So Dean and I went back to Visions Restaurant last night. We left home, not knowing where we were going to eat dinner. We looked at the menu of a Latin/Spanish restaurant that we’d never eaten at and at the menu of the New Orleans’s Bistro. We also considered Red Tomato (one of my favorite restaurants in town). After wandering around a bit, we saw that we were on the street near Visions Restaurant. Dean knew I wanted to try it again and said he’d be happy eating there, although he may have preferred somewhere else.

The food at Visions is excellent. I ordered the Arugula Salad and can honestly say it was the best salad I’ve ever eaten. The bitterness of the arugula was offset by the sweetness of the cranberries and smoothness of the goat cheese. Simply wonderful. I want some right now. For breakfast.

For dinner I ordered the spicy shrimp. It, too was very good. True to the name, it was spicy, but not so much that I couldn’t eat it. (although I did end up taking half my plate home — the portion was huge). Dean ordered the Rib eye and proclaimed it delicious. I tasted it, and agreed with him.

I did get to meet Chef Tony this time, but only, I believe, because I asked to meet him. I noticed he paid visits to other tables and expected him to come to ours, but he didn’t until I asked our waiter if she could ask him to come see us. It makes me wonder if perhaps we looked unapproachable in some way (are we too old? were we too underdressed? Did we look like we were always deep in conversation?). Perhaps he now only visits regular customers. Chef Tony was pleasant when we did meet. He shook our hands and recognized my username. He said he liked to meet everyone he feeds.

The thing is — the reason I first went to the restaurant was because it seemed like a welcoming place — and, don’t get me wrong — the wait staff is very welcoming. As soon as you walk through the door you feel like you’re home. I just had never really been anywhere where the chefs made frequent table side visits, and was hoping to have that experience. Silly reason for wanting to go to a restaurant, but there you have it. Sometimes my reasons are not altogether sane.

The food and welcoming waitstaff will entice me back to Visions, perhaps for lunch next time — I see they have my favorite. salad. ever. on their lunch menu too. I’ll just have to give up the idea of chefly visits.

The only thing I’d suggest to Visions is to clean up its web site. Right now it is sort of a mess and much of it is not accessible — meaning it cannot be accessed with a screen reader. I’d suggest Chef Tony learn about Wordpress and use a Wordpress blog with an elegant template to create his website. The site is packed with valuable information, but the information is a little hard to locate and not exactly pleasing to view. I have no idea how it is updated, but I suspect Chef Tony would find a Wordpress blog easier to update.

But — the website is a minor thing. Chef Tony and Chef Iddi are masters at their craft. They are excellent chefs who know how to put together an intriguing menu and create the kinds of dishes you have dreams about. They also know how to hire and train friendly people to work in their restaurant.

Mmm, I think I’ll go have some Spicy Shrimp pasta for breakfast….

The Dinner

Friday night the kids were busy with their various activities — Clare to the mall with a friend and Andrew had a Rugby game, so Dean and I took the opportunity to go out to dinner.

We’d gotten our latest (last?) Bethesda Magazine in the mail a few days before and read a couple reviews of local restaurants. Visions was mentioned, as was Dean’s favorite restaurant — Black’s Bar & Kitchen (formerly Black’s). The magazine also held a $10 off coupon that could be used at a number of restaurants in the area during May. We looked at the list and decided to go with a restaurant we’d not eaten at before, Trattoria Sorrento. Besides we were both in the mood for Italian.

We were given a choice of sitting in a light and lively area of the restaurant or a darker and more formal area. We chose the lighter area mostly because the host told us there was a party of 40 or so expected in the formal dining room.

We immediately felt at home in the restaurant. It was obvious the folks sitting just behind our table were either part of the family or good friends of the owners. Another couple dining near us seemed to be either regulars or good friends of our waiter because of the familiarity they exhibited towards one another.

The waiter was very friendly — not in an over-the-top and fake way, but just down-home family friendly. He told us about the specials, took our drink order after explaining that the woman sitting behind us was Sunday’s entertainment. On Sundays the restaurant hosts Opera Night and the guests are treated to an opera singer or two while they dine. We’re not opera fans, but I’m sure the folks who are enjoy the performance.

For dinner I chose sea bass which was prepared with a kind of puttenesca sauce. I don’t recall the actual name of the dish. Dean ordered veal ravioli. Prior to our entrées we shared a Caesar salad which was good. Nothing special, just a normal Caesar salad.

My entrée was delicious. The sauce was perfect — not too salty. The fish was very good, mild and flaky, but not dried out. My only complaint was a fishy taste once, that might just have been some skin. Unfortunately it ruined the rest of the meal and I gave my dinner to Dean, but I’d actually eaten enough by then.

Dean’s dish, according to him — I don’t eat veal — was not so good. He thought the filling was too salty and the dough on the ravioli overcooked. He ate most of it, but left three small ravioli — unusual for him. He was content to finish my fish, though — so my fishy tasting bite was a good deal for him.

We shared a bottle of Meridian Pinor Noir. It was fine, and priced pretty good at $26.

We’ll probably return to Trattoria Sorrento at some time, but probably not soon. We’ve got a lot of other restaurants to try in Bethesda, and even feeling a part of the family isn’t enough pull for an unsatisfactory dinner.

