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31Oct
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30Oct
This past weekend Josephine re-opened its doors after a two-month makeover that updated the McPherson Square fixture with a sleek new interior. To mark the re-opening, the revamped nightclub hosted a VIP friends and family event to support the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The swanky event included a bevy of the hot and the hip with more than enough eye candy to go around, and it supported a good cause to boot.The night featured the new line of Belvedere (RED) vodka, co-branded under Bono’s (RED) campaign. Many of the cocktails were tasty takes on the crimson theme – a cosmo and a vodka sunrise – and there was of course the classic dry martini, done Belvedere style. I have to say the drinks looked even better in the hands of the leggy models in skintight red dresses peppering the crowd (note to self: buy red dress!). The drinks were accompanied by hors d’oeuvres from Josephine’s sister restro/lounge Current Sushi.
I liked the sexy and elegant new interior – plush couches, illuminated bars, low lighting. The feel reflected the sleek, modern-mixed-with-the-classic feel that is found in many of the trendiest big city clubs these days. This isn’t surprising given that the Miami-based Mark Lehmkuhl lent his hand to the redesign. The renovation also includes an expansion on the old space; there was plenty of seating to be comfortable with enough room to break it down on the dance floor for those with the urge.Overall, Josephine’s – a DC club standby since opening in 2008 – has upped its game. The place definitely deserves a spot among the best places around town. So, if you’re in the mood for a New York-style club/lounge, head to Josephine’s for your Saturday night fix. There is certainly enough room for a large party, so don’t be shy about bringing a crowd.
-Yasmine (YSS)
Disclosure: From time to time, we are given free items, meals, or events.
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28Oct
If you are looking to attend a Halloween party tonight, a copy of Wizards of the Kitchen is included with the cover at L2‘s party:“Join us Friday night, October 28th at a Halloween party to be remembered as we launch the brand new magical recipe book Wizards in the Kitchen. Learn how to Inspire Romance, Obtain Wealth, Achieve Longevity and much more with dozens of magical recipes in this spectacularly designed, engagingly written cookbook. Your copy FREE with the price of admission! The recipes are delicious. The magic is real. And the party is to die for.”
Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door, but the book retails for $26.
-JAY
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28Oct
Potomac Pizza.
Here are some of my favorite places to get pizza. It is not an exhaustive list, but it does include places I’ve enjoyed recently.
Pupatella is amazing and very very Italian. Can’t seem to order wrong here. I’ve known Anastasia since her food stand days. I’ve tried the classico,the tomato artichoke and the sausage pizza–all were amazing. Great crust, sauce and cheese. Try the arancini (fried balls of rice) too. They carry Dolci Gelato, including my favorite, the almond. This is probably my current favorite pizza joint, but it does tend to get busy.
The Italian Store has good NY style pizza and you can get whatever they happen to have around by the slice. The people at the pizza counter tend to not have the best people skills here, which is odd, because the people making hoagies are personable. This is a good place for the thin crust, charred bottom style of pizza, but I rarely order pizza here because there Philly hoagies are amazing. Even the vegetarian hoagie is great. This place does not really have seating; there are a few tables outside.
Pete’s Apizza is currently my go to place for sit down by-the-slice pizza. They even have large enough holes in the red pepper shaker that the red part of the pepper actually gets on the pizza. And, they have a white clam pie, which can’t touch the one at Lombardi’s in NYC, but is still good. Pete’s has outdoor seating, and tends to be busy inside. I’m not sure why their lasagna has both red and white sauces (bechamel is not Italian) but it is good enough. Let’s see if the new Bronx pizzaria two blocks from them in Clarendon gives them a run for their money…if it ever opens.
Potomac Pizza does have a good red sauce. If I worked around there, I could see getting their pizza (including the white pizza) for lunch on a regular basis, especially since it is in a different neighborhood than the other pizza joints I frequent. Their veal parm and chicken parm subs are good, as are the cheese fries. I stopped by for lunch (chicken parm sub) a couple of days ago; they NEED lunch specials, but I hear that they are launching lunch specials around November 1st.
Rustico and Fireworks are good if you like “gastropub” type places, but I haven’t eaten at either in the last 6 months. Both have a variety of standard and nonstandard (gourmet) sauces and toppings, and are good places for beer drinkers.
-JAY
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19Oct
Htipiti (This is a spread with feta & roasted red peppers.)
