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16May

All I Want’s a Boy To Make Me Some Mac and Cheese
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:
- 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.
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12May

The Cupcake Phenomenon

Cupcakes have become a national pastime, thanks in part to the now famous Magnolia Bakery. But where, oh where, can you find a good cupcake in DC? Have no fear — the cupcake craze is already well underway in D.C.
Todd Kliman takes on the subject in his

weekly chat over at Washingtonian and resurrects an old battle topic, Cakelove. Kliman’s feelings are that true cupcake seekers should “Forget Cakelove — they’re crumbly and dry, with a too-thick layer of buttercream frosting.” Instead, he sends them in the direction of Georgetown’s Baked and Wired. We haven’t yet made it there, but the articles and pictures make it look delicious.

DCist, in fact, gave Baked and Wired just an honorable mention, awarding top prize to Falls Church-based Le Cupcake and second place to Reeves Bakery on G Street.
We’ve yet to reach our own conclusion and, as such, we turn it over to you, loyal readers. Who really does have the best cupcakes in D.C.?

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11May

Like Boston, but better tasting

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.

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10May

It’s Strawberry Shortcake Time…
…and I am not talking about that silly doll from the 80’s either. I was down in Southeastern Virginia last weekend and stumbled across an amazing farm with HUGE produce selection. They had fresh strawberries picked right off their farm, and I felt compelled to pick up a quart without an idea of what to do with them.
I got home, stared at the berries for a bit, and realized that it was time to crank out my moms favorite Strawberry Shortcake recipe – it’s easy, fresh and takes only 10 minutes to put together:
Enjoy:
The What:
2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
¾ cup milk
¼ cup butter
The How:
- Mix dry ingredients, sift twice, work in butter with tips of fingers, and add milk gradually.
- Toss on floured board, divide in two parts.
- Pat, roll out, and bake twelve minutes in a hot oven in buttered Washington pie or round layer cake tins.
- Split, and spread with butter.
- Sweeten strawberries to taste, place on back of range until warmed, crush slightly, and put between and on top of Short Cakes
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10May

What to Cook for People Who Know What They’re Doing

One of the smartest things I ever did was convince six of my closest friends, all of whom know much more about food and wine than I do, into coming over to make dinner one night about a year ago. Rather than preparing dishes in advance, everyone brought their own ingredients and we all cooked together. (This was mostly a selfish move on my part–I wanted to learn how to make these dishes, not just eat them, but it turns out that cooking together is so much more fun anyway. Plus, you have help when you need it, and freshly prepared food when you sit down to eat.)
Anyway, that’s my Supper Club. I’ll be talking about it a lot. There are ten of us now, and usually three of us bring wine and champagne, while the rest of us take care of the food. Our most recent theme was Spanish foods, which are especially lovely when eaten on the patio on a warm April night. Some sample recipes:
Wendy’s Patatas Bravas (Fierce Potatoes)
2 lbs potatoes
Half a large onion, diced
1 clove garlic, diced
olive oil
2 or 3 tablespoons paprika
3 fresh tomatoes, chopped
1 red or green chile, diced
Spanish thyme
Boil whole potatoes for 15 minutes. Drain and cool. Dice into 1″-1.5″ pieces. Fry, or “oven fry” until crispy, or until you’re sick of waiting for the potatoes.
In a saucepan over medium high heat, saute onion and one clove of garlic in a smidgeon of olive oil. When they’re translucent and sticky, add paprika and stir and cook for a minute or so, until it starts looking like paste. Red paste. Mmmm. Add tomatoes and chile and Spanish thyme, and cook until the tomatoes have broken down (if you have a stick blender with you, this takes less time). Taste. Add more paprika if you have it and want to. Hold over low heat until ready to serve.
Either toss to combine potatoes and sauce, or pour sauce over individual portions of potatoes. Great served with a garlicky aioli to take away some of the heat.
Karen’s Chorizo with Figs
1 lb chorizo
Half a large onion
2 cloves garlic
Splash olive oil
1/2 c red wine
1/2 c red wine vinegar
1/2 c sugar
cinnamon
cloves
1 cup dried figs
Chop up chorizo into 1-inch sections, slice onion lengthwise, and chop up garlic. Heat up olive oil in a saucepan, add the chorizo, onions, and garlic, and sautee it until the garlic is golden brown. Add red wine, red wine vinegar, sugar, three shakes of cinnamon, and a pinch of cloves. Stir it up all, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for thirty minutes. While it’s simmering, roast figs in the oven (I brushed them with olive oil and put them in at 400 degrees, then drank cava until Wendy finally told me take them out already. Maybe five minutes?), and right before serving, stir the figs into the chorizo. This is smoky and spicy and sweet.
Kristen’s Sangria
3 bottles Spanish red wine (the wine guy at Whole Foods on P St has some great recommendations)
2 cups lemon-lime seltzer
juice of two oranges
juice of one lemon
juice of one lime
1/2 cup triple sec
two apples, cut up into small bites
one lemon, same
one lime, same
one orange, same
Combine everything, add sugar to taste, stir, and let sit in the fridge for hours. Add one basket of strawberries, cut up into small bites, just before serving, so they don’t get too mushy. Add some cava if you want to lighten it up.
This is a guest entry from Karen over at jitterbugparfum.livejournal.com. Thanks, Karen!

