Restaurant Week ~ How I Love Thee! Let me count the ways...Visit #1: Ruth's Chris

1. Ruth's Chris Steak House in Dupont Circle: For $30.08, we got a four-course (ok maybe 3.5 course) steak dinner. It started with their Steak House Salad, a fresh salad with mixed lettuces, cherry tomatoes and garlic croutons. It comes with fresh onion too but I asked for it without. With a choice of several dressings, I went with the creamy lemon basil. The lemon and basil combination sounded delicious, but, well, it was very creamy - a little too creamy for my taste. It was clearly made fresh in the kitchen and I could taste the egg (which isn't necessarily a good thing). Out of four entrees we both chose the Petit Filet (medium rare) because if you go to Ruth's Chris, you should eat a steak. End of story. It came served on an extremely hot plate, it was cooked perfectly inside, and it had a buttery and rich consistency. You can choose a side dish as well, so we ordered one Mashed Potatoes, "with a hint of roasted garlic," and one Sauteed Mushrooms. Both excellent choices, with the potatoes being creamy but not too whipped, and not too garlicky, and the mushrooms being very fresh and served whole. At the end, a choice of several desserts. We ordered one Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce (don't forget, Ruth's Chris is a New Orleans restaurant), and one flourless Chocolate Cake. Definitely order the Bread Pudding. Please get it! It's delicious! The chocolate cake was good too, but the Bread Pudding was the star.

Excellent service, excellent value, and really interesting (yet slightly weird) decor.

Bathrooms - located way in the back, you have to walk very close to other diners to get there, which was a little uncomfortable, at least for me. I almost locked myself in a stall, not realizing immediately that you have to pull the little latch before sliding it back to the right to unlock it. The trash can was overflowing with towels (it was the end of the night, but for $85 for a Porterhouse for 2, someone could empty the trash in this place), and the toilet paper was so thin (again, I expected better) that it took 5 minutes just to remove about 10 squares, which incidentally equal about one square of regular TP.

Not sure I would return since meat is not my favorite, but I'm so glad I went here during Restaurant Week, and so are my iron levels ;)

Did La Befana Bring You Something?

Grazie Befana :-)

New Years Brunch at Meze, Adams Morgan

Bad service, mediocre food, good Bloody Mary. 10 minutes after our party of 6 ordered a variety of breakfast foods, the waitress tells us she forgot to mention before that they are "out of potatoes." Who cares?, you wonder, except that every single egg dish comes with roasted potatoes. I don't like fries with eggs for breakfast but it was either that or a salad to substitute. So I got a very bland and cold dish of eggs florentine - 2 poached eggs (I'm guessing quail eggs from the size of them) atop a soggy cold english muffin with some flavorless tomato and stringy boiled spinach, and a tasteless hollandaise sauce to top it off, with fries. 3 orders of steak and eggs, another eggs florentine, and a mixture of salad, fries, and lentil meatballs for the vegan of the group later, we left unsatisfied with the food but luckily happy with the good company shared.
Tip: Don't get the virgin bloody mary unless you want plain tomato juice mixed with club soda and lime (no spicy bloody mary mix in sight!)
Ladies restroom downstairs ~ fairly clean, with a scary movable faucet, but has soap, towels, and a door that locks securely.
Last word: A fun place for drinks and dancing at night, stay away from the food, which tends to be overpriced and way overrated.