We recently attended a media reception to preview the second floor private event space, the Solen Room at Agora. Executive Chef Ghassan Jarrouj prepared some classic Turkish dishes (hors d’ oeuvres or mezes). The dishes included:
- Garides Tava (Shrimp with dill, lemon juice, sliced garlic, and Raki)
- Chef’s Borek (Phyllo roll filled with goat cheese, oregano, and maraş)
- Kibbeh (Ground beef & lamb, bulgur, almonds, and pine nuts in a yogurt sauce)
- Lahmacun (Turkish flat bread topped with ground beef & lamb, tomatoes, and parsley)
- Triangle Borek (Pita dough stuffed with spinach and feta cheese)
Lahmacun (I'm used to this being an actual flat bread.)
- Crab Cigar (Crispy phyllo roll filled with crab meat, scallions, and mint with an Asian dipping sauce)
- Htipiti (Roasted red pepper and feta spread with thyme and olive oil)
- Hummus (Chickpea puree with tahini, lemon juice & garlic on house-made pita bread)
My favorite dishes in the lineup were the Chef’s Borek (although I don’t know what maraş is and Wikipedia isn’t helpful), Crab Cigar (although the sauce had soy sauce and ginger so seemed Asian, not Turkish), Hummus, and Htipiti (which had a very mild feta cheese which went well with the roasted red peppers). All 4 of those dishes were exceptional, and I would go back for them.
In my humble opinion, the shrimp dish would have benefited from being marinated in the sauce they served in the same spoon. The spinach borek wasn’t crispy and was a bit oily; it probably just needed more time in the oven since it was a very light color.
-JAY
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17Oct
Restaurant 3‘s 9-day Bacon Week ends October 22nd. Bacon week includes a 3 Course Bacon Tasting Menu ($30 pp), bacon cocktails (a martini and a bloody Mary), and bacon bites (Bacon on a stick and bacon cheese dip).Yesterday afternoon I attending the bacon curing class they taught as part of the bacon week festivities. I learned that bacon’s red color comes from pink Insta Cure Salt; Chef Brian Robinson said that without the pink salt, that the bacon would not have the bacony flavor we love and expect. Below is their recipe for curing bacon. You won’t this whole batch of rub at once.
The rub:
Yes, they make pancetta too.
12 oz Kosher Salt (They used to use 16 oz.)
8 oz. Sugar
1 oz. (10 tsp.) Pink Salt
Combine Ingredients thoroughly and rub pork bully. Next, wrap in plastic wrap or store in airtight plastic container for 5-7 days in the refrigerator. You will have to change the plastic wrap/container after a few days because of the liquid that is released curing curing process. Finally, smoke belly (optional), slice to desired thickness and cook!
They also put the bacon in a 300 degrees over to make it set so that it is easier to slice. they smoke at 150 degrees. They use the liquid left over from the curing in their smoker, but you can just discard it.
-JAY
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14Oct
This month, Zengo in Chinatown launched their new “Taste of Lima-Tokyo” menu. This seasonal menu features interesting takes on Japanese and Peruvian foods, including a stand-out selection of mouth watering cocktails that make even the most temperate of personalities just a little bit tipsy.I had the opportunity to sample the menu this past week. The highlight of the evening clearly were the innovative cocktails, including a Spicy Passion Fruit Pisco Sour, Chicha morada mojito (twist on a traditional mojito that utilizes a surprisingly tasty purple corn juice), and a blood orange-chancaca whiskey sour (which adds unrefined sugar cane juice for an extra punch).
In fact, all of the drinks on this menu are excellent. Many of the concoctions utilize Macchu Pisco brand’s impressive selection of pisco products. Try their Nusta reserve pisco if you want a relatively easy to drink pisco straight up (though I have to admit, I prefer pisco in a mixed form).
Zengo’s Lima-Tokyo food menu also offers a surprising array of unique flavors that expertly integrates tradition Japanese and Peruvian ingredients. Some of the dishes are a bit heavy-handed, allowing one strong flavor to overtake the dish (e.g., the Concha a lo macho is smothered with just a little too much cream or the Chupe de mariscos allows the brininess of the shellfish to overwhelm the otherwise delicate milk-dashi broth).
But other dishes hit just the right note – balancing flavors to a surprising end that is indicative of great fusion cuisine. The Rainbow ceviche, featuring organic salmon, tuna, fluke, and Okinawan potatos is delicious and pairs perfectly with an after-work cocktail. Another winner is the Oyacho chicken served with a quail egg and a creamy Peruvian queso fresco chili sauce. It is one of the best chicken dishes I’ve tasted recently.
