24 in 24: DC – 9:00 PM @ The Capitol Lounge

It’s Saturday night and they were out of Teddy Folkman’s Throwdown winning mussels. Not a huge disappiointment since I have a thing about ordering fish or shellfish on Saturdays and Sundays anyway. At more upscale places, you usually wouldn’t have to worry about this since they won’t serve you old seafood, but there’s been exceptions to this in my lifetime, so I just stick by my rule of thumb and I’m happy. In NYC, I was excited about going to the Kabab Café in Queens after I saw it on No Reservations and the chef served me old squid that had the consistency and taste of a lobster buoy. The rest of the stuff was amazing, but why did he have to serve me this awfulness? I digress.

Kevin dropped a Xingu Black Beer on us and we were amazed. The beer had to be laced with something like a blackberry brandy, since the berry flavor was just too syrupy and sweet to have come from hops alone. It poured like a coffee and went down just as easily with little aftertaste. I mentioned that the Brickskeller would have a tough time beating the Capitol Lounge with this selection; they did in regards to the beer selection (To̱a Рmy second favorite beer from Central America) but not on presentation. The beer was warm. Ugh.

James is there and he gets us a pizza. Full from the Zaytinya-Fojol-Citronelle stretch, I saw the pizza being delivered and shuddered a bit inside. After that initial reaction, I took a bite and still I was impressed with the taste even as the marginal utility of food was breaching the negative. Probably the most filling thing on the menu, it was a complex flavor that I enjoyed thoroughly for the piece I had; the Kalamata olives exploded when you bit into them and the artichokes added that touch of class you would expect from the finest pizza joints. I can imagine eating this again and housing the entire pie by myself. I’m going to give the Capitol Lounge the Friendliest Patrons award of 24 in 24: DC for all the cool people I met there. I’ve been before and it’s always been the case. Who says Capitol Hill is stuffy?

Time for a cocktail at The Gibson.

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