Bastille — Lunch on 30 August 2016

I may have saved the best for last.  My final stop for Summer 2016 Restaurant Weeks was Bastille, a wonderful old favourite in Alexandria, Virginia.  The restaurant’s name and the Tricoleurs ever-so-subtlely hint at the restaurant’s cuisine.  Once again, it was like going home.*

From start to finish, my meal here was sheer perfection.

Oysters

Wonderful little fried oysters with preserved citrus aioli, plated like a work of art.

Duck Confit

The confit de canard was classic.  Click on the image to enbiggen, and take a closer look at this beautiful dish.  The duck was falling-off-the-bone tender, and the skin was crunchy.  It came with a medley of  braised peaches, cipoline onions, summer squashes, and roasted potatoes, served on a honey gastrique.

Truffle Cake

And finally this Gateau Fondant au Chocolat—a chocolate truffle cake with caramel, Valrhona chocolate,  ice cream, and a pecan tuile on the top.

A perfect meal.

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*There’s a character in a Peter De Vries novel who “always wanted to be born in Boston.”  I feel the same way about Europe.

Je suis Européen!

Least Surprising TV News of the Summer

Netflix has finally made it official.  It announced this morning, to absolutely no one’s surprise, that Stranger Things  will be back in 2017.  The nine new episodes  will be set in 1984, a year after the events in this year’s version, and will include many of the same cast members.

Despite the final frame of the teaser, the Duffer Brothers are describing this as a sequel, rather than a second season.   That seems to matter to them.

Fingers crossed.  At the beginning of summer, I was excited about the return of two of the best show of 2015:  UnREAL and Mr. Robot.  That didn’t end well.  UnREAL was all over the place this year, and got disastrous reviews.  Mr. Robot, last time I looked, seemed stuck somewhere in its own head.  I bailed after a few tedious, over-long episodes, planning to catch up later in the season (which, from past experience, I know I’ll never do.)

But back to Stranger Things:  Remember how each episode this year had a chapter title?  There will be nine episodes next year.  The teaser above includes nine words or phrases.  Is this a mild spoiler?

King Street Garden Park

Before heading back to Washington after lunch at Vermilion, I spent some time reading in the King Street Garden Park, which is a fascinating work of public art.   The park is a 15,000 square-foot triangular plot of land near the Old Town Alexandria metro station.  In winter, it’s just a brick-paved plaza with a metal framework, but when the weather warms up, it turns into a big vine-covered tent.

There are a few tables and chairs and benches scattered about, and it’s always quiet and never crowded.  It’s a good place to escape the hectic city.

Vermilion — Lunch on 24 August 2016

I like to mix new discoveries with old favourites during Restaurant Weeks, so I’m ending this year’s adventure at two places in Alexandria that I’ve been visiting for years.  First up is Vermilion, on King Street in Old Town, a restaurant that has always surprised and delighted me..

Red Pepper Soup

The Red Pepper Soup was served chilled, with poached shrimp.  The colour of this soup was even more intense than it appears in the photograph.

Salmon

Salmon again, for the second time in two days.  This Seared Salmon, though was an entirely different kettle of fish (sorry) from the grilled salmon in white wine and sherry that I had yesterday at The Wharf.  As to which I preferred, it was a draw.

Oreo Silk Torte

Oh, this was good.  Vermilion called this an Oreo Silk Torte.  It was made of milk and dark chocolate custard, whipped milk chocolate ganache, oreo crumble,  and mint meringue, and I couldn’t get enough of it.

10 Minutes of The Play that Goes Wrong

The Play that Goes Wrong is two hours of terrible acting, tacky sets, failing props, low humour, and silly slapstick, utterly without redeeming social value or literary merit.  It’s also one of the funniest plays you’ll ever see.

Some of the cast performed this 10-minute excerpt at last year’s Royal Variety Show.

I laughed through the entire show when I saw it in London last year.  The play won the Olivier Award for Best New Comedy in 2015, and it’s scheduled to run at least through September 2017.

Here’s the Official Trailer:

The Wharf — Lunch on 23 August 2016

Noe that we’re into the homestretch of 2016 Summer Restaurant Week(s), the action shifts to Alexandria, Virginia.  Today’s lunch was at The Wharf, a seafood restaurant a couple of blocks from the waterfront in Old Town Alexandria.

It was a warm day, but not so warm as to prevent outdoor dining.  After July’s triple digit temperature, late August is feeling quite pleasant.

Clam Chowder

I’d ordered the She Crab Soup, but when the server brought me this creamy New England Clam Chowder, I decided to keep it instead of sending it back.  No regrets.  It was good, and I’ll try the She Crab next time.

