🚀 go-pugleaf

Last week I posted a request for suggestions on nice DC area
restaurants for a wedding rehearsal dinner. Below is the summary of
responses. Since we have not yet had the dinner I cannot give any
feedback on these options.

Oh yeah, I forgot that my fiance was back on the net and I will be
paying for the "senility" remark for the forseeable future (Hi Anne ;-).

Thanks to all for the great information; I hope to someday be able to
return the favor!

-dave bonnett ; Center for Seismic Studies
==================================================
From: Edward.Rice@p4214.f70.n109.z1.fidonet.org (Edward Rice)
Date: 3 Jul 92 09:31:53 GMT

We got married, with a VERY small wedding and thus a very small
wedding party (1:1 correspondence, actually) at a small hotel in
Alexandria.  Since all four of the in-laws-to-be were of fairly senior
years, I took them all to Il Porto, and we listened to Johnny "Crazy
Otto" Maddox play wonderful piano.  It was fun for ALL of us, but the
"senior generation" thought it was simply amazing.  The food was
pretty good.  It wasn't veggie, but I'll /bet/ that if you called
ahead and explained what you wanted to do, they'd make arrangements
for you to have (say) two "specials of the day" added to the menu that
your party could choose from, that were vegetarian.  I've found the
place to be very accomodating when I've asked for special
considerations about seating, smoking, food, or whatever.  NICE
management.
 
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From: CARIAN@auvm.american.edu (RABBI CHARLES ARIAN)
Date: 5 Jul 92 13:10:55 GMT

You might try the Vegetable Garden in White Flint Mall. It's a
strictly vegetarian Chinese restaurant and very good.

The setting is definitely "restaurant formal" -- linen tablecloths,
flowers on the table, etc. The only drawback is they don't, to my
knowledge, have private dining rooms so your party would be in the
same space as the rest of the customers. But I have seen some fairly
large groups in there so I am sure the restaurant wouldn't mind.
Highly recommended . . .

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From: Holly.Doyne@f421.n109.z1.fidonet.org (Holly Doyne)
Date: 6 Jul 92 01:18:12 GMT

Couple of thoughts 
Are you looking for American or various ethinic foods?
American - don't have many suggestions but two excellent
Restaurants that have veg entrees are the Peacock on Conn near
Nebraska (don't think that they have a separate dining room)
And the Chinese vegetarian restaurant in White Flint mall.
Food at both is excellent and the staff and service are great.
Have tried several places in Georgetown - all were uniformly awfull.
What day of the week is this?  Can you convince everyone for a sunday brunch -
several excellent buffetts around.
I'll keep thinking.

Getting taken out us great.  My husband and I paid for our own wedding
completely, so we had the dinner the night before the wedding at our house (and
we did the cooking) Were then up at 6 the following morning to make sure that
the house got cleaned before the reception (yes we had that too)
Go out, it is easier.

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Date: Thu, 2 Jul 92 11:03:09 EDT
From: suresh@nlm.nih.gov (Suresh Srinivasan)

If ethnic food is not objectionable to either party, try the chinese
restaurant "the vegetable garden" in white flint plaza in rockville.
This is the *only* all vegetarian place I've ever been to and is
pretty good.  As for "classy" they have a private room and its clean.
Besides, there are plenty of places up and down rockville pike for
drinks/dessert after dinner.

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From: "Amy L. Rovelstad" <rovel@eng.umd.edu>
Date: Thu, 2 Jul 1992 13:21:03 -0400

This might be still slightly more informal than you had in mind (tho'
lots better that FFT), but the Seven Seas Restaurant on Rt. 1 in
College Park has been building a pretty good vegetarian menu (it's
separate from the carnivore menu).  They are Chinese/Japanese, and a
lot of the selections are vegetarian versions of meat dishes with
gluten or been curd substituted.  The atmosphere is semi-casual.
People do come in jeans, but you won't feel out of place in suits (if
that's what you want).  There are tablecloths and decent prints etc.
I believe they do have a fair sized separate dining room that you
might be able to get.  All you have to do is be able to get past the
lobster tank and sushi bar on the way in without having any rebellions
in the ranks.

