Thursday, August 23, 2012

A Girls' Night Out in DC

Earlier this summer, three friends and I had a fabulous girls' night out in the city.  We got all dressed up, had drinks and a lovely dinner, and then splurged on a special dessert.  It was really nice to get together, as it was the first time we'd all been in the same place in probably ten or so years.  I would recommend both of our locations, so here are our thoughts:

Drinks and dinner were at PS 7, which is right by the Verizon Center.  This had been on my to-try list for a while and it could not have been any better.  We started with drinks at the bar, where our waiter was incredibly attentive and nice.  He brought us a little bowl of spicy popcorn on top of the martini, champagne and St. Germain, Smashberry cocktail, and pineapple sangria.  All were delicious and well constructed. 

We split 3 appetizers - the housemade hot dogs, tuna sliders and nutty goat flatbread.  I think we all agreed the flatbread was the best, but everything was great.  For our main courses, a friend and I both ordered the smoked gnocchi, which was one of the best dishes I have ever had.  It was totally vegetarian but the smoke made it seem meaty and hearty. 

Someone else got the pan roasted chicken, which looked so good I may order it next time. 

While we were enjoying our feast, we admired the table behind us, eating PS 7's fried chicken picnic, which comes with a number of sides, a dessert, and adult beverage.  I definitely will be back to try that!

The food was wonderful, service was excellent, and the company made it even better.  All smiles, we moved on to dessert at Coco Sala.  I'd been right when it opened several years ago, when it was almost strictly a dessert place, but now the menu includes savory entrees and appetizers as well.  Obviously, we were just there for the chocolate though.  We selected from the yummy drink menu, including a frozen hot chocolate and something that tasted just like a chocolate covered strawberry. 

My friends all ordered the Chocolate Onyx, which was described as"dark chocolate mousse / vanilla crème brulee / salted caramel / crispy chocolate pearls / brownie /dark chocolate sorbet / cinnamon toffee bon bon."
It looked very rich and decadent and no one was able to finish it!  I was the rebel and ordered the Sticky Situation, which was "warm sticky toffee pudding cake / chocolate shavings / brown butter toffee sauce / ginger caramel ice cream" and as much as I adore chocolate, I was really glad I got this.  It was so warm and sweet and salty and just awesome.  Our server, once again, was excellent, and the atmosphere was lots of fun.  It was almost like a dance club - they even have their own DJ! 

All in all, it was a really great night and everyone had a fun time.  We will definitely be doing this again and if we went to the same places, no one would be upset.  Both are worth checking out!

Monday, August 20, 2012

Another Trip to NYC

Long time, no post!  We've been on summer break and now that things are back to normal, we'll try to resume our regularly scheduled blogging. 

Something I've been meaning to post about for a very long time is a trip BJ and I took to New York way back in March.  He thought my trip in January sounded fun, so we booked a quick overnight trip so we could go see Once: The Musical, which happens to be based on one of BJ's favorite movies of all time.  Here's the quick version of our trip:

Megabus - wonderful, as always.  The pick-up place in the city had moved from the last trip and made life much easier. 

Shake Shack - this was on our must-list to try, even though we now have on in DC.  Go figure.  We loved it.  The burger was decadent and juicy and the crinkle cut fries were excellent.  We liked it better than Five Guys, Bobby's Burger Palace and some other trendy burger joints that are escaping me at the moment.

Laduree Macarons - We walked around the city and found ourselves nearby this little shop.  Having heard great things about these little cookie things, I waited patiently in the 20 minute line to try them.  It was hot.  And pretentious.  And insanely expensive.  And totally not worth it.  Not only were the macarons tiny and sickeningly sweet, the flavors tasted completely artificial to me.  I was seriously shocked.  With all the hype out there, you'd think they were made of gold.  I may get maimed for saying it, but they were just gross.  Avoid avoid avoid.



Colicchio & Sons Tap Room - this was our obligatory celebrity restaurant outing of the trip.  We love Tom Colicchio from Top Chef and his menu looked great, so off we went.  I had a squash soup with Brussels sprouts on top that was so creamy and silky, just delicious. 

If I remember correctly, BJ had bone marrow of some sort, that he also enjoyed.  We both ordered the ricotta cavatelli with a short rib ragout for our entrees, and as BJ said "it was good enough to weep over."  Also of note was the service.  Our waiter was fantastic, very attentive and gave great recommendation, and the manager even came over and chatted for a bit.  Everyone was so nice - highly recommended.

We ended the evening, after the show, with a slice of cheesecake from Juniors, which was fabulous as always.  I always have a good time in NYC and this was no exception.