We celebrated seven years of marriage last night. It wasn't the actual date of our anniversary, which only rolls around every four years (for the clueless, think Leap Day). Three years ago, on our first anniversary, we celebrated at Restaurant Nora, a vegetarian organic restaurant here in the District, and we had a wonderful meal, albeit expensive, and we remembered that the restaurant had been disappointed that we hadn't told them when we made the reservation that it was an occasion. When we called up earlier in the week to make a reservation for last night, I made sure to mention to the reservationist that we would like a nice table--and were willing to take a more awkward time for it--because it was our anniversary.

This wasn't the first time we had been to Kinkead's, although neither of us had remembered that we had gone there until we were surprised that they already had my cell phone number in their reservation computer. It hadn't been all that long ago, either--about six months ago when we ate there before going to see the Kennedy Center production of Sunday in the Park with George for my birthday. It had been chosen then for its equidistant location (on 2000 Pennsylvania Ave.) from two Metro stops and the Kennedy Center itself. We remembered the menu being very seafood oriented, but the place being very nice.

And it is. We arrived a little early for our 8:30pm reservation and there were no spaces to sit at the bar as we waited for our table, so we stood next to the wine cellar (a glassed-in room next to the bar) and watched people while listening to the live music (a great band who not only did Herbie Hancock's "Cantaloupe Island" but also a piano version of "Nature Boy" from Moulin Rouge). When our table opened up, we were asked to climb the stairs to the second floor where we were led by a hostess just a short ways from the stairwell to a large booth in the center of the room, a fine location for us (I mainly had not wanted to be seated on the ground floor or out in the mall area that Kinkead's backs up to).

Ever since living in Washington State for five years, we tend to search out wines from that area on the wine list, and given the extensiveness of Kinkead's list, I was surprised to be unable to find at least one. However, this might have been for the best, because the lowest-priced wine on the list was $27/bottle and quickly moved in the three-digit range. We briefly contemplated the champagne, but $60/bottle seemed a little too much for a vintage we weren't familiar with, and we ended up settling on a $37 pinot gris from Oregon, to the waiter's disappointment (he had been suggesting $80 chardonnays in response to our answer to his "what do you like?").

The menu itself had "Happy Anniversary!!!" at the header. Kinkead's menu, changed daily, has its appetizers and entrees scattered throughout, roughly corresponding to three sections: the "classics" that are always available, the "seasonal" group, and the chef's specials of the night. Jill, who wasn't interested in anything too rich, settled for the entree area called "Simply Grilled Fish" and had the Salmon served with an assortment of seasonal fresh vegetables and a grilled zucchini, oven dried tomato, black olive, caper and basil relish ($25). She selected a Salad of Soft Lettuces with gruyere, radishes, scallions and a mustard chive vinaigrette ($8.50) for her appetizer. I briefly considered the Walnut and Horseradish Crusted Rockfish, but wanted to have the Warm Pear and Blue Cheese Salad with toasted walnuts, endive and port vinaigrette ($10.50) and didn't want to duplicate the walnut in both items. So, I chose a Kinkead's classic entree: Black Pepper Crusted Rare Tuna with flageolets, grilled portabello mushrooms and pinot noir sauce ($29).

The salad was exactly to my taste, a bit bitter in its vegetables with a corresponding sweetness in the dressing and the lovely creme of the cheese, and Jill thoroughly enjoyed her salad as well. The entrees were even better. Although Jill's salmon was simply grilled, it was excellently done with a nice variety of green vegetables to complement it. My tuna consisted of two large pieces well-crusted with black pepper, perfectly gray on the outside from the quick sear that left the interior firm but still slightly rare. The pinot noir sauce did not overwhelm the fish at all, and the grilled mushroom and spinach would have been a fine entree by themselves.

(Jill notes that while she enjoyed her salmon, she wishes it had been wild instead of farm raised, and she wishes that Kinkead's had had fewer options like the three swordfish entress, which are not being harvested in an environmental sustainable manner. Given chef Bob Kinkead's obvious intelligence and creativity, he surely could focus on dishes that aren't damaging to the continued supply of that fish.)

For dessert, we had a trio of creme brulees: vanilla topped with a large blackberry, espresso topped with coffee beans, and caramel chocolate chip topped with stringed (?) sugar ($8.50). We finished all that off, with the exception of the sugar, along with a hot tea for Jill and a glass of Remy Martin VSOP ($13.50) for me. As we were enjoying our dessert, the waiter brought us two Kinkead's coffee mugs and the paper menus of the night as a gift and memento of the occasion, which I hadn't expected at all.

All in all, I would recommend Kinkead's to people for special occasions or large wallets. It's elegant but not snooty (with the possible exception of the wine list), and the service and presentation is rarely done better. From what I understand, it has been a District staple for years, and I suspect it will continue to be one for many years to come.