Friday, February 15th - Penn Grill

Day after Valentine's Day, and it seems like there is nobody in the office. Does everybody just get soused and sexy with their significant others on V-Day, and then phone it in the next day? I'm curious about this, being a perpetually single human being (one Valentine's Day with a girlfriend in my 28 years on this planet). But anyways, it was a sunny, beautiful day here in our Nation's Capital, and I was in a chipper mood. So I also didn't mind taking a nice walk lunch. After discussing the CMBS market and risk underwriting to YF, it was time for lunch. So we decided to go over to 20th Street, and Penn Grill.

I would just like to point out one thing about going this far west. You get closer to George Washington University. Which brings us to 4 of the most beautiful words in the English language:

1. G
2. Dub
3. Co
4. Eds

(I attempted to point out a pair of these in the photo above using my superior MS Paint skills)

OK, back to food. Choices include hot sammiches, cold sammiches, or stir fry. I opt for the stir fry, and go heavy on the chicken, a little tofu, some veggies, a bit of beef, and try to stay light on the noodles that hold it together. YF opted for the philly cheesesteak, an aggressive choice, but, lets face it, sometimes we need some fatty, bad for you food. Anyways, stir fry is pay by the pound. My total tally, including a $2 bottle of Diet Coke came out to $8.45. Acceptable. Especially for a lot of food, which is what you get. (I apologize - I forgot my camera at lunch. Won't happen again.) The quality here is, actually, not bad. Time is an issue - selecting stir fry ingredients and then having them prepare them isn't the fastest option. But its tasty. And although they advertise low sodium and msg, I'm still pretty sure it wasn't the heart-healthiest option. But not terrible, either. YF stated that his cheesesteak was pretty good, though the fries weren't necessary, and went largely untouched. Really: there is no nutritional value to fries.

Back to the co-eds: there was this nice dark haired one in skinny jeans who came in about the same time as us, and ended up eating with a couple of male friends of hers. Then there was this pair at the table in front of us, neither was bad, one bordered on awesome. Then there was definitely this one that was awesome, taller, with some sort of slightly above the shoulder length dirty blond hair. Note: I assume that any girl wearing jeans is in college. She looks young, not in businesswear, etc. If you work at a place that has casual Friday and you can wear jeans, I'm calling you a co-ed until I can't deny that you're over 35. That simple.

All in all, Penn Grill is legit. Good value, good food, good scenery. A little slow on service, but on a Friday like this, who cares. And, they have outdoor seating when the weather is a little better. Nice perk.

Now, to go drink. I'm not going into the bar reviewing business just yet. But Bar Pilar is the starting off point tonight, fyi.