Dining in DC: Scion

One of the best things about living in a large metropolitan area is the great number of food choices. Of course, there is a downside. You have to figure out where you want to eat. Well, in DC, there is a unique way to narrow your choices. You can eat where President Barack Obama has eaten. In his 1st term, Obama gained a reputation for dining out more than his recent predecessors at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. So far he has shown up at 44 eateries. Sometimes, it was a special occasion dinner with Michelle. Sometimes, it was a staff treat or a working lunch with a foreign dignity. And then there were those break bread with the President fundraising contests during the 2012 campaign.

To date, we have eaten at 16 of the dining establishments that President Obama selected for one purpose or another. The latest was Scion, located a few blocks from Dupont Circle. In 2010, Scion was named best new restaurant in DC by the Washington City Paper. We were aware of the restaurant's pedigree. It is owned and operated by Joanne and Julie Liu. Their parents, Jenny and Henry Liu, immigrated to the United States over 35 years ago and started Jenny's Chinese Restaurant, a DC restaurant that we like.

Scion bills itself as serving American cuisine that is sophisticated comfort food. Now usually, my food choices are pretty exotic, but on this particular night comfort food sounded right. Judy had 5-cheese house recipe mac and cheese and a spinach salad with crispy chicken. I opted for turkey meatloaf w/ wild mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes, and white bean succotash. We split pumpkin walnut creme brulee for dessert.

So how was our meal. It was good, but as usual I find a problem with comfort food. To me, I judge comfort food against all the family cooks in my life. Maybe its the love, but I usually find the comfort food in a restaurant pales when compared to my Mother's chicken pot pie, my mother-in-law's liver and onion or my wife's meat loaf. But I will put in a special word for the white bean succotash. And, as for the dessert, the fix was in. I don't like creme brulee, but it was Judy's turn to choose our meal-ender.

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The Prices Do DC rating

• *** 3 out of 5 plates (would have been 2-and 1/2, but the white bean succotash moved it up.