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Lyon Hall, Clarendon Brasserie From The Owners Of Liberty Tavern - Chef Paul Stearman Comes from Marcel's


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Wandering Arlington last night, finding my first (well, first closest) choices closed (Willow, Rustico, Leek), I walked to Clarendon and hit Lyon Hall.

An opening plate of three cheeses ($11) was exactly what I needed. Plentiful portions, especially of the house roquefort, though I wasn't blown away by the flatbreads that accompanied them. The warmed flatbread pieces had (I believe) raisins and pistachios in it, and while it was good, I felt like it distracted from the cheeses. I ate most of them with the white bread served before my appetizer.

My entree of the herb encrusted filet mignon ($27) was also very good. Unfortunately, they turned the lights down just before it arrived, and it was hard to see what I was eating. I hate it when restaurants do that. The topping to the filet, which I'm guessing is the herb crust, because I couldn't see it well enough to tell, was the weakest part of the beef. The filet itself was divine and cooked perfectly. The accompaniments were fine, though the greens under the steak were a bit hard to cut so I could eat them less messily.

I'd planned on eating kind of slowly and relaxing with a drink or two after, but the kitchen closed at 9, and by 9:30 the bartender was basically getting ready to shut down. Ahhh, well...

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Three knowledgable diners enjoyed a wonderful Sunday Brunch out on the sidewalk at Lyon Hall this weekend.

Trust me when I say that if you have four or less people in your party, then you should start with only one order of the French Press ($7). A massive French Press - the size of IHOP's "bottomless pot of coffee" - this is easily a quart, and is made with very high quality Counter Culture beans.

Perfect with an order of Donuts ($7.95) - four homemade beauties: one sugar donut with a bit of lavender spice, and three glazed - lemon, cherry, and peach. Each glazed donut came humorously stuffed with a sugared donut hole.

But you might not need that order of donuts because Lyon Hall's bread basket is hors classe. It's two types of bread - white and pumpernickel - with a creamy, salty tin of really good butter. Good bread and butter is one of the great culinary delights of this world, and this is good bread and butter.

Lyon Hall's brunch peripherals are so generous and abundant that you almost overlook that some of the entrees aren't quite as large (and you won't care either because you'll be carbo-stuffed by the time they arrive).

Smoked Salmon Poached Eggs ($13.95) was a croissant, either decapitated or smashed: I couldn't really see it because it was covered with strips of house-smoked salmon, piles of spinach, and two poached eggs drizzled with Hollandaise. If this description appeals to you, then get this dish because it was delicious.

The surprise of the day was the misnamed Artichoke Salad ($10.95) which came with only a couple, seemingly canned, artichoke hearts and an imperfect Gribiche dressing which was relish-light and mayo-heavy. But aside from these nitpicks, the star of the plate was the summer beans (haricots verts and pickled long beans) - spankingly fresh and in wonderful contrast with everything else on the table. The menu says there are olives and oven-dried tomatoes, but I only remember arugula and fresh cherry tomatoes, along with a couple cubes of chickpea croutons. This is first and foremost a Bean Salad, and it's one you should order before this growing season goes away.

Between the three of us, we also got an order of 3 Eggs Your Way ($5.25), over-easy, figuring we'd be able to use the eggs somewhere, but they really didn't go with the salmon (because it already had poached eggs); only the salad benefitted from this little bit of wretched excess.

I've been to Lyon Hall several times now, but previously only at the bar, and only in the evening - it was this surprisingly delightful al fresco Sunday Brunch which vaulted it into Italic in the Dining Guide.

And just in case you think this is stuffy, haute cuisine, I'll add that the table behind us was apparently warming up for that day's football game: we overheard one of the guys say to the server, "Excuse me, instead of that shot of beer, could you make it a shot of vodka?"

Ah, Clarendon. You never disappoint.

