• 18May

    New Spring Menu at CIRCA in DuPont

    CIRCA at DuPont has unveiled its new spring menu and barrel aged cocktails, and they’re definitely worth a try. The food and drink options are perfect for DCers looking for a light, refreshing meal. I’ve been to CIRCA a few times, but only for drinks, so I was pleasantly surprised and impressed at the quality of their food items as well.

    CIRCA’s cocktails, inspired by the new age juice cleanse frenzy, are some of the most unique cocktails I’ve tried. And, to top it off, they have fun names. It may seem off-putting when your cocktail arrives and it’s green, like the Matcha Matcha Man and Kale’n Me Softly are, but at CIRCA, that’s a good sign. The Matcha Matcha Man is a green tea based gin cocktail, and the Kale’n Me Softly is ideal for the growing kale lover scene. The Cure-All, a clear-white vodka drink, is mixed well with coconut water. My favorite new cocktail of theirs, the District Tea Party, features a chamomile infused gin. I wouldn’t have thought of putting chamomile tea and alcohol together in one drink, but CIRCA does it right, with the perfect touch of sweetness.

    Now, onto the food. I tried the quinoa salad and the panzanella salad first, and of the two, the latter stood out to me the most. Kale and arugula based, the soft brioche bread pieces and buttermilk drizzle on top make this a heartier salad than the quinoa one. It also has cucumbers, red onions, fresh mozzarella, and marinated tomatoes, all mixed with a sherry vinaigrette dressing. Meanwhile, CIRCA’s brick chicken is made exactly as it sounds it is, under a brick. I had never heard of this process before, but the way they get that crisp, golden brown skin and moist, tender meat is by searing a split chicken under a brick. This dish is paired well with a potato salad and grilled broccolini, all on top of a lemon herb jus. Next are my two favorite new dishes. The seared scallops dish features a rich wild mushroom and goat cheese risotto base with scallops on top, made to perfection. Executive chef R.L. Boyd’s special, the steamed Alaskan halibut, has a cilantro-masa topping, black beans, chipotle cream, and shaved radish. The fish is melt-in-your-mouth, soft, buttery, and to die for. This halibut dish made my night.

    Make sure to check out CIRCA at DuPont’s new selections. Dine inside or outside at this bustling restaurant and bar, a location ideal for springtime.

    -SDM (Samantha)

    Circa on Urbanspoon

     

    Permalink Filed under: Restaurants 6 Comments
  • 17May

    The Lamb Jam is Today!

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    Wonderful French Master Butcher, Marc Pauvert from Spring House Farm in Lovettsville, VA Working on a Whole Lamb!

    Last chance to buy tickets for tonight for DC’s Lamb Jam.

    -JAY

    Permalink Filed under: Contests, Events, Ingredients Tags: , No Comments
  • 16May

    Wonderful Foodies I Recently Met!

    Wonderful food industry people who create extremely tasty products:

    -JAY

     

    Permalink Filed under: Events, Ingredients, Stores Tags: , , , , No Comments
  • 15May

    Desserts For Two, A Real Sweet Book

     

    Dessert For Two, a cookbook by Christina Lane, is such a wonderful and charming creation. This book is perfect for anyone who has a sweet tooth or loves someone who has a sweet tooth. The recipes in this book are mouthwatering cookies, puddings, miniature pies, tarts, cakes, popscicles, snacks and candies. The photography in the book is stunning and the writing has a great conversational feel. The recipes are deliciously evil but through Lane’s hard work of scaling down recipes, the risk of “accidentally” eating a dozen cookies disappears. As someone who struggles with poor willpower around sugar, I appreciate this. I also appreciate that Lane makes suggestions about bakeware (like getting adorable six inch pie tins and miniature loaf pans), but has alternative solutions if you find yourself living with a small kitchen that lacks miniature bakeware. I love the idea (as pictured on the cover of the book) of baking a miniature pie using a mason jar band as a pie tin.

    I tested three recipes. The first was a biscuit bread pudding with whiskey sauce. My husband is a bread pudding freak and he said that it was the best that he’s ever had. I’m not as passionate about bread pudding as he is, but this is the recipe that turned me into a bread pudding person. It is very easy to make  and you can use day old biscuits, which you can either make yourself or buy pre-made. I used refrigerated biscuit dough and made biscuits from that and it turned out beautifully.  It is sweet and rich and the recipe really makes enough for three generous servings. It is a gooey, sweet and decadent dish. Because it does not have eggs, the sauce is clear and is easier and faster to make than a creme anglaise.

    I also made the Pumpkin cupcakes with bourbon buttercream frosting. I got six cupcakes out of the batter and frosting rather than the four listed in the book. The cake itself is really good, and is moist with an interesting blend of spices. It is subtly sweet and spicy; I’d totally eat the cupcakes un-iced as a muffin. The buttercream frosting is very sweet, but it balances very well with the cake. These cupcakes were so delicious.

