Where better to start with a round up of some of the edible highlights of our trip to Washington DC than with breakfast?
There are not many things in life better than emerging from the fog of jet leg to be greeted with a giant plate of pancakes as big as your head.
This was most definitely a sight for sore eyes on Saturday morning. A stack of pancakes, sandwiched together with homemade ricotta and topped with a drizzle of lemon syrup and a scattering of lemon curd. The top pictures is my boyfriend's breakfast and is, I think, fairly self-explanatory. This was breakfast at our hotel and a mighty fine breakfast it was too.
As we walked to the White House on Saturday afternoon, we passed Old Ebbitt Grill and, lured in by the huge Christmas soldiers, we decided to make brunch reservations for the following day. A little something to line our stomachs before the beer-fest of the NFL.
The restaurant was buzzing when we arrived for a 10am reservation and proceeded to only get busier and busier as the morning went on. My abiding memory of nearly all the restaurants in Washington DC is how day they are - wood panelling, low ceilings, dim lights. Pretty terrible for trying to get a decent picture of what you're eating but pretty perfect at creating an atmosphere.
We started with a small plate of mini muffins served with strawberry jam. These were inhaled in record time. To follow, I had 'The Breakfast Club' - French toast stuffed with ham, wrapped in bacon and drizzled with maple syrup. I'm not convinced that the portion of fruit on the side (of which you can see a stray grape) necessarily made up for the rest of the meal. Whilst I do like French toast rather a lot, I'm afraid America that I just can't get my head round this meat/maple syrup combination. Every bite was delicious but confusingly so.
Boyfriend had something which I neglected to take a picture of and which I can no longer recall anything about other than that there was an egg and some crab involved. He was more than satisfied.
Whilst we tended to grab a light lunch as we were out and about, dinner was where we really did the damage to our arteries. The night we arrived in Washington DC, we were pretty exhausted and, by the time we were ready for dinner, were approaching 24 hours of awakeness. That is not a happy place for either of us. As a result, we just stumbled out of the hotel to the nearest restaurant, a branch of P J Clarkes, to find comfort in a burger. The food there is hardly going to set the world on fire but it was absolutely perfect for us. My burger was nicely pink and the fries that accompanied it were crispy perfection itself.
On Sunday night, we fancied trying out a new area so headed to Martin's Tavern in Georgetown for, um, more burgers (we normally have a slightly more exciting diet, I promise!). Truth be told, we were both suffering rather in the evenings and struggled to have a coherent conversation past about 9pm. Demanding food was never really on the agenda.
Given that, I was very glad that I had made reservations on Saturday night at America Eats Tavern, a long-term pop up restaurant created by Jose Andres (who I have seen on Top Chef) in collaboration with the National Archives which aims to showcase the best of American food and tell the history of the country on your plate. The menu is eclectic, representing the culinary diversity of the United States and each dish on the menu is presented with a brief history of its origin.
From the oyster menu, we started with the spoonbread with caviar and oyster ice cream. I had no idea what a spoonbread was but it turned out to be a sort of cornbread Yorkshire pudding (if that doesn't sound too bizarre). It was light and fluffy but with the depth of flavour of a good corn bread.
My boyfriend found that the cavier and oyster ice cream got a bit lost in the taste of the cornbread. I, not liking oysters or cavier, tried a tiny amount of both and found them completely overpowering but I am probably not the best judge. It did at least confirm that I really don't like oysters even if they are served in the form of ice cream.
I was back on more familiar territory with my starter of fried chicken with blueberry catsup. I was surprised to discover that deep fried foods were first introduced into America by Spanish and Portuguese slave-traders and that women selling deep fried chicken from a tray balanced on their heads were a familiar sight during the Civil War. The blueberry catsup was sweet and sharp at the same time and was a perfect foil for the crispy richness of the chicken. The menu features eight different catsups (although not all are always available), thinner than the familiar tomato ketchup and packing far more of a flavour punch, it was interesting to see what a difference they made to a meal and to realise that they were used as a condiment, rather than a garnish to be liberally spread over your hot dog.
In the background, you can just see my boyfriend's starter of Eggs a la Benedict. Eaten with a spoon, this combined strips of bacon, a poached egg and a light Hollendaise foam and was much lighter than expected.
Because we felt that we hadn't really eaten enough meat yet, we decided to order the Bison Tomahark Steak (for two people) as our main course. The meat was cooked medium-rare (fine for me, less so for boyfriend) and was served with a cheddar mashed potato, pickled vegetables and a selection of catsups. The meat had a thick marbelling of fat running throughout which kept it incredibly tender and juicy and the pickled vegetables cut through would could otherwise have been an unpleasantly rich dish.
Finally, we moved to the only dessert of the weekend, a de-constructed key lime pie. I absolutely loved this - the lime squiggle in the middle of the plate and the bubble of lime foam were light and fresh, the little blobs of meringue were sweet without being sickly and the crumbled ginger cookie base provided some welcome texture. I could have happily licked the plate clean.
The meal was fairly challenging at times. We had to really think about what we were eating, not only the historical significance of the dishes but also the unusual combinations of flavours and textures which seemed so foreign to our palates but it was such an interesting experience that I'm aching to go back and try some more of the dishes (and maybe have a go at one of the tasting menus). For now though, I should probably stick to the salads and stir fries that my body is craving...