For those of you that have eaten your way through the previous six articles in this series, here is the next installment. The prices I mention are after the discounts (and before tax and tip).

I mentioned the Ballston Front Page’s Wednesday burger night in the fourth installment. I recently looked at their website and read about their free Thursday night (4-7pm) taco bar, which is at the bar. They also have $3 import beer bottles that evening, and DJ Smokey at 10pm. The Front Page also has selected half price appetizers Mondays through Fridays between 4-7pm.

I have yet to check the place out…but sushi bargain hunters may want to try the Ballston Mall’s Asahi Kaiten Sushibar for $2 a plate (which consists of 2 pieces) conveyor sushi lunch on Mondays through Fridays. This is a place where the sushi rotates on a conveyor…and you grab what fancies you. They also have six different bento box specials for lunch Mondays through Fridays at $8 each. Happy Hour drink specials are half price beer and cocktails on Mondays through Fridays from 3pm-7pm and Saturday from 4pm-7pm.

Several of us enjoyed the lunch buffet last Sunday at Sangam in Ballston. They had a good selection of Indian food, especially for $8.95 per person.

I will say this…between the Chocolate Show (that DCFUDie ZAF wrote about), Sangam’s lunch buffet, and DCFUDie Ray’s Thanksgiving spread yesterday…I think I’ve finally learned to pace myself…when it comes to eating huge meals. I wonder if I could do that at a churrascaria. 🙂

The Front Page (Ballston)
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, Virginia
703 248-9990

Asahi Kaiten Sushibar
671 North Glebe Rd. Unit 1248,
Arlington, VA, 22203 (Ballston Mall)
703 248-0777

Sangam
1211 N. Glebe Road
Arlington, VA 22201
703 524-2728 / 2711

Where To Eat In Arlington When You Are Nearly Broke I

Where To Eat In Arlington When You Are Nearly Broke II

Where To Eat In Arlington When You Are Nearly Broke III

Where To Eat In Arlington When You Are Nearly Broke IV

Where To Eat In Arlington When You Are Nearly Broke V

Where To Eat In Arlington When You Are Nearly Broke VI

I have been putting off the review of Acadiana. What started as minor procrastination has now turned into a full blown case of denial. Why can’t I remember what I ate? Did I even go? Fact is, while great spots are easy to write up, and really bad ones are even easier, I’m not really sure what to say when the restaurant is neither. It’s tough to do a review based off the fact that the calorie consumption within its premises allowed you to live one more day.
As the latest effort from the rapidly expanding Passion Food empire, Acadiana arrived a year ago with the road well-paved. DC Coast and Ten Penh are both reasonably tasty staples, and the lovely Ceiba is still where I take out-of-town relatives lookin’ for latin. But for a small town, we do already have Vidalia, B. Smith’s, Georgia Brown, Indigo Landing, and even the new Crème …did DC really need another neo-Southern place? Well, definitely- I mean, you really can’t have too many versions of this awesome cuisine- but I find this iteration to be forgettable.
The interior is pretty and subdued in grey and wood… with diner-style booths. Which means the general effect is of a very elegant TGI Friday’s. The service was almost unnervingly alert. The best taste of the night came at the very beginning – amg fared well with a Mint Julep and I with a tasty Sazerac (a mix of, among other things, fake absinthe and whiskey) which, come to think of it, might have something to do with my poor memory of the rest of the night. Did we order wine then? I think so, but who knows! It must have been the Sazerac.
The trio of soups – turtle, crab, and gumbo, were acceptable with the crab’s crunchy corn and hearty flavor winning the bunch. On suggestion, the fried green tomatoes were delicate and delicious, although I’m not sure I’d bother ordering them again. A trio of deviled eggs were fabulous, but only because I bloody adore deviled eggs. A less biased head would probably rate them at on par with very nice wedding Hors d’ Oeuvres.
Jeff Tunks has never gotten the hang of main courses, so I usually stock up on appetizers and split an entrée. It was a special; this time there’s a memory of an enjoyable whitefish in…sauce. I can’t tell you more ’cause I just don’t know. Come on Acadiana, there’s potential here but you need to give me something I’m still going to remember three weeks later.

