Our Pre-Memorial Day brunch
The family was off to Washington today to visit my 93-year-old mother-in-law. I was excited because she decided she wanted to go to Ardeo, a stylish contemporary American restaurant, rather than her usual choice, Clyde's, for brunch.
It was nice because, as you can see from the photo, the front windows open up so it's almost like sitting outdoors only without being directly in the sun. Almost every seat in the front half of the restaurant gets a lovely breeze.
But it's an odd brunch menu. I won't go into the boring details, but there are a lot of ingredients that many people would have to ask the waiter to explain (such as yuzu gelee and pomegranate-saba reduction), which is more OK at dinner than at brunch.
And then there are items like a Belgian waffle with spiced pumpkin butter, maple syrup and...
...home fries? I substituted bacon for the home fries and my daughter (what a good girl) substituted fruit. I wonder if anyone has the home fries. By the way, spiced pumpkin butter with maple syrup on a waffle isn't a good idea.
The basket on the table was filled with miniature blueberry muffins, corn muffins and shortcake biscuits. I had one of each.
My husband had the nerve to ask what was for dinner on the way home.
Another way you can tell when a restaurant is too trendy for its own good: When you order a cup of tea and the wooden tea box (groan) contains only one black tea out of six choices, and that's Earl Grey with bergamot and blue malva flowers.
(Exterior photo by me, interior by Gailor Large)
Comments
I've never had a bad meal at Ardeo, but then I've only gone for dinner.
Posted by: Summer | May 25, 2008 7:07 PM