    Last but not least, I made the Salted Butterscotch Pudding Pops. I made them with Nielsen-Massey vanilla extract, which is my new favorite baking product.  This recipe makes amazing pudding that you can then turn into popsicles, or just eat as pudding. The recipe made enough for over four popsicles, and I had a mold for four popsicles, so I ate the extra pudding while it was still warm (it was really good). The popsicles were also quite tasty. My husband gave his seal of approval on the pops as well. This recipe is quick and easy, and makes a great summer treat.

    -JHC (Jennifer)

    Permalink Filed under: Books, Ingredients Tags: , , No Comments
  • 15May

    Let’s EAT Our Way to a Cure!

    EATSince May is Food Allergy Awareness month, I’d like to shed some light on some startling statistics about food allergies. At latest count, there are currently 17 million people in the US with food allergies. Every three minutes there is someone brought into the E.R. with an allergic reaction to food. One in every twelve children are now born with a food allergy. That is at least one child in every classroom across the country. And there are 90,000 cases of Anaphylaxis reported each year. I hope these statistics demonstrate how serious this “epidemic” has become. Something needs to be done to stop Americans from living this way.

    EAT or the End Allergies Together organization, is an organization working to do just that. They are an organization solely focused on funding research for allergy cures. Top allergens are often common-day foods like nuts, wheat, dairy, eggs etc. and just a TRACE amount can trigger a life threatening reaction in minutes. However, despite these statistics allergy research programs are vastly underfunded. E.A.T is trying to fill that gap. Instead of dividing their resources for advocacy and awareness programs, they are directing all of their raised money towards the scientists researching actual cures. They hope to become the nationally recognized brand that puts a face on food allergies.

    For more information about the organization and how you can help or get involved in increasing allergy awareness go to Endallergiestogether.com.

    -JPM

    Permalink Filed under: Etc Tags: 2 Comments
  • 14May

    Granite City Opens in National Harbor

    Granite City Food & Brewery celebrated the opening of its National Harbor, MD location last Monday. Their first East Coast spot, Granite City is a great addition to the many other dining options at National Harbor. Spacious and modern, this restaurant and microbrewery houses a wide range of food and drink selections for just about anyone to enjoy, beer lovers and non-beer lovers alike.

    The restaurant features a full service, wrap-around bar, open kitchen, private dining rooms, patio area, and on-site microbrewery that can be seen from inside the restaurant and is available for tours. Granite City prides itself not only the quality of its handcrafted beers but also of its made from scratch food and signature cocktails. The watermelon martini, for example, was sweet and refreshing on such a hot day. This drink, among several other martini flavors, is featured on their complete happy hour menu.

    Able to seat approximately 300 people, the restaurant and bar quickly became packed at its grand opening event. It would be of no surprise if Granite City soon becomes the place to be, especially on weekend late nights.

    If you live in the National Harbor area or are simply looking to take a day trip, be sure to check out Granite City while you’re there.

    -SDM

    Permalink Filed under: Events, Restaurants Tags: 3 Comments
  • 13May

    The Perfect Day for Music & Wine Lovers: VinoFest DC 2015

    Wine lovers crowd around to dance to VinoFest’s live music performances.

    Wine lovers crowd around to dance to VinoFest’s live music performances.

    VinoFest DC 2015 was held this past Saturday, May 9, 2015, at Storey Park NoMa in Washington D.C. VinoFest is a diverse live music and wine festival presented by Vinolovers. Upon entering the festival, tents were lined up along the gated perimeter with various activities (such as painting and life-size beer pong), wine tastings, and food trucks. Front and center of VinoFest was a stage that eventually had the entire crowd dancing by the end of the night.

    The stage featured Questlove (from The Roots), Black Masala, White Ford Bronco, Trouble Funk, Alison Carney (and her electric blue hair I could not stop staring at in admiration), DJ Adrian Loving, DJ Neekola, and D.C.’s DJ Hazzard. The musicians performed a beautiful mix of originals and old school classic covers (my favorite was TLC’s “No Scrubs”) that had almost every head at the festival swaying to the beat of the music.

    Food line-up: Dirty South Deli, Red Hook Lobster Pound DC, Slate Wine Bar + Bistro, Straw Stick & Brick Delicatessen, Swizzler, and Puddin’.

    Although I unfortunately did not get to try every single food vendor, I was able to experience Slate Wine Bar + Bistro’s chicken paella as my first VinoFest dish of the day and it was absolutely delectable.

    My second dish came from Swizzler and it was a savory tray of truffle fries. The perfect snack to share with a friend while under the warm Saturday May sun.

    My last dish at VinoFest was the David Wooderson sandwich and Fingerling Potato Salad from Dirty South Deli. The grilled asparagus, fried egg, and lemon-pepper ricotta were my favorite components in the David Wooderson (which also included English peas, mint, and trumpet mushrooms on ciabatta bread). The Fingerling potato salad was a refreshing side of potato chunks served with gochujang (Korean red pepper paste) marinated cucumber, red onions and mint.

