Category Archives: Food and Drink

Food and Drink, The DC 100
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DC Omnivore 100: #65, Durian

Durian by Perantau Sepi Lodge

It’s time for another edition of the DC Omnivore 100, where we explore the top one hundred foods every good omnivore should try at least once in their lives.

I am guessing that probably 95% of you have never tried durian. Widely known as the king of fruits, this rare delicacy originated in Malaysia and is grown in many varieties in Southeast Asia. The real king of the king of fruits, however, is the montong variety, which is grown in Thailand and whose name is Thai for “golden pillow” –  a wonderful description for how the flesh of the fruit looks.

If you have not tasted durian, you owe it to yourself to try it, at least once. Forget the Omni 100 list and what other people say about necessary life experiences. It’s all poppycock when held for inspection next to the durian.

To be honest about it, not many Americans love the fruit but on the other hand, I am rather certain nobody feels midway about it. The relationship is a dramatic one of love or hate. I fall into the love category. My lovely wife, on the other hand, falls on the opposite side of the fence. This is where marital harmony pumps its lovely little handcart to hell.
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Food and Drink, The Features
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Cold Foods for Hot Days

Photo courtesy of
‘Your Popsicle’s Melting’
courtesy of ‘Auntie K’

So we’ve all been saying it in hushed voices while knocking on wood – this Summer has not been NEARLY as bad, hot, or disgusting as last. When is the REAL DC summer going to get here? It’s been moderately pleasant outside, as opposed to the more oppressive heat we dealt with last year. That said, although we may not be face-of-the-sun hot this summer, we’re still somewhere around the Sahara from time to time. And what is better on a hot day than cold food? On your hottest days you’re not craving a steaming bowl of chicken noodle soup and a nice meatloaf – oh no, you’re craving a Popsicle.

So, as we head into the hottest month of the year in DC, I’ve rounded up some good, cold food choices for you to nosh on while you stay cool. I include a bunch of local area restaurant’s offering and a do-it-yourself recipe from David Varley at BOURBON STEAK. Keep reading. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Julia Child Spy Dinner

Photo courtesy of
‘Spy’
courtesy of ‘Ghost_Bear’

It’s easy to think of Julia Child as being the proto-Martha Stewart. Her influence on mid-day programing for stay at home moms is pronounced, but to consider this the totality of her life is a mistake. Before she was a celebrity chef, Julia Child was a spy. Well, not a spy, per se, but she did work with the OSS (the WWII version of the CIA) in Ceylon and in China. To honor this portion of her life, and to promote the upcoming film Julie & Julia, the International Spy Museum and Chef Bryan Moscatello are throwing a dinner at Zola. The dinner will feature food made famous by Ms. Child as well as stories of her time in the OSS. The event will be held on August 20th. For tickets, call 202-654-0964.

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Ahh, BREAD!

Photo courtesy of
‘Two slices please’
courtesy of ‘staceyviera’

Ya’ll know how much I like bread. I’ve said it a lot. A LOT. I even reserve a category for best bread in my monthly round-up of the best dishes I’ve eaten that month, it is that essential (in my mind) to full meal enjoyment. So my carb-loving self has to give a shout out to Danielle O’Steen who contributed a piece to The Express that ran today all on restaurants that make their own bread. I gleefully drooled all the way to work, salivating over her round up of delicious gifts from the oven. (Sorry, Red Line riders, i was THAT drooling gross girl this morning. That was me.)

Now, this may come as a shock to readers, but ya’ll that bread, you eat? Typically NOT made at the place you are eating. Might even be shipped in from New York, Philly, or uh, anywhere. And in these economic times, in-house bread is something places can cut back on. (SAD TO MY LIFE.) So it was glorious to see O’Steen point out all the places that ARE doing bread still. She mentions Potenza, 1789 Restaurant, Obelisk, 2941 Restaurant and Volt. Now, mind you, these places aren’t your typical Friday night meal out places (Uh, 2941, looking at you. Love your bread though. Call me.) but still, it’s good to know they’re out there.

Long live freshly baked bread!

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Restaurant Week Extensions

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘erin m’

So, like I told you in my Defense of Restaurant Week, there are places that extend the deals. I told you that you should probably not bother with going there during regular Restaurant Week because, well, why? You can go during the off-season and it’ll probably be more relaxed. Jason, over at DC Foodies, a blog that does really great RW coverage every go-round has the beginnings of a list of places that are extending the deal that I wanted to share with you.

