Restaurant Review - The Majestic

I'm so behind in posting, I'm horrible at this vegan mofo thing. It's now 4 days after I went to the Majestic, but I'm going to pre-date this so keep things making sense.

So, Saturday night. Day 2 of the "My Best Friend is in Town" extravaganza. First we went to PX, which is a speakeasy above Eamonn's: A Dublin Chipper, in Old Town Alexandria. It's an "intimate cocktail lounge" that you actually need a reservation for. It was lovely, great ambiance, and fantastic drinks. I got something with elderberry infused vodka and YUM. Delish. But finding vegan cocktails isn't that hard (THANK GOD) so I'll move on.

Next we went across the street to The Majestic. It (along with PX and Eamonn's) is owned by Cathal Armstrong, chef at Restaurant Eve. I went to Restaurant Eve with my best friend last winter and it was the best meal I've ever had in my life, so already we have an affinity for the chain. The Majestic is in a gorgeous old art deco building and it has more of a busy casualness than Restaurant Eve, or even PX has. They even have a kids' menu. Oooh, that made me think I should take the family there for my and my husband's anniversary in a few weeks.

I can't remember what I saw on the menu that looked potentially appealing, but when our waitress came, I told her I was vegan and asked if the chef could do anything off-menu. She immediately gave me a ton of options and was so very attentive to what we were ordering. I decided to go with the "chef's vegan special" which was just a platter of about 8 different little servings of vegan dishes. We were going to split a fried green tomato starter, and the waitress carefully warned us there were eggs in the batter so I decided to just get succotash instead of having them make it without the eggs. Again, she carefully warned us that's normally cooked in butter, so we requested for that to be done in olive oil instead. She brought the de rigeur bread and butter, and included a little dish of olive oil without me even asking. EXCELLENT knowledgeable service.

My food was amazing. A. Maze. Ing. My 2 omnivorous friends even commented on how absolutely incredible it looked and tasted. They split the duck and one of them said something along the lines of "stupid duck, I want THAT." I had a little shooter of gazpacho with melon balls over it, and it was the best gazpacho I've ever had, including in Spain. We all exclaimed that we've never had such perfectly cooked green beans with just a hint of sea salt and garlic. Incredible ratatouille. Divine sauteed swiss chard and figs. Some sort of marinated cucumber/melon/red onion salad. Roasted butternut squash and brussel sprouts. The succotash. It really could not have been any better. I actually got my leftovers (got too full!) boxed up to go, but ended up forgetting them in the hotel fridge. :(