Restaurant Week - Part Two

Sorry it took so long for the review - I know you are all dying to know what we thought of Jackson 20.

First, Jackson 20 is the restaurant in the newly reopened Hotel Monaco (formerly the Holiday Inn) in Old Town Alexandria. And it helps if you remember that this is a hotel restaurant. That said, the restaurant itself is pretty, with dark wood and a black on gray flocked wallpaper. It is also a little on the noisy side. There is a large bronze pig right when you come inside and the napkin rings are pigs, too.

For restaurant week, Jackson 20 was offering a limited menu, which I don't like right off the bat. I much prefer a place that will let you select anything off the menu for your entree. I will say that they have a very nice list of bottles of wine for $20, a great deal if you want to share or want more than one glass with your meal.

When we sat down, we were brought a bread basket that had teeny tiny parker house rolls in it and the best corn muffins I've had in awhile. Both were served with honey butter.

For the starter, Jim order the Waldorf salad, which was dressed with an oniony dressing that was a nice complement to the grapes. I had the crab fritters, which were the best part of the whole meal.

For the entree, I ordered the salmon and green and yellow beans. The salmon was cooked just a hair over the done line, but not quite to dry. The spice mixture on top gave it a nice crispy touch. Jim ordered the pork belly and collards. This is the second time I had collards this week and these were good, as well. It might have something to do with the big chunks of bacon in them or the au jus from the pork belly (never met a pig I didn't like). Jim wished there was more actual meat on the belly and said that his meal wasn't very filling - my baby is a growing boy.

For dessert, we had the nougetine, which was a white chocolate mousse with nuts in it and a caramel sauce. It was lighter than I thougt it would be when the server described it. Jim had the other dessert, a peach cobbler with bourbon ice cream. Yes, bourbon ice cream and you could really taste it and when it melted into the cobbler it was yum.

Overall, we won't go back. The menu was a little overpriced for what it was, but it was nice to try something new.