Our adventure at The Tides this evening (Saturday, 14 July) was a 9.5! Take advantage of this well situated restaurant (46580 Expedition Drive, Lexingron Park) for a great meal for your next special occasion. Reservations are recommended - 301.862.5303.
We enjoyed a nice bottle of California Cabernet with the warm bread and olive oil / balsamic vinegar dip. Two in our party had the soup of the day, a split pea, that was not the traditional thick pea soup but was light and aromatic, fragrant with parmesan. They both agreed that is was delicious.
Dinner entrees enjoyed by our group included pan seared duck breast with blackberry gastrique, bacon wrapped filet mignon with blackberry port sauce, Chicken Chesapeake - pan seared chicken breast with jumbo lump crab and sherry cream sauce, and special of the day Seafood Medley - soft crab, shrimp, and scallops. The duck diner said that the dish was delicious and he cleaned his plate. I enjoyed the filet mignon and was absolutely delighted by the perfectly cooked tender filet (medium rare). I asked the other filet mignon diner for a numerical rating and he said 9.5 - I had to agree. It was one of the best pieces of beef that I've had in a long time. The sauce and scattered blackberries contributed to the flavor experience. The chicken diners agreed that their dinner was delicious - they both ate their crab and half of the chicken breast, taking the other half home for lunch tomorrow. The Seafood Medley diner said that his dinner was tasty and ample.
Sides selected by our diners were asparagas, snow peas, garlic mashed potatoes, and crab risotto. Being an asparagas lover, I would have enjoyed more than the three little spears but it was an adequate serving. The crab risotto was another fabulous dish that several diners raved about. That was also one of my selections and it was indeed enjoyable, creamy and flavorful.
We really indulged this evening and several of us had dessert and coffee. Our selections ranged from Baked Alaska to Chocolate Cream Pie, to Blueberry Cheesecake. The Baked Alaska was made with orange sherbert and was okay - more sherbert would have enhanced the taste. The cake and meringue were just a little too sweet while the sherbert lent a tang to the dish but it was a melted puddle in the bottom of the bowl. The Chocolate Cream Pie served in a ramekin was decadent - rich, creamy, chocolatey - who could ask for more in a chocolate dessert?! The Blueberry Cheesecake was dry. It had a slightly tangy taste which I didn't mind - reminded me of yogurt - but it formed a paste in the mouth that required coffee or water to wash down - gross!
Put this treasure on your list of places to have a wonderful meal. I don't often find myself back in Lexington Park once the work week is done. I have enjoyed some delicious and affordable lunches at The Tides, but it's now at the top of my dinner recommendations as of this very evening. Enjoy!
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Sunday, July 1, 2012
The Birchmere Music Hall, Alexandria, VA
The Birchmere Music Hall is a great place to hear live music of all kinds - check out the website at http://www.birchmere.com/ and make the trip soon. It's only about 1.5 hours from Lexington Park for an evening of great entertainment. We went on 29 June to hear The Flatlanders - a TX group with an entertaining background and unique sound. But ... this is a food blog.
I had the Mexican Chicken Tostada, chicken layered with black beans, a tostada, and diced tomatoes in a casserole dish with monetery jack cheese melted on top, served with a side of mango slaw. Hubby had the prime rib sandwich au jus with spud of the day, sweet potato chips. I've never been impressed with The Birchmere food. They have a captive audience - if you want a good seat for the show, you need to arrive early to get a seat when the doors open about an hour and a half before the performance. I wasn't surprised by the ordinary dinner - a solid 7 on this recent evening.
The service was excellent and it usually is at The Birchmere. The servers are adept at coordinating multiple orders and check frequently for beverage refills. The Birchmere no longer serves pitchers of water. Now you have to pay $2 for a bottle of water. At least they threw in the glass with ice.
I had the Mexican Chicken Tostada, chicken layered with black beans, a tostada, and diced tomatoes in a casserole dish with monetery jack cheese melted on top, served with a side of mango slaw. Hubby had the prime rib sandwich au jus with spud of the day, sweet potato chips. I've never been impressed with The Birchmere food. They have a captive audience - if you want a good seat for the show, you need to arrive early to get a seat when the doors open about an hour and a half before the performance. I wasn't surprised by the ordinary dinner - a solid 7 on this recent evening.
