I have eaten at the Algerian restaurant Couscous Café at 20th and M many times, and by now am friendly with the family that owns it. Today, I had the Sephardic meatballs, which is a common special. The meatballs are made with ground lamb, onion, and parsley and are finished with lemon juice and fresh chopped parsley, and served over rice. They have a soft yet chewy texture and a nice flavor. I am told that this dish usually comes with peas, but today it did not.
Other dishes that I have enjoyed at the restaurant include their b’stilla, and couscous a la royal. B’stilla is chicken, almonds, and peanuts in phyllo dough. The couscous a la royal consists of chicken, merguez (spicy lamb sausage), lamb, chickpeas, summer and winter squash, carrots, potatoes, and turnips on a bed of couscous with a flavorful tomato sauce. They also serve vegetarian, lamb, and chicken versions of the couscous entrée.
Couscous Café also has an appetizing case filled mostly with vegetarian side dishes like hummus, ratatouille, baba ghanouj, lentil salad, beet salad, carrot salad, and carrot with garlic and spice. I often take some of these side dishes home when I am cooking an entrée and want easy –because I didn’t make them- vegetable side dishes.
One of my favorite side dishes is called torche in Algeria and mama houria in Tunisia. It consists of pureed carrots with cumin, coriander, garlic, and harissa, which is a hot sauce made with hot peppers and garlic. The torche is served cold and eaten with pita bread. If you ask for hot sauce at the restaurant, they hand you a squeeze bottle containing harissa.
The restaurant always has Middle Eastern music playing, and today was no exception, with the sounds of Electric Oasis’s CD, Exotic Arabian Grooves. Couscous Café has free wireless access, so it’s a nice place to use your laptop while listening to interesting music, and drinking hot or cold mint teas.
I mainly recommend the place as a lunch spot, since later in the day they tend to run out of dishes like b’stilla and falafel.
Couscous Cafe
1195 20th Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20036
(202) 689-1233
8am-8pm, Monday-Friday
This guest blog is by Jason over at http://jasonsfood.blogspot.com/

All this Mary Prankster talk inspired me to grab some friends and run up to the Land Of Pleasant Living and eat a genuine Maryland-style crabcake. Much like the beloved-yet-retired Mlle. Prankster, we ignored the Blue Skies Over Dundalk last night and headed straight to Angelina’s in the Hamilton neighborhood. Angelina’s has been on the short list of top crabcake joints in the region for years. The place has won Best Crabcake Awards from many of the Baltimore-area critics, and in Charm City, that’s more important than a lobbyist’s Blackberry.
Long-time owner Robert Bufano sold the restaurant in 2005, and the new owners swore that they would maintain Angelina’s high standards. They definitely maintained Angelina’s high prices. Crabcakes are seldom cheap, usually about $14 for a sandwich and $25 or so for a two-8oz cake platter. That’s the going rate for the crabcakes found at G&M, Gunning’s, Olive Grove and Timbuktu near BWI Airport, the current gold standards for Baltimore crabcakes. Angelina’s charges “market price” of $22 for the sandwich, $30 for a two 5 oz. cake platter, and $40 for two 8 oz. cake platters.
That’s a damned expensive market. Like, that market makes Wegman’s, Balducci’s and the Gucci Giant in Potomac look like a bargain. But in the search of le crabcake parfait, no price is too high.
I was more wrong than Jessica Simpson at a spelling bee. The $29 Steak and Cake Combo seemed the best deal – an 8oz filet, a 5oz crabcake, and a couple of side items. For that kind of money, I was expecting a transcendent marriage of delicate crab, Old Bay and non-intrusive, yet unique filler. What I got was a dried-out piece of fishnet that happened to have some crab and boiled carrots in it. It had all the taste and consistency of a musty dish sponge. The filet, while cooked to the proper requested temperature of medium-rare, was barely above room temperature and had no discernible taste. The side items of wild rice and green beans were lousy, at best, and tasted like they just emerged from a can or boil-in-bag. The only saving grace of the meals was the above-average Maryland Crab Soup, but $4 soup ain’t savin’ no $29 meal in Balmer, hon.
All of us who schlepped up to Baltimore from the District had the same complaints. The service, while friendly enough, was slower than a little kid trying to tell a long story. It took over an hour to get our entrees, and 30 minutes to get soup. We were the only diners in the restaurant, save for two lone women in search of a late snack. I wish I could say it was just a bad night at the restaurant, but the empty dining room, lousy food and an outdated website hawking their mail-order crabcake business more than the restaurant itself, indicates that Angelina’s best days are behind them.

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10 Whammies! out of 355. 3 Whammies! were awarded to the 3 cups of good Maryland Crab Soup, and 7 Whammies! were awarded to my courageous friends who survived this crap. The 355 potential Whammies! represent our bill, not including gas, tolls and the overall general feeling we shoulda gone to the Old Ebbitt Grill.

