Vermillion

This was the last day of my vacation before it’s back to work tomorrow, so I intended to make good use of it.

I started off with yoga (of course). I’m trying to make this a routine. That is if you define routine by once every three weeks.

Then I went to Old Town to eat lunch with a friend at Vermillion. This is the second time I’ve been here. The first time I came was with the husband for brunch.

I must say that Old Town has some pretty nice places and this one is becoming one of my favorite.

Rumor has it that the Obamas also like to eat here. That might just be a rumor I made up, but I swear I read that somewhere. Anyway the point is I think I have good taste.

So I started off with this drink called Spring in Bolivia. Fancy, right? Bolivia is a pretty happening place. It was this sparkling beautiful springy yellow color with a strip of lemon peel in the flute. It was bright, refreshing, not too sweet and just tart enough from the lemon. If a drink could be well balanced this would be it.

Spring in Bolivia. See my roommate’s arm? I’m sure she’s going to appreciate this picture. For some reason this drink reminds me of a rainy day and brightly colored umbrellas. Next time I’m at Vermillion, I should remember to bring an umbrella. Or just try a different drink.

The main course was rainbow trout, lemony potatoes and spinach. I think it was spinach. I have no idea. It was a dark green leafy thing that had a similar taste and texture to spinach. It will therefore be spinach. The skin on the fish was crispy, the potatoes were much more lemony than expected, but in a good way. It was perfect and it was light, which is something that I’ve been craving with the warmer weather.

FISH. Rainbow Trout is up. I loved this. It was simple, flavorful, summery. Just about everything I want in a lunch.

However, the best thing I’ve had here, and I’ve had them twice now has to be the hushpuppies. Seriously. Almost nothing is better than deep-fried wads of dough. And these may be the fluffiest balls around. If you’re into that kind of thing.

Hush puppies and house made pickles with three sauces. This is what dreams are made of. Fluffy deep fried pieces of dough. We really didn’t need to order anything else. We could have stopped here and would have been happy. Also I have no idea what the sauces are. Except the yellow one. That’s obviously honey mustard.

Also a little factoid: Hushpuppies used to be called Red Horse Bread and originated in South Carolina in the late 1800s. So these things have been around for while, and have spread across the country. Hushpuppy history: http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/06/real-history-myths-hushpuppies.html

If you’re ever in Old Town Alexandria you need to stop by and try these things.

I completely forgot that I also had this corn soup thing with crab. Also, amazing. I ate more than any normal person should for lunch. I’m using vacation as an excuse.