The service was excellent and it usually is at The Birchmere. The servers are adept at coordinating multiple orders and check frequently for beverage refills. The Birchmere no longer serves pitchers of water. Now you have to pay $2 for a bottle of water. At least they threw in the glass with ice.
Dempsey's Brew Pub and Restaurant, Camden Yards
Here's the deal - rather than balance a dog or nachos on your lap during the game, get to Camden Yards early and enjoy lunch or dinner at Dempsey's. It's bustling but cool (temperature wise) and deco wise as well - lots of great photos of Orioles legends decorating the walls.
I had the mixed greens salad with a tasty vinaigrette. The salad had walnuts, apple wedges, and I opted for crabmeat to top it off. You want to know what little bit 4 oz of crab meat is - about a tablespoon! Oh well, the salad was fresh and delicious and I swiped a few nachos from my son's plate for some crunch. Others ordered loaded nachos which looked great and from the taste that I got with the occasional sneak, was great - fresh salsa; foccacia pizza presented well on a wooden board; and the crab cake sandwich looked tasty and was rated okay. Overall, this experience was higher than middle of the road, perhaps as high as 7. It's just a lot better than the balancing act while squished into a ballpark seat with cheering fans on either side. The Orioles won so that made my day!
I had the mixed greens salad with a tasty vinaigrette. The salad had walnuts, apple wedges, and I opted for crabmeat to top it off. You want to know what little bit 4 oz of crab meat is - about a tablespoon! Oh well, the salad was fresh and delicious and I swiped a few nachos from my son's plate for some crunch. Others ordered loaded nachos which looked great and from the taste that I got with the occasional sneak, was great - fresh salsa; foccacia pizza presented well on a wooden board; and the crab cake sandwich looked tasty and was rated okay. Overall, this experience was higher than middle of the road, perhaps as high as 7. It's just a lot better than the balancing act while squished into a ballpark seat with cheering fans on either side. The Orioles won so that made my day!
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Chief's - Your Neighborhood Bar, Tall Timbers, MD
It's been a while since we dined at Chief's but it's become one of my daughter's favorite places so we agreed to head over for a Sunday evening bite.
Chief's wasn't very busy (I considered that a good thing since the last time we stopped by the parking lot was jammed and the place was pretty much closed for a private party) this evening - there were several people on the deck, 4 people at the bar, and 8 people besides our foursome for dinner. We had our choice of seats and within a minute or two a server was taking our drink order.
Chief's is not fancy - plain formica tables, metal frame chairs, a few tables have oil cloth coverings ... you get the idea. There's a roll of paper towels on each table, S&P, Old Bay seasoning, etc. Drinks were served promptly, no cocktail napkin - but hey, I've got an entire roll of paper towels - ha!
Our orders:
Diner 1 (yours truly) - crab imperial stuffed flounder, french fries, cole slaw.
Diner 2 (hubby) - crab cake dinner (two cakes), french fries, cole slaw.
Diner 3 (daughter) - cheese steak (go figure!!! - but it's one of her favorites and she orders it at Chief's regularly).
Diner 4 (son-in-law) - crab cake sandwich, french fries.
The flounder and crab imperial were delicious and presented gorgeously - flounder laying flat with a slit in the skin, slightly opened to accommodate a mound of crab filling -I rate this a solid 9 on a 10 scale - can you believe it - at Your Neighborhood Bar! The crab cakes were fried (neither diner chose the broiled option), crisp on the outside and well-seasoned and flavorful on the inside. The cheese steak looked huge and was exactly as my daughter expected. I think Chief's makes their own cole slaw - it's wet and brings back memories of Grandmom - I know they put sugar in the dressing!
