Gallery Restaurant and Lounge

Gallery Restaurant and Lounge is a fairly new eatery in Silver Spring. It has received great reviews for its Nuevo Latino cuisine. Since the once up-and-coming Silver Spring has now sprung, it feels urban enough to have its own Restaurant Week, and guess which restaurant was on the list…exactly. So, on Friday night, we braved the cold to try out the goods at Gallery, and it was worth it.

My first impression when I walked into the restaurant was “Wow, I’m so not hip enough to be here.” That impression basically remained throughout our entire 2 hour meal. The restaurant is built in an old factory building. The first floor has a lounge/bar type atmosphere. The second floor is the restaurant/dance floor/VIP area. Yup, it even has a VIP area! As you can imagine, after seeing all of this, I figured that the food would be subpar – that the restaurant was more interested in maintaining an atmosphere of hip-ness rather than food-ness. I was wrong. The food was actually quite good.

M decided to order off of the regular menu, which meant mostly tapas, and I decided to go with the Restaurant Week menu. I started with the Chicken Chili Soup, which came with fancy looking tortilla chips and sour cream. The soup was good, not great. It could have had a bit more kick to it.

For my entrée, I ordered the latin version of Moules Frites, which was mussels with fried yucca. The mussels were fantastic!! They were juicy and fresh, and the fried yucca was perfect as well. I could have just sopped up all of the mussel broth with the fried yucca, and I tried, but it didn’t work out as well as I was hoping.

For dessert, I was wavering between the guava cheesecake and the Mexican chocolate ice cream. Just guess which one I chose…YUP, I went with the ice cream. It was soooo good – very creamy, with almond slivers, shaved chocolate pieces, and a mélange of spices.

Overall, our meal was great. We decided we would go back to Gallery again – just maybe on the earlier side, so we don’t feel so unhip.

Eggspectation = Eggcellent!!!

My friend Glick was in town this weekend, so on Saturday morning, we met up with him for brunch. Since he is oh-so-accommodating, he agreed to meet us in Silver Spring. After much deliberation, i.e., two minutes, we decided to go to Eggspectation!!! I LOVE eggs (which could be a factor in my high cholesterol, don’t you think?). I love eggs over pasta; I love eggs with rice; I love eggs with black beans; I love them scrambled, omelette’d, or sunny-side up. The best is having a sunny-side egg with the runny yoke, and dumping some Tabasco on it, then using some crusty bread to sop up all the runny goodness – damn that’s good!

Ok, back to Eggspectation…there are only four Eggspectations in the U.S. (and surprisingly, two in India) and we are blessed to have one of those four only a mile from the house. The line was atrocious when we got there, so by the time we were seated, about 45 minutes later, we were all starving.

I ordered the Oy Vegg, which is what I usually get from there because it is sooo good. The menu describes it as this: Potato Latkes with two eggs (any style), grilled tomatoes, and sour cream, served with chef’s fruit garnish. You’re such a “Mensch”. Because I love the runny yoke, I ordered my eggs sunny-side up. It was fantastic! All the yummy goodness with sour cream and latkes – you can just imagine. I ordered some turkey bacon on the side because their TB is usually much better than anywhere else, i.e., not card-boardy. Unfortunately, the TB was cold this time around, but it still tasted decent.

Anyways, I urge anyone who has the opportunity to go to an Eggspectation to go – it’s too good to pass up!

Date with Me, Myself, and I

I was on my own for dinner tonight. This basically meant SUSHI for me!!! Most people have trouble going to a restaurant by themselves because they are afraid of looking sad and pathetic to other patrons…but I’m not most people. I have no problem sitting at a table by me lonesome with a great book and a plate of yummy food in front of me. I could sit for hours reading and eating. But alas, I don't have the luxury of such time. The two girls at home needed to be fed their chicken giblet dinner (topped w/ tuna flavored prozac, of course), so my time was slightly constrained.

Tonight I opted for spending my free time at Sushi Jin in Silver Spring. Sushi Jin is a fairly new restaurant in the area and of course, if they have great food and a knowledgeable and courteous wait staff, I’ll support the newbies in town.

By the time I left work tonight, I was starving. So, I grabbed my book (Murder in Amsterdam – it’s a little heavy), my fat coat, gloves and beanie, and headed out for my own personal date.

When I got to the restaurant, it was fairly early still, so they offered me a booth. I started with Seafood Gyogo, which are pan-fried dumplings filled with minced seafood. Hmm....not so much. While the taste was good, the texture threw me - papery. For my sushi, I ordered a shrimp tempura roll, a spicy tuna roll, and salmon sashimi. All of the sushi was excellent, and the salmon was so fresh and velvety! I loved it. Overall, it was a very good meal.

Leah was a little suspicious of my delay in getting home this evening. Maybe the smell of raw fish on my fingers didn’t help. She eyed me suspiciously all night…