Happy New Year

Just wanted to send out some happy new year greetings to all the local yokels who read this blog. Glad you're still with me even though I've been pretty inconsistent on my postings. I hope to do better in 2011. Maybe that will be my new year's resolution.

Anyway, if you want to stay in the neighborhood to celebrate the new year, I see that both Jackie's and 8407 are doing fancy dinners. Actually with Jackie, you can go fancy with the main restaurant menu for $65 per person not including beverages, tax or tip -- but including an eclectic mix of dishes from which you can choose, such as pierogies, bouillabaisse, chicken n' beer with waffles and even stuffed trotter, plus many more. And then she's also got the Sidebar going, also $65 a head and that includes an open bar and snacks, and finally in the Back Room she has King Soul playing for $30 per person and that gets you the music and a champagne toast. Wow, something for everyone here.

If you want something a little more quiet (like I do), well then you can head over to 8407. They'll have 2 seatings that night, the first between 6:00 and 7:00 pm. That gets you 4 courses for $58 per person. If you want to eat later, the second seating comes between 8:30 and 10:00 pm. Here you'll have a 5 course dinner for $75 per person and $100 if you wish to add wine pairings. I know it may make me sound like a lush (which I really am), but often when I do pairings I run short on the wine. I drink what they give me much faster than I get my next wine. So I'll order my own booze, thank you very much.

Either way, it's great we have these options plus I'm sure there are others in the hood I have just missed.

A couple other things of note, I'm sure you all have already seen that Nicaro has closed its doors. What, they were open just about a year, right? Let's hope whoever takes over can bring us back something closer to Nicaro version 1. And if you're interested in the building, you can get it for a cool $1.6 million. But if your bank account is not that flush, it looks like you can lease it too. Not sure what they are asking here though.

I also wanted to make mention of the Feast of Seven Fishes. My wife and I held our fourth annual Feast this year. It was a little more scaled back than at previous times, but there still was a good time had by all and no one left hungry.

Here's someone named Tom, I think, we pulled off the streets for the Feast. Although it's not a close-up, he's holding up the main course, linguine with Virginia crab in a cream sauce with a little salmon roe on top. It was yummy.

OK, here's to a great 2011. Hope you have a lot of wonderful meals -- both at home and out. Also, keep your eyes out for more news on Silver Spring's own underground dining. It should be in full gear for the new year.

Righteous Tacos

I know I typically like to extol the wonders of our local independent restaurants, but today I wanted to give some props to a pretty big chain -- one with more than 900 restaurants. Can you guess which one? Chipotle Mexican Grill.

I'm giving the restaurant its due because it is making a real effort to serve meat that has not been industrially-raised. And for me, when a chain this size makes this commitment, it is noteworthy.

And Chipotle has actually been doing this for the better part of the last decade. Now you won't find that all its meats are coming from natural farms, but you can be sure that more and more chicken, pork and beef are coming from good farms. The company's CEO, Steve Ells, publicly supports stronger USDA standards for naturally-raised meats. In addition, Chipotle has worked with both Bill Niman, formerly of Niman Ranch (and now running BN Ranch) and one of our own local (and national) good farming heroes, Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm.

For us locally, if you dig into one of their burritos or tacos (like these I had for lunch today) and ask for chicken, you can be sure the chicken were humanely-raised by Bell & Evans, based just over 100 miles away from us in central, PA.

Now unfortunately I have yet to confirm the pork or beef they serve locally are coming from top-flight outfits. (However, in some other parts of the country you can find this.)

Chatting with the managers at the Bethesda and SS shops, neither could tell me exactly what farms or farms raise their cows and pigs. So at least for me, till I find out, I'll stick with the chicken and veggie options.

And beyond the meat, Chipotle has made sure its sour cream and all of its dairy products come free of artificial bovine growth hormones. And the company's local food initiative is making strides to source other products from local farms too.

Also, if you still think Chipotle is still owned by McDonald's, you are mistaken. Mickey D's fully divested their interest in 2006. Chipotle is now a publicly-traded company. They also appear to be doing quite well for their shareholders. A quick look sees their stock price has risen 167% since the start of the year. Wow! They're trading at over $235 per share. I would not have guessed this, that's for sure.

But I am glad to see it. While I do like my independent restaurants, when I see chains doing the right thing, I want to reward them with my business. But obviously for Chipotle, their support comes from people who really like their food and not just because of their sourcing policies. And I'm glad to see it.