And Mary Prankster isn’t the only one. M writes to us asking:

Hi,
Any recommendations on a place to get great mac and cheese here in D.C.?
Thanks!

Some people really like the Mac and Cheese at Logan Tavern at Logan Circle, Rocklands has it as a side, and I’d be surprised if The Diner in Adams Morgan didn’t, too.
But you don’t have to take my word, the experts at Chowhound suggest:

• Florida Avenue Grill
• Henry’s
• Lobby cafeteria/cafe at the NEA HQ at 16th & M

These are folks who take their cheesy carbs seriously.
Other options include B. Smiths at Union Station, who will give it to you as a main if you ask nicely. The Soul Vegetation Restaurant has a non-dairy version. If you’re willing to trek out to Baltimore, SoBo Cafe has it as an appetizer or a main.
Kraft not cutting it? Zola’s does it with Lobster, and Equinox at Farragut Square cooks it up with with black truffles.

I don’t miss Boston- it’s cold and wet and the pizza is too expensive. And everyone looks like Abercrombie went shopping at Hot Topic with mom’s credit card. But it is a very pretty city. What does this have to do with DC? Well, just half an hour from our outskirts is an area that looks suspiciously like Boston, minus the Urban Outfitters. I am, of course, talking about historic Frederick, MD, where I recently had some of the best Pasta of my Life.
This is a pretty pretty town- civil war houses, lots of restaurants, quaint storefronts; my god, why haven’t I spent every weekend since I moved to DC in Frederick? And best of all, it’s home to Venuti’s Restaurant. Like Frederick, the inside is just so damn pretty. Wooden floors, nice looking bar, big plate window overlooking (admittedly) nothing much.
The service here was snail-slow, at least half an hour to order the an Australian Shiraz, and another half an hour to place an order, even though we were practically the only people there. The Shiraz was boring, but the wait for the food was worth it- I had penne with a crazy alcoholic red sauce. I’m telling you, this was a Zen tomato experience. These tomatoes were like eating distilled, red, squishy happiness. My dining partners were less thrilled with their pasta with sweet sausage.
Anyway, I highly suggest this place if you have a lot of time on your hands/a chick to impress. I mean, really, any excuse to get to Frederick.

That question dogged my mind the first time I saw this restaurant while driving through inappropriately named suburb of Crystal City last year. It’s located on 23rd Street on the Restaurant Row, surrounded by bar and grills, diners and restaurants dedicated to other foreign cusines. Urban Thai has carved out a niche providing delicious, affordable food in a surprisingly attractive dining space. Usually, when one thinks of Asian food in the `burbs, the first thoughts are of Fortune, the dim sum palace at Seven Corners, or one of the fine Vietnamese places like Pho 75 in Falls Church or the previously-reviewed Eden Center. Urban Thai isn’t as big as those places, but might be as good.
Last Saturday night, I took a couple of friends to the UT for dinner, and we started off with Thai version of crack, Lemongrass-Ginger Iced Tea. It’s a sweet tea, infused with those two flavors, and as refreshing as a Thai Iced Tea, but not as filling. We settled on two appetizers, the Chicken Satay skewers and the Crab Dip. I grew up in Baltimore, where hearty, creamy crab dips are as plentiful as tourists in the summer. Urban Thai does their version differently – it’s made with mangoes and what looked like some avacodoes, with fresh backfin crab on top. It’s prepared beautifully, served in a big martini glass with wedges of fried spring roll wrap. It looks like a fun beach cocktail, and draws admiring stares from across the 20-table restaurant. The Satay was delicious with a good peanut sauce, but that crab dip stole the show.
Dinner was just as fantastic, with one of us selecting the Red Curry Duck, a spicy dish with coconut milk and pineapples, another choosing the Bourbon Grilled Chicken and sticky rice, and with me trying the BBQ Pork, a series of grilled pork tenders served with a pepper-and-scallion-filled translucent barebque sauce. That sauce may not pass muster at a Texas rib joint, but it’s just as good, and doesn’t have the sugary taste found in most American sauces. UT indicates the relative hotness of their meals with their cicular logo, ergo, more logo = more heat. However, I’ve had their three-logo Drunken Noodle with chicken, and didn’t find it to be too hot at all. However, if you ask the server, they’ll be glad to spice your dish enough to induce tears.
Urban Thai has all the essential Thai dishes – Pad Thai, Prik King, Pad See Eew, Kra Pow – and a group of specialities, like a spicy Crispy Duck and Panang Grilled Shrimp that never fail to impress. Their noodles are wide, not too doughy, with just the right consistency. The servings are just the right size – big and filling enough to let you know you ate, but not too big as to be imposing or nap-inducing. The vegetarian menu is full of fine options, too. The Grilled Salmon and Mango salad, mixed with the ginger honey vinagrette, or the Green Curry Veggie stuffed full of tofu, bamboo, basil and eggplant, are real meals, not just a dish without red meat. Meat eaters will love the Ginger Beef Broccoli and the Kao Mon Gai Tod, a battered chicken breast served with garlic-and-ginger rice and a spicy soy sauce, is fantastic. They also offer a sweet soy sauce that they’ll be glad to bring out by request, and it goes well with their milder dishes.
Urban Thai has a full bar, with a selection of low-to-mid-priced wines. It offers a decent array of mixed drinks, including all sorts of things ending with -tini, and starting with mart- and lychee-. Watching my mom get half-crocked from an Urban Thai mango daquiri may be my highlight of 2006. I wish I could tell you about their desserts but I’ve never had room for any.
Urban Thai is open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner at 561 S. 23rd Street in Crystal City. They accept credit cards, can split and seperate checks, and the restaurant has a handful of seats outside in a covered patio. Take out and some delivery is available. Most dishes are around 7 dollars for lunch and 12 for dinner.
Just be careful with the Lemongrass Ginger Iced Tea. There’s no known 12-step program for overcoming that addiction.
This post thanks to guest-blogger Ray at http://blog.myspace.com/amishrave/ Thanks Ray!