From DC Foodies:
Dino – August 1 through September 13
Il Mulino – August 1 through August 31
Nage Bistro – August 17th to September 6th
Ici Urban Bistro – August 21 through September 1
2941 – August 3 through August 28
701 Restaurant – August 24 through Sept 6th

Others I know about:
SEI – Month of August
PS 7’s – A second week of Aug. 3rd – 8th

Also don’t forget that places like Co Co Sala and Oya regularly do prix fixe menus, so be sure to check the web sites of places to see if they do a pre-theater menu or prix fixe before rushing out there during RW.

Keep checking back as RW nears, I’m sure DC Foodies will continue to update the list, as they have in the past. Now, onward and reserve!

Food and Drink, News, The Daily Feed
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DC Beer Week ’09

Photo courtesy of
‘Maryland Game’
courtesy of ‘InspirationDC’

In two weeks, the DC area is having its third major beer event of the summer (suck it, Rob Kasper).  “Hoppy” Jeff Wells and Teddy Folkman, Chef at Granville Moore, will be hosting around 10 breweries during the first annual DC Beer Week.  The event will kick off at the Rock and Roll Hotel on Sunday with a “Unity Jam” and will continue at various DC establishments throughout the rest of the week. Yours for Good Fermentables, a local beer blog, has the complete event list.  Hopefully this is an event that will expand in years to come.  A good showing by DC residents this year will likely peak the interest of breweries around the country.

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Downtown, Food and Drink, The Features, We Love Food
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We Love Food: Momoyama

Photo courtesy of
‘Roll’
courtesy of ‘lorigoldberg’

Momoyama defines off the beaten path. It couldn’t be any more off the beaten path unless it were literally down an actual dirt road. It is not. But it is tucked back in this really weird city block on the Senate side of the Capitol on second street near 395. But boy, is it worth seeking out. It is some great sushi.

A converted rowhome, with a tiny dining space, it seats maybe thirty maximum. The sushi is rolled up front by two sushi masters grabbing rice from a bowl between them, cutting fish and drizzling sauces. The prices are super cheap, and the service is great. I love everything about Momoyama, it feels like my own little sushi corner of the world. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, Night Life, The Daily Feed
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May the Best Rickey Win

"700/800 blk Pennsylvania Ave, NW" by Rock Creek on Flickr

"700/800 blk Pennsylvania Ave, NW" by Rock Creek on Flickr

It’s the last day of July, and I had no idea it was Rickey Month here in DC. Not surprising really, as I’m so out of it these days.

Wait, what’s a rickey? You didn’t know we have a cool native cocktail? Yep, back in the 1880’s at Shoomaker’s Tavern on Pennsylvania Avenue, publican George Williamson concocted a drink for Colonel Rickey with bourbon, lime and seltzer. Starting last year the DC Craft Bartenders Guild declared July Rickey Month and held a contest for best rickey in the city – and they are doing it again. The bourbon can be replaced by any base spirit and contestants are free to embelish the basic ingredients with say, herbs, flowers and spice.

Peruse the gallery of drinks in competition and then head out this weekend to try as many as you can. Or head over to Bourbon this Monday night to sample and witness the judgement. Festivities start at 6:30pm and it costs $10. Nice way to beat the heat with historical flair.

Eat Like Me, Food and Drink, The Features
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Eat Like Me: July’s Best Dishes

Photo courtesy of
‘jamie’s manhattan’
courtesy of ‘needlessspaces’

I think I’m getting addicted to that subtle tingle of anticipation I get when I sit down at a restaurant I’ve never been to before and unfold the menu. I crave that now – ordering a meal and wondering what exactly will appear. I adore the buzz of a place, the low murmur or the boisterous laughter. I like the sleekest of scenes, the sound of my high heels on a polished floor and the dingiest of hole-in-the walls with foamy beer right off the tap. There’s a small miracle in being given a whole list of options, choosing the ones you like best, and then having them brought to you and placed right in front of you (!) for you to devour, judge, accept or reject – when is that experience ever replicated in life? I love not having to cook, I love the simplicity of the process. I love having a dish presented to me, no matter what. I appreciate the showiest constructed dish with sprigs of Rosemary, stacks of accoutrement and a carefully placed spruce of tartare to the simplest plain white bowl of grits topped with shrimp. I love the smells. I love the sounds. I love the possibilities. I love the interactions. In the simplest of statements, I love restaurants.

