Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

The Brussels Sprouts with Bacon sound great - but my girlfriend and her family eat neither. So I'll probably try the roasted sweet potatoes.

The potato gratin with porcini and mascarpone, for sure - too rich for Thanksgiving? I think not!

Here in DC, it's a real gamble for restaurants to play politics. The risk of cutting in half the potential customer base is all too real. Just ask former lobbyist and convicted felon Jack Abramoff about his failed deli, Stacks.

The sandwiches, the soups.. every single thing I tried there was fantastic. Until I learned that it was owned by a Republican lobbyist named Abramoff. After that, no matter how much I longed for the pastrami, I couldn't bring myself to darken the doorstep. Evidently I wasn't alone - despite its prime location and stellar fare, Stacks closed its doors long before its owner was brought down by legal troubles and scandal.

With bars, on the other hand, partisanship is far more acceptable. Take Tune Inn, for instance: a "sportsman's bar" with more dead animals hanging on its walls than there are live animals throughout the entire city. With its atmosphere, great prices and a very respectable breakfast, the place is a classic. The crowd generally leans right, but first and foremost it's a bar - and a favorite haunt for this Democrat.

The moral of this story: As a partisan, I'm glad to drink, and even dine, with the opposition. Still, I draw the line at putting money in their pocket. So long as the establishment's owners are not underwriting the opposition, I'm glad to be served by people with opinions, no matter which way they lean.