Someone with Savant Syndrome might be able to tell you on what day of the week the civil war started and then count back from it in prime numbers, but might not be able to tie her own shoes. If you fall into this category, there may be a position open for you at Urbana Restaurant and Wine bar. How else can we explain somewhere so perfectly beautiful, with such incredible wine, such absolutely lovely servers, such tasty appetizers… and such disappointing entrees?
I had been here a number of times before to luxuriate in the bar, a low, warm room filled with velvet pillows and couches. To call its design ‘pretty’ misses a perfectly good opportunity to use the word ‘Voluptuous’. There I munched my way through an scallop ceviche and a roast quail with wild mushrooms on what seemed to be a light pumpkin casserole. I washed it down with a cinnimony qupe syrah and thought that life was pretty damn good.
A week later, when finally sitting down at one of Urbana’s wooden dining room tables, both appetizers were still as perfect as calculating pi to the nth decimal place. But the only other success of the evening was an acceptable pork chop with Brussel Sprouts. Both orders of the lobster pasta were overdone and the carpaccio was uninteresting. The duck fat fries promised something outrageous; instead they were just a reminder that horse is really the way to go if you want to advertise an unusual frying agent. Gordon Biersch has better.
The wine was great, but there was a little trepidation in ordering it. Perhaps it was only our night, but the waiters seemed to be having an unusually difficult time in keeping things upright. Every five minutes there was a crash from the kitchen or bar area; the sound of splintering china was practically this meal’s soundtrack. At one point, a tray of airborn glassware jumped ship near our table to soak everyone’s back.
A plum tart was alright; in fact, the whole meal would have been fine had it not been for the hefty price tag. As it was, we were left with a vague feeling that we’d been the victim of a bait-and-switch… And wet blouses.

Ok…I have had chocolate on my mind this week. This is probably because I’ll be in New York City for the Chocolate Show this weekend, as will fellow DCFUDies ZAF and AMG.
So…what did having chocolate on the brain mean this weekend? I dragged a couple of friends into Churreria Madrid in Adams Morgan for churros con chocolate, which consists of a plate of doughnuts and a cup of hot chocolate to dunk them in. These are not long straight churros like Mexican or Argentine churros. The churros are what I remember from visiting Spain, but the hot chocolate is actually thicker there. Churros con chocolate are still a nice treat though.
The restaurant has entrees and tapas…and maybe I’ll try them sometime. For now, I sit on the main floor at the bar tables and dunk away. They do have an upstairs dining room as well.
Churreria Madrid
2505 Champlain Street NW
Washington, DC
202 483-4441