Salmon

A few years ago, it seemed as if one of the appetizer options at every Restaurant Week participant was kale salad.  This summer, I had to work hard to avoid gazpacho.

But year in and year out, a salmon main course is ubiquitous.  Fortunately for me, I really like salmon.   The Wharf’s version was Grilled Atlantic Salmon with sautéed Texas Treasure shrimp, spring onions, and a white wine and sherry sauce.

Bread Pudding

The White Chocolate Raspberry Bread Pudding, with Chantilly cream, tasted as great as it looks.

Florence + The Machine — “Wish That You Were Here”

The release of Tim Burton’s film adaptation of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is a little more than a month away, and yesterday, Florence + The Machine released a new song from the soundtrack.

I posted an item back in March that mentioned my mixed feelings about both the movie and the original book.  Since then, I’ve become somewhat more optimistic.  I’ll be seeing this one.

You can watch the original trailer at the link above, and the second trailer below.

Between this and the upcoming The Space Between Us, Asa Butterfield* is having quite a year, isn’t he?

The movie opens on 20 September 2016.

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*Full name:   Asa Maxwell Thornton Farr Butterfield, btw.  The British do this sort of thing so well.

Even better:  Although He was born with the middle names “Maxwell Thornton,” he uses the middle name “Bopp” on his passport, because the Hale-Bopp comet was in the sky when he was born.

American Gods — First Trailer

Here’s the first trailer for American Gods, the STARZ series that will be based on Neil Gaiman’s novel of the same name.

I’m sort of embarrassed to admit I’ve never read American Gods.  It was a bestseller, and won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for best novel.

Gaiman, author of novels, comic books uh, graphic novels, short fiction, and films, is a major presence on the Web and in contemporary pop culture.  Several of his books have been adapted for film, notably including the stop-motion version of Coraline and the charming, criminally underappreciated Stardust.  Ron Howard is set to direct The Graveyard Book, which won the 2009 Newbery Medal for Gaiman.

American Gods will premiere in 2017.

China Chilcano and the Art of Cecilia Paredes

“[Cecilia Paredes] is a contemporary performance and installation artist, who is best known for her unusual work in which she uses her own body as a canvas for body paint.  Her last name, Paredes, which means walls in Spanish, perfectly suits her fascination with turning herself into a human chameleon and melting herself into the walls.”
–Cross Connect

Back in January 2015, I posted an item about the works of Cecilia Paredes, a Peruvian artist.  The picture above shows part of the interior of China Chilcano, the restaurant where I had lunch on Monday.   If you look closely at the rear wall, you’ll see that it displays this Cecilia Paredes image, which is called “Both Worlds”:

Seeing it was like unexpectedly running into an old friend.

I asked my hostess about it, mangling the pronunciation of the artist’s name, and learned that Paredes, who now lives in Philadelphia, is a frequent visitor to China Chilcano.  It was only later, when I remembered how well she blends into the background, that it occurred to me that she might have been there even as we spoke.

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Here are a few more of her creations.  All images in this post were found on the Web.   Click the above link for further examples.

China Chilcano — Lunch on 22 August 2016

José Andrés, who is probably Washington’s best known and most popular chef, is generally credited with being the man who brought tapas to America.  Innovative as ever, he opened a new restaurant called China Chilcano about a year ago, highlighting a cuisine called “Chifa.”

Chifa developed in Peru, where Cantonese immigrants blended Chinese elements with traditional Peruvian ingredients and traditions.   Although chifa is still all but unknown in the US, the Chinese-Peruvian blend is now wildly popular in Peru and in its neighboring countries.

Ceviche

My appetizer was Ceviche Clásico La Mar, a combination of red snapper, leche de tigre, sweet potato, red onion, cancha, and cilantro.  The waiter gave me a spoon, and encouraged me to taste every drop of the liquid in the bowl.  He needn’t have bothered.  It was wonderful.

Ají de Gallina

But the main was even better.  The menu described Ají de Gallina as “Peru’s most precious dish.”  It’s a rich chicken stew that contains a bit of everything:  aji amarillo, which is an orange chile,  cheese,  pecans,  rice, potatoes, and spices.   This was incredibly good, and a highlight of the week.

Suspiro Limeña

From the menu, again:   Suspiro Limeña is the iconic dessert of Peru.

Interesting taste and texture.  It’s sweetened condensed milk custard topped with a soft and
crunchy meringue.

With China Chilcano, Chef Andrés adds yet another brilliant restaurant to his collection.