Great Sage
This weekend we tried Great Sage in Clarksville, Maryland. It's about a 45 minute drive from Washington, but is worth the trip. We had been meaning to check out this place for months, but the impetus to finally drive out to Clarksville came in the way of some free tickets we scored to the Baltimore Symphony.
We got to the restaurant early, but it was already showing signs of a busy night. Once seated, we marveled over the menu (both food and drink). Whenever I go to a place where everything on the menu is "safe" it always takes me a few moments to adjust to the fact that I need not look for things with an * or a "V" next to them. I can order anything!
I ended up with the Adult Mac & 'Cheese' which was fantastic. The vegan Mornay sauce was creamy and slightly spicy. I especially loved the cannellini beans and cauliflower which greatly varied the texture of the 'cheese', noodles, and bread crumbs. To drink I had (two) pomegranate martinis, or what we started referring to as "2-2-1s" by the end of the night. They were sweet and had the perfect amount of flavor and booze.
In addition to these treats, we had the soft pretzel as an appetizer with three great dipping sauces. Anne ordered the special Chk'n Etoufee. She thought the dish was very flavorful and mildy spicy. The veggies were slow cooked and they melted in her mouth! The chk'n was meaty and filling, and the rices in the dish helped cool down the spicy flavors.
Jana ordered the Tempeh Bourguignon. The sauce was true to its name and had a bold and warming flavor. Nate ordered the only dud of the evening, the Seitan Wellington. The dish was bland and the seitan was chewy (and not in a pleasant way.)
To round it all out, we ordered the Grilled Pineapple Crisp with coconut ice-cream. It was the perfect amount of sweet to share at the end of the meal.
All in all, a great meal and well worth the trip to Clarksville.