During the course of a (busy) holiday week last week, I had lunches here and there, plus a disappointing look into the past.
Lunch Here:
The “Here” was when I joined some friends at the local (independent)
Mixing Bowl restaurant which has occupied the same spot in Lexington Park for a
number of years now. My friends pretty
much lunch out every day, and have kind of a luncheon rotation, and Tuesdays is
Mixing Bowl day. They also drive a Hyundai
Genesis, and so we like to compare car foibles and odd auto symptoms occasionally. The list had grown beyond texting, so
that provided a reason to finally meet up. It had been too long since we talked so I was
happy to get together. Since they go to
the Mixing Bowl so often, they pretty much don’t have to have a menu as they
normally order the same thing (chicken salad) most of the time. Fortunately I was early enough that I could
peruse the menu a bit before they arrived. There are appetizers, but the menu is mostly
populated by sandwiches of various sorts (about fifteen choices), all with "names" such as: “the Gobbler; Kickin’ Chicken; Hog Heaven; No Bull” fortunately there
is a description included. They also offer Big Salads, and some heavier dishes
if one cares for that. I presume that
the same menu applies for dinner, but I think their main rush is for lunch. It has always amazed me how many people leave
the base for lunch every day. Most places in the area are jammed at lunchtime.
Anyway, the "Bowl" is always clean, and has fairly fast and courteous
service, and the food is fresh. All you
could want for a lunch on a business day.
The owner usually comes around and checks on you, and since my friends
are very regulars, she stopped and chatted with us. She is a nice lady. During our conversations on radio knobs, warped oil pan washers, funnies with the software,
our food arrived. Everything was as it
should be, my salad was fairly large and had ham, chicken, tomato, cucumber, and
shredded cheddar distributed around the side.
As noted on the menu, dressing is served “on the side” in a 3.5 oz.
container. The meats were sliced lunch
meat, but they were fresh and tasty. Anyway,
The Mixing Bowl deserves be on any regular rotation for lunch outside the gates
of the base. Better than a chain.
Lunch There:
Friday, I braved the traffic of the beltway to attend a conference
with a potential caterer for a Gala this coming fall. We met in their showroom of rental stuff, a HUGE
building chocked full of table linens in all colors of the rainbow, chairs of every
ilk, dishes in all shapes and sizes, glassware and everything needed for the
non-food part of an event. We discussed the
menu and will most likely go up for a tasting later this summer. We asked about places to have lunch following
our meeting and were directed to a place in “The Village At Shirlington”,
called Carlyle
The Village at Shirlington is a pleasant two or three block tree
lined area with an enclave of cafés, bistros, brewpubs, and restaurants of all
sorts. Just what you would expect in the
“big city”. And so is the inside of the
restaurant, a fairly large, sleek contemporary space
We were led to the table by the lady at the desk who gave us
menus as we were seated. It was a nice
table at the window, which gave us a good view of the goings on outside,
including diners on the patio and the passers by. Very civilized. Their menu for lunch was divided into categories:
Starters; Small and Large Salads; Sandwiches; From the Pan; and From the Grill.
At just about the appropriate time a server approached in a crisp
white shirt, and announced: “my name is <…> would you care for something
besides water to drink?”. As alert readers know, I have a big problem with the all too common "Hi, I'm.... be taking care of you", but this is acceptable. So we ordered iced tea and a glass of KJ chardonnay, and then
he told us about the specials, among which was a pan fried Halibut, and a soft shell crab
sandwich. He left us to ponder our food
selections and went off to fetch the drinks.
After a brief discussion of the nuances of soft shell crabs and
sandwiches, we both sort of settled on the “regular” crab cake sandwich which
came with “remoulade sauce, cole slaw and fries” a sort of ho hum description. After a bit of people watching and pleasant
conversation our sandwiches arrived
The cake was barely bound big lumps of crab, perched on a
bed of remoulade that made you notice it, tasty shoestring fries, and a very
nice tart cole slaw. We couldn’t quite
put our finger on it, but I think there was fennel in there, and maybe celery
root.. it wasn’t just a bunch of chopped cabbage. All in all a very nice dish, kind of belying its
plebian description. Time and road
pressures led us to not linger any longer than necessary, but it was a very
nice lunch. It must be nice to have
options like that available. I guess we
do, its just that 65 mile drive to get there.
Fluffy
The team that educated me about Crab Fluff is in with
another find. They were up in Pasadena, Maryland
and found a place called Anne Arundel Seafood.
From peeking on the web, it looks like one of those places where you go
to the counter and order. Apparently
Crab Fluff was an option so they tried it and sent along a picture.
As you might expect, paper, plastic, and the fluff. And also as you might remember (as I had to
be refreshed) the fluff is basically a crab cake and dipped in batter (in this
case pancake) and deep fried. Somehow
this dish and the name “fluff” don’t seem compatible.
Sad
We had a meeting of a local board the other day, and for
some reason the convener settled on “the Lexington”, the current incarnation of
the Roost. I was quite surprised upon
entering. Gone was the venerable “salad
cart”, long a fixture of the place, and to the right no tables except a couple
of the pool variety. The bar was still
to the left, but of course with none of the classic aviation memorabilia, leaving only a
couple of flat screens and some Keno monitors.
There were a few apparent regulars seated at the bar sucking Bud Light
drafts. Our meeting was in a back room that we shared with an upside down kitchen
sink, and a few other relics (which some might say applied to us) strewn about. Kind of sad that what once was a “go to”
place is now just another victim of the northern movement away from the middle
of Lexington Park.
Well, hope you had a wonderful weekend. Next weekend will be the Raiders and Invaders
weekend, filled with events marking the local impact of that seemingly endless
War of 1812. Maybe you’ll have to be
DFD
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