Jon and I just happened to be on Capitol Hill last night to rent movies. Given the later hour, and not having anything at home readily available to cook for dinner, we decided to eat out. We ended up at Quinn’s, which is in the Pike/Pine area of the Hill.

Immediately, I was blissed out to find they had Dogfish Head’s Black and Blue on tap, a delicious beer to start with! Then, I was even more thrilled when our server replied to our question of a peculiar name of a starter (devils on four horses). The answer: Dates stuffed with blue cheese wrapped in bacon. SOLD! We additionally ordered the artichoke skewers special, I ordered the crispy chicken and Jon had the fish and chips.

The dates were toe-curling heavenly, and just about as perfect as possible. The artichoke skewers were deliciously surprising, especially with that lingering sweetness you get after eating a few. Our order was taking awhile due to a large party that came in before us, so we got comped the rabbit pate, which was pretty stellar. At that point, I ordered Russian River’s Damnation, which was a beer style I’ve been craving all week. I wasn’t disappointed. (I’m slacking, no tasting notes for you!) Jon’s fish and chips looked fried and delicious (and they were!), and my crispy chicken (as promised, with greens and cheese grits), was not exactly what I expected.

It was a small chicken breast with a crisped skin on top, layered on bacon-y kale, then layered on the cheese grits. Restaurant chicken usually underwhelms me, but this? This was amazing. The first thought in my head was that it tasted like duck. (I found out later it was braised in duck fat, then crisped in butter). The greens were equal to what Jon makes (which is PRETTY DAMN GOOD) and the grits were just absolutely delicious.

When our waitress returned to us to ask if we wanted dessert, we had to decline just because we had enough richness for the evening.

We were treated well, the wait wasn’t too long, and I’m always happy to find a good beer selection coupled with good food. I look forward to eating there again.

ETA: I failed to mention that our food was running late due to the kitchen getting a large order in ahead of us. We got comped some rabbit pate, which was delicious. It was very, very awesome. Yes.