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A'ight kids, put yer reading caps on Friday was our 7th wedding anniversary. That means its been 7 years since some generous friends took us to a meal at the Inn at Little Washington as a wedding present. Our gustatory urges had been slowly awakening over the previous year, driven in part by our release from the penury of graduate school into gainful employment, and we had wined and dined ourselves at Obelisk, Cashions and DC Coast to name but a few. Fine restaurants all. But "The Inn" was the big kahuna. Remember that in DC in 1998, there was no Maestro, no Laboratorio, no CityZen, no Eve, a reminder of how spoiled we are for fine dining options now (I think Citronelle was there but for some inexplicable reason we have yet to dine there). The passage of time, the loss of brain cells and a couple of years of sleep deprivation have taken their toll, and memories of the meal are hazy, but we remember literally being *blown away* by the whole experience. The setting, the service, and most importantly the food were all superlative - we had never experienced anything like it - I remember a sublime molten Valrhona chocolate cake before it had become a tired cliche. Two years later we returned, flush with the proceeds of a Harry Potter arbitrage scheme on eBay, and left wondering whether The Inn had changed or had we changed. Were our expectations too high after our first visit? Had we become more discerning as diners? Or was The Inn standing in place, content to serve a menu eerily similar to two years beforehand to those willing (and there were still many of them) to make the two hour trek from metropolitan DC, or even further afield? Some of the dishes were very good, but lacked the wow factor of our previous visit, and the service seemed a little detached and rote. As we left, the prevailing sense was that for $120+ per person BEFORE wine, tax or tip was it just wasn't good enough. Based on the comments on several other food sites it seemed as if we were not alone in this opinion. Time passed and we concentrated our fine dining adventures closer to DC, enjoying spectacular meals at Maestro, Laboratorio, and Eve, or overseas (Arzak, McNean Bistro). Last Christmas, my sister, remembering our raves from our first visit generously gave us a gift certificate for The Inn. While grateful for the gift, we honestly were not that jazzed about going back to The Inn and sat on the gift cert for a while (and in the "We do it because we can" category, shame on The Inn for voiding gift certs after ONE year). We finally decided to go in late-September and turn it into an anniversary celebration both for us, and my parents who would be visiting. My mother has a garlic allergy which can make dining out a difficult process so I mentioned it as I made reservations, and was assured it would not be a problem. Then the day of the meal, our babysitting fell through and I called The Inn to find out if it would be ok to add a 4-year old to our reservation. Again, they said it was not a problem (to be honest I was surprised at this, as an ultra high-end restauranteur, adding a 4 year old into a dining room full of boomers spending $200+ per person seems to have lots of downside). We arrived just in time for our 6.30 reservation and were shown to a circular table overlooking the courtyard (the same table as our first time there, maybe a coincidence, maybe not). Our amuse bouche arrived quickly, with about 8 for the non-garlic allergites (is that a word?) on one place and 3 or 4 on a separate plate for my mother which I thought was a nice touch. The amuse bouche included a mini-BLT (still on the menu after all these years) a red wine risotto filled ball, parmesan crisps, a rabbit turnover, a mini-ham sandwich and one or two others which I have forgotten. In general the amuse were good but not earth shattering. In ordering for the rest of our meal, our waiter took scrupulous care in accommodating the garlic allergy, to the extend of tweaking the making and presentation of dishes to ensure there would be no garlic but that my mother could still order just about whatever she wanted. I was very impressed. After the amuse came a complimentary cup of chilled watermelon soup with a hint of tequila. The soup was excellent - creamy, yet light, tasting of summer, and with the tequila giving its just the slightest kick. They even brought a cup of the soup (minus the tequila!) for our daughter, which she loved. For the first course proper, me and my mother had Prawns and Charred Onions with Mango Mint Salsa, while my wife and dad had Maryland Crabcakes Sandwiched between Fried Green Tomatoes with Silver Queen Corn Salsa. In general both dishes were excellent, but I think the prawns shaded it. Three large, succulent prawns paired nicely with the sweetness of the charred onion and the salsa. In another nice touch, they brought our daughter some macaroni (penne pasta