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We had a nice brunch here this past weekend on the patio with the pup.  The pup was very good, stayed under the table the whole time, slurped down the bowl of water given and enjoyed a couple fries that went to him under the table.  Hubby was in allergy grog, but otherwise was doing good.  He had a burger which looked great.  I had the asparagus poached eggs with muchroom, spinach and hollandaise.  It was so soft and rich and decadent, but since I was eating vegetables I felt a little better about all the butter that I knew it was all cooked in.  I also had a side of Lyonnaise potatoes which were good, as well, most went home with me, but some sopped up the extra egg yolk and hollandaise.  I kind of wanted to get doughnuts, but there was just too much food.  I wish you could get 1 doughnut instead of an order of four.  Maybe you can I didn't ask.  

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We braved the wind and intermittent snow squalls tonight, traveling from the western suburbs for a Valentine's Day dinner.  Congrats to Lyon Hall for not throwing out some overpriced, prix fixe menu for the occasion!  There were a couple of appetizer and main course specials that looked pretty good, but since we had not been here before (I had eaten once at the bar), we stayed on the regular menu.

We were served an amuse bouche described as a wild boar rillettes.  Tasty, rich, and salty, which was somewhat the theme of the rest of the meal.  We started with the fried chick peas (formed into something resembling steak fries) and French Onion soup, and then had the pork schnitzel and the half-sausage plate as main courses.  Everything very solid, and probably a little too hearty.  We gave up on eating some of our starters and a decent part of our main courses to save room for a dessert cheese course.  Everything was very good, though.

As we were about to ask to get the menu back to look at the cheeses, our waitress brought a complimentary dessert to the table.  It looked to be something like a fruit pudding, but we asked her if it could be served to someone else, because we wanted to have a cheese course.  She seemed a little taken aback, but we assured her that we appreciated the gesture.

The cheese was the highlight of the evening.  Really nice serving of five cheeses for $17.50, and while it did not look like a large quantity, it was very fulfilling and brought a wide variety of rich tastes.  Served with the pistachio/raisin bread mentioned above, as well as an apricot spread and some form of berry jam.  The cheese stands out on its own, no need for the accompaniments.

The young couple next to us ordered a charcuterie plate, which looked great and was very abundant.  We are going to go back (once we get our cholesterol meds in order) and have the charcuterie and a cheese sampling.

The beer offerings fit our style as well.  My wife had a couple of Saison Duponts, and I had an Evolution Lot #6 DIPA and a Stone's Enjoy By 2/14/15. (yes, whoever distributes Stone to Northern Virginia dumped several kegs on unwitting and probably somewhat unwilling customers in the past day or so, and they are not supposed to sell it after today!)  At $9.00 for a 12 ounce pour for each of these, it is not cheap, but also (unfortunately) not out of line with other local establishments.

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They had a pretty darn tasty soft shell crab sandwich on special for dinner last night and available again for lunch today (if you asked).  Made me divert my attention from the mussels (after so many disappointing versions elsewhere, this is one of the few local places I will order mussels).  Liberty Tavern also had a soft shell crab on a salad last week.  No idea how long this will last.

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I was at Lyon Hall recently, I had the onion soup and mini frankfurters.  I was in a weird craving mood and this fit those cravings.  The onion soup was very good, nice portion of melted cheese.  I like the mustard served with the mini frankfurters and get these at the bar for happy hour sometimes.  They didn't have softshells yet, may have to go this week!  The bartender was really nice with helping me find a beer I liked too, which I always appreciate.  

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On 5/21/2016 at 8:04 PM, dcs said:

They had a pretty darn tasty soft shell crab sandwich on special for dinner last night and available again for lunch today (if you asked).  Made me divert my attention from the mussels (after so many disappointing versions elsewhere, this is one of the few local places I will order mussels).  Liberty Tavern also had a soft shell crab on a salad last week.  No idea how long this will last.

Were these battered soft-shells? (Sandwiches tend to be, but not inevitably, and a salad could have one sauteed. I prefer sauteed to deep-fried.)

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4 minutes ago, Genevieve said:

Were these battered soft-shells? (Sandwiches tend to be, but not inevitably, and a salad could have one sauteed. I prefer sauteed to deep-fried.)

