The Best I Ever Had
I thought I had blogged about this last June, which was the first official Really Expensive Restaurant Month (last year it was Maestro, Laboratorio del Galileo, and Vidalia), but I guess I was too fat and happy to do so, so I can't track back to that blissful (non)entry. This June is the second annual Really Expensive Restaurant Month, which will see meals in the coming weeks at Palena, and Colvin Run Tavern.
But neither of them (and none of last year's, as remarkable as they were) will likely compare to the meal Ann and I ate on Friday evening. Regarded by many as the best restaurant in DC metro, and by some as the best in the nation, The Inn at Little Washington lives up to the hype (and that website is worth a visit, too).
I will spare you all the gory details, but a few of them couldn't hurt:
* I had fois gras at two different courses (and could've had it for a third)
* Ann was "not disappointed" by the trio of chocolate desserts, which hasn't happened in a very long time.
* When they didn't have any aged gouda on Faira, the cow-shaped cheese trolley (whiched mooed as it was wheeled out), the Frommager whispered something to our server, who shortly came out with a plate of the best aged gouda I'd ever had. in addition to a full cheese course. which was also the best I've ever had. no extra charge.
Now this last point may seem like faint praise, since this was not a cheap meal (birthday, father's day, and official new-job-taking-us-out-of-the-area celebrations were needed in conjunction to justify this trip), but last year at Maestro, they charged us a great deal for every bottle of water they opened, and tap was never offered as an option. when being nickeled and dimed translated into five- and ten-dollar bills, there's a problem. Here we knew we were paying a large sum, and all the little extras were just part of it. period.
Anyway, not every course was the best thing I'd ever eaten, but with the underlying sense of whimsy, the precise-but-not-stiff service, and some of the best things I've ever eaten (did I mention the glass of vintage port as old as my sister, this was the best meal I'd ever had.
July: No-Going-To-Restaurants Month.