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09May

Flying Food

Unless you travel a lot, or you’re somehow drawn to airport magazines, we’d imagine you missed this month’s Washington Flyer Magazine. Heck, we would have if we hadn’t been stuck in the middle of a Washigton Flyer Taxi strike at Dulles.
But, our region’s favorite airport magazine (actually, I’ve never seen another airport system with a magazine, so it’s probably the only airport magazine…) did a series of food articles which are worth checking out. Among them:
Look Who’s Coming to Dinner – If you were a famous DC chef and could cook for anyone, who would it be? Chef’s answerws include Dave Chappelle, George Lopez (right), Duke Ellington, Thomas Jefferson and, umm, Laura Bush.
Mexican to Go – A search for authentic Mexican fare in Mexico City turns out to be harder than the writer thought.
Foodie Fight – Our personal favorite, in that it features the excellent Jason of DCFoodies.com up against two more traditional food writers, reviewing their favorite restaurants .. and then reviewing the other reviewers. It’s a quirky concept, but worth a read. Congrats to Jason on his every growing fame!
And, most importantly, you don’t even have to make the horrible trip to Dulles to read the articles.

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09May

Come for the brownies, stay for the show.

Many people spend their whole life searching for perfection; the perfect outfit, the perfect diet, the perfect job. I am proud to say that, while I have yet to find perfection in any of the above, I have located the perfect brownie. It is a thick and rich brownie, with a moist, fudgy, faintly chewy interior. There are walnuts too! The top is a thin layer of chocolate, with mini marshmallows and caramel swirls.
However, this brownie is difficult to procure. It can only be purchased during four periods a year, with each period composed of 4 days. In addition, it is a costly brownie, ranging from $26 for students up to $135. There is also a dress code to buy the brownie; black tie is not required, however a certain amount of formality is defiantly de rigueur.
At this point you may be wondering if the brownies are gold-plated, or made by Julia Child (the latter would be particularly interesting as she is dead). However the truth is less exciting. You see, with every brownie purchased, one gets to see a free performance of the Baltimore Opera Company. Or, to put it another way, you can only buy the brownies at the dessert pavilion at the Baltimore Opera company during the intermission of one of the performances. Attempts to convince to the BO staff to let the author simply run in and purchase a brownie have been unsuccessful thus far. Attempts to discover the source of the brownies has met equal results. Thus, this brave author every couple of months puts on her high heels and pearls, purchases a ticket, and travels to the opera house to buys her brownie. And usually stays for the show.

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08May

The Legend of Ghost Bento

Part One: From the Scrolls of Haru-chan.