Apparently, these are done by a specially trained male goat.

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Beer Dinner last night was very fun.

Set up:  10 3oz beer pours, 5 courses, 30 people upstairs.  Chef Adam makes menu, Lyon Hall (LH) beer guy picks pairing and so does a vendor. In last night's case it was Great Lakes from OH. 

Pros:  Food was great and the 5 courses were generous.  Two favorites were the pike and flat iron steak. Both amazing. I'd go back to LH to have chef Adam's flat iron steak again.

While I am not a "beer person", I appreciate the variations on flavor offered. 

It's a competition!  I love tasting menus but I guess I'm a sucker for competition b/c I liked tasting two (in the case of last night) very different beers with each course.

CONS:
It is COLD as a witch's !@# up there so if you tend towards cold, bring a fleece, scarf, socks, ear muffs, gloves with the fingers free.

Food was luke-warm by the time it got up the stairs

Pacing was slow.  Dinner time is supposed to be 6:30; started closer to 7, got home after 10:30, am tired today (yet not hung over).

In all a fun night and IMO, worth the $65/person. 

Allergens were compensated for and there is an elevator for those mobility challenged. 

 

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Family enjoyed a very nice Christmas Eve dinner here.

Good selection of cheeses to start.

Wife's Thai-ish mussels were pleasantly spicy. My tartine was flavorful and crispy.  I took a minor risk and got the sausage/hot dog thing. It was fine...

Very good reasonably priced kids menu. Boys' burger was the sleeper dish.

Friendly but not overbearing service.

All in all, a nicely festive dinner.

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By a happy coincidence, my birthday fell during RW.  I decided to treat myself to a solo birthday lunch. Although I have been here several times for dinner and always came away not super-impressed, the menu and the location was what I was looking for this time.  Well, I'm here to report that lunch was great!  I had salmon rillettes as a starter.  I'd never had this dish before and it was delicious.  Great salmon and lemon flavor.  Also had the steak frites and that was really good as well - maybe sitting under the heating lamp a little too long because my arugula was warm and the meat had cooled a bit.  Probably because I'm a slow eater and it took me a while to finish the rillettes.  Dessert was this big ball of chocolate mousse which came with a scoop of sorbet, an almond wafer cookie, and a sauce I thought was made of sour cherries, but the menu said cranberries.  Really good!

Why did I love this lunch yet was so lukewarm to my 4 dinners here in the past?  I think it had to do with ambiance.  On Saturday nights, this place is jammed with people; it's noisy, crowded, and very dark.  So dark you cannot read the menu nor can you see your food properly.  Nor can you relax.  In contrast, lunch was a sedate affair.  I sat on a banquette by the window so it was easy to read my newspaper.  The place was medium busy but people spoke in normal voices - they did not need to shout to hear each other like they do in the evenings.  And finally, I could see my food.  I could see the rillettes came with pretty pickled veggies and a nice presentation.  Same with the dessert.  Seeing the food made me enjoy the food more.
 
This place also turns out be comfortable for the solo diner.  I saw several single diners being seated as I was next to the reception stand.  There was this one old coot carrying a yellowed paperback who seemed to be a regular as the waitstaff addressed him by name and asked him if he wanted his usual martini.  He later made a bit of a fuss because his egg was not cooked properly on his croque madame.  Waitstaff was really nice and accommodating with him.  When he left and said goodby, I was expecting them to roll their eyes, but they didn't which I thought was sweet.

mousse.PNG

rillette.PNG

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On 5/20/2016 at 8:04 PM, dcs said:

They had a pretty darn tasty soft shell crab sandwich on special for dinner last night and available again for lunch today (if you asked).  Made me divert my attention from the mussels (after so many disappointing versions elsewhere, this is one of the few local places I will order mussels).  Liberty Tavern also had a soft shell crab on a salad last week.  No idea how long this will last.

....and I did hit one of the versions of mussels here the other night. Thanks for the heads up.  I think I might work through some of the variations and report back later.  First experience--quite nice.  More to report later.

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