As I am in the process of packing up my life to move down to Savannah, Georgia, I have been taking some time out to visit my favorite restaurants and bars in the DC area. I am sad to leave this area for many reasons, and I must admit that one of them is the great international food selections.
PHO 75
I think that my number one most frequented restaurant in Arlington is Pho 75, hands down. I eat there about once a week, more in the colder months. I have already been searching for a pho location in Savannah, and I am not sure I have found one, but I am just dreading leaving this Arlington joint. The aroma of their soup can be smelled from outside the door, and I am always drawn to the same selection, a small plain with vinegared onion. Mmmmm……I can admit that I am looking forward to eating there the next two weeks while we pack up the kitchen. At under $6.00 a meal, who can deny themselves that treat? Plus, it’s gluten free!
LA TASCA
What can I say? I ate there mostly before I went gluten free, but they have some delicious ‘gf’ options too. The jamon serrano y queso manchego, patatas bravas con ali-oli, queso manchego, and champinones al ajillo are just a few of my favorites. The amazing food and multiple sangria selections made for great happy hour and birthday meeting places. I miss LaTasca already! Maybe I will be visiting there this week!
TASTE OF MOROCCO
I had wanted to dine here in Clarendon before we flew to Morocco over the holidays last year, but my boyfriend suggested that we wait and return after having ‘real’ Moroccan food. So we did. And let me tell you, a Taste of Morocco matches the dining experience we had in Fes almost exactly down to the menus and serving plates. I have dined at Marrakesh in DC, and, although I had a great time there, was a little disappointed in the quality of their food. The Clarendon location has impressed me every time I have been there. The wine served was the exact wine that I had puchased by the bottle in Morocco (for 60 dirhams, roughly six American dollars). The wine served here is $20 a bottle, which is pricy for me, but SO worth the memories. The bastilla is so flaky and moist, unlike the drier version we were served at Marrakesh. I have already found a Moroccan restaurant in Savannah, Casbah, and I am excited to sample their cuisine. You might find me at Taste of Morroco next week! Just talking about the bastilla makes my mouth water and crave some mint tea!
BANANA CAFE AND PIANO BAR
Believe it or not, I do have many favorites in DC, and the Banana Cafe and Piano Bar is always a great place to go in the summer. I LOVE their ceviche, and I have created a recipe of my own (posted earlier this year) that comes pretty close to theirs; atmosphere not included. I am also a HUGE fan of the stuffed yuca. I had never had stuffed yuca before dining here, so I do not have a comparison, but it is one of my favorite meals. Or, was one of them before going gluten free (the yuca is fried). Another perk of this locale? The piano bar!

GHANA CAFE
The Ghana Cafe started out as our number one pick in the DC area. We loved the small location, the friendly service and the huge Club imported beers. We had gone there a few times and when we returned a month or so ago, the friendly service was gone, the beer was very expensive, and they didn’t have anything we asked for. My fried plaintains and peanuts seemed to lack love as well.
A few other place of note, Hotel Washington has a great rooftop terrace for watching sunset and catching up with friends. Tapatinis is always a fun hip place to go sample new martinis. Five Guys, I can not forget about Five Guys. We often talk about how profitable we could be opening up a location in Savannah.
There are so many places that I love here; my head is now filled with about 30 more ‘favorites’. So perhaps I will make this a series….all I know is that I am really going to miss the big buffet of DC food selections! For now…back to packing….perhaps I’ll stop for some pho first….

Someday I hope to find myself lounging in my $2 Million Dupont flat sipping something expensive. I shall turn to my sexy and well-dressed significant other, gesture with an impeccably manicured hand and say, ‘Dahling, I rather fancy stopping off at Citronelle this evening’.
But until I can stop spending all my hard earned cash on comic books and Chipotle, I have to get to Citronelle the usual way: By finding a special occasion, booking a month in advance, and then drooling all over my keyboard as I count the days off my calendar. Last week after much anticipation they finally hit zero, and for the first time I finally got to experience this much-talked about bastion of food-happiness.
Right now Citronelle is listed as #12 in the US by the often trustworthy Gourmet Magazine, beating out The Inn at Little Washington as DC’s finest contribution to dining. And while I might argue that our finest contribution is, in fact, Joe’s Noodle house on Rockville Pike, I can’t find fault with the idea that Citronelle is bloody good . (Incidentally, #1 right now belongs to Chicago’s Alinea – I hear it’s like Minibar, but weirder. Any rich Chicagoans need some arm candy for the weekend?)
Amg and I arrived to a very brief wait and a very large table in that order. But besides needing smoke signals to communicate, the room was warm and happy with an open kitchen, glowing panels, and more gray hair than a Russian Blue. We had just missed the tasting menu by a few minutes, but the lovely waiter let us order an extra course. In hindsight, there’s no way we could have eaten an entire tasting menu. After a while it just comes down to a matter of volume.
The food at Citronelle is superb. And the food at Citronelle is witty- that’s not a word I’d usually use to describe a meal, but how else do you explain cous cous, dyed with squid ink to look like caviar, served over raw egg and flattened lobster in a tin? Or how about a soft cheese soufflé set in the middle of a smooth, rich mushroom soup? Or a thick, juicy cut of duck done ‘Tutti Frutti’ (the name says it all). Or a desert made of small items shaped to look like breakfast dishes? If you can think of a better word, let me know.
And even had the food been TGI Friday’s, with a staff like this I’d happily eat crappy quesadillas every night just to be back under their care. Waiters came over to discreetly make sure that everything was perfect. Waiters came over just to say hi. Waiters came over to give us a 7th round of perfect bread. Waiters came over to keep me company when amg got left the table for a moment. The Sommelier took our wine inexperience as a personal challenge, and it was only after ten minutes of amusing anecdotes that we suddenly realized that he probably had other tables to deal with.
Anyway, go to Citronelle. It’s worth it. Even if it means having to do it on more than 2 hours notice.