Good thing I’ve found an outlet for my adoration. I know it sounds a bit overboard, my little poetic waxing about restaurants – I mean, they dot every corner of DC, from Wisconsin to New York Ave. They come in all sizes, all standards, serve a number of purposes. To love something so mundane to someone else might seem silly. But I am unabashedly, unashamedly in love with the food in this fine city. This month was slightly less busy than the last, and August is gearing up to be on par. There have been openings, there have been new menus to try, and there have been simple dinners out with friends. Out of all the places I’ve eaten this month, here are my favorite dishes from eat places within the Beltway. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Nine DC Farmers Markets Now Take EBT

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘Hoffmann’

This is the kind of program I think everyone can get behind. The Mayor’s Office announced this week that nine DC Farmers’ Markets now accept Food Stamps through wireless EBT terminals, allowing those accepting assistance to purchase farm-fresh produce. Participants in the District’s Double Dollars program will receive $2 for each subsidy dollar spent at the H Street Farmers Market, as well, thanks to a $20,000 grant from the Wholesome Wave Foundation. I’m all for expanding local access to the fresh and healthy produce at farmers markets.

Food and Drink, The Features, We Love Drinks
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We Love Drinks: Herbs, Flowers & Spice

"Eros" cocktail, Zaytinya

“Eros cocktail, Zaytinya” by Jenn Larsen on Flickr

Summer always puts me in mind to garden. I have a little herb garden with oregano, rosemary and lavender that always needs pruning, some roses that need constant watch from black spot, peonies dusty with blight – wait a minute. Gardening in DC is hard work, our weather vacillating between wet and humid to dry and droughty. Isn’t there an easier way to enjoy herbs and flowers than order flowers online?

Why yes. Drink them!

I love nothing better than to cook with fresh herbs and spices, and I’ve been known to throw some edible flowers into my salad, so I am loving the growing spread of these ingredients in cocktails. We’re both lucky and spoiled to be enjoying a cocktail renaissance here in DC. Time was a decent drink meant liquor + mixer, maybe with a garnish. Not anymore. Bartenders are approaching cocktails like, well, a chef would. The explosion of housemade syrups and infusions enable mixologists to make some potent magic.

But as with gardening, not everyone has a green thumb. It’s not enough to just toss some herbage in a martini glass and hey pesto! it’s a delicious cocktail. Just like that time I put too much adobe sauce in my sweet potato puree and set my guests throats on fire (um, sorry about that!). You have to know how flavors work together and how much power that pepper’s going to pop onto your tongue.

So here are my current favorites highlighting the trifecta of herbs, flowers and spice, with a few misses along the way.

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Food and Drink
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First Look: Columbia Firehouse

Columbia Firehouse

The exposed brick walls of the building at 109 Saint Asaph belonged first to the Columbia Steam Engine Company in 1871, and carry the weathered look that go with those 128 years, though they now surround the newly-open Columbia Firehouse. The same mix of old and new is the heart of Columbia, the latest venture from the Neighborhood Restaurant Group, who curate a collection of restaurants from Tallula to Evening Star to Rustico, a fine selection of DC’s mid-level restaurants. We walked in for a late dinner this past Saturday night into the space I’d been in, for Bookbinder’s, some five years before. The bar was packed with a diverse and lively crowd, where cocktails outnumbered beers, for reasons I would soon find out.

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Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Cupcake For Me, Cupcake For You…

Photo courtesy of
‘Southern Belle (160/365) (005/365)’
courtesy of ‘kimberlyfaye’
Yup, that’s right.  We’ve got another sweettooth focused shop opening in DC.  But seriously, can you really have too many options when it comes to confections?  My answer: No.

Something Sweet, the newest member of the cupcake community, opens this week at 3706 Macomb Street NW, right across the street from 2 Amys pizza and Cactus Cantina.  Owned by the same group of restauranteurs as Surfside, The Rookery, Jetties, and The Bull Pen, Something offers goodies beyond just cupcakes, like brownies, coffee, sweets and more.  Could be a great post dinner stop.

Food and Drink, We Love Food
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In Defense of Restaurant Week (+ My Picks For Best Bets)

Photo courtesy of
‘Condiments’
courtesy of ‘Amberture’

The dates for Restaurant Week were leaked last week, and now that I’m on Twitter, I’ve been hearing both sides of the eternal debate – is Restaurant Week worth it? Alex, the foodie over at Brightest Young Things and I got into a brief discussion, she is anti-Restaurant Week, and I’m pro, so I wrote her an email explaining my stance, the text of which follows. After I defend RW, then I’ll go on to share my picks for which places are the best bets this go round. If you’re not interested in my defense, you can skip right to that part, I won’t hate you. But, without further ado, here’s my pro-Restaurant Week diatribe for Alex:

I hear the haters, I do – I understand – the service during Restaurant Week can be crappy, the restaurant loses more than it makes so you get the cheapest food items they can serve, smaller portions, the kitchen gets tired of cranking out the same food over and over and the quality lacks. I get it. I hear you when you say if you’re a REAL foodie, you’ll stay far away during hell week and go back after the restaurants have recovered. But you know what I say to all that? Suck it. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Restaurant Week Announced (/Leaked)!