The Walk

After dinner we went to McGrillis Gardens for a walk at dusk. The rhododendrons were in bloom as well as a bush* with snowball shaped flowers. As we neared the back fence Dean claimed to hear spring peepers on the other side of the fence, near the newly built McMansions and after disagreeing with him at first, I finally conceded that he was right.

I heard my first Rufous-sided Towhee of the year (FOY in birding jargon). At least I thought that is what I heard, but it turned out to be an Eastern Towhee. See, some silly bird committee decided to re-name this bird from an interesting and descriptive sounding moniker to a boring and nondescript one.

All-in-all, it was a pleasant evening. It’s nice to get out once in a while. Of course I could eat out several times a week, but with college looming we need to be a little more frugal. Eating in Bethesda — heck, just living in Bethesda, is not inexpensive. Having a free and open area to wander around in after dinner is a treat that we don’t take advantage of often enough.

*speaking of Bush, his sister lives around there somewhere…according to AARP Magazine and my Aunt Ginny’s Internet sleuthing.

A few months ago I heard about a new restaurant in Bethesda. Not that it’s unusual for new restaurants to open here, but this one was different. One of the owners likes using the Internet to promote his restaurant. He’s got blogs and a website, podcasts and tweets as well as the restaurant’s own social network. I’ve been wracking my brain to figure out exactly where I heard about the restaurant, but I guess it doesn’t matter. Somewhere on the Internet I’m guessing. (I do remember emailing the restaurant about an annoying pop-up they used on their home page. I received a friendly response.)

I’d wanted to visit the restaurant for a couple of reasons. One was the exuberance of one of the owners, and because it seemed to be more down-to-earth than some other Bethesda establishments. My one worry was that the food might not be so good. I worried, perhaps the owners were a little ADHD, based on Tony’s all over the place Internet habits. (Look who’s talking!)

The restaurant is located on St. Elmo St. in Bethesda, just across the street from a parking garage. My husband said the space used to be an Asian restaurant. It’s exterior is modern looking with clean lines and primary colored letters. My husband tried to walk into the wrong door, but the door on the side was obviously the right door if you looked carefully.

We were greeted warmly by a hostess who asked if we had a reservation. We didn’t and she said it didn’t make a difference, they had plenty of seats. She spoke the truth — there was only one other couple at the restaurant. She led us to a small table for two in a narrow hallway. We must have hesitated because she said we could sit at a bigger table in the main room since there was the space. We chose to sit at a four seater in the main room near the window. The hostess said that some people liked sitting in that smaller area because it was romantic. I later learned, by looking at photos of the restaurant, it is called “lovers lane“.

I was again concerned that I’d made the wrong choice of restaurants. It was a Friday night and there were large crowds of folks in Bethesda. The restaurant was in a central location and there were only four people eating in it at 6:30 at night.

The server was even more friendly than the hostess and answered questions and made requested suggestions with a lighthearted and seemingly genuine tone. I ordered a glass of pinot noir and Dean ordered nut brown ale (Newcastle, not Samuel Smith’s). When the drinks came we ordered our meal. Dean ordered a seasonal soup sampler and a seared scallop entree. I ordered a mesculn salad and filet mignon.

My wine was very good, but a little warm. I don’t like chilled red wine, but this should have been a little cooler. Dean must have liked his ale because he drank it and ordered another.

Our first course came out quickly. The soups: a kind of chicken, a spicy tomato and cream of asparagus were delicious. I’m not a big soup person, but I could have made a meal of any one of the soups and been very happy. My salad, which had spring greens, red onions and roma tomatoes with a balsamic dressing was perfect. There was just the right amount of dressing on the salad and the greens were very fresh and crisp. I could have done without the onions, but they were pretty good as well — not too overpowering as red onions sometimes are. I thought, at first, they were shallots.

The wait staff was very attentive to us and when we’d finished our salad and soup our entrees were ready. My filet was very tasty. It was served along side delicious mashed potatoes that probably had garlic in them. They’d been mashed with their red skins — my favorite way of making (and eating) mashed potatoes! I also got a serving of sauteed zucchini slices. They were perfectly cooked - crisp enough to yield a bit when chewing, but cooked enough so they were not bitter. The flavor was delicious.

Dean liked his scallops a lot. I’m not a big fan of scallops, but these were good. He also got an order of risotto which was heavenly. His vegetable was braised apples and fennel - interesting and also good.

The restaurant describes itself as “New American” and I suppose that is the kind of food it serves, but the atmosphere is more down-to-earth than what I think of as New American. The portions were hearty, but not overly so. The staff was warm and friendly — something I don’t associate with downtown Bethesda restaurants or New American restaurants either.

My only disappointment of the evening was that Chef Tony didn’t visit with us. He said, in his blog, that he liked to visit each table. I was looking forward to that.

I wonder how this restaurant will make out in this very transient area. Restaurants come and go almost as much as the folks who visit them. Tony seems so pleased to have his own restaurant and the food is fantastic. The prices are somewhat reasonable, a bit on the high side, but it’s Bethesda after all.

At one point during the evening a large party walked into the restaurant and was seated in the back room. I overheard someone ask them if they thought it looked different from [didn't hear the name they said]. About 20 minutes later the entire group left the restaurant. Speculation among the employees was that they’d made reservations at a restaurant but thought it was a different restaurant than it really was. I thought it was rude of them to leave, but this is Bethesda, after all.

We’ll go back to Visions. It’s nice to feel comfortable instead of feeling like a fish out of water like I usually feel at restaurants in this town. And the food! Heavenly.