilled with the dish.  I appreciate the presentation that made it look like a crest, but I don’t think the drizzles were called for, and the color of the sauce (I think it was a porcini reduction of some sort) didn’t do much for the overall effect.  The little relish of Tasso, crawfish, and haricot ragu, was very, very good and kind of stole the plate.   The soft shells were a little short on content and taste, but up against the ragu they may have been fighting a losing battle.  It wasn’t a bad dish, but could have been better.  I tried the other dishes and they were all very good.  As I said, if you order soft shells you’re kind of rolling the dice.

We did squeeze in dessert, with ice cream for the three others and I went with a chocolate mousse

which was to die for. It doesn't show so well, but that is a little gold leaf on top.

All in all, it was a great dinner.  Service was impeccable, and as I say it is a very comfortable space.  Please go, but maybe think twice about ordering softshells..

So, okay off to the White House. We waited for our friend's “guide” for a bit outside the gate across from the (poor) Corcoran, and eventually he came.  We surrendered our picture ID’s and he checked us in with the first set guards in the little white block house with computers, were issued some badges, went through the second level of security where once again thoughtless old me had to surrender my little Swiss Army Knife to the nice guards (actually they were very pleasant).  We were then led on a magical tour of the West Wing.  It is like a history museum with lovely antiques, paintings, and furniture everywhere.  It is like a modern day palace and it all celebrates the history of our country.  It may not go back centuries, but none the less you can’t help but feel a sense of pride.  We saw the door to the famous “situation room”; also that room you see on TV with the long table and many seats (smaller than you might think); and were able to look into the actual Oval Office.  There it was.  Right there.  And while we were there our guide said “that sounds like Marine One!”  Sure enough, the President was arriving by helo outside the rose garden.  Apparently he must not have known I was there because he didn’t stop by to say hello.  But soon people appeared walking the halls draped with laptop bags, briefcases, iPads, looking like they were in a hurry.  At one point a gentleman appeared from a side hall, and we almost collided.  After he went on his way, our guide said, “oh, that was Jay Carney”.  The presidential Press Secretary!  At least I didn’t trip him.  Others going by were identified (he knew them all) as senior advisor for this, chair of that (too many for me to remember).  Of course no pictures are allowed until you get to the room where the press conferences are held.  This should look familiar

(Okay, I'll take questions from the floor....)

Our guide (his day job is in the office of the council to the president – he’s an attorney) knew the other “guides” showing people around and he had interesting stories about running into the president in the hall, or through some door. There is just kind of an energy about the place.  Camelot.

Finally we had to leave and were treated to a nice sight in our Nation’s Capitol.

A wonderful evening not long forgotten.  And as you can tell I was

DFD