The Four Letter Gourmand: Restaurant Vero and Wine Bar
I've decided to add a new section - and by section, I mean tag, and of course, appropriate picture (which I've used elsewhere, I know, but seems to fit).
For those of you who haven't seen me since the recent diet, you know that quite obviously, I love me some food. And drink. And stuff. And I still do - just, I watch a bit better what I have before having it.
That doesn't mean I still can't play the gourmand, that being one of my current favorite words. Thus, I present "The Four Letter Gourmand". Gourmand, since as a big fat guy (and now as a rapidly shrinking fat guy), I love food and drink, and four letter, because I tend to fucking curse a shit-ton.
Ha ha! Read thatat work! (Don't worry - all links will be safe for work. Now that I have a job where NSFW really means NSFW I tend to respect that a wee bit more.)
Tonight, being bereft of accompaniement and having a wanderlust when it came to victuals and the procuring thereof, I'd decided, since my brother was doomed to a "dinner party", to fly solo and try Restaurant Vero.
I'd seen it many times before - it resides right off Lee Highway, between our house and the grocery store I frequent the most (Harris Teeter). It was often rather dark as viewed by the road, and I had to wonder how good it would be - after all, it's not in the best of strip mall type areas, and the nearest restaurant to it is the Charley Horse, which while it doesn't seem like a BAD restaurant, necessarily, didn't seem like the harbringer of haute or even fine cuisine.
On the other hand, the Tacqueria el Poblano and the Sushi-Zen over by the Harris Teeter are pretty good, and the Washington Post gave Restaurant Vero a good review. Even a coworker recommended it. I decided to give it a shot.
The big thing about the place is that it's small. I knew that from driving by, so I used OpenTable.com to set up a reservation. Then I drove over about 15 minutes early; that got me there closer to 10 minutes early, but I lucked out completely by finding a spot open right in front of the restaurant. It did make me a bit self-conscious, because I was shining my headlights right on some patrons, but I tend to end up with a lot of self-consciousness when going to a new restaurant, particularly solo. OH WELL. Noting how dark it looked, though, I went ahead and left my book in the car.
It was a bit disconcerting walking in. You go through the door and there's - uh - nothing. A four foot hallway of sorts with a velvet curtain. Pushing past that, you're in the middle of the dining room, with everyone staring at you (not really), but there's no real set hostess stand, it seemed - either that, or the hostess missed me coming in, so I walked to the small bar (about 4-6 seats or so) and mentioned I had a reservation for one. I had my choice at the bar, at a high top, or at a window table, so I picked a window table then sat where I could see the rest of the restaurant.
(It's Lee Highway, folks. Not exactly scenic.)
I sat down and got the wine list and menu. The menu is shorter than the wine list; you have a page of starters and a page of entrees, plus a tucked in sheet of specials. The wine list is longer, and there's a decent bottled beer list on the table. After some contemplation, I ordered an appetizer of the lamb chops, and upon recommendation of my waitress, a glass of pinot noir.
A quick note on scenery: my waitress resembled quite favorably Inara from Firefly and I don't mean she looked like a hooker, but rather that she reminded me of Morena Baccarain, and that's not a bad thing. The wait staff was entirely female (I saw one male, but I'm guessing he looked like a managerial type) and the majority of patrons were women. That's awesome if you're a single guy, and I am. It doesn't help, of course, but it's still better than (say) Bailey's.
The first thing out was my wine and some bread with olive oil infused with black pepper. The bread was warm and delicious, as was the olive oil; the pinot noir was also quite tasty-licious. (YES THAT IS A WORD I SAID IT WAS.)
The lamb chops, though - those were fucking wonderful. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. They were damn hell ass good, as my brother might say. The waitress mentioned they were her favorites, and probably, if the merlot (her first choice in wine) was anywhere near as good, and I'd gotten it, I would've married her.
(Well, okay, maybe not, and I just need to get laid more, but I think I digress.)
Finishing my wine and gnawing the bones dry, I had a piece of bread and some water to cleanse ye olde palate before getting a main course of crab cakes over herbed orza and a glass of pinot grigio.
The crab cakes were good. I think I have a problem, in that I've had a lot of very, very good crab cakes (for Virginia, at least, and I've never been IN Maryland and had crab cakes, so I can't say on theirs really), and thus, my standards are high. These were good. Quite tasty. The veggies with them - green beans, I believe - were a bit disappointing, but the orza was good too.
The pinot grigio was quite tasty on its own, but didn't stand up with the crab. I hadn't asked for advice on which wine to get with the crab cakes, so it's no one's fault but my own. I think next time I'd get a chardonnay.
