Lunardis

Last summer we tried Lunardi's Restaurant in Beechview with Beth and G on a Friday night.  Its a tiny little Italian place that the Dormont/Lebo crowd pass by every day on the T, so it was just asking for a try.  We enjoyed it, so when I saw it pop up on Groupon later in the fall I couldn't say no!  Last night David and I went back for a date night to use that Groupon before it disappeared.  It was a kitschy as I remembered,  reminding me of mom's kitchen, or maybe grandma's.  David had the chicken parmesan and i had an absolutely delicious chicken marsala served over spinach.  It was a good thing that we called ahead for reservations -- they only have 7 tables plus the bar, and it was hopping!  I also noticed that they seem to not only sell adult beverages, but it would appear that you can byoW and they'll just charge a corking fee :)  That makes me happy too!

Rusty's

I joined my crazy animal loving freinds from Paws for a great going away lunch at one of our favorite locations, Rusty's Riverfront Bar and Grill. This was my first visit since their recent remodel. The good news: The food is still great (I enjoyed the signature green beans and blacked grouper). The great news: The outdoor seating looks great, and the new room has a great bar and is a little more quiet and doubled the availbe seating! Wishing I could enjoy some more great meals with great people here :(

Yummy Cheeseburgh-er

While scouting out housing options in Pittsburgh, I had an amazing cheeseburger at the Union Grill on Craig St. It was made with a custom ground beef and the artisinal cheese of the week was Kerry Gold Dubliner. Loved the yummy ground sirloin mix and the creamy cheese. Nothing fancy, but definitely a great eat!

Anchuca

I enjoyed a GREAT lunch with GREAT people at Anchuca today. Somehow I had never been there before. It's a gorgeous b&b located in an antebellum home in downtown Vicksburg. I enjoyed the special, a grilled salmon salad. It was to die for! The salmon was moist and flavorful, the fruit was fresh, the goat cheese and candied walnuts were yummy, and the dressing wasn't overly done. I can only imagine how great Sunday Brunch is!

On Hiatus

So I was on cooking hiatus last week (obviously) - I was in Washington DC! The first part of the week was spent with 10,000 transportation professionals discussing things that you never thought people cared about while the weekend was spent with my sister.

Being in DC meant that I was not cooking, but I did get some great food time in. This year we tried to exit the area around the hotel and eat somewhere other than Murphys. This post summarizes some of the culinary highlights of the week.

Kate and I ate brunch at Art and Soul, where Chef Art put his spin on home cooking. We enjoyed French Toast and some apple, frisse, and blue cheese hoe cakes!
I was also able to enjoy the 'crispy club' at Open City -- a delicious combo of roast turkey breast, white cheddar, tomatoes, and applewood smoked bacon wrapped up in a puff pasty (not exactly 100% healthy... I know, but nothing is when you are traveling) - aka 'the sandwich that started it all'. I discovered this sandwich last year and Kate created her own puff pastry sandwich based on it!

Lucy and I enjoyed a fancy pants dinner at Sequoia -- a pretty restaurant in Georgetown on the waterfront. I had the pan sauteed Atlantic flounder and some amazing corn and crab chowder with a bacon biscuit. The location was awesome and I understand it is a great place to hang out in the summer when you can be on the waterfront instead of watching the fountains covered with ice.

Kate brought Lucy, Lulu and I to Founding Farmers, a restaurant that I've heard RAVE reviews of. It's DC's greenest restaurant and everything is local or independently grown and sold rather than through huge mass market factories. LOVED IT! We had a salami, ricotta,and pesto flatbread that was to die for. Everyone's meal looked great... Lucy had a pork chop that looked more like a pig quarter while Lulu's scallops looked amazing. You MUST try it if you are in town!!
Kate and I also hit up Matchbox, an awesome little bistro that she introduced me to last year. Its a converted Chinese grocery that is teeny tiny -- matchbox size :) The specialty is pizza out of the brick oven, with lots of other yummies on the menu. We shared a pizza - half whit pizza with prosciutto and half chicken pesto -- we both liked the chicken pesto best.

We joined Kate's friend Kate for brunch on Saturday morning outside the Eastern Market at Le Pain Quotidien, which I believe translates to The Daily Bread (Help me here Abby). Everything looked amazing! I had a quiche Lorraine which was quite delish! (yes successful another foray into the egg world!) I would have happily eaten eight pounds of bread, nutella, and four fruit jam there if we weren't planning to head to the Market after brunch.

It was a great trip cullinarily! Back to the home cooking grind now!!