This week is Restaurant Week in DC. Participating restaurants have special set menus for lunch and dinner for the set price of $20.11 and $35.11, respectively. It's supposed to be a way to generate business at a typically slow time of the year and for restaurants to showcase their cuisine.
Cesar and I and our friends have been big supporters of RW over the years. We use it as an opportunity to try out new places and get a feel for whether we'd want to go back. We've had some great RW experiences: Vidalia and Butterfield 9 come immediately to mind. We've also had some not-so-great experiences. Usually we go to multiple restaurants each RW, but this year chose only one due to our schedules and me starting Weight Watchers this week. So, we were very much looking forward to our one RW night out at J&G Steakhouse last night.
As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, I love red meat and I planned on using all of my WW flex points to splurge on a nice steak dinner with appetizers and dessert. Much to our dismay, we found out late in the afternoon that J&G Steakhouse was not offering steak on its RW menu. Needless to say, we were filled with disappointment before the evening even started. And the disappointment only got worse as the night progressed.
Cesar and I decided to valet park the car, but when we pulled up at the W Hotel, we discovered that valet parking cost $30. Seriously? That is effing ridiculous!!! We decided to see if we could find street parking, which we easily did right in front of the restaurant. So, we went from potentially paying $30 to park to parking for free in a matter of minutes. Plus, we didn't have to give the keys to the car to a stranger, which is something that always makes me nervous. Score one for us!
After much debate over the menu, three of us in our party of four decided to go "off piste" and order from the regular menu instead of the RW menu. Cesar ordered the RW menu and got a butternut and mushroom soup, the short ribs, and an apple crisp dessert. I tried each of these and they were all good. We also ordered the calamari appetizer for the table. I thought it was OK - a little too much breading for my taste and not enough of the tentacle parts which are my favorite. I also split a half dozen oysters with Kevin. I love oysters and they were the first ones I'd had in ages, so I really enjoyed that part. For our entrees, Kevin, Michelle, and I all got the hanger steak frites. The meat was nicely cooked to medium rare, but came out pre-cut, which I didn't like at all. By the time I finished eating it, it was well-done and a bit cool. I wonder if pre-cutting it had something to do with this. But, the biggest problem with the steak was the amount of salt used on it. The bites from the middle were tasty, but the outside pieces were very, very salty. The steak frites were also a disappointment. They tasted like fries that were bought in bulk from a distributor, not made in the restaurant, and there was so much season salt on them that I couldn't eat them. I love me some fries, so for me to leave nearly all of them on my plate shows how inedible they were. Very disappointing. Kevin and Michelle agreed that their steaks and fries were extremely salty. The over-use of salt became a lively topic of conversation among us for a while and many jokes were made at the expense of the chef and the kitchen.
A few highlights of the meal were the creamed spinach with basil and the cheddar fritters. I was skeptical about creamed spinach with basil and wasn't sure how the combo would taste. But, it was good - not too creamy and the basil brightened the taste. It was a nice change from the typical creamed spinach with nutmeg found in so many steakhouses. The cheddar fritters reminded me of jalapeno poppers. It's really hard to go wrong with fried cheese and jalapenos!
For dessert, Kevin had the grand marnier souffle, which both he and Cesar said was good. Cesar's comment was that you could really taste the grand marnier. I passed on trying it since I don't do booze. I had cinnamon ice cream which came with some berries. It was my favorite part of the meal. The cinnamon was spicy and hot and the ice cream was cool and creamy. It was a delicious way to end what was a really disappointing evening.
The opinion of the group was that there are so many great steakhouses in the DC area and with such a disappointing showing at RW, we feel no need to go back and eat there again. When we need our steak fixes, we'll head to Charlie Palmers or other places where we've had great experiences. J&G Steakhouse really missed out on an opportunity to shine and win loyal, returning customers.
I just love your "reality" story telling!
Posted by: stan | 01/20/2011 at 04:03 PM