Back in town!

Here we are in Bristol, England, near the gorge enjoying a local cask IPA and a local pear cider.

We have finally surfaced after a steady month of work and play travel. Alexander visited the "homeland" to see his extended family and friends in Ireland, England and Scotland. You can assure there was much good food and drink to be had, but since this is a blog about dining around DC we'll just keep those experiences to ourselves.

However, there is one place where the UK is far ahead of us and I already miss it sorely. Everywhere you go, I mean EVERYWHERE there is a "babycare" room. Always with a sink, changing table, nursing chair, and usually a potty. In smaller places it is also the handicapped restroom, but it always is a great place to be able to change baby-- and it's easy for both parents to go into. It's also easy to strap your little one in and pee yourself, which was much appreciated. Anyways, I hope we head in this direction in the future here.

J & G with a babe: A relaxing lovely night out

With Daddy at J&G out front of the Treasury building

The prettiest places to eat in DC must be those along Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the Willard and W hotels where Cafe Du Parc, the Occidental and J & G Steakhouse are located. In recent years the leafy wide sidewalks have been converted to outdoor dining rooms for these three restaurants complete with sofas and plenty of flowers.

I had eaten a few times at J & G when I was pregnant and vowed to come back here after, thinking it a risky proposition to bring a baby to such a fancy place. Since then it has even won the accolade of the 4th best restaurant in DC from Washingtonian Magazine and I have yet to be back with my newborn. Now that Alexander is almost 6 months we decided he was ready, and it was a beautiful night to eat outside.

Our first course, sweet pea soup with creme fraiche and a watermelon and feta salad were both so good we didn't even photograph them and just sat there in the gorgeous evening and relaxed and enjoyed the starters. You might be wondering why we were so relaxed dining with a baby. Well, first of all, we were outside, and there was a LOT of things going on to keep him busy. Second of all, this restaurant was insightful enough to have Stokke Tripp Trapp chairs for their highchairs. The Peanut LOVES these chairs lately as he can kick and play completely unrestricted and really feels a part of everything.


Alexander in his Stokke chair!

Moving on to the dish responsible for bringing me back: the halibut with spicy scallion sauce, basil oil, and celery. It's a perfectly designed and executed dish, and just might be the best fish dish I have had. It was every bit as good as I remembered it!


Yum, this fish is so good!

Lastly, it was time for dessert. And you can't miss dessert here. Yes, there are three desserts in that picture- the two which came with the prix fixe menu which were a lovely strawberry meringue with poppy seed sorbet, and the ice cream sampler which was with the fantastic chocolate cherry and cinnamon ice creams and a rather benign condensed milk ice cream. The third was an incredibly kind gift from our waiter after he heard me lamenting the lack of the warm chocolate cake from the pix fixe menu. And please notice, although warm / molten chocolate cakes have been old news since about 1995, Jean-Georges literally popularized (possibly invented?) this cake, so it is a great place to have it and a perfect rendition.


Here I am with my three desserts!

The most amazing part was after we were done with our three courses, Alexander was happy as can be, kicking and playing in his chair and enjoying the evening. We hope for many more experiences like this one in the coming months!

Baby-friendly? If you go early, it appears that this hotel restaurant welcomes well-behaved children. They don't have a changing table in the restaurant but there is a private bathroom where there is ample room for changing and very clean. This is by no means a family restaurant, but the outdoor setting, the fantastic high chairs and the friendly service make a it a great place to treat yourself if you have a well behaved little one. We went early and opted for the $35 pre-theatre menu which helped out on the pocketbook as well.