On another completely unrelated topic, check out this black pasta (homemade with sepia ink) with a creamy cherry tomato sauce and shrimp I made the other night. I had a pic so I thought I'd share it. Yummy!

OK, go get yourself a burrito and feel good about it!

Got Injera?

Well, if you don't, and can't seem to locate Addis Ababa, or Langano or that place behind the County liquor store or any of the other Ethiopian restaurants in the close vicinity, you are now in luck. Our own Highland Coffee, on the corner of Fenton and Silver Spring Ave is expanding and will soon be serving dishes beyond the pastries and sandwiches which they currently offer.

When I asked what they'll be serving, I was told, "Ethiopian food." Wow, thanks. I thought they'd be offering Texas-style BBQ or maybe Cincinnati chili. I mean, c'mon, if a customer comes in and asks about the expansion and what you'll be serving, shouldn't you be more forthcoming and maybe a bit more enthusiastic than what I got?

I guess I'll have to go to the Gazette, where I originally found out about Highland's plans, for additional information. According to the article, Highland will seat about 50 people on the restaurant side and will serve meat and vegetarian Ethiopian dishes, as well as lasagna and spaghetti. Really?

I am aware of the ugly past my ancestors played in what was then known as Abassinia. So I understand there is a connection to Italy, no matter how troubling it is. But do you really want to go beyond your strong suit, Ethiopian dishes, to these kind of the basic, run-of-the-mill Italian dishes. My guess, parents can come in for Ethiopian and the kids get macaroni with butter, or something like that.

I do hope Highland's has done the necessary research to understand if adding 50 seats and hiring around 10-15 new employees is sustainable in our hood. As we all know it is not hard to find this style of food in Silver Spring. I personally am not a fan of Ethiopian food, so I can't really judge. But I do live near Addis Ababa and they consistently seem to have a good crowd. But I do wish them the best and will keep a close eye whenever their new venture gets off the ground.

A couple other things to note. Norman's farm market - the one that was selling pumpkins and such on Fenton - has shut its 'doors' so to speak. Either way, they are no longer currently in business in that location, but could be back in the spring.

And I doubt I have to remind anyone, but our Thanksgiving parade is Saturday morning, starting at 9:30 AM. Time to get our annual fix of Bolivian dancers. See you there.

Backyard Bounty

While this was certainly not a banner year for me in the garden -- my cucumbers produced only for a short time, my tomatoes were terrible and my Brussels sprouts were devoured by bugs, but man, did my peppers do well.

I'm sure part of it was the heat we had this summer and this veggie loves hot weather. Even this past weekend -- in November mind you -- I'm still picking plenty of ripe peppers off the vines. I must have picked more than 100 over the weekend, a bit more that the missus and me can eat before they go bad. So the solution, canning them.

Now granted, I did plant a lot more peppers than two people can eat, but I just assumed they all would not flourish - and they pretty much all did. It seems my soil (and maybe yours) likes all kinds of varieties. I planted some Spanish padrone peppers, two kinds of Japanese peppers, shishito and fushimi, an Italian-American variety called melrose, some New Mexican peppers appropriately called Numex and then a variety similar to pablano. I bet about 20 plants in all.

So from August to the present we have not been without peppers in the house. And as long as we hold the temp above freezing overnight, these guys will likely last a bit longer. Here's one batch from weekend picking, these are a mix of padrone and melrose. As you can see if you leave them out there they do turn red.

And fortunately they don't become any hotter, because they are already hot enough. Sometimes too hot to enjoy. The milder ones, the two Japanese varieties are great for pan frying in oil. Just get them charred and drizzle some salt and soy sauce over them and they are fab. You're beginning to see this dish (shishito's) in some Japanese restaurants on the app menu with fancy salt. If you haven't tried them I suggest you do. You'll then want to grow them at home like I did.

Now you can do something similar to the melrose and padrone, sans the soy sauce, but you probably don't want to pop the whole pepper in your mouth at once. I recommend a knife and fork. You can also just fry them up in some hash browns or have them on the side with some eggs. But have toast handy just in case.

And the pablano variety are great for stuffing. I would char these guys under the broiler, let them cool, peel off the skin, seed them and then stuff them with whatever I had handy. This would always include some kind of cheese (goat works great), and then maybe shrimp, onions, meat, other veggies, you name it. After 15-20 mins in a 375 degree oven they are ready to devour. It does take a bit of work, but I have always been happy with the results.