It wasn't the cheapest place in the world. The appetizer was $8.50, each glass of wine $8, and the main dish $18. But it was very very good, and I will definitely go back.
For those of you who haven't seen me since the recent diet, you know that quite obviously, I love me some food. And drink. And stuff. And I still do - just, I watch a bit better what I have before having it.
That doesn't mean I still can't play the gourmand, that being one of my current favorite words. Thus, I present "The Four Letter Gourmand". Gourmand, since as a big fat guy (and now as a rapidly shrinking fat guy), I love food and drink, and four letter, because I tend to fucking curse a shit-ton.
Ha ha! Read thatat work! (Don't worry - all links will be safe for work. Now that I have a job where NSFW really means NSFW I tend to respect that a wee bit more.)
Tonight, being bereft of accompaniement and having a wanderlust when it came to victuals and the procuring thereof, I'd decided, since my brother was doomed to a "dinner party", to fly solo and try Restaurant Vero.
I'd seen it many times before - it resides right off Lee Highway, between our house and the grocery store I frequent the most (Harris Teeter). It was often rather dark as viewed by the road, and I had to wonder how good it would be - after all, it's not in the best of strip mall type areas, and the nearest restaurant to it is the Charley Horse, which while it doesn't seem like a BAD restaurant, necessarily, didn't seem like the harbringer of haute or even fine cuisine.
On the other hand, the Tacqueria el Poblano and the Sushi-Zen over by the Harris Teeter are pretty good, and the Washington Post gave Restaurant Vero a good review. Even a coworker recommended it. I decided to give it a shot.
The big thing about the place is that it's small. I knew that from driving by, so I used OpenTable.com to set up a reservation. Then I drove over about 15 minutes early; that got me there closer to 10 minutes early, but I lucked out completely by finding a spot open right in front of the restaurant. It did make me a bit self-conscious, because I was shining my headlights right on some patrons, but I tend to end up with a lot of self-consciousness when going to a new restaurant, particularly solo. OH WELL. Noting how dark it looked, though, I went ahead and left my book in the car.
It was a bit disconcerting walking in. You go through the door and there's - uh - nothing. A four foot hallway of sorts with a velvet curtain. Pushing past that, you're in the middle of the dining room, with everyone staring at you (not really), but there's no real set hostess stand, it seemed - either that, or the hostess missed me coming in, so I walked to the small bar (about 4-6 seats or so) and mentioned I had a reservation for one. I had my choice at the bar, at a high top, or at a window table, so I picked a window table then sat where I could see the rest of the restaurant.
(It's Lee Highway, folks. Not exactly scenic.)
I sat down and got the wine list and menu. The menu is shorter than the wine list; you have a page of starters and a page of entrees, plus a tucked in sheet of specials. The wine list is longer, and there's a decent bottled beer list on the table. After some contemplation, I ordered an appetizer of the lamb chops, and upon recommendation of my waitress, a glass of pinot noir.
A quick note on scenery: my waitress resembled quite favorably Inara from Firefly and I don't mean she looked like a hooker, but rather that she reminded me of Morena Baccarain, and that's not a bad thing. The wait staff was entirely female (I saw one male, but I'm guessing he looked like a managerial type) and the majority of patrons were women. That's awesome if you're a single guy, and I am. It doesn't help, of course, but it's still better than (say) Bailey's.
The first thing out was my wine and some bread with olive oil infused with black pepper. The bread was warm and delicious, as was the olive oil; the pinot noir was also quite tasty-licious. (YES THAT IS A WORD I SAID IT WAS.)
The lamb chops, though - those were fucking wonderful. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. They were damn hell ass good, as my brother might say. The waitress mentioned they were her favorites, and probably, if the merlot (her first choice in wine) was anywhere near as good, and I'd gotten it, I would've married her.
(Well, okay, maybe not, and I just need to get laid more, but I think I digress.)
Finishing my wine and gnawing the bones dry, I had a piece of bread and some water to cleanse ye olde palate before getting a main course of crab cakes over herbed orza and a glass of pinot grigio.
The crab cakes were good. I think I have a problem, in that I've had a lot of very, very good crab cakes (for Virginia, at least, and I've never been IN Maryland and had crab cakes, so I can't say on theirs really), and thus, my standards are high. These were good. Quite tasty. The veggies with them - green beans, I believe - were a bit disappointing, but the orza was good too.
The pinot grigio was quite tasty on its own, but didn't stand up with the crab. I hadn't asked for advice on which wine to get with the crab cakes, so it's no one's fault but my own. I think next time I'd get a chardonnay.
It wasn't the cheapest place in the world. The appetizer was $8.50, each glass of wine $8, and the main dish $18. But it was very very good, and I will definitely go back.