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

The 13th Annual Taste of Georgetown is happening this Saturday, October 14, from 11 AM to 4 PM. The event takes place on Wisconsin Avenue between M and South Streets, and at Grace Episcopal Church.
About 25 restaurants will be on hand, and the cost per taste is $5, or you can get a pack of five tastings for $20. With such national culinary gems as Citronelle and 1789, plus the excellent Red Ginger, Agraria, Leopolds, Fahrenheit and Neyla, the interesting Mie N Yu, and Georgetown stalwarts Old Glory, Clyde’s, J. Paul’s and Smith Point, any hungry person could drop 40 bucks and still not hit every stand they’d want.
As an added touch, Blues Alley will be providing the jazz and blues…though they’ll have to crank it up to compete with the psuedo-techno pumping from the Euro boutiques.
Kinda funny that Georgetown would be the less-crowded alternative, but with Howard Homecoming, U Street and the Waterfront will be packed.
Wonder if Cam’ron’s gonna get shot this year…?

Have you ever been to a restaurant that you can’t stand, yet can’t wait to try again? Then you know how the 5PBFC feels about Cheeseburger in Paradise, a Jimmy Buffett-inspired tribute to three of Buffett’s favorite subjects – eating, drinking and making money.
Cheeseburger in Paradise embodies and embraces pretty much everything I hate about chain restaurants. Cheesy, overenthusiastic servers who have to follow a greeting script? Check. Stupid names for ordinary menu items (in this case, with a Buffett theme)? Check. Day-glow menu with paragraph-sized food descriptions because “French-Fried Potatoes” is too nebulous for mere mortals to understand? Check. Bartenders who think they’re Tom Cruise in “Cocktail?” Check. Acoustic singer/songwriters doing covers of Live, Guns and Roses and Nirvana? Check. Ungodly amounts of tacky crap on the walls? Check. A roaming gangbang of servers singing “Happy Birthday” while food waits under heat lamps? Check. A little too kid-friendly? Check. Mediocre food and drinks at inflated prices? Well…
That’s the rub. The food is good – surprisingly so, given the sub-$10 mark on most of their chow. They’ll prepare their burgers to any desired temperature, from scorched well-done to scared-with-a-flashlight rare – a nice, wonderful touch in the chain restaurant world. They’ll also substitute a turkey burger or a vegan patty on any of their burgers for no charge. The appetizers alone are the size of a meal. Check out the Carnivorous Habits Platter (again with the Buffett theme!). The BBQ Jerk ribs were about as good as any ribs I’ve had. Perfectly seasoned, just the right combo of spice and sauce, and very juicy. The teriyaki wings were fantastic, almost as good as the wares from Bruce Lee Wings in Baltimore’s Cross Street Market.
This is not a restaurant for Alcoholics Anonymous members. Their bar book is the size of a F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, and lists dozens of various margaritas, pina coladas and mojitos. The place has more booze than a hip hop video, and the large variety of rums could make a pirate scream for temperance. The drinks are cheap, just a step above “college dive bar” cheap. The Goombay Smash, somewhat similar to the Gorilla Farts from my beloved Monterrey’s in Virginia Beach, is $5.50. That seldom buys a draft beer around these parts anymore. I just wish the fruit garnish wasn’t looking at me.

CiP is a fine place to take any Parrothead, or perhaps a decent meal after a day in the malls. It’s definitely a step-up above the run-of-the-mill suburban chains, and, at the very least, the cheap drinks will make you forget that a dozen servers are singing “Happy Birthday” to some screaming toddler. My biggest complaint is that it tries just a little too much to be cute and pleasing – the overall theme of a beach bar alone would be nice. I just wish it could be a little more Coastal Flats classic than Chuck E. Cheese loud, because the food deserves better.
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CiP gets 5 out of 10 Whammies! The food, drinks and overall value would earn it more Whammies!, and the drinks are strong enough to make me think for a second, that, indeed, I am in Key West, but I simply can’t fully endorse any place that calls its employees “Islanders” in the middle of a landlocked suburban strip mall.
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Cheeseburger in Paradise
5 Virginia Locations – Woodbridge, Charlottesville, Fredericksburg, Virginia Beach and Newport News
2 Maryland Locations – Pasadena and California