So finally, after picking more than 100 peppers over the weekend, this is what I have to show for it. I hope they are worth it, because this was a lot of work. It was tempting to think I can drop $4-5 at the store and get a jar of these ready to eat. I know time-wise I spent a lot more than $20 getting these ready. But knowing I started them from seed, managed them as they grew, picked them and then canned will be worth it. And we shall see.

Halloween cocktails are back!

Yes I know, I've been a pretty lame blogger as of late -- traveling a lot can do that to you. But I am back in the 'hood and very much looking forward to Halloween. I put up my first decoration yesterday -- outside of my basic Halloween Pez dispensers -- and will do more tonight and Friday. Don't want any trick or treaters passing by my place and thinking we're not in the game.

We will have a crew on our front porch like last year sipping on drinks and trying not to frighten the young treaters too much. We're usually pretty well-behaved. But that might change this year since my Halloween cocktail concoctions have taken a turn for the better.

If you remember last year, I had an ill-fated attempt to make candy corn infused vodka. This year however things are looking up. I've been experimenting some with Jolly Rancher hard candies and Nerds. So far, so good.

My first attempt was with the sour apple Jolly Rancher. I infused about two ounces of Stoli's with one-half the candy and let them marinate for about 2.5 hours in the fridge. Since the 2009 attempt was way over the top, I decided to err on the side of caution and only do 1/2 a candy. The result was tasty, although mild. One might want to consider upping it to one whole sour apple Jolly Rancher per two ounces of vodka. It all depends if you're looking for something a little sweet or just a hint of the apple.

Next on my list was Nerds. I know everyone has tried these packed little punches of sugar. Again, I went easy on the combination and only added 1/2 teaspoon of strawberry Nerds to 4 ounces of vodka. Reasonable success for number two as well.

On this one I did some straight sipping via this 2 ounce shot and then did the rest mixed with soda water. Certainly with the latter I had very little Nerds flavor. But with the straight shot you got a decent strawberry flavor, but not a heavy sugar flavor. I got that later in the night when I finished off that box of Nerds. Major mistake. Talk about all sugar! I guess it had been a while since I tried some straight Nerds. Word of advice -- avoid that treat if you're giving them out on Sunday night.

OK finally, the best of the batch, vodka-infused with a Jolly Rancher cinammon fire. I was looking for straight red hots but couldn't find any. Nonetheless I was more than happy with these. Again I only did 1/2 a candy to two ounces of vodka. The result was quite good. I would have taken a bit more heat, but the combination worked great together. I think next time I might go for an entire candy and give them 3 + hours in the fridge. For this first batch I only did 2.5 hours each and the candies had yet to dissolve completely. So if you're looking for something different to offer friends Halloween night, this should be a consideration!

All right, a couple other quick things while I have your attention. Thanksgiving is just a few short weeks away and if you're cooking and are looking for a properly-raised local bird, here are a few sites you might want to check out. I bet you can't go wrong with any of them.

Good Earth Farms
Guttenberg Farms
Heritage Turkey Farm

And I'm sure you know the last Fenton Street Market of the year is set for Saturday, so don't miss the action. It's now being held at the new civic building as opposed to the Fenton and Silver Spring Ave location.

Lastly, any thoughts to my creative idea for fans of Fenton St -- would you like to be called a, FENTONiSTa. OK, be gentle on that one. I've only heard lame remarks on it, so I guess a few more won't hurt me.

If you try my drink concoctions let me know how they go. I'll be sure to post my results. Also, if you have other drink ideas, please pass them on.

The Great Pumpkin comes to SoCo

I think we may have officially made it, the neighborhood now has its own pumpkin patch. It just took root last week on the west side of Fenton, just south of Thayer.

It is being run by the MD-based Norman's Farm Market, who already have a couple vegetable stands in the area, one in Bethesda and the other in Chevy Chase. While ours in not a real vegetable stand -- it is mainly pumpkins and gourds -- they were selling onions, cucumbers, and potatoes when we visited.

Their prices seem pretty good. I know last year we stopped at the one in Chevy Chase either around Halloween or Christmas to pick up some goodies, but we left empty-handed. The prices were just too high for me, so we took a pass. And while I'm confident you could take a drive out Georgia Ave or Colesville to find cheaper pumpkins, this location - at least for me - could not be beat.

So we picked up a couple pumpkins for carving ($0.59 per pound), and then some smaller ones for decorations around the house. I assume we'll be back in the next couple weeks to make additional purchases.

I was told the stand will be open till Halloween and maybe even a little past. And then they're hoping to re-open in the spring since the location where they're located still does not have any kind of solid plan for development. We've heard about it being a mixed use site, but I think it is far from being permitted and who knows about financing.

