In a fit of hubris... I left the map at home figuring that I knew exactly where Fortune was and, having read the map quickly, could get us there. At the risk of alienating all northern Virginian's, we were stuck in Dante's 8th level of hell (reserved for those stupid enough to drive in Virginia on a Sunday, or during rush hour, or during not rush hour, or, say, any time except 3:25am and 3:27am on certain Tuesdays when there is actually only a small traffic jam at every light) we spent an hour getting from 495 to Bailey's crossroads. Wound up at Peking Gourmet, which isn't. Maybe tonight is a two negroni night as well. Ah well...

Fortune is a very different restaurant than it was just a year-and-a-half ago, which is when the previous owner officially "retired," and the business was transferred to new management. The large-sized menu presented in plastic and cardboard was nowhere to be seen, the diners handed a cheap take-out menu when seated. Only two seafood tanks remain, the ones on the right side of the entrance, although I think the ones on the left have been gone for awhile now. The website listed on the menu, www.fortunebanquet.net, does not work.

The menu is different too, but still interesting. The results, however, were mixed:

BBQ Spare Ribs ($3.50) were two medium-meated ribs, marinated reddish-pink and served unadorned. Sliced Pork with Watercress Soup For Two ($6.95) was mild, generous with both the pork and watercress, and was pleasantly not thickened to death with corn starch.

Then two entrees arrived as I looked on in horror.

Avoid the Kingdom Style Pork Chops ($11.95), which is listed under the Chef's Recommendations section, and is nothing more than a bad version of Sweet-and-Sour Pork Chops, buried in a sweet, thick sauce that smelled overwhelmingly of vanillan. Now that I have this out of the way, I'd like to discuss the lobster.

Monday through Thursday nights, Fortune is selling lobsters - pulled straight out of the their squeaky clean seafood tank - for only $18.95. You can order them steamed, salt-baked, with ginger and scallions, or with XO sauce, and I thought we got XO sauce, but what arrived was a cold, glotted, gelatinous, blobby mess that threatened the sanctity of this otherwise beautifully cooked and presented lobster, which was perfectly cleaved and lovingly plated. This restaurant needs a saucier, and this lobster was good enough, and cheap enough, so that I can overlook the atrocious glop it came with and urge people to come here and order it with something thin and soy-based, or maybe just steamed with sauce on the side. $18.95 lobsters!

English was a problem with our (perfectly nice) server, who may have misheard me when I ordered XO sauce for the lobster: When I ordered the Goat Casserole ($15.95), she repeatedly kept saying it was a lamb casserole - I thought the menu might have been translated improperly, but sure enough, when it arrived, it was made with goat. And a fine casserole it was, too, with plenty of goat meat, cabbage, mushrooms, wrappy tofu, all sitting in a milky, gravy-ish broth that wasn't compelling enough to spoon, but surely worked well with the items in the oven-hot serving vessel. I recommend this dish and would order it again.

So a mixed meal at Fortune last night, with intolerably sloppy work in the sauce department, but also with certain things on the menu that call me back: Boneless Duck's Feet with Chinese Mushrooms in Casserole, Live Frog (so they say), Beef Tripe with Sour Cabbage and Bell Peppers, etc.

However, the really important thing to remember is the $18.95 lobster during the week.

Cheers,
Rocks.