We were super bored from sitting around the apartment during the aftermath of snowmaggedon, so we wanted to leave early for our reservation. We were wayyyy early, so we stopped at La Tasca for drinks and appetizers (more specifically, tapas) and sat at the bar. The specials were awesome! $3.50 glasses of draft beer, house wine ($15 bottles), Sangria ($15 pitchers) and $3.50 select tapas. J and I ordered the Calamares Andaluza, fried calamari with garlic mayonnaise. The first order (yes we ended up ordering two of them) was great, not too chewy and the garlic mayonnaise (which was red, which threw me off a little) was yummy! We also ordered the house-made potatoe chips with a cheese dipping sauce, which was delicioso but in tiny amounts, and more of the garlic mayonnaise. Some chips were thick and crunchy, others were kind of chewy. We wanted to try the Patatas Bravas Deep fried potatoes with a spicy sauce, but haven't yet. The next order of the calamari was rather chewy. It also took forever, so I think it probably sat out for a while under the heat lamp and sent it south. We asked the bartender if we could only have the round piece and no giant leggy pieces, but that was a no go.
They have a really great wine list and some fun sangrias. The bartender suggested I tried Cava Sangria, a bubbly sangria made with sparkling wine, triple sec, and brandy blended with grape juice and blueberries. It tasted way too much like welchs grape juice to me, so J drank it. I had the house red (for $3.50!) and I liked it. I'd love to try the Agua de Valencia, a twist to the traditional Mimosa.
After La Tasca, we headed to our reservations at Clyde's. Zagat rated it a 19 out of 30 for food, so not great but not bad either, so we were hoping it would be good. From the moment we walked in it was downhill. The ambiance felt like an upscale luby's with the padded seats and horrible, old school patterns on every surface. The size was overwhelming. People and tables were everywhere. We had reservations and were seated a little early. It took about 10 minutes to even see a waiter. By that time we obviously knew what we wanted. I got the Butternut Squash Ravioli with roasted mushrooms, Swiss chard, roasted red peppers, smoked ham, crumbled goat cheese and sage butter sauce. It was okay. The flavor was kind of a lacking...would have done well with some salt. I was disappointed in the lack of butternut squash taste. Probably better than what I could make, so I guess that is saying something...
Shockingly, J ordered a salad. Fried Chicken Salad with candied pecans, eggs, crumbled bleu cheese, dried cranberries, bacon and honey mustard dressing. It had a great spice to it that we couldn't ever nail down. The candied pecans were delish and the giant pieces of fried chicken were great. Almost made it not worthy of being called a salad.
At this point, we were going to order some of the seriously yum looking cocktails for dessert (oatmeal cookie!), but never saw our waiter again. They bring you a water pitcher at the beginning of the meal, so we didn't even see a water guy either. Right before we left, we noticed other tables were getting bread too that we also never received.
As soon as we could flag down our waiter we got our check, paid and got out of there. We were trying to make a movie and had no idea how long it would take to get the credit card back. Needless to say, we saved some money on a good tip. We were sad to miss out on the cool cocktails though.
We would definitely not recommend Clyde's for a date or group event. It is amazing to me this place is owned by the same folks as 1789 and Old Ebbitt Grill, considering how great both of those are. We will be visiting La Tasca again soon however and definitely during happy hour!
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