Either way, I am glad this spot is not just a fenced off section of weeds and trash anymore. So stop on by for your Halloween needs. But don't think you're gonna outdo my carving; I am the master. And yes, I am talking pumpkin-carving trash. I don't have the ability to talk trash a lot anymore, so I have to take what I can get. I'll post my work closer to the big day.

And let's keep our fingers crossed that the Great Pumpkin makes a special SoCo visit on the 31st. I know I'll be out there waiting for him. I may not be sober, but I will be there.

Shabu Shabu

So, I finally tried the new shabu shabu place off Georgia. Have you been there?

I am kidding. There is no shabu shabu restaurant in the hood, although I'd be pretty psyched if there was. If you are not familiar with this kind of dining, it is a Japanese style of dining that involves cooking your food with a hot pot that's sitting at your table.

Since I am back in LA for work, I tried this for the first time the other day at a place called Kushi Shabu in Little Tokyo.. Interesting. I wish I would have been with someone familiar with this type of dining or received some kind of instruction from my waitress, but alas, neither was to be. But I made it through OK on my own.

Here is the hot pot that I mentioned. When I was seated I first thought it was some kind of scale to weigh my food. I thought, oh Lord, do I really wanna know the weight of the food I'll consume tonight. But it became quickly apparent it was not a scale when the waitress placed a pot of water on top and turned the device to high.

I ordered the seafood shabu shabu meal, although meat seems to be the protein of choice for most SS meals. My dish came with a few fried skewers of seafood and then a plate of raw items which were to be cooked in the hot pot. I also ordered some pickled veggies, since I almost always LOVE these when I can find them in Japanese restaurants. This meal was no exception.

The fried items were pretty easy to deal with. No cooking involved here. My only choice with these was to decide what sauce to use as a dip. I had my choice of peanut sauce, soy sauce, and another one that was kind of thick and a bit tangy. I sampled a bit of each with these skewers. While they were all quite tasty, I could not ID which type of seafood each was. Besides the shrimp, most of the others were a bit of a mystery to me. But hey, deep fried seafood on skewers works for me whether I know what I am eating or not.

After the fried dish I was brought my appetizer -- oshinko -- or Japanese pickled vegetables. I am never sure what will come on the plate, but almost always I am happy with the mix. This night I had some gobo (burdock root), radish, carrots and cabbage. All oishi. I could eat this stuff about every night of the week. I definitely need to figure out how to do this myself since I pretty much never see it in our neck of the woods.

Next came my plate or raw seafood and uncooked noodles that I was supposed to cook in my hot pot. Hello, a little direction here. But none was coming. I'm glad I cook Asian meals on a somewhat regular basis so I wouldn't ruin everything. But still, it was a bit unnerving.

The clams and fish were pretty straightforward. And I figured with the noodles I would just taste them after they had cooked a while to see if they were done. So that did work OK. And the other seafood items, squid, langostine, and some mystery fish also came out all right. But hey, what was I supposed to do after that?? I had my mix of sauces, but had no clue how to proceed. So I just flew by the seat of my pants. A little soy here, some peanut sauce there, the other sauce whenever. I mean it turned out decent, but you can't just willy nilly add sauces to your seafood and noodles without some kind of game plan. And I had none. Again, some guidance would have been appreciated. I also needed help finding my cellophane noodles in my pot. After they cooked they essentially became transparent and good luck trying to pull those guys out. I gave up on them and used the rice which was provided as a side.

I read after the fact that traditionally the rice would be added to the leftover broth in your hot pot. However, had I known that I kinda doubt I would have done it. It seemed to work better eaten with my cooked seafood and sauces.

I'm ready to try it again, but the next time supervision is a must!

Silver Spring restaurant expands to the city

Interesting. It's usually the other way around. A restaurant makes a name for itself in the city (any city) and then expands to the suburbs where it always seems good food is hard to find.

Well Jackie Greenbaum is taking her expertise and restaurant know-how into Washington, DC, and is planning to open a new place in Adams Morgan Columbia Heights some time next year reports the the Washington Post today.

Jackie found a spot on 11th St NW near Lamont that previously housed a liquor store. It's a small space (45- 50 seats), but there could be room for a patio and maybe roof-top seating. The menu will be "authentic Mexican" (which is quite hard to find in DC IMO) with also hints to LA street food. This obviously is wide open since you can almost eat anything on the streets of LA.

