Last night I had a lovely dinner with two long-lost friends (20 year reunions & Facebook help you find those folks!) at a lovely vegetarian restaurant, Sunflower.

Now, when we made plans, I had no idea it was a vegetarian restaurant, and it was only mid-day yesterday did a light bulb go off in my head that it might not be a meat-lovers establishment.  One of my two friends is a vegetarian, and I am SO proud of her for it, because she has held hard to it since we were in high school.  (I remember how happy she was when she came to school one day and had made a ratatouille for her family and they really enjoyed it.)  So, I checked online, and sure enough – vegetarian.  A good thing to know ahead of time lest you go into dinner thinking, “Wow, I am SO in the mood for a bacon cheeseburger!”

Now, I do love my veggies, but I am a full-on carnivore.  Meat is AWESOME in my book.  But, I can handle a meat-free evening.  Sunflower has a heavy Asian influence on their menu, which does lend itself to good (and familiar) foods that are certainly enjoyable for even the most meat-loving chick.

We started with soups, as it was rainy and kinda chilly.  I got the Miso soup – it was outstanding.  I spent 3 years in Japan as a kiddo, and I know good Miso soup, and this was good.  (However, I don’t eat the tofu.  Never have.  Just LOVE the broth & onions.  The tofu & mushrooms are always sitting at the bottom of the bowl when I’m done.)  My compatriots went for the spinach-wonton soup and seemed to really enjoy it.

Then we split an order of the Rainbow rolls – 9 almost-bite-sized pieces.  (I made the error of trying to down one in a single bite.  Take two bites, trust me, or you’re going to be chewing a lot longer than you’d planned.)  I’m not even a big fan of sushi, but these were great.  Carrots, pickled daikon and cucumber.  Might have been the lack of chewy seaweed that made it extra-good, but it was very tasty.

Three entrees to share.  I ordered the Mizuni Sansai Noodles in Miso-Tahini soup.  My friends got a curry and a “Songbird” which was stuff in a Kung Pao sauce.  This is where I get a little lost in being a vegetarian.  I had to ask my companions, “Um, it says that it’s chunks of wheat gluten – what on earth is that?”
“You’ve never had fake meat, have you?”
“Pretty sure I haven’t.”
“It’s fake meat.”
“OOOK.”

All three items had either wheat gluten or soy gluten in them.  (Which I only recognized as something my gluten-free compatriots would not be allowed to eat, but had no idea what on earth it could be otherwise.)  I’ll admit it, I was beyond skeptical that anything could take the place of meat – but my Mom’s words echoed in my ears:  “Just try one bite.”

Now, the noodles had a ton of well, noodles, and veggies, and if there was fake meat in there, I missed it.  The curry & kung-pao had the fake meat as the main ingredient.  I tried the curry first.  Unfortunately, I rediscovered that I don’t much like curry.  I remember having it for the first time when we lived in Japan, and it was a Chinese/yellow curry, but it didn’t sit terribly well with me.  But this was a lovely orange/red curry!  It was different!  Sadly, it was still curry.  I really wanted to like it, but I just couldn’t.  Had nothing to do with the quality of it, but curry simply still isn’t my thing.  The kung-pao was lovely and spicy and very…kung pao.

But the fake meat just eludes me.  It was a bit chewy and tasted like a distant cousin of chicken, but it was certainly no substitute for meat, at least for me.  The mouth feel wasn’t like anything I’ve ever had, and while I won’t say it was unpleasant or terrible – it just wasn’t particularly close to being meat.  Given that there are multitudes of spectacular vegetables out there that can be cooked up in a myriad of spectacular ways – why even bother with fake meat?

Met up with my friend Stephanie tonight and we went wandering about Old Town Alexandria for dinner.  As we approached the Majestic Cafe, she asked if I’d ever been there.  Nope.  I’ve walked or driven by it countless times, but never been inside.  (And honestly thought it was a diner.)  She said, “It’s pricey, but good.”

Well, when it comes to good food, I am totally OK with pricey, so in we went.

And it kicks ass.  To start off with, the water is awesome.  I know how totally bizarre that sounds, because it sounded a bit strange to me when she said, “Get the still water – it is incredible!”  But it was also a million degrees out and I wanted water – and as much as I love sparkling water, at $4.50 for sparkling vs. $0.00 for still with a very emphatic recommendation – I went with the still water.  I have no idea what filtration/water softening system they use at the restaurant, but it makes water actually TASTY.  And from me, that is actually saying something, because I really am not much of a water drinker at all.  I downed 2 LARGE glasses of this water without even blinking an eye.  In the normal course of a day, I have to *force* myself to down 8 to 16 ounces of water.

As humid and sticky as it was, I wanted an icy cocktail, but wasn’t quite in the mood for one of their many tiki-rum drinks, and the Salty Dog I ordered was top-notch, but the “Missionary’s Downfall” in the awesomely goofy tiki-glass that Steph ordered seemed to perfectly fit the bill for her.  (I have to be in a certain mindset for rum drinks.  I have no idea why.)

For dinner, I got the sauteed soft shell crabs.  Outstanding.  They were smothered in perfectly ripe off-the-vine-this-morning tomatoes, sweet corn and lima beans.  (And I SO love lima beans!  My only argument would be that they need *more* lima beans in it!)  Steph had the Amish chicken, which she definitely seemed to enjoy and took the rest home for tomorrow’s lunch.  (Bonus:  When you get a to-go box, they put the date on it.  However, I can’t imagine anything from this restaurant lasting in the fridge more than 24 hours.)

By the time the dessert menu came around, I was perfectly stuffed and felt I couldn’t really avail myself of their selections (though I was tempted by the chocolate & bourbon beignets, as was Steph!) but I couldn’t resist their Irish Coffee.  I **love** Irish Coffee and if someone is bold enough to include it as a menu item, I have to see how it stacks up to the rest.  And the Majestic indicated that it “looked like a Guinness!”  Well, I love Guinness, too, so I had to check this out.  It’s coffee, Irish Whiskey and brown sugar, topped with their homemade whipped cream.  And it really does look like a Guinness!  And is very, very tasty.

The cherry on the top was chocolate truffles rolled in coconut that came with the check.  Beats a peppermint any day of the week.

Seriously, if you want an un-fussy place to eat with spectacular food – hit the Majestic.

Last night I went to a local pub that I’ve been going to for years.  I’ve always liked everything I’ve ordered there, and considering how long I’ve been going there, that’s a pretty good streak.  Tried something new last night, and it simply was NOT my cup of tea.  (Actually, I used the word awful.)  There wasn’t anything wrong with how it was cooked, it was what I ordered, just not what I liked.

I gave it back to the bartender and told him so.  (Not mean, not upset, just “Wow, that was a very bad decision on my part!”)  The other bartender said he liked it, and I told him to knock himself out and feel free to finish it.  (It was a shrimp dish, so it’s not like it was a half-eaten pasta dish or something like that – it was an easily shared item.)

So, I was just happy that it didn’t go to waste.  But, my bartender insisted on taking it off the check.  And then we argued about it.  (Good naturedly.)  I told him they shouldn’t have to take it off the check just because I made a bad decision.  It wasn’t their fault – it was what I ordered and they didn’t cook it wrong.  I just didn’t like it.

I lost, and it came off the check.  (I still tipped on what the total would have been with the shrimp.)

I still think it’s not their fault!