Dinner at Redwood (DC Restaurant Week)

Anthropologie Alloy Dress
J Crew Jackie Cardigan
Impo Sandals (from Marshalls)
Necklace by roundabout via Etsy


We don't often check out DC Restaurant Week, because dinner is still $35/pp, not including drinks (I'm going to need at least 2, thanks), tips, or tax.  Also, the babysitter is not included.  By the time you've paid for all of those things you're not really in the mood to try something new, you want to either go with one of your old standbys (Jaleo! Georgia Brown's!) or just throw all the money you've saved by not going on the bed and roll around in it.

HOWEVER.  CJ is out of town this week which saved us $20.  And a few of the restaurants in the 'burbs are participating, so there's no hassle of either driving into the city (may God have mercy on your soul) or driving to the Metro, parking, and spending an hour nervously assessing all the creeps on the subway. (Which we are actually doing tonight, as we're hitting the town for a friend's birthday party and having dinner at an old standby--Jaleo!)  I don't want to sound like a snob, but I DO love Bethesda.

Redwood was delightful.  The food was great, the service was decent (they were a little rushed because it was Friday of restaurant week, understandable), and the drinks were AMAZING.  All of which was told to me in advance by my impossibly hip hair stylist, Ramon, earlier today.  Ramon is basically never wrong about anything so I shouldn't have been surprised.

Apps.  Yes, I'm one of those annoying faux-foodies who takes pictures of my food at restaurants.  FOR YOU.  I do these things for you, reader.  You're welcome.  I had the fried brussel sprouts (fantastic), Tom had a watermelon salad with pork.  You can also see my drink, the Bethesda Lemonade, which was homemade sparkling lemonade, citrus vodka, and crushed mint.  YUMMO, in the words of the incredibly irritating Rachael Ray.

Bad foodie/lifestyle blogger mistake here--I forgot to photograph the entrees.  Tom had the wood grilled sirloin and it was FAB.   I had the Seafood Pot Au Feu and it was...okay, nothing special.  I ate the mussels/clams/shrimp but ran out of steam halfway through the catfish.  Tom traded me a few bites of his steak for it--totally worth it.

Desserts!  Tom had the avocado ice cream shown up top and he made the better choice, in my opinion.  It was creamy and smooth and a little sweet but not TOO sweet which was just right after the other food.  My chocolate mousse was also very good, and the addition of strawberries and pretzel bits cut the sweetness some, but the caramel ice cream was cloyingly sweet.  My problem is that I really want something that is intensely sweet, but I generally want about 2-4 bites of it and then I want something like the avocado ice cream.  Fortunately Tom let me steal his and was content to finish mine after I ate all the strawberries off of it.