cafe promenade

cafe promenade (in the mayflower hotel)
tel: 202) 347-2233
hours: breakfast - daily, 6:30am-11:30am; lunch - monday-saturday 11:30am-5pm; dinner - monday-saturday 5pm-11pm, sunday 5:30pm-11pm; afternoon tea - reservations only - monday-saturday 3pm-5pm, sunday 3:30pm-5:30pm

what was consumed: restaurant week - carpaccio of roasted beets, seasonal mesclun salad, pistachio crusted rainbow trout, paillard of beef, fresh fruit tart, white chocolate mousse, coffee latte cream brule

a few restaurant week seasons ago, my co-workers and i head over to the mayflower hotel (soon after the whole elliot spitzer scandel) to enjoy the culinary fares of the hotel's cafe promenade. this was actually my first experience with restaurant week (as well as the hotel altogether), so i was looking forward to dining sensation, good times with good people - what more can you ask for?

we made reservations for lunch (despite the protests of some in our group) primarily because we didn't want to spend too much time waiting. good thing, too, because the place filled up pretty quickly, and despite getting there at an earlier time. we sat in a large dining area, well lit by open skylights and decorated with some fancy shmancy chandeliers. we began our meal with the standard bread and butter. loved how there were little herbs on the butter! man, it's all about those little touches.

then came our appetizers (or what the french call entrees. i know, totally confusing! i will err toward the americans being the ones who got confused - haha). i had the lovely beet carpaccio. i'm new to the world of beets, but let me tell you ... DELICIOUS. the combination of flavors made things not too strong, not too bland, not too salty, not too sweet. even their "standard" spring mix green salad had a lovely vinegarette-ish dressing (how come i can't make anything like that at home!?!?).our selected entrees for restaurant week quickly came out. i, of course, chose the option that came with fries - the paillard of beef. and it's beef - what more can you ask? cooked just right so that you don't even need a knife to cut it. it also came along with this fancy butter that made the meal that much more rich in flavor (that is, i remember it being rich in flavor. maybe i'll have to go again to refresh the memory ^_^). others had fish (which i was considering as well, but i couldn't pass up the fries) that was in a pesto sauce. also yum!!!

and then, of course, dessert. now, let me make a comment here about dessert and restaurant week. i'm not a big fan of desserts so i usually don't order them (i'm sure i've mentioned this before and i'll mention it again). but as a part of restaurant week, the 3-courses includes dessert. many a time have i wished i could exchange the dessert for an appetizer (and you can be sure that i'd ask!), but the answer is usualy no. sigh. oh well~ i have to admit, though, i have had quite of number of completely delicious sweet treats.

of course, our experience here at cafe promenade would not be complete without photos. not only did i take photos of the food, but of us as well. many of these photos ended up on our work intranet page as the lighting of the restaurant was so wonderful. hahaha. people ask where we were when they see the photos on the intranet; we just tell them it's a secret (haha).

i have to admit, as we were leaving cafe promenade, we wondered who the people were around us. why did they choose to stay at the mayflower hotel? and, of course, we couldn't help but to wonder if any of them were following in the footsteps of other scandal makers - ha!

online: http://www.marriottmodules.com/restaurant/hotels/hotel-information/travel/bwiih-marriott-baltimore-inner-harbor/cafe_promenade/ (hey - i didn't know the mayflower hotel was a marriot hotel ... )