1612 14th St NW
Washington, DC 20009
202.986.8778
www.pearldivedc.com


For me, having a good meal is just as much about the food as it is about the people you're eating with. The ambience is important too but I find that you can make up for a lot of things if you really enjoy the company.  This was never more evident to me as when a good friend of mine came to DC and we had lunch.  We've had a lot of really good meals together from Dell'Anima to Sushi of Gari to Dieci to Sorella to RedFarm and I wanted to make sure we headed to a good place.  So, I chose to go to Pearl Dive Oyster Palace, yet another restaurant in the Black Restaurant Group.

11120 Rockville Pike
Rockville, MD  20852
301.881.0081
www.addiesrestaurant.com


I went up to Germantown to watch one of my nieces play in a lacrosse tournament.   Her first game was around 8 a.m. and I went last year and remember being home by lunch.  I guess a year really makes a difference as they played four more games throughout the day and ended up winning the whole damn thing.  This was great, good and bad.  The great was that my niece won a friggin' lacrosse championship by playing five back-to-back-to-back (you get where I'm going) games.  Not sure where kids get all that energy but it sure was put to good use this day.  The bad was all I ate through the whole day was some Dunkin' donuts, a hot dog and a large cup of coffee.  The good was that Germantown is a bit north of DC and as I was driving home around dinner time, I could stop by Addie's.

1612 14th Street
Washington, DC  20009
202.986.5225
www.blackjackdc.com


This post is more of an observation than a review since I went to a specific event to Black Jack and I think most of the food originated from Pearl Dive Oyster Palace which is located right under Black Jack.  On this particular Sunday, Black Jack was hosting a Chicken Fried Steak Competition (I seriously considered making this post a Food We Love post about Chicken Fried Steak which to me stand atop the pantheon of comfort foods).  The owner/chef of Black Jack and the rest of the Black Restaurant Group restaurants including BlackSalt challenged several chefs from DC restaurants, that are on my wish list, including Birch & Barley, the Source, and Bourbon Steak.  The competition was hosted by Nycci and David Nellis who have a weekly radio show on Federal News Radio called Foodie & the Beast along with running TheListAreYouOnIt which is a food and wine event website.  Proceeds from the competition were to be donated to the Washington Nationals Juvenile Diabetes Wing at the Children's National Medical Center.  More specifically, the funds were going to go towards building the kitchen for the wing.   So, it was a cause that is near and dear to me considering my recent diagnoses.

4883 Macarthur Blvd NW
Washington, DC   20007
202.342.9101
www.blacksaltrestaurant.com

Ah brunch!  There probably isn't a better meal than brunch especially Sunday Brunch.   The implication is that it's a special event during the week to be savored and guilt-free.  Every brunch menu is a murderer's row of food cravings with savory egg dishes, sausage, bacon, pancakes with sweet maple syrup, and french toast or waffles for breakfast and burgers, french fries and friend fish for those who like lunch for brunch.   This particular Sunday, I found myself looking at a long day of work due to a day-long meeting the next day so I wanted to start it off right with a proper meal.  I went to BlackSalt which is just right over the Potomac river in DC from Arlington.