Last night, M.J. and I went to salsa and swing lessons in D.C. (led by instructors from Gotta Swing and hosted at the K Street Lounge). K Street Lounge was OK -- not the most amazing atmosphere, to me, unless you love blue and purple lights and lots of white trying-to-be-modern surfaces. The drinks were insanely overpriced -- M.J. got a $7 Corona and then we called it quits with the bar tab. I figure he is pretty talented, and unlike a lot of the guys there, he would survive the night even without being intoxicated.
However, we enjoyed our salsa and swing lessons. We are afflicted with a bit of a conundrum, though. M.J. preferred the swing, I prefer the salsa. With the salsa dance, I have some prior experience that, given my inherent two-left-footed state, is pretty helpful in terms of not feeling like a bumbling idiot on the dance floor. However, since I'm far more excited than M.J. by the glamor of going out dancing, I think we'll be taking swing lessons. Either way, the night was a nice introduction to two beautiful dances.
Now on to the important part -- the food.
We left the lounge a bit before 10pm, and since we hadn't had dinner before the lessons started at 7, we were looking for a restaurant that was still serving. Thank God for my iPhone -- I was able to hit the web and find some late night dining recs on Chowhound. We headed to Alexandria, and a new-to-us restaurant called Rustico that stays open until 11pm.
When we first entered what appeared to be the not-so-nice part of Alexandria, I was having doubts, but then we turned down Slaters Lane and came to a cute little area in the midst of townhouses -- a block's worth of downtown. There was a fun-looking coffee shop (I'm an indie coffee shop addict, so I definitely want to check that out when we're in the area again), a dog groomer's, and a few little other shops, along with Rustico.
Inside, Rustio has standard-chic decor. You know what I mean -- dark lighting, exposed brick, red chairs. I did like their mosaics on the walls, which incorporates halved wine bottles and coffee mugs. There was a fair amount of chatter audible in the restaurant, but MJ and I were able to talk comfortably, which I always appreciate.
Where we started to fall in love was in opening the beer list. MJ appreciates places that have a real beer list, and especially that consider food-and-beer pairings. I'm not a beer drinker, but I appreciate places that make him happy (Although I will also tease him sometimes about overgrown frat boys whose tastes haven't matured to wine yet getting all hoity-toity about their microbrews... but that's just how I am). We promised ourselves we would try out their six-course prix fixe menu with beer pairings if the food was any good, even though we wouldn't be trying out any of the beers that night.
And the food was GREAT. I ordered the roasted mushroom pizza, with provolone, goat cheese, mozarella, roasted mushrooms and spinach. MJ tried to order the ribeye, but was denied, and changed to the pork tenderloin (-2 for being out of ribeye, but +5 for terrific pork tenderloin). My pizza was positively delish -- the flavors were nicely balanced, which I wasn't sure would be the case. One pizza is definitely too much for one person -- we had my leftovers for lunch today, so it would reasonably serve at least two.
The pork tenderloin was unbelievably tender. It was served on an almond crostini and had been marinated in clam juice, but it didn't taste of clam at all (thank God, right?). I wish we had photos, but hey, we just started blogging -- we will be the complete foodie dorks next time and snap photos of our meals before we dig in.
Such a nice meal - and such lively conversation - begs to be continued with desert, so despite the late hour, we decided to ask for the desert menu and linger longer. MJ ordered the hearth-roasted chiffon cake. I debated between butterscotch pudding with house-made chocolate shortbread and vanilla tapioco with carmelized bananas. Well, I adore tapioca (I'm a bubble tea addict), so that was my pick.
Once the chiffon cake arrived, though, I abandoned my own desert to help polish off Handsome's. The chiffon cake was served warm in a small cast-iron pan, dotted with huge baked cherries and covered in whipped cream. It was unbelievably good. Once that had been dispatched, I returned to my own tasty but more modest desert. The tapioca was about as flavorful as bland tapioca can be (it's about the texture, not the taste), with a vanilla infusion, and the carmelized bananas were a nice touch. I enjoyed it, but next time, I am all about the chiffon cake.
I didn't think the restaurant was too expensive, either. Handsome's pork tenderloin was $23, while my pizza was $14 for a 12" pie we could definitely have split. Our deserts were $8 each. We skipped drinks this time, which will be a must for next time, but our check came to just under $60 before tipping. We'll definitely be returning to Rustico soon -- possibly as early as next week, since we have family coming into the area and they are also beer conossieurs.