    The wine tasting tent quickly became the focal point for majority of the VinoFest attendees (obviously) and staff members worked hard to serve the vino loving masses. I was pleased to see how professional and passionate the staff members were and am even more pleased at how proceeds of VinoFest DC 2015 will benefit DC Central Kitchen, Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic, and Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE). Over 1,800 vino lovers attended VinoFest DC last year so I am curious to see how many attended last Saturday.

    VinoFest DC 2015 was a huge success and I look forward to see what VinoFest has to offer next year. Until then, cheers!

    -EHY

    Permalink Filed under: Events Tags: , , , 5 Comments
  • 12May

    The DC Gluten-Free Expo is BACK!!

    It’s the most exciting time of year for the DC gluten-free population. Sunday JUNE 7th is the fifth annual Gluten-Free Expo- a time where gluten-free vendors from all over the world come to offer their newest goodies to the DC gluten-free population. Last year’s expo brought over 2,200 visitors, and with more vendors than ever before, this year will be even bigger and better! And even more exciting- I was asked to be a featured blogger at the event! Which means you as my readers get to benefit by getting discount tickets to the Expo. So make sure you save the date and click the link below for more info about the event and to save 25% off the price of a ticket with this coupon code: GFNOVAGIRL25OFF.

    -JPM (Joyana)
    Permalink Filed under: Events Tags: No Comments
  • 06May

    Piazza Beer Garden Opens in Bethesda

    DominionJust in time for the warm weather, downtown Bethesda’s Piazza Beer Garden at Cesco Osteria is now open. Beer lovers and food enthusiasts can enjoy unique local beers and tasty Italian foods while soaking up the sun in this relaxed spot.

    Voted “Best Outdoor Beer Garden” by Bethesda Magazine, the piazza prides itself on its sustainability and support of local farmers and breweries. The piazza was created from sustainable and environmentally friendly materials, and the menu and beer options are local. Some favorite foods are the margherita pizza and fried calamari, among many other hearty Italian bites to choose from. At their season-opener beer bash last Tuesday, guests were treated to glasses of Dominion Candi, a popular Belgian Tripel. Perfect for the summertime, this beer is light, refreshing and on the sweet side. Piazza offers twelve taps with a changing selection of beers from local breweries as well as many bottle selections to please any kind of beer lover.

    On May 7th, Cesco Osteria will celebrate its 18th anniversary. Chef and owner Francesco Ricchi is offering all diners a complimentary glass of prosecco and birthday cake to celebrate. Check out Piazza Beer Garden Monday through Friday from 4pm to 10pm or Saturday from 2pm to 10pm.

    -SDM

    Click to add a blog post for Piazza Beer Garden on Zomato

    Permalink Filed under: Drinks, Events, Restaurants Tags: , 1 Comment
  • 05May

    WayneMan’s Taste Buds Hijacked via Satellite

    I love it when a restaurant has the ability to hijack my taste buds. Located adjacent to the 9:30 Club, ‘Satellite Room’ offers many surprises in food and pop culture. Upon my arrival, I was greeted by their very friendly hostess. After explaining it was my first time as a guest, she invited me to explore the venue’s vast art collection. I was amazed reviewing those paintings. Before I knew it, I whipped out my camera and started taking pictures.

    Although most of those pictures won’t make it into this article, the memories of that art work…I will cherish forever. My personal favorite was the “Marilyn Misfit” portrait. Being a fan of Marilyn Monroe, and a fan of the punk band “Misfits,” this painting captured my imagination and held it hostage. It was at that moment that I realized before taking my first bite of anything…I was hooked on this place!
    The menu was packed with delightful food options, and it was challenging to decide which dish I wanted to order. Chef Charles Smeed was available to speak with me, so I inquired about the popular food choices. He explained how it would be difficult to narrow it down to a single selection, because their customers love everything that comes out of the kitchen. However, he was willing to create a sampler plate for me to taste a few items. Imagine my surprise when he presented:

    • Sausage Biscuit & Gravy
    • Chipotle Glazed Meatloaf
    • Steak & Eggs

    As a food critic, I’m rarely at a loss for words. But after tasting this delightful combination of ‘food heaven’…all I could say was “WOW!” Chef Charles informed me that the meals prepared at the Satellite Room were created from scratch. The ‘love’ used to prepare these dishes is obvious. And just when I thought it was over…it was time to taste one of their signature drinks from the “Breakfast Cereal Boozy Milkshakes” collection. Using several types of cereals (combined with some popular spirits), these shakes will make you feel like a kid again. Speaking of kids…they also offer non-alcoholic versions. So if you decide to bring the young ones with you…I’m sure they’ll going to love it too!

    My only regret was not being able to eat more food. As I watched various burgers and other food delights enter the dining area, it occurred to me that I simply must return to the Satellite Room. Devouring one of those burgers with my eyes was not enough. When I spoke to some of the customers at the bar about their favorite night to hang out here, they suggested I visit during the late night ‘Wu-Tang’ Wednesday event. I’m looking forward to what DJ Baronhawk Poitier will spin on the turntables to enhance my delightful dining experience.

    -WMM (Comedian/Writer/Cook and my friend,  WayneMan)

    Permalink Filed under: Etc, Events, Restaurants Tags: , , No Comments
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