I'm very particular about service. Our server was a college student, attends CSM studying Environmental Science. He was a very polite young man (I didn't get his name - I don't need to be friends with my server but I should have asked his name so that I could follow up with Chief's management about how pleasant he was). Our server told us the specials of the day very clearly describing each. I asked if he had tired them - and to my surprise he said that he had! How many times has your server not had a clue about what they were offering you for dinner?! He actually recommended the crab stuffed flounder and I later thanked him for that recommendation. The biggest deal for me was when our server brought our silverware and napkins (so, okay, they were paper napkins) before dinner was served. Again, how many times has your server brought your food and you've had no utensils at the table?!
Chief's was a Sunday evening pleasure! It's about to become one of my favorites, especially since they routinely have soft crabs in season and I remember having them at the restaurant last year. It's so nice to have a neighborhood place to go for good food.
Check them out - http://www.wjdent.com/, Monday thru Thursday 4-9 p.m., Fri Sat Sun noon-9 p.m. Give me a call and I'll meet you there!
Chief's wasn't very busy (I considered that a good thing since the last time we stopped by the parking lot was jammed and the place was pretty much closed for a private party) this evening - there were several people on the deck, 4 people at the bar, and 8 people besides our foursome for dinner. We had our choice of seats and within a minute or two a server was taking our drink order.
Chief's is not fancy - plain formica tables, metal frame chairs, a few tables have oil cloth coverings ... you get the idea. There's a roll of paper towels on each table, S&P, Old Bay seasoning, etc. Drinks were served promptly, no cocktail napkin - but hey, I've got an entire roll of paper towels - ha!
Our orders:
Diner 1 (yours truly) - crab imperial stuffed flounder, french fries, cole slaw.
Diner 2 (hubby) - crab cake dinner (two cakes), french fries, cole slaw.
Diner 3 (daughter) - cheese steak (go figure!!! - but it's one of her favorites and she orders it at Chief's regularly).
Diner 4 (son-in-law) - crab cake sandwich, french fries.
The flounder and crab imperial were delicious and presented gorgeously - flounder laying flat with a slit in the skin, slightly opened to accommodate a mound of crab filling -I rate this a solid 9 on a 10 scale - can you believe it - at Your Neighborhood Bar! The crab cakes were fried (neither diner chose the broiled option), crisp on the outside and well-seasoned and flavorful on the inside. The cheese steak looked huge and was exactly as my daughter expected. I think Chief's makes their own cole slaw - it's wet and brings back memories of Grandmom - I know they put sugar in the dressing!
I'm very particular about service. Our server was a college student, attends CSM studying Environmental Science. He was a very polite young man (I didn't get his name - I don't need to be friends with my server but I should have asked his name so that I could follow up with Chief's management about how pleasant he was). Our server told us the specials of the day very clearly describing each. I asked if he had tired them - and to my surprise he said that he had! How many times has your server not had a clue about what they were offering you for dinner?! He actually recommended the crab stuffed flounder and I later thanked him for that recommendation. The biggest deal for me was when our server brought our silverware and napkins (so, okay, they were paper napkins) before dinner was served. Again, how many times has your server brought your food and you've had no utensils at the table?!
Chief's was a Sunday evening pleasure! It's about to become one of my favorites, especially since they routinely have soft crabs in season and I remember having them at the restaurant last year. It's so nice to have a neighborhood place to go for good food.
Check them out - http://www.wjdent.com/, Monday thru Thursday 4-9 p.m., Fri Sat Sun noon-9 p.m. Give me a call and I'll meet you there!
The Lexington Restaurant, Lexington Park, MD
I hit The Lexington a couple of years ago for dinner before a show at Three Notch Theatre. I vowed not to return but I did again the same theatre season. So, fast forward two years.
I was part of a group dinner at The Lexington last Thursday evening. Cocktails at 6, dinner following, order from the menu. I stopped by the bar on my way to the back dining room which had been reserved for our group. I ordered a drink which came in the flimsiest plastic cup I've ever had - it surely wasn't a Solo cup! No cocktail napkin served with my drink - you know what a napkin freak I am. Picking up the drink, the slighest squeeze on the sides of the cup propelled liquid all over my hand and the bar. Oh well, it was Thursday, the week was almost over, I'll live with it.
