Mon Ami Gabi Oui Oui Oui

To the anonymous poster who wanted to know the best canned tuna: Genova brand Tuna Tonnato (tuna packed in oil) from Italy. I get it at Trader Joe's.

Time for another restaurant review! And guess where the restaurant is located? How smart you are if you guessed Reston Town Center. Seems like I never go out to eat more than 10 minutes from home lately. I need to do something about that....

Had a wonderful lunch at Mon Ami Gabi today, a lovely (chain) restaurant designed to sweep you off to a bistro in Paris. Lots of mirrors and windows, creamy white walls, dark wood, tiles underfoot, French signs, waiters in white shirts, black bowties, and long black bistro aprons. The menu is definitely French: escargots, steak frites, crepes with spinach and Brie, duck pate, onion soup, and an all-French wine list, which I did not explore because I was not drinking. Had to come home and work, you know!

As I seem to put complaints on the top of my restaurant reviews, here we go: it was friggin' freezing in the restaurant. Because it is humid out (though not particularly warm--mid 5os), the a/c was on. I was wearing a wool cardigan and big pashmina scarf wrapped around my neck, and I was almost frozen when I left.

The service was excellent, which, I am beginning to conclude, is a sign of the times. With fewer restaurants on the scene to gobble up the best waitstaff, the pool of waitstaff has expanded. If you're not good, you're not getting hired. Plus, with fewer people eating out, you need to hold onto your loyal customers while attracting as many new ones as possible. If your restaurant's waitstaff is not delivering top-notch service, well, good luck surviving!

The food was very good, too. I was starving and didn't think a big salad would cut it (plus, I am getting sick of salads that feature grilled salmon--boring!). I had sauteed skate with a lemon-caper-parsley relish, a vegetable salad featuring julienned carrot, red pepper, red onion, and celeriac (I think) and haricot verts, and house-made garlic potato chips. My friend had a spinach, orange, and grapefruit salad with a citrus vinaigrette and the aforementioned grilled salmon. She said it was excellent, and it looked it. Our meal was accompanied by a gratis loaf of French bread, and, thoughtfully, a carafe of water left on our table so that we could help ourselves. On a hot day, that'll small touch will be a big hit.

Dessert menu looked great, but alas and alack, I was good and skipped it. I was tempted by the special, though: white chocolate bread pudding with vanilla ice cream.

Mon Ami Gabi, as I mentioned up top, is a chain restaurant owned by Chicago-based Lettuce Entertain You. They also own Big Bowl and some random Maggiano Little Italy's (not the one in Tysons, for whatever reason), which I think is one of the worst restaurants in the world. I ate there once, and I'll never be back.