Evening Star Cafe - an evening in Del Ray

Because we once were huge fans of Tallula for brunch and Buzz bakery, it was only natural to head over to Del Ray to try out Evening Star (they are all part of the same group). Of course, it also came highly recommended by a friend who has impeccable taste.

As per usual, I had scoped out the menu online and hoped that it had been updated recently. I was very happy to see that it had, and the Grilled Watermelon salad was my first course. The listed ingredients are tatosi, mizuna, herbed goat cheese, and pine-nut brittle. I believe the first two were the greens. The salad was fantastic, with balanced flavors, sweetness and saltiness. I wish I could have a brick of the pine nut brittle! It was also nice to have some watermelon this summer--back home the summer meant cousins running around and a giant watermelon getting sliced up. For two people, a giant watermelon doesn't exactly make sense.

For J's first course, he ordered a special scallop appetizer (I now forget the contents) but actually received the bay scallops over gazpacho. The mistake was realized by us, but because he's a fan of tomatoes and it was a beautiful summer evening, he ate it anyway. The scallops were tasty but after a few bites of gazpacho he was done. It wasn't bad or anything, but it was a lot of gazpacho!

Dinner brought me the seared scallops and mashed potatoes. The scallops were delicious, great texture, nice and lightly seasoned, all good. The mashed potatoes were okay, nothing special. My new thing is if it's not that good, I stop eating it (may seem obvious to you, but a few months ago I would have eaten all of those mediocre mashed spuds!), so I barely touched them. J had the peach and apple cider glazed pork chop, which he said was deliciously fabulous.

The real treat is dessert. From what I'd heard, Evening Star's desserts were a little inconsistent. Rather than risk it, we walked over to Dairy Godmother for some delicious frozen custard. The flavor of the day was banana pudding! If I hadn't liked the flavor of the day, I may have gotten The Turtle (caramel and hot fudge) with vanilla ice cream.

The inside was pretty cute, but we sat outside so I already forgot what it looked like. Outdoor seating was comfortable, but the table furthest from the door felt neglected--they brought their check and credit card to the hostess table in an effort to get out of there quicker. I sensed they'd been waiting long, which is tough with antsy kids. Our server(s?) were cool and chatty, which I like.

We'll be back there (to BOTH places) very soon.

Evening Star Cafe
Dairy Godmother
Metro: Nope, it's in Del Ray, Alexandria