The Dish: Southwest egg rolls and a seasonal Baltic bock

The Location: Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant, 900 F St. NW, (202) 783-5454.

The Price: $8.50 for the egg rolls, $5.75 for the beer

The Skinny: It’s a Friday afternoon, and it’s as cold outside as Dick Cheney’s stare. I can take the cold, but then it starts to rain, the kind of rain that penetrates all the layers of your clothing and starts your body to quivering. This is when I like to seek shelter in bars; there’s something about the dark woods and low lighting of a pub that reminds me of hibernation. I shoot into Gordon Biersch in Penn Quarter and curl up with the brew pub’s seasonal Baltic bock, a jet-black brew that smells like molasses on the nose and bitter hops on the finish. The beer is cold, yes, but it warms me like a hearth. My appetizer of Southwest egg rolls is everything I want at the moment: The deep-fried rolls of pulled chicken, black beans, corn, roasted red peppers, and pepper jack cheese are greasy, spicy, and about as subtle as a lap dance. This is what I call real comfort food, not that prissy, high-minded comfort fare peddled by fine-dining restaurants that actually want you to think about the dish. You just shove this stuff in your mouth and let the fat and alcohol do their thing.