There are not many reasons to come to Baltimore. However, one of the chief reasons is it is home to the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, School of Nursing, School of Public Health, and various associated labs and medical libraries. While you are toiling away in a classroom or waiting for medical exams, you might want to grab a bite. The following are places to eat at JHH. Please note, this is list is not comprehensive.

1. The hospital cafeteria: located in the ground floor of the hospital directly past the main entrance (on Wolfe Street), this large eating depot affords some of the most interesting and depressing people-watching to be found. While the food is the normal cafeteria-fair, with soggy pizza and sandwiches, there are also stalls selling subway sandwiches, coffee, etc. The ice cream is quiet tasty (sometimes they even have sprinkles!), but everything else is somewhat sub-par. It is open from 6:15 AM to 7:15 PM every day. The coffee and pastry stall is open from 5:30 AM to 2 AM
   
2. Tower Terraces: this is a posh, sit down restaurant located across from the cafeteria. While the meals look tempting, I have never heard anyone be too excited by it. However, housed within the restaurant is an excellent sushi place (they do have a small dining area, but most people do take-out) Winners of Baltimore City Paper’s best hospital food award, the sushi is usually nice and tasty, and the servers are always ready to do rush orders in case you are late for an emergency appendectomy. Both are open from 11-3 Monday-Friday
   
3. Grille 601: known to locals simply as The Grill, this restaurant is located off of Broadway St., on level 2 of the outpatient center (if you are entering from Broadway, this is the entry level). A tasty and fresh salad bar is offered. Wraps (which are particularly tasty), fruit, Jell-O, pudding, etc are also available. There is also a sub stall, as well as a pizza and hamburger stalls. Breakfasts are available, but expect your arteries to ache at the sight of the bacon, sausage and scrabbled eggs. It is open from 7AM to 3 PM, but because many of the hospital staff frequent this restaurant, be prepared to wait if you go during rush times.
   
4. Women’s Board Coffee Bar: this place claims to sell coffee and pastries, but I have honestly never been able to locate it, much less sample their wares. Allegedly it is open from 7AM – 3PM Mondays through Fridays on level 1 of the outpatient center
   
5. Juice and Java: This store, manned by some of the more surly food workers of JHH, can be found in the main lobby (on the first floor) of the Weinberg Building. It offers tasty breyers ice cream, in addition to the standard coffee, sodas, chips, and snacks. It is open Monday-Friday, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
   
6. Daily Grind: this café has 2 locations: second floor of the School of Public Health, and first floor of Hampton House. While snacks such as warps and salads are available, the premier draw is the tasty coffee and other beverages. The hot chocolate with whipped cream is especially not to be missed! However, be sure to time your visits carefully, especially at the school of public health locale. The 10:30 AM rush is particularly dangerous, as students desperate for caffeine fix before biostats jockey for position on the line. Open in both locations, 8AM-5PM Mondays through Fridays
   
7. Medical School Cafeteria: I have never eaten here but it looks tasty enough, though not particularly interesting. However, right next door is a large computer lab where you can see real live medical students in their natural habitat. Open on the first floor of the medical school, 7AM-3PM Mondays through Fridays
   