I eat there all the time, and have seldom been disappointed (even when
I am, my SO likes whatever it is I dislike, so it's mostly personal
taste).

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From: goldberg@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Mark Goldberg)
Date: Thu, 2 Jul 92 13:39:26 EDT

Some caterer friends of mine may be able to help you.  The company is
called Saucy Salamander and the owners are Rhonda Falcon and Cheryl
Gross.  Get the number from the Annapolis phone directory or
information for area code 410.

=====

From: "Judy Karpen"  <karpen@nrlfs1.nrl.navy.mil>
Date: Fri, 3 Jul 92 13:11:50 -0400

Dave --- I just saw your posting to dc.dining, and thought of some
places that might do.  First, some general ideas: alot of Chinese
places are nicely decorated and have banquet facilities, and (more
important) can deal with vegetarians.  Unfortunately the Vegetable
Garden in Rockville is tiny, and may not be a particularly appropriate
place (it's in White Flint mall, in case you've never been there, and
is ALL vegetarian). So the next best thing might be the House of
CHinese Gourmet (also Rockville), which has an extensive veggie menu;
ditto for Mr. Wang's Hunan in Laurel, Md, but that's far from you.
Same thing for some of the Indian restaurants, particularly Koh-I-noor
in Alexandria (on Duke st. just west of 395). It's in a grungy
shopping mall but is very nice inside and has great food; plus can do
both vegie and nonvegie food, if one of your relatives insists on
being carnivorous. Bombay Palace in DC is pricey, for indian food, but
upscale in decor. Nora's in DC is expensive but elegant (some
correlation there), and though not all veggie, they do serve organic
stuff.

Somewhat more unusual, but probably most appropriate, is Mrs. Swann's
(aka the Edgewood Inn?) in Spencerville, MD (off Rt. 198, west of 95).
It's an old house which has been decorated in antiques, etc. (not my
style, but most people would think it's on the fancy side).  The food
is all vegetarian, American style (i.e., meat substitutes, casseroles,
salads, etc.), and good --- probably would appeal to more (non-vegie)
people than an ethnic-food place, unless your families are
particularly adventurous. Also it has GREAT (i.e., calorie-intensive)
desserts, unlike most veggie places. The VEgetarian Society of DC had
a group dinner there a couple of months ago (so I'm speaking from
experience) but unfortunately I can't recall the exact name, because
they got it wrong in the newsletter. VSDC also has a restaurant list,
so you might try calling their number (301:589-0722) and leaving a
message asking for it. We also just had a dinner at Sabang, an
Indonesian place in Wheaton, MD; it's very pretty inside (lots of
woodcarving, etc.), and they have a vegetarian rijstaffel for $17 (?)
a person.

BTW, if you aren't members you might consider joining (it's really
cheap) --- we do restaurant visits, potluck picnics in Rock Creek Park
once a month in summer, a Thanksgiving dinner, and have booths
extolling the virtues of vegetarianism at various events (like Earth
day, or the Greenbelt festival). End of advertisement (;->) Hope these
suggestions help, and good luck/congratulations! 

=====

From: M23401@mwvm.mitre.org
Date: Mon, 06 Jul 92 11:25:50 EDT

     You might try the Vegetable Garden in White Flint mall (vegetarian
chinese).  Also good are House of Chinese Gourmet on Rockville Pike
and China Chef in Wheaton.  Both of these also have lots of vegetarian
selections and all are excellent.

=====
(This reply is included for reasons of completeness only...)
From: Mary Louise Cassidy <mary@wam.umd.edu>
Date: Tue, 7 Jul 92 20:19:14 -0400

I would suggest learning to eat meat, it is not a hard task once you get
the hang of it.
--
-dave bonnett-   Center for Seismic Studies;  Arlington, VA 
      bonnett@seismo.css.gov :  (703) 276-7900 	Pop Kid Internationale
"Rec would be ridiculous, people would start posting stupid things."
(Stephanie da Silva on alt.folklore Straw Poll)