Winter Restaurant Week dates Announced!

Yes! Yes! Yes! The dates for the Winter DC Restaurant Week have been announced! DC is going to be the most happening city in the world the week of January 12, 2009 - January 18, 2009! It's Inauguration week! Thousands of people will be in the city preparing to welcome and Celebrate the Inauguration of our 44th president into office. Marketing folks have earned their money this year already by planning to have restuarant week be the week before the big event. Very clever!
Here is Opentable's list of restuarants for Inauguration Week.

Mais Oui, Brasserie Beck!

For Ben and I's 5 year wedding anniversary, we canceled the reservation to Citronelle and decided to go to Brasserie Beck instead.

Located at 1101 K Street, NW Executive Chef/Owner Robert Wiedmaier of Marcel's has opened a less formal, more casual, contemporary restaurant named after his younger son, Beck. The dining room features an open steel and glass kitchen visible from three sides, set across from a unique family-style chef's table, dramatic 22-foot ceilings and a raw bar located at the end of a grand marble and walnut bar featuring an array of Belgian beers on tap to compliment his French Belgian fare. I found the tables to be a bit close together. It makes it rather uncomfortable to have an intimate dinner with your significant other. Conversation is forced to be on the DL. The din was mostly acceptable. I have heard of others complaining about the din, but I did not find it to be terribly loud or boisterous. I think it was because we were tucked in a nook outside of the open main dining area. I spent most of my evening starring at the large clocks on the wall above. They reminded me of the clocks that are in European train stations. It brought back some memories ...
Of course, I have to mention that Washingtonian Magazine named Brasserie Beck #36 on it's Very Best Restaurant List
Service was mostly good; however, on several occasions, we found ourselves looking around for our server when we needed something. Our server pointed out on more than one occasion that we should take our time, relax, enjoy ourselves and leave everything to him. I think it was wonderful!
Another perk, I found the bread basket to be enticingly plentiful. The server was very gracious when we asked for more bread. This has not always been the case at other establishments. I shall not name them here. It's hard to resist the bread due to the fact that it's deliciously warm, perfectly crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. It was an exceptional baguette.
I was also very pleased by the charcuterie plate. There was a rabbit pate, We also ordered a side of the "Belgium frites". Who are we kidding, really? They were french fries. The frites were accompanied by 3 dipping sauces (traditional mayo, spicy which was a nice extra touch.
Ben ordered the raised rabbit with a sauce of its own juices fortified with kriek (cherry) beer and I ordered the trout. The portions were plentiful. I really enjoyed this place, I plan to return!