Acadiana - Mt Vernon Sq, DC

I would never describe myself as a morning person, but every once and a while it's nice to get out of my PJ's and grab some brunch in DC. It was my aunt's birthday, and my cousin and I wanted to take her somewhere different (we took her to Perry's Drag Queen brunch once), so this time Bitches Who Brunch recommended Acadiana for their Cajun brunch with live jazz band. There is limited street parking and valet for $7 on K St . The closest metro station is Mt Vernon Sq 7th St - Convention Center on the green line.

The interior feels very spacious with their high ceilings and classy decor. Aside from the main dining room, there's another large room in the back.

For brunch, only the 3-course pre-fixed menu is offered for $29. If you add an extra $9, you can have unlimited access to their raw bar of shrimp and oysters. Instead of bread, we were served biscuits with cream cheese and mild pepper jelly. OMG it was so good, and the name describes itself. It tastes great paired with cream cheese or cheddar cheese too.

For those who like to start off the day with a little alcohol, they offer Cajun Marys and Blood Orange Mimosas for $1. I ordered a 'Blood Orange Mimosa', which was very yummy. It didn't taste like there was much champagne in it, but you get what you pay for.

We had a group of 8, so I'm going to post some of the items we ordered as references.
For our appetizer course, I ordered the 'Fried Green Tomatoes (Zatarain’s spice boiled gulf shrimp rémoulade) (left)', which I thought was delicious.
Other items ordered were the 'Roasted Sweet Corn and Blue Crab Soup (top)' and 'Smoked Chicken and Andouille Sausage Gumbo (bottom)'.

5 of us ordered the 'Eggs Acadiana (two poached eggs, Louisiana crawfish crabcakes, tasso ham hollandaise) (left)', which were really good and light considering I'm not a huge fan of hollandaise sauce. Originally 2 of the 5 ordered the '“Grillades and Grits” (smothered medallions of veal, creamy jalapeno cheese grits) (not pictured)', and sent them back for being too salty.
The bf ordered the 'Blackened Tilapia (sweet corn pudding, collard greens with bacon, crawfish lemon tabasco butter) (right)', and found he cared for the fish more than the sides.

After wanting to burst from our meal, it was time for dessert. I found the best one to be the 'Pecan Tart (praline caramel, milk chocolate ice cream) (left)' because it was the sweetest one and the crust was amazing.
I ordered the 'Warm Vanilla Bread Pudding (bourbon cream, praline crunch ice cream) (top)', which didn't compare to my favorite at Gordon Biersch.
In the spirit of New Orleans, others ordered the 'French Market Beignets (chicory coffee creme anglaise)(bottom)', which were ok.

The birthday girl and her birthday candle! The menus even said "Happy Birthday" on them, which was a nice touch.

Little chocolate treats were given to us with our bill.

I enjoyed the service and thought the whole staff was nice and friendly. Our server did a mini tutorial on napkin folding, they were accommodating when we sent food back and the manager even checked in on our table. Granted some dishes were better than others, overall it was a nice time with the live jazz band and the amount of food for the price.

901 New York Ave NW
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 408-8848
www.acadianarestaurant.com

Mussel Bar - Bethesda, MD

Even before Mussel Bar had opened in Bethesda, there was a lot of talk about it online. I definitely wanted to try it because I love mussels as it reminds me of my childhood. Located on Woodmont Avenue, there is metered street parking and a metered garage 1/2 a block away. The closest metro station is Bethesda on the red line. They offer some outdoor seating, but it's way too cold for that right now.

Aside from their mussel selection, they offer over 90 different types of beer, which they put on display in the middle of the room. Their bar takes up about 1/2 of the space in the center of the room with dining room seating around it. We ended up sitting at the back of the restaurant, which has a comfy/contemporary-rustic feel. It's a little loud in there, so it's more of a fun, laid-back environment.
They do not take reservations, but our party of 2 was seated in about 15 minutes on a week night for dinner.

My friend and I came specifically for the mussels, which are “Blue Bay” Prince Edward Island mussels. They are served in a big, covered saucepan that the staff opens for you. My friend ordered the 'Spicy Thai (Green Curry)' for $17. All of the mussel dishes are served with frites (fries). She liked the flavor and it was recommended by our server as being one of their more popular flavors.

I ordered the 'Wild Shroom (Pancetta, Parmesan, Truffle Cream)' for $17. I love everything with truffle, so this dish was good, creamy and rich. The mussels were big, opened and cooked perfectly.

Bread was served for dipping into the sauce.

The fries were good because they were crispy and thin with herbs sprinkled on top. Served with mayonnaise, you can also request a bottle of ketchup.

I had a nice dinner with my friend, and our server was nice and helpful. We found the mussels to be good and came with plenty of food. As you can see from the pictures, our dishes look similar and had a similar creamy sauce. I think if I were to come back I would get the classic flavor because it can be hard to eat a large, creamy dish like that without feeling stuffed.

7262 Woodmont Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20814
301-215-7817
www.musselbar.com


Monday-Thursday 11:30am-11:30pm
Friday 11:30am-1:00am
Saturday 11:00am-1:00am
Sunday 11:00am-11:30pm
Breakfast served Saturday & Sunday 11am-4pm