8. Jay’s Café at the School of Public Health: Located on the 9th floor of the school of public health, this café is run by a popular catering company. Offering a range of food from sushi to hot food (there is a daily rotating menu) to salads it is, for institution food, supposed to be pretty tasty, and the lines are rarely line. A wide mix of personnel, from professors to nursing, med, and public heath students to doctors can be found the café. While the food may give them something to eat, the main draw is the glassed in eating space, offering amazing panoramic view out over eastern Baltimore and the harbor area. open Monday-Friday 7AM-3PM
   
9. The Grind: not to be confused with the Daily Grind, this coffee shop is located on the fourth floor of the Ross Research Building. The coffee is lackluster and the pastries are sub-par, but the view is not bad. Open 7AM-3PM
   
10. Coffee Bar: located in the lobby of the hospital, this coffee and pastry stall is quick and easy for those in a rush. They also have amazing muffins. Open 7AM-3PM

I love Eden Center so much, despite only having made a handful of visits so far. Whether it be the grocery stores with bitter melon by the pound, the plethora of Vietnamese restaurants or the availability of bubble tea, the Asian shopping center is a clear destination spot for me. In the past week alone, I’ve had the chance to visit two of the most talked-about restaurants in the plaza. How did they measure up?
First on the list to visit was Huong Que (or “Four Sisters”), which Tom Sietsema is raving about every other minute. It’s got a cute, date-friendly atmosphere, and a novel-length menu.
I’d heard good things about the short ribs in a clay pot (I’m a sucker for short ribs). They tasted a bit more like boneless spare ribs than I’d expected, but they were DELICOUS, at once sweet and savory. The shrimp toast was arguably the best I’ve had in the area, crispy and featuring a plump portion of shrimp. My companion was a bit less fortunate – although he enjoyed his noodle dish, the waiter somehow never heard him order it. Luckily, one of the sisters approached our table to ask if everything was all right when she noticed my untouched meal, and both she and the waiter made hasty and apologetic repairations. Delicious food, polite service: I’ll be back.
A friend and I returned a few days later on his quest to find natto. The grocery stores couldn’t help us (too Japan-specific, I guess), but we tried not to make the trip a total loss, and ducked into Huong Viet for dinner. Definitely a more casual atmosphere than Huong Que, the place was bustling nonetheless.
When surveying the menu, I easily could have went for any of the many Pho and soup options on the list. Unfortunately, the temperature in the restaurant was almost stiflingly warm, killing my desire to consume any hot broth. I went with a meat and vermicelli dish instead – beef wrapped with bacon, accompanied by noodles. The dish was sweeter than I’d expected, with a hint of smokiness. Oddly, I could taste but not see the bacon. I went the “wrap your meat, veggies and noodles in rice paper” route, creating my own makeshift summer roll with my entree, and it all worked together nicely. My friend had a typical flat rice noodle dish with meat and seafood, and I definetely enjoyed what I could grab off his plate with my middling chopstick skills.
It’ll take more than a visit to each to call a winner in the food category (Huong Que has a head start). If you’re looking for a quick bite, Huong Viet fits the bill nicely (well, maybe not if you’re seeking soup…). If you’re looking for atmosphere, go the Que route. But my greatest recommendation would just be to visit Eden Center and start experimenting. And pick up some groceries and bubble tea while you’re there!
Eden Center
Wilson Boulevard at 7 Corners
Falls Church, VA

The hot sandwich chick from Cosi has finally agreed to give your cheesy ass one date. You know that a Classy lady like this needs the kinda lovin’ that only duck and muscles can provide, so you take her to Bistro du Coin just north of Dupont. The food is great, the wine is fine, but at the end of the night you’re stuck with a lonely drive home with the doggy bag. What happened?
This is a question that many an unsatisfied lust asks themselves about Bistro Du Coin. The food is really good- surprisingly good, the location is perfect…but every time I go in here I leave feeling wierded out and yucky (technical term). Its tough to quantify, but I’ve narrowed it down to three possibilities:
The waiters – There’s a special group of folks who confuse snobby briskness with efficiency, and this place has hired them all. Now, popular notion agrees that there’s a certain level of prissiness expected in a French restaurant. This is the same notion that looks for a gothy rudeness from every starbucks barista. I say, if you want to roleplay an unpleasant stereotype, be a waiter at Hooters.
The room – The colors in MacDonald’s restaurants have been specially chosen to psychologically induce hunger and create anxiety, the idea being “eat a lot, then get out”. These are the same colors as BOC has chosen for their dining room. Its also loud and echo-y, especially packed to capacity with…
The cramped tables – There’s something about having your silverware swept off your table by a passing diner for the nth time that makes you wonder…wouldn’t an extra three inches of arm room rock?
Alright, I don’t mean to be pissy (like a Bistro Du Coin waiter) but the food here is usually so yummy and cheap. I just wish I could bring myself to munch it more than once a year.