Sportsgirl

We spent last weekend in Philly, and had meals at Sabrina's, Monk's, and Morimotos. I am a brunch person, so the menu at Sabrina's was immediately tempting. I ended up with the french toast -- huge pieces of Challah bread stuffed with cream cheese and bananas and probably something else -- that was incredibly good, and impossible to finish. The restaurant is one of those tiny little places where you wait outside for 45 minutes until you can squeeze into a table and read the specials off the blackboard walls (similar to the type of places I used to haunt in Boston, but haven't found yet in DC -- Colorado Kitchen comes closest, I'd guess). Monk's was fantastic -- crappy (though friendly) service, great sandwiches (accompanied by...2 pieces of lettuce as a "side"), and a varied beer list. The highlights were the mussels (the Thai ones, flavored in curry and coconut milk, were particularly outstanding) and the fries. Finally -- Morimotos. My experience is strongly influenced by my reaction to the waiter, who was over-the-top with his recommendations. One of us ordered the $100 tasting meal, while our waiter spent roughly five minutes trying to talk him into the $150 version, despite my friend's continued insistence that he was happy with the one he ordered. The waiter then turned his attentions to me, and bullied me into an appetizer; when I decided I wanted sushi, he turned the menu back to the appetizers and a dish that was definitely not sushi (but a good $20 more than the rolls I'd asked for). It was very offputting -- none of us ordered an entree under $35, and we were all drinking, but he still gave us the type of hard sell that for me, was ultimately more memorable than the incredibly good lobster I enjoyed.

Another trip to Ray's last night, and the incredibly-shrinking menu has struck again. The insanely amazing New England clam chowder was off the menu (and, as a Boston girl, I generally hate all clam chowder made more than 25 miles from my parents' house, so I'm a tough act to please), as were the crabcakes, another favorite. We made due with a weird-ass meal of four bowls of soup, one order of scallops, and three sides. Oh, and a slice of key lime pie. The bar service was once again fantastic (Nick was at the top of his game, despite the fact that all four of us ordered our wine at separate times, each one of us wanting to try the vintage first), and the food that was on the menu, crazy-good. The best part was running into Michael -- who gave me his now-familiar "girl, you always smile at me, should I know you?" look, which I attribute to the fact that I am only memorable when I'm with my 6'4 husband, which I wasn't last night.

OK, this is the perfect solution to my irrational theory that reading these boards actually causes me to gain weight. The challenge sounds like a blast -- and, bonaire, I've worshipped at the WW altar in the past, so if you want any points advice, I'm happy to share.

bonaire, we had a great RW meal at Acadiana, too (Monday night, in the restaurant) - I'll do my best to describe it, but please attribute any awkwardness to my first-time posting status. I had the third soup they offered - an oyster/spinach/brie combination that was quite good (though I didn't taste the brie; the spinach flavor, however, was very strong). My husband had the turtle soup, which he describes as "like a New York clam chowder" with cubes of poached egg. In the restaurant, they also offered the entire menu - with only an upcharge on the filet, however, and not on the crab cakes, at least not last night. I know this for sure because that's what I had, and they were amazingly good: very thick, large, white pieces of crabmeat, on top of a corn/okra mixture. The remoulade sauce was spooned directly onto the cakes, and was very spicy. My husband had the tuna steak, and he ordered it seared, and it was cooked exactly that way. It was dressed with shrimp etouffee, and came on top of a cornbread-like pancake (that I see on their website is called a 'cheddar spoonbread') -- he was very pleased with the flavors in the whole dish. The third dessert was a root beer float with two ginger cookies; my husband had it and he liked it fine. I agree with bonaire's assessment of the chocolate bread pudding, which is what I ordered. It was served in small chunks, and it was fantastic. The service was also excellent - our waiter was attentive and helpful. Our desserts came out immediately after the plates were cleared (perhaps because I lingered too long over my last bite of crabmeat; perhaps because it was almost 11 pm at that point), maybe a little bit too quickly for my taste, but only because we were enjoying the atmosphere so much that we didn't mind lingering.