to be precise) and cheese between our first and second courses so we could concentrate on feeding her and still be able to eat ourselves. This was seriously tasty and I'm guessing they used several different cheeses in its preparation. For the second course, I had A Marriage of Hot and Cold Foie Gras with Homemad Quince Preserves, my mom had a Morel Dusted Diver Scallop on a Cauliflower Puree, my wife had A Fricassee of Maine Lobster with Potato Gnocchi and Curried Walnuts, and my dad had A Warm Salad of Stone Church Farms Seared Duck Breast with Baby Arugula, Pine Nuts and Parmesan. In general, I adore foie gras and ordered this dish mainly for the seared foie with aged balsamic and it did not disappoint, but was pleasantly surprised at the "Cold" part of the dish, which was a delicious pate served with a small piece of toasted bread. For our main course, myself and my dad Medallions of Rabbit Loin Wrapped in House Cured Pancetta Surrounding a Lilliputian (!!) Rabbit Rib Roast Resting on a Pillow of Pea Puree, my mom had Prime Angus Tenderloin of Beef on Silver Queen Corn Saute with Wilted Baby Spinach, and my wife had Sesame-Crusted Chilean Sea Bass with Silver Queen Corn Succotash. I don't think I'd really eaten rabbit before and it was excellent. The pancetta added a good deal of flavor and it was surprisingly tender. The sea bass was also good, and the corn succotash was very flavorful. For dessert I had cheese, my wife had a trio of chocolate desserts (Black Forest Mousee Bombe, Chocolate Creme Brulee, and Bitter Chocolate Souffle), my father had the "Seven Deadly Sins", and my mother had a trio of peach desserts (Peach Melba, Peach-Champagne Sorbet and Peach Cobbler). In general I thought the desserts were good but not outstanding, although I think I was more in the mood for savory than sweet that night. Our daughter had a scoop of mint ice cream (that was as good as 2 Amy's and that's saying something) with chocolate ribbons. At The Inn, the cheese is served from the back of "Faira", a wheeled cow that must be (somewhat arkwardly) manouevered around the dining room - its cute, kind-of, but let me tell you when you're a 4-year old nearing the end of a 3 hour meal and its an hour after your normal bedtime, it's the coolest thing in the world! I had a nice back and forth with the cheese guy (earning a "you know your cheese" by the end of it all), and ended up picking a Montenbro, a crumbly blue from the Asturias region of Spain, a wonderfully ripe Tallegio, an even more wonderfully ripe Epoisses, a pungent cheese from Switzerland whose name escapes me and an award-winning American cheese that, much to my chagrin, I had never heard of. Now we were really starting to wind down, and Reinhardt Lynch came by and asked if we wanted the doors opening out onto the courtyard to be opened. Again, a great idea for a rapidly tiring 4-year old, and while we enjoyed coffee, tea and cookies, we took turns peering into the courtyards coy-filled ponds with her - several other tables were enjoying their desserts outside. After dinner, we had a quick tour of the kitchen and observed those willing to pony up the addition $300 ($450 on weekends) for the chef's table, exchanged pleasantries with Chef O'Connell (always easy when you have a cute kid), and made our way into the night air for the drive back to DC. Total bill for 4 people, a nice but inexpensive bottle Pinot, and a "kids meal" plus tax and tip was $775. The regular menu is $128 per person, our wine was $60, and our daughters meal was $28 (note that the tasting menu is $168 and the tasting menu with wine pairings is $243!!). We tipped 20% on the total bill including tax because the service was exemplary. Neil is a true professional, always there when we needed him, sensitive to the particular demands of our table, friendly, and good with our daughter. So, was it worth it? I would have to say yes. Its not the kind of place where you should go all the time, and it may not even be the place where you go for groundbreaking cuisine, but for a special occasion, the combination of ambience, service and food is hard to beat. I think they deserve credit for regaining their focus and maintaining a general level of excellence as they enter their 28th year in business. A final note on our superstar daughter. Yes, she's used to being taken out to restaurants, but she excelled herself this time around. By the end of the night, complete strangers were coming up to talk to her, clearly awed but her ability not to ruin their evenings! A final, FINAL note on the one teeny-tiny sour note for the evening. A young female member of staff loudly chastised my wife for reading one of Patrick O'Connells cookbooks that had apparently been already purchased by someone else but left on a table in the common area directly outside the kitchen. Honey, she wasn't trying to steal it, she didn't know it belonged to someone else, and your tone was not appreciated.

