Review - Napoleon

There's a charm to Napoleon that I can't quite put my finger on. Perhaps it's the cozy dining room in this Adam's Morgan area French bistro, or the intelligently contrived menu, or the cleverly designed uni-sex bathrooms that look like individual apartments.

Regardless of the source of said charm, Agatha, Steve, John Manning and I all ended up there for brunch on Saturday, looking to recover from the night before and start up another solid day of debauchery.

Looking for something light I opted for the beet salad (which had a fancier, better sounding French name on the menu). With the exception of a few almost inedible pieces that were just too hard, the beets were very sweet and nice and soft, just the way I like them. Accompanied by a couple sizable pieces of goat cheese, it was just what I was looking for.

Ags ordered a crepe filled with mushrooms and several different types of cheeses that tasted better than it looked - which was like a mass of grey matter shoved into a crepe.

The one major disappointment was the bread basket, which, for nearly $5, was what one should expect complimentary in most restaurants. Plus the butter was frozen, which is a big problem in my book.

I believe Ags had been the only one who had visited Napoleon prior to this weekend, and only then for drinks, which were good.

The wine list was decent, and there were a great mix of champagne based drinks. The Bloody Mary that Ags got though was a little too heavy on the tomato juice.

In retrospect, perhaps the greatest charm of the restaurant was that it was a fairly quiet place to have a solid meal on a Saturday afternoon. Nothing incredibly special, nothing that really stands out, just a good experience that will probably warrant another look.

Napoleon
1847 Columbia Rd. NW,
Washington, DC 20009
202-299-9630