The town had one restaurant, Kuroshin-tei, run by a kindly family called Shiotsuki. One day I went there for lunch with my boyfriend, Akihiro, and his younger brother Kazu. I guess it must have been a holiday because the restaurant was closed. We thought of getting bento at the grocery store but it was closed, too. At a loss for what to do, Kazu suggested going to the diner on the outskirts of town. I’d never been there and Akihiro seemed doubtful that the place was still in operation, but we drove over there anyway, and sure enough, there was a light on inside and we could hear old popular standards playing out of the kitchen.
We went in and the old woman who ran the place damn near died of shock. I don’t think she’d had any customers in years, but she told us to sit down and she gave us some tea – probably from her own pot, because it certainly didn’t seem like she was expecting anyone for lunch. She left us to look over the menu, as the guys shot each other strange looks. The room was large and could’ve seated at least 50. I wondered if it had been popular at some point in the past, but it was hard to imagine very many people coming through the town, which to my knowledge had never had anything that could’ve been called a ‘heyday’. The only decorations in the place were a couple of beer advertisements that looked to be at least twenty years old.
When the woman came to take our order, I asked for katsudon, but they were out. They were out of almost everything. Kazu finally asked, “Well, what can you make?”
“Croquettes” – not what I was in the mood for, but we were pretty hungry, so we went ahead and ordered. The restaurant was silent except for the music and the sound of the woman shuffling around in the kitchen.
Akkun said to Kazu, “Are you sure the food is gonna be okay? I mean, mom would be pretty upset if we both got wiped out.”
Kazu laughed but seemed pretty confident. “If that lady was sitting in the kitchen all morning, they must have customers once in a while… I mean, if no one ever came, why would she waste her time sitting around?”
“Maybe she doesn’t get radio reception at her house.” We really were deep in the mountains. “Besides, the only people who come here are out-of-towners who don’t know any better.”
“Hey,” I said. “Watch it.” I was from out of town and I certainly knew better. The only reason I was there in the first place is that I was stupid enough to trust the two of them.
The food came out and it was good – not great, but passable. Kazuhisa dug right in but Akkun kind of sniffed at his before eating it. Under any other circumstances, this would’ve been a huge insult to the chef, but the old woman could hardly be called a chef, and as it was, she had already shuffled back to the kitchen. I hoped she couldn’t hear us over the radio.
“Hey, stop it. You’re being rude,” said Kazuhisa.
Akkun was still sniffing at his pork cutlet. “What? I just don’t wanna DIE, that’s all.” I was happily tucking away the croquettes, which were still cold in the middle, and cabbage salad smothered in what appeared to be plain mayonnaise.
Kazuhisa was almost finished with his bowl of noodles. He leaned over to Akkun and said, “Are you gonna eat that?” Akkun shook his head.
“Boy, you’re finnicky. No wonder you’re so skinny.”
“I’d be skinnier if I got poisoned.” Kazuhisa rolled his eyes and polished off the cutlet. The old lady came out to refill our tea cups. After she went back to the kitchen, Akkun wondered aloud when she might have last changed the leaves.
“Shh,” said Kazuhisa, “she’ll hear you.”
“She won’t hear me. I don’t think she can hear. She’s a ghost,” said Akkun, who, in addition to being a picky eater, was weirdly superstitious and scared of anywhere that people said was haunted. In the mountains, practically everywhere is haunted. Kazuhisa rolled his eyes again.
“Come on, let’s go.” He grabbed the check and we got up from the small table.
“Yeah,” Akkun said under his breath, “let’s get the hell out of here. This place gives me the creeps.”
“Sissy,” said Kazuhisa; and to the old woman, “Thanks! It was great!”
She muttered something incomprehensible. I was pretty familiar with the local dialect but could not make out what she said, and I don’t think Kazuhisa or Akkun could either. We hightailed it out to the car. Closing the doors and buckling our seatbelts, we looked at each other but were afraid to talk. It was as if the weird whatever it was that hung in the air at the restaurant had followed us outside and into the car. Kazuhisa started the engine. Pulling away from the place, Akkun said, “Okay, we’re never going there again.”
“Why not?” Kazuhisa asked. He was kind of oblivious, a strange counterpoint to Akkun’s neuroses.
“Ghost bento. Never again.” That was all Akkun would say on the subject. He was paler then usual and his hand was cold in mine.
Kazu chuckled. “Ghost bento. Classic.” He turned to us and said, “Hey, did you guys hear the microwave beep? I think she was defrosting your croquettes!” Even Akkun had to laugh. I wondered how long those croquettes had been in the freezer and felt slightly sick.
maw is currently acting as our roving blogger in Japan. Gosh darn you, maw.-zaf

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05May

How can it be Urban Thai if it’s in the suburbs?

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!

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03May

What to eat while waiting to find out about that embarassing rash
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
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