oy! its horrible - irredeemably mediocre food masquerading as something better for a crowd that has more money than tastebuds I'll be interested to hear what you think

damn, that Carmenere you guys had on special last night was good

had this last night - very good 2001 Monte Antico Rosso - 8.99 on sale at CW

I'm going to stop by Firefly for a drink with a friend

its opening in 2012

looks amazing - stilton flan - wow

yeah, have fun and take pictures!

Spain - fly into Barcelona, work your way up to San Sebastian, along the coast to Bilbao and fly out of Madrid with a route like that you'll be able to eat at as many 2 and 3 star restaurants (is El Bulli 4?) as your wallet will allow, snack during the day at Tapas places, and if you have any room left try chocolate con churros!!! Italys not bad either but based on trips to both countries Spain shades it for me

I hate you all

yup, picked up a roast beef at around 12.30 - sad to have missed the shrimp decent sandwich - tabasco gave it a bit of zing you can also buy t-shirts for an additional $25

went there for lunch today with some colleagues overall a nice experience, with top notch, friendly service - no pushing bottled water here folks! We had our impoverished federal worker hats on so three of us ordered soup and a salad and the fourth a meat and pate plate and a salad It has been years since I've had French Onion soup and this one was good - not too hot once I broke through the cheese layer, a ncie amount of onions and bread and very very tasty I also ordered mussels in a garlic sauce/broth - these were also good, although I could have done with a few more of them and the sauce was good enough drag a few pices of bread through bill for 4 people just under $60 before tip, and again great, friendly, unpretentious service

A top-notch cheese and another reason why we have to get to Dino in the not too distant future . fyi - Jill also has it at Cheestique

great dinner last night w/ some friends NINE cheeses incl Rochetta, La Tur, Pecorino Chianti, St Augur, Fromage D'Affinois, Manchego, Bayley Hazen Blue, a goats milk brie, and a nice x-sharp English cheddar Tomato, basil and mozzarella salad (tomato and basil from our garden) Homemade Crabcakes Teriyaki Salmon w/ grilled eggplant (again from our garden) and zucchini Triple yum! Wish I had taken some pics

indeed - picked up 2 bottles over the weekend and will be back for more

fyi Komi is closed all next week - just found out when I tried to make a ressie for Tuesday

Hi Jill Thanks for pointing my wife towards some wonderful cheeses yesterday! I was just thinking what a killing you could make if you opened a store in DC proper. In NW people are crying out for good cheese sold by someone who is passionate about it. Any spot off Wisc or CT avenues would be ideal, altho I don't know how much rents run for these places.... When you do open it, can I work there on weekends?

went to the orig location once - never again - insipid, dull boring food - worst butternut squash soup ever - whatever it tasted of, it wasn't squash as CrescentFresh said, so bad theres no point even complaining

speaking of birthdays, I have one next week and my darling wife has given me my choice of restauants to choose from (within reason, anniversary is in Sept so that when we really splurge) so no tasting room at Eve or Maestro I'd also like to try somewhere we haven't been so that rules out Bucks, Ceiba, DC Coast, Ten Penh etc... Corduroy is closed - how dare Tom Power take some time off to relax and rejuvenate I was thinking Firefly or Komi, neither of which I've had dinner at, or maybe Palena, which we have somehow contrived to miss any thoughts/suggestions from youse guys?

Popeyes is great - we get it all the time.....theres one in Tenleytown

thanks folks hellish weekend - felt like it was 150 degrees at Busch gardens on Sat, long lines for everything - by the time we left and showered at the hotel, the most energy we could muster was to trek across the street to a Cracker Barrel, where we had, yes you guessed it, a 45 minute wait for a table! by this time I was in a foul mood, and then as if by magic, a very good medium rib-eye steak arrived at my table! I did stop by the Cheese Shop on Sunday for a look around - seems like a nice place - the timing wasn't right to get food there but they had Cashel Blue for $15 a pound which I thought was reasonable...... bad weekend to go to W'burg though...too hot

we just got back from Madrid (and Bilbao and San Sebastián). for tapas, you need to go to Plaza Mayor, walk through it and walk down a street called Cava Baja On this street you will find many tapas places and restaurants - we went to Casa Lucas and had excellent food there - its a tiny place w/ maybe 5 tables - very friendly staff - I would describe the tapas as 'nouveau tapas' - unusual presentations but very very good a few doors down is Tavera Tempranillo - we didn't eat there but man oh man did they have a great selection of wine by the glass (I had a great Bierzo Mencia) - and you can just sit there and gaze up at the massive wine rack behind the bar that ascends a good 20 feet and runs the length of the bar we stayed in the business district and just walked around in the evenings grazing at various places - one of our favorites was Mesón Cinco Jotas, in fact we went there 2 nights in a row because the waitress was so great with our 4 year old daughter - their specialty is Jamón Ibérico and good lord is it good - in fact we did not taste better ham on the rest of our trip - they also serve various other meats and the like We did pass the Museo de Jamón - to be honest it looked a little touristy but in general we found it hard to go wrong anywhere we ate in Spain - they take such price in what they cook/eat most places also have a menu del dia which is a 3 course meal for 8 or 9 euro 1) the bar at taberna tempranillo 2) calimari wrapped in ham w/ a squid-ink pesto at Casa Lucas on Cava Baja just off Plaza Mayor 3) Pork products.....Spanish style

we're all at Firefly

I would prefer Firefly as I have to be somewhere else in Dupont by 7.30/8 (the cheese plate or the gin has NOTHING, I repeat NOTHING to do with this decision)

if its the same 'still Cava' as last Friday, yes its excellent if its the same G&T as last Friday its "Old Raj" - 55% alcohol - potent stuff!