If you want a great spot to chat, come to Le Chat Noir in Tenleytown/Friendship Heights, on Wisconsin Avenue at Ellicot. What a great, casual atmosphere and terrific food, especially the dessert crepes. For Father's Day, the families got together and they gave us a table on their open-sided, covered patio. The eight of us soaked up the Sunday breeze and strizzled rays of sunlight that slithered in the sides of the patio.
Sunday is no corkage fee at Le Chat, and I highly recommend coming with your own favorite hooch. We brought several bottles of our "estate" wine. Yep, we have an acre of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, producing since 1997, and each year that we have a successful harvest, we have wine commercially made for us--our own private label that gets sold around Charlottesville, VA (near where the grapes and my brother live). My brother and dad do most all the work in keeping the grapes alive throughout the spring and summer; weeding, spraying, praying. And when things work out, we all come down and harvest in late September or early October.
The last year we had a harvest was 2006, so three bottles of that year came with us to Le Chat Noir as we took hearty advantage of the no corkage fee Sunday. Given that most meals in DC consist of reasonably priced food and overpriced drinks, this offer is a great way to have a meal out and not break the bank. Even this unemployed cyclist could spring for some vicchysoise, Ahi tuna and macerated tropical fruits.
Tenleytown is still in a manner of transition. It has a few vibrant spots, a touch of class, but still some remnants of suburban planning, right along Wisonsin Ave, mixed with the occasional dead spot where a store has closed and the economy has slowed a new tenant. Years ago the fantastic Babe's Pool Hall was shut down to make way for a deluxe condo building. Well, the bottom dropped out and we've had this building wrapped in black advertising Maxim Condominiums for the last four years! Yet, there are gems here in Tenley, and Le Chat is one of them. It has positioned itself as a neighborhood restaurant and seems to have just the right mix of "fancy french" if you want to come in your Sunday best; and laid back provential eats for those in jeans and a polo. The no corkage Sundays is just one of their daily specials. Come check them out. You might even see me pedaling around on the DC Flyer, working off the three secret ingredients that make french cooking so good: butter, butter and more butter!
Sunday is no corkage fee at Le Chat, and I highly recommend coming with your own favorite hooch. We brought several bottles of our "estate" wine. Yep, we have an acre of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, producing since 1997, and each year that we have a successful harvest, we have wine commercially made for us--our own private label that gets sold around Charlottesville, VA (near where the grapes and my brother live). My brother and dad do most all the work in keeping the grapes alive throughout the spring and summer; weeding, spraying, praying. And when things work out, we all come down and harvest in late September or early October.
The last year we had a harvest was 2006, so three bottles of that year came with us to Le Chat Noir as we took hearty advantage of the no corkage fee Sunday. Given that most meals in DC consist of reasonably priced food and overpriced drinks, this offer is a great way to have a meal out and not break the bank. Even this unemployed cyclist could spring for some vicchysoise, Ahi tuna and macerated tropical fruits.
Tenleytown is still in a manner of transition. It has a few vibrant spots, a touch of class, but still some remnants of suburban planning, right along Wisonsin Ave, mixed with the occasional dead spot where a store has closed and the economy has slowed a new tenant. Years ago the fantastic Babe's Pool Hall was shut down to make way for a deluxe condo building. Well, the bottom dropped out and we've had this building wrapped in black advertising Maxim Condominiums for the last four years! Yet, there are gems here in Tenley, and Le Chat is one of them. It has positioned itself as a neighborhood restaurant and seems to have just the right mix of "fancy french" if you want to come in your Sunday best; and laid back provential eats for those in jeans and a polo. The no corkage Sundays is just one of their daily specials. Come check them out. You might even see me pedaling around on the DC Flyer, working off the three secret ingredients that make french cooking so good: butter, butter and more butter!
Hey Steve - I used to play pool at Babe's - it was fun. :) I enjoy that and playing music on their CD player....too bad it's gone. I think I had noticed that they were gone the last time I happened by there.... Oh well, I've got my memories. :) Charmaine
ReplyDelete