All in all, the Lima-Tokyo menu is worth the trip – make sure to have a cocktail and the ceviche while you’re there.
– Guest Writer Yasmine (YSS)
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13Oct
Looks like this is becoming a regular column. The other three articles in these series are here, here and here.At Hank’s Oyster Bar‘s new Dupont location:
The fried olives and potato chips were very good; try them. The lobster roll was good (although I’ve had other ones that were at least that good in the area).
CJ Foods Spicy Chicken Garlic Korean Crispy Crescent Dumplings:
CJ Foods is a Korean company with a new line of Asian food in the US. The Crispy Crescent dumplings are very flavorful, and fry up well (crispy) in vegetable oil. Their dumplings are sold frozen in several varieties, and Costco is now carrying two of them. I made a dipping sauce with soy sauce, sesame and red pepper flakes. Try this product. I have the Chicken & Cilantro Mini Wontons in my freezer but haven’t tried them yet.
Miso soup at Hikaro. Why, oh why... is it so good?
This Clarendon sushi joint has some good sushi and noodle dishes, but the miso soup is exceptional. Not sure why it tastes so good.
We ate their recently and was impressed by their curry dishes. The banana roti dessert was good as well.
We were at a Day of the Dead eventat Oyamel last week, where they highlighted this new menu which features
Oyamel's Rainbow Trout. I ate two plates of it.
the region of Michoacan and will run from October 17 through November 2. I tried a variety of dishes, many of which had unfamiliar flavors and textures. Everyone seemed to favor (or not favor) different dishes, but for me, some of the standouts (which you HAVE to try) were:
- Pan-Seared Idaho Rainbow Trout with Black Garlic-Roasted Pee Wee Potatoes and Lemon-Olive Oil Herb Oil
- House-Made Platano Liqueur (with Piloncillo, Vanilla and Mexican Cinnamon)
- Tableside Guacamole with Chips and Salsa
- House-Made Corn Tortilla with Crispy Pork Belly and Orange Jalapeno salsa
- Silky Butternut Squash Soup with Annato, Mexican Cinnamon, Habanero Chile and Crispy Chicharron
-JAY
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12Oct
Pic by Fredde Lieberman
Last Sunday, Laeticia, Daphne, Johnna and I got to spend some time in Alabardero‘s kitchen as well as try some of their paellas. We can call this a test run of sorts for Alabardero’s new Sunday paella menu. They have 8 paellas on the menu and we were delighted to try some of them. My favorites were:
- Marinated Chicken and “Gernika” peppers with and Scallions Ali Olli Paella (an excellent combination)
- Pork Cheek, Fresh Vegetable and Manchego Cheese Rice (the pork cheek was luscious and flavorful the rice itself was my favorite of the group)
- Squid Ink Rice with Mussels and Shrimp
We did not try the paella Valenciana or the octopus paella.
Pic by Fredde Lieberman. Me taking pics of paella in the kitchen.
We also sampled the tortilla Espanola (which was lighter than the versions I’m used to a quite good), garlic shrimp, and a wonderfully light and flavorful mixed seafood appetizer.
” Taberna del Alabardero will offer Spanish Style Sunday’s for guests looking for a unique experience in the city. We are pleased to present a menu featuring 9 different Paellas offered at $22 per person for Lunch*. Taberna del Alabardero will also open its doors for Sunday Dinner Service for the 1st time in 22 years. ”
-JAY
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12Oct
In my inbox. I’ve known Robert Ludlow (and his chocolate’s Fleurir Chocolate) for a while, since he used to sell at a farmer’s market. Robert creates delicious and visually appealing chocolates, so do not miss this free tasting at Biagio (now called Cocova) in Dupont.-JAY
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Fleurir Chocolate Tasting
Friday 10/14/11
6:00pm to 7:30pm
Join us for this free gastronomical event to experience the many flavors of Fleurir Chocolate. Robert Ludlow will be on site in our Studio B Art Gallery and Tasting Room to feature some of his new truffle flavors, some of our classic favorites, and bring samples of his spectacular chocolate inclusion bars.
Fleurir makes some of the best inclusion bars we have ever experienced and his truffles are truly superb. The Northern bar, for example, is a blend of chocolate with maple pecan toffee, butter, and a touch of salt. They have six inclusion bars that we will stock in the store for your delight. Fleurir makes chocolate truffle flavors like Ginger Rogers (crystallized ginger and garden mint in dark chocolate), Spumoni (tart cherry and pistachio marzipan) and Lavender Shiraz (a blend of Australian shiraz and Maryland lavender).