Photo courtesy of
‘Zaytinya’
courtesy of ‘InspirationDC’

RAMW said it wasn’t going to release until Monday, Open Table doesn’t have the promotion listed on the home page, but the dates have been leaked on Twitter, (August 24-30) and people are referring to last year’s list as a starting point for when to reserve click here for it. These are good guesses for what will be there this year, right? Right. So you could go ahead and stake out your claim on these spots now and hope they’re on it when it gets announced Monday.

Now, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. SORT IT BY PRICE. Hello?! This is what Restaurant Week is all about people, eating at places you couldn’t usually afford. Now, you can’t sort by price quite yet, because Open Table hasn’t done the full list yet, but here are my initial picks for you without looking at it fully, the way I like to when I sort it. Also, this is without knowing who is extending the list. I’ll dig deeper for you on Monday, but if you’re in a hurry, here are my quick picks, guaranteed for a good time.

1789, Cafe Atlantico, Ceiba, Equinox, Me Jana, PS 7’s, Volt and Willow. Now go forth and reserve, my fair readers.

Food and Drink, Interviews, Life in the Capital, Penn Quarter, People, The Features
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She Loves DC: Jill Zimorski

jill and wine

Jill rushes up to greet me wearing a bright green cardigan and a cute black Ann Taylor dress. (I know, because I have it in pink!) She’s not what you expect in someone whose credentials boast “Certified Sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers” and “has completed the Advanced Certificate Course offered through the Wine Spirits and Education Trust.” Jill just looks like she could be any of my girlfriends, but with a totally rockin’ day job – beverage director for Café Atlantico, the popular Penn Quarter eat place that hides Minibar. She’s been with Jose Andres since 2006, and seen Cafe Atlantico through quite a bit. We sat down to talk about my favorite subject – DC, paired with my other favorite subject – food and wine. (Heavy on the wine, given Jill’s passion!)

Me: Name the best part of DC in your opinion?
Jill: I think it would have to be the endless variety of people who you can meet, and what you can do here. My list of things I want to do is long, and some of it you can do on your own and other things with friends. Continue reading →

Arlington, Food and Drink, We Love Food
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We Love Food: Minh’s

Photo courtesy of
‘Day 63: Minhs’
courtesy of ‘InspirationDC’

I discovered Minh’s pretty quickly after moving to DC. You see, I have this thing for rice paper summer rolls and peanut sauce. I love them, and I want them at least once a month. Back where I come from (cue the country song), there is this amazing Vietnamese restaurant called Lang Van’s, owned by a friend’s family. I was upset to leave Lang Van’s, so I quickly searched out a substitute. Minh’s certainly lives up.

With one of the largest menus I’ve ever seen (trumped only by Cheesecake Factory) you pretty much can’t go wrong at Minh’s. Located between Court House and Clarendon out in Virginia (where arguably all the good Asian food hides) Mihn’s is situated on Wilson Boulevard in a nondescript office building. I’ve had friends tell me that they’ve ridden past it a million times, never noticing it. I wonder how that could be, seeing as there are huge neon signs in the window, but that’s just me. (Hey, I never claimed Minh’s was trendy, or sleek, or chic!) The outward appearance isn’t the fabulous part of Minh’s, the food is. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Food and Drink, Fun & Games, News, People, The Daily Feed
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DC’s Own On Top Chef Masters Tonight!

Photo courtesy of
‘art and soul mac and cheese balls’
courtesy of ‘needlessspaces’

Just a quick reminder to all you foodies and Bravo Top Chef fans out there – Chef Art Smith of Art and Soul will be on Top Chef Masters tonight! Art and Soul, located in the Liaison Capitol Hill, right near Union Station is hosting a Top Chef Master’s Viewing Party tonight. The party will be held in ArtBar from 8 p.m. – 11 p.m., and will feature complimentary hors d’oeuvres that showcase classic Art Smith dishes.

Good luck Chef Smith!