The new place will also have a serious craft beer menu and lots of tequila and mezcal. Jackie's current chef at her eponymous restaurant, Diana Davila-Boldin, is consulting on the menu. And while only dining once with Boldin running the Jackie's Restaurant kitchen I was not bowled over. I meant to do a post on that dinner but it got lost in the mix.

The missus and I went with a friend and while we all liked our meals OK, none of the entrees were worth repeating (and I'm sorry to say it's been way too long to tell you what we tried). But maybe with more time under her belt Boldin is now off and running there. I would be willing to give her another try. But that's a another post.

To conclude, the yet-to-be-named establishment will keep things cheap - nothing over $15. But I'm guessing you'll easily be able to spend a decent amount if you're drinking craft beers or high-end tequila. Lord knows it's hard to find anything to drink in that neighborhood. It's like prohibition has taken hold over there. And yes, I am kidding!

Opening Day - Nando's

Took a stroll yesterday to our newest dining choice, Nando's Peri Peri in lovely "downtown" Silver Spring. I was not aware, but according to the company's website they have locations in 34 countries and 5 continents. They first opened in DC a couple years ago, and now they have made it to our neck of the woods.

The place is mainly about chicken, but non-chicken eaters can find a fair amount to eat on the restaurant's menu. If you are into pollo, you'll have many choices with many different sauces (more on that soon).

If you haven't tried it before, which we had not, they have a certain system they use with their customers. At least for us, we were seated, explained the system -- ordering at the counter, getting your own soft drinks, napkins, silverware, etc -- and then having a server deliver your food. I suppose if the line at the counter is not long, it's easy enough to do this. But it could be annoying if you were seated and the line quickly grew before you got back up. Seems odd to me. Why not just give out table tents with numbers so the servers know where to drop food?

Anyway, I did find it odd but didn't want to hold this against them. So we got up and joined the line. We decided on our order as we waited. We wanted a bit of a mix, so we did a bowl of olives, an order of hummus, a roasted portobello sandwich with grilled halloumi cheese and the country salad. The olives are sitting right on the counter so if you are starving when you order and need to eat fast that's a decent choice. Next to the olives are a selection of spicy nuts, so that's another option for ya. Next time I'm going for the nuts ($2.95). The olives at $3.75 weren't terribly exciting and I know large garlic cloves are added to the container for flavor, but they also become part of your small bowl and take up precious room that olives could occupy.

Soon after we grabbed our silverware, napkins and a couple teas our hummus arrived. We both thought this was a good choice. It came with a tiny sauce container that we drizzled over the hummus. Was a tangy and tasty sauce. I also should mention there are numerous sauces available for use that come in larger containers and can be brought to your table. A few we tried were the hot, garlic and herb, but there were more. The hummus was flavorful and was accompanied by pita slices. We both agreed we'd order it again. We tried it with a couple of the different sauces and they mixed well with it. But once you start adding a sauce or two it quickly transforms into something really other than hummus. But again, still good.

Even before we finished our hummus and olives our two other dishes arrived. Even with the opening day crowd - which just after 12:00 went out the door - the service was very efficient. It did seem like they had a ton of staff on board for the first lunch -- half of whom stopped by our table to ask how things were going. After the fourth or fifth time it was a bit much. I assume once they know what they're doing there will be fewer staff per shift; we'll see how that affects service.

My sandwich was decent sized and appetizing. It was on a Portguese roll with some lettuce, a tomato, the roasted 'shrooms and the grilled halloumi. Was the first time I had tried this style of cheese and I liked it. It was however very salty. It was not too noticeable on my sandwich, but pieces of the cheese also came on the country salad and there it was kinda overwhelming.

The salad on its own was pretty standard. In addition to the cheese it contained romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and croutons and there was not too much dressing, which is something we often encounter at places like this. But all in all pretty run of the mill outside the halloumi.

Other things of note, they did a very nice job remodeling the place. It looks well done. In addition, Nando's does serve alcohol. They had a few Portuguese beers for $4.95 and others in bottle. They're also serving wine by the glass and bottle. I believe these were exclusively from South Africa and Portugal. Prices were very reasonable, $6 per glass and there were many bottles in the teens, twenties and topped out at $38. I neglected ask about happy hour, sorry.

I did however ask if you were drinking a glass of wine or beer and wanted another if you had to get back in line. I was happily informed you did not. You simply have to flag down a server and they will retrieve it for you. I do like that.

All in all was a good lunch and we do have plans to return. And I assume once the allure has worