We have had a whirlwind week of travel, going from sunny Florida to North Carolina, South Carolina, and Washington DC. where snow, ice and blowing winds reminded me that winter is not my favorite season. But regardless of the season, warmth and good food can be found anywhere if you take the time to make good selections. Fortunately we were lucky to be guided by family (Dave and Darla) to one of their favorite restaurants in Vienna, Virginia just outside of D.C.
Clarity is a neighborhood bistro with two talented chefs in the open kitchen. The food is creative American fare. I enjoyed the above Roasted Pennsylvania Chicken with leek and gruyere bread pudding, garlic roasted French beans and chicken jus. I will be trying to duplicate the bread pudding very soon.
Darla had the Seared New-England Sea Scallops with potato gnocchi, pork belly and cream. This is another dish that would be fun to duplicate.
Dave ordered the Hand-rolled Tomato Fettucini Puttanesca. All of the pastas at Clarity are handmade.
My David had the Carolina Mountain Trout with duck confit, edamame, fennel and trout roe. Trout roe is so pretty. I recently saw it used with parsnip hoe cakes and creme fraiche. If anyone knows where I can find trout roe, I would appreciate your input.
We had many more fine meals while traveling and I will let you know about them in future posts. In the meantime, I am headed to the market to buy leeks and Gruyere to make a tasty bread pudding.
All of the meals sound wonderful! You can get trout roe on amazon…..here:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=trout+roe&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Atrout+roe
Thanks Penny. Seems like you can find everything on Amazon!
Wow, what an impressive array of dishes. Clarity sounds like the perfect restaurant for you. I’ll look forward to the Gruyere bread pudding. I always have a bit of Gruyere in my cheese drawer.
Sam
P.S. I read Penny’s response to the trout roe. Isn’t it amazing what you can find on Amazon.
Thanks Sam. I haven’t had time to make the bread pudding yet. Still have some brioche in the freezer from Christmas. Will use that. Amazon is amazing. We order coffee online and get it the next day.
We so enjoyed spending time with you and David and eating at one of our favorite local restaurants. We are blessed to have so many dining choices here in the DC area. It’s one of the things I’ll miss when we retire to NC. I guess I’ll be depending on Kristen and you, Penny to prepare gourmet fare for us. Not a bad thought! Maybe I’ll take some cooking classes, since we have so many excellent chefs in the family! Did you eat at Husk, Hominy Grill or Fleet Landing in Charleston?
Hi Darla,
We ate at Husk, Fulton Five and Poogan’s Porch. We did not make it to Fleet Landing because we were on foot most of the time and thought it was too far to walk at night. We enjoyed spending time with you in DC. That authentic Chinese luncheon in China Town was also a highlight of our trip.
It is great to have friends to guide us and with the internet it is not so much a hit-and-miss situation anymore. We used to travel and stop when we were too hungry to make good decisions. I try really hard not to let that happen anymore.
Can’t wait to see what you do with a savory breadpudding.
You are right Madonna. With all of our options just a computer click away, there is no excuse to eat bad food.
So nice you get to travel to see people you love..and get out and about to wine and dine:)
We had a great week Monique. I just wish that the weather had been warmer. It finally warmed up when we got to Charleston.
Oh my but it all looks heavenly. I’ll be watching for your version of the bread pudding!
Still working on it H. I want almost a bread pudding muffin. Hope all is well with you.
Sounds like a delicious traveling week for the two of you. I’m glad you enjoyed your visit…it is so nice when you can meet up with friends.
We recently returned from a little trip also! Everything here looks delicious and I hope you try to replicate that bread pudding!