Table for One – District Chophouse

Last night I took myself out for dinner at the District Chophouse. There wasn’t a special occasion, I just felt like having a nice dinner out instead of heating up my apartment making something at home. I did have a fairly rough day at the office though, Betsy was out which left me in charge. This isn’t really a bad thing, it just changes the scope of my work for the day, instead of doing things myself, I have to manage other people doing things.

I don’t really have any qualms about going out to eat on my own, it’s clearly more fun with people because you have someone to talk to and someone to try other dishes and share things with. I suppose the lone diner has a bit of a social stigma as well, not necessarily from the staff but other patrons, I got a few looks when I pulled out a book, but nothing major.

I started with a Grey Goose vodka tonic while looking over the menu. I knew I’d want to keep room for dessert so I went against my usual instincts and decided on the Top Sirloin with sauteed mushrooms and seasoned french fries. It came with their “chophouse” salad and cornbread in a mini cast iron skillet. The salad is pretty run of the mill, though does come with big shavings of parmesan cheese over it. Their cornbread is quite good, it’s a little on the sweet side with baby corn kernels inside — just like grandma used to make, but I don’t have much because it’s very easy to fill up on.

I normally order a porterhouse or prime rib because I like large steaks with a bit of fat, but as I said, I wanted room for dessert so I got the sirloin. It was good, it did taste a little over done, though that tends not to be as tender a cut. It didn’t taste like they really gave it any special treatment, aside from the steak tips, it was the least expensive steak plate on the menu. The fries weren’t really anything to write home about, if they were seasoned, the seasoning must have been salt because I didn’t taste anything else, I was expecting the usual Old Bay flavorings.

Dessert, on the other hand, didn’t fail to satisfy, and probably won’t fail to do so for a few days. It was a 4-layer chocolate cake. It arrived with two small scoops of ice cream, and was about the size of a few-weeks-old puppy. 3 people walking past my table stopped to ask what it was and one asked if I was going to be able to eat it all. The server, when I ordered it, asked if I wanted it at the table or boxed up to go. I guess they get a lot of that.

I can’t say that it was the best meal I’ve had there, as I know they can do better with different cuts of meat, but I figured that it was a fair place to start my Table for One series as I was familiar with it, and was trying new dishes. And this is not meant to imply that I don’t want to have dinner out with people, but sometimes it’s easier to avoid trying to navigate schedules and free time and just make reservations for yourself. Plus I was amazed at how fast all my dishes came to the table, that rarely happens when I’m with other people, even though we usually finish our food as fast. I had a book with me, so I wasn’t exactly wolfing down my food.

Next up… I’m thinking Indique.