The Pentagon is a lovely place to visit, but I sure don’t want to eat there.
It’s like a better-armed Smithsonian. There are some wonderful displays on NATO, various weapons systems, the USO, artifacts from several wars. And, as the building is so massive, there are plenty of dining options – McDonald’s, Sbarro’s, KFC, some sandwich places, etc… It practically covers the whole range of chow from “fast food” to “microwaved.”
At least there’s plenty of little coffee shops around. You’ll definitely stay awake while going hungry. There’s an Au Bon Pain, but not a full-service location, meaning some bagels and coffee. Un très petit Au Bon Pain, s’il vous plait. An Au Bon Pain at 1/8th scale.
If fried meat is your thing, then the Pentagon has your back. Besides having more fast food places than a Midwestern truck stop, the Pentagon features Dominic’s of New York. Dom’s offers cheesesteaks, burgers, sausages and paninis, but can also leave you (and your G.I. tract) wondering “why did I eat there?” for hours afterwards. At least their breakfast biscuits rock, but I think I read that man can not live on bread alone. Probably from Dr. Atkins or something.
All this does is make the restaurant park at Pentagon Row look that much better. Thaiphoon, Champp’s – heck, even the international foods section at World Market – somebody, anybody, help!
Pentagon employees and contractors – what say you? Where do you dine? Slap on the running shoes and make a bee-line to the Blue Line to a Breadline? Some secret little kiosk tucked away in a hidden corridor? Brown bag? How do you do it?

I love Ethiopian food, and often have found some of the best of it at Dukem. The place does a particularly nice job with combination platters – usually for around $11, you can try out anywhere between three and seven dishes to see whether you like them.
My friends and I picked up 2 combo platters and another dish Friday evening. I can say that I enjoyed every dish I sampled. As a rule, you can’t go wrong with tibs – beef or lamb marinated in various sauces. We tried the goden tibs, short ribs in a light marinade. While not the most convenient of dishes to eat sans utensils, the steak-like little bites were delicious, slightly crispy and flavorful. We also tried a combo platter with lamb wot, a spicy stew, as well as minchet and regular tibs. Outstanding, though the wot’s later impression wasn’t as favorable as the first few bites.
Particularly high praise should go to the vegetarian combos that Dukem offers. I tend to shy away from vegetarian dishes at many places just because I’m not sure they’ll be assertive enough for me. Here, the variety of flavors and choices left me more than satisfied. I’d recommend the veggie combo #3 – it’s one of the only ways you can sample Dukem’s delicious chickpeas in spicy sauce, which I’ll take over hummus any day.
All the dishes come with Dukem’s injera, which is fluffy with just the right touch of sourness. The honey wine is a bit sweeter than other varieties I’ve had, and I’d probably order a less cloying beverage on my next visit.
If only our service had matched the efforts from the kitchen. Flagging down a waitress was a constant problem, and there was a particularly long delay for drinks and between drinks and our main course. In addition, a friend’s mixed drink was served in a broken glass with mysterious black flecks floating inside. My restaurant standards are usually food-driven rather than service-driven, so it wasn’t enough to put me off the place, but a friend was definitely less than impressed. You’ve got a wonderful product here, Dukem. Sell it like it deserves to be sold.
Dukem
U St and 12 St NW
Washington DC
202-667-8735