 |
| Chef's Healthy Breakfast |
It was time to celebrate my cousin Dean's birthday and Dean loves Clyde's of Chevy Chase, a last second winner over nearby Lia's (Clyde's 1 Chef Geoff's 0.) The three of us (Auntie Nessa too) made our way inside for Saturday brunch, electing to eat in the busier (and louder) main dining room upstairs.
I'm a big fan of Clyde's downstairs Race Bar... call it cozier; but Dean & Nessa preferred bigger & hopefully better, so who am I to argue? We were immediately seated smack in the middle of the spacious train-themed dining area. Our server arrived straight away and was courteous enough... but he looked unhappy and wound up bordering on unfriendly. Definitely not something I'm used to at Clyde's.
 |
| Bread |
We put in an order for a Fried Calamari appetizer with red pepper aioli ($10.95) and answered yes to a request for bread. Clyde's bread is out of this world good... but color me disappointed with the pint-sized calamari. Ditto for the mayo-heavy aioli. Worst of all, we barely had any time to make a dent before our mains arrived (literally 2-3 minutes after we went to work on our app.) Timing 101: Give your customers enough time to finish one plate, before moving onto the next. Stranger still, my cousin ordered a hamburger well-done, so I assumed we had plenty of time. So much for strategy.
 |
| Fried Calamari |
I honored the spirit of Brunch and had the Chef's Healthy Breakfast (two egg whites scrambled, chicken sausage, wheat toast and blueberry yogurt with homemade granola for $12.95.) Although I had few complaints about the quality of my dish, I can't say that I was impressed. My egg whites & sausage arrived ice cold, and I could argue that my sausage was undercooked (it certainly looked that way.) Toast is toast, and how hard is it to pour yogurt into a small ramekin and sprinkle granola on top? The butter & preserves took up almost a third of the plate: It desperately needed something more (potatoes are healthy, aren't they?) Not worth $13 if you ask me, sorry.
Clyde's makes sense for an occasional burger, but brunch is overpriced and far from memorable. Pair that with a decidedly older clientele, and I have to wonder if we wouldn't have been better off at Lia's.
