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Henley Park Hotel
926 Massachusetts Ave. NW
(202) 414-0500
Hours of Operation and Prices
Breakfast: Daily 7-11; Entrees: $2.50-$9
Lunch: Daily 11-2:30; Entrees: $10-$16
Dinner: Daily 6-10; Entrees: $12-$26
Tea: Daily 4-6, $6.50-$11.50
Brunch: Sat 11-2:30, $8.75; Sun 11:30-2:30, $19.95
Other Information
• All major credit cards
• Reservations recommended
• Validated valet parking
• Dress: Jacket
• Nearest Metro: Metro Center
• Entertainment: Jazz/dancing F-Sat evenings
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Coeur De Lion, in the Henley Park Hotel, is so civilized, so English. The dining rooms are small and hushed. In one, tall windows with tiny panes of pale yellow stained glass impart a medieval look. In another, floor-length paisley tablecloths, old brick and artwork - tapestries and oils - anchor the room firmly in tradition, despite the modern atrium ceiling and mirrored walls. These dining rooms are intimate, personal and totally comfortable. The service, too, skirts the usual pitfalls of hotels. It seems both English and American, formal and friendly, intently professional yet jovial and enthusiastic, service meant to be noticed.
The menu reflects the modern American trend of mingling tastes and cuisines: soy sauce glazes and Mediterranean olive purees, accents of tropical papaya and Scandinavian dill, sesame noodles from Asia and goat cheese ravioli from Europe, not to mention Maryland Eastern Shore crab cakes. The recipes are adventurous and the prices
immodest. This is no workaday hotel kitchen.
It's also not always consistent. Rely on those crab cakes, crisp-edged and buttery, constructed of lump crab and just enough creamy, well-seasoned binder. This kitchen does well with low-fat "alternative selections," too. Among the devil-may-care dishes, the best bets are those that include something plainly grilled or poached. The key is simple: Coeur De Lion has a way with light dishes. Save your extravagance for dessert. The list is a glossary of cream in all its forms: sour cream and cream cheese in the cheesecake, heavy cream in the creme brulee, not to mention ice creams. Light and heavy, competent and clumsy - this hotel kitchen, like most of them, is erratic. Yet, after the candlelight, the medieval art and the solicitous service, do you care?
© Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company
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