We were seated in the back room - horseshoe-shaped table set up. Decent silverware and cloth napkins - a plus! The server took individual orders on a small tablet - name and entree on each page. Not sure who ordered what, but servers started coming to the room with items that apparently nobody in our party ordered. I took a rest room break and salads were served during the 5 minutes that I was gone - if you have my name, my seat location, and my order, just leave my salad at my place instead of taking it back to the kitchen. It took a few minutes but I finally got a salad, mostly iceberg with two cherry tomatoes and two slices of cucumber ... by the time I got my salad, entrees were being served. It was slightly entertaining since we were having a dinner meeting and the wait staff came to the room bellowing, "Who ordered the NY strip? Who ordered the cold plate? Who wants crab imperial?" Kind of put a halt to the meeting until everyone had their food.
What can I say about the food? There was quite a bit of grumbling. My crab imperial wasn't terrible - about a 6 on a 10 scale for taste. It was an ample serving but it wasn't very warm. I think the baked potato was actually baked - not microwaved so that was a plus. Bread was a plain roll - kind of like a small hamburger roll - white. I'm just glad I didn't order a steak - the NY strip was about 1/4" thick. I would have been extremely diappointed.
The Lexington seems to have turned into a bar with wings and burgers as specialties. Not that there's anything wrong with that - I really like dive bars! I just need to make a mental note that they are not great places for a dinner meeting. Give it a shot and see for yourself!
I was part of a group dinner at The Lexington last Thursday evening. Cocktails at 6, dinner following, order from the menu. I stopped by the bar on my way to the back dining room which had been reserved for our group. I ordered a drink which came in the flimsiest plastic cup I've ever had - it surely wasn't a Solo cup! No cocktail napkin served with my drink - you know what a napkin freak I am. Picking up the drink, the slighest squeeze on the sides of the cup propelled liquid all over my hand and the bar. Oh well, it was Thursday, the week was almost over, I'll live with it.
We were seated in the back room - horseshoe-shaped table set up. Decent silverware and cloth napkins - a plus! The server took individual orders on a small tablet - name and entree on each page. Not sure who ordered what, but servers started coming to the room with items that apparently nobody in our party ordered. I took a rest room break and salads were served during the 5 minutes that I was gone - if you have my name, my seat location, and my order, just leave my salad at my place instead of taking it back to the kitchen. It took a few minutes but I finally got a salad, mostly iceberg with two cherry tomatoes and two slices of cucumber ... by the time I got my salad, entrees were being served. It was slightly entertaining since we were having a dinner meeting and the wait staff came to the room bellowing, "Who ordered the NY strip? Who ordered the cold plate? Who wants crab imperial?" Kind of put a halt to the meeting until everyone had their food.
What can I say about the food? There was quite a bit of grumbling. My crab imperial wasn't terrible - about a 6 on a 10 scale for taste. It was an ample serving but it wasn't very warm. I think the baked potato was actually baked - not microwaved so that was a plus. Bread was a plain roll - kind of like a small hamburger roll - white. I'm just glad I didn't order a steak - the NY strip was about 1/4" thick. I would have been extremely diappointed.
The Lexington seems to have turned into a bar with wings and burgers as specialties. Not that there's anything wrong with that - I really like dive bars! I just need to make a mental note that they are not great places for a dinner meeting. Give it a shot and see for yourself!
The Gal is Back
SOMD Foodie Gal is back!!!
I misfiled my username and password so have been out of touch for a while. But, that doesn't mean that I stopped eating! I've missed some great opportunities to tell you how wonderful some restaurants are (Cafe des Artistes and The Tides) - please put these locally owned restaurants on your list and enjoy their fine cuisine. I really will highlight meals there on my next visits. In the meantime, you pay them a visit and let me know about your favorite food selections.
I misfiled my username and password so have been out of touch for a while. But, that doesn't mean that I stopped eating! I've missed some great opportunities to tell you how wonderful some restaurants are (Cafe des Artistes and The Tides) - please put these locally owned restaurants on your list and enjoy their fine cuisine. I really will highlight meals there on my next visits. In the meantime, you pay them a visit and let me know about your favorite food selections.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)