More on Hunter’s Hound, Friendship Heights, Maryland

My initial post on Hunter’s Hound (click to read it) generated a lot of feedback, some positive reports on the restaurant, some negative. With a couple of exceptions, the positive were about the food, and, again with a couple of notable exceptions, the negative comments were about the noise level.

I decided to return at lunchtime to test the noise level, and to explore the menu. I was joined by three other members of my monthly lunch group, all of us Men of a Certain Age: Bob Berendt, Ken DeCell, and Frank McAuliffe. You met Frank in my original report, and you met Ken here and, hilariously, with wife Florri, here.

First the noise: We were fearful because a nearby table kept filling up with more and more guys even older than us. The table was round, and I expected them to have to shout across it. As it turned out, they weren’t a problem at all. I wouldn’t say it was quiet, but the noise issue came from a two-top several tables away at which two youngsters (50s?) were using their outdoor voices for a boring conversation. Even with them, nothing really interfered with conversation among ourselves. We were fine using our well-modulated conversational voices and the remnants of sharp hearing.

The food: Three of us ordered fish and chips. The cod was nice and flaky, and the chips, aka fries, were excellent. As Frank noted, the fish was very well cooked but, as is usual with fish and chips, it didn’t have a lot of flavor. Malt vinegar helped, but I wish I’d ordered the mussels or the shepherd’s pie.

Ken had a club sandwich. It had roasted chicken breast and bacon, but none of the ham and cheese that tend to encroach on club sandwiches these days, and there were only two rather than three slices of bread — another plus. Ken observed that the chicken breast lacked flavor. That’s in the nature of chicken breasts, and the reason I always ask for dijon mustard or Durkee’s with club sandwiches.

The star of the meal, again, was that Imperial pint of Guinness. As Keats put it, a proper pour of Guinness is a joy forever. I’ve been thinking about the food menu. I think the kitchen can be very good. I looked at the menu again online, and the excellent beef and Guinness pie is back. If it’s on the menu, order it. Or the mussels. Another approach, and I think it would be a very good one, would be to make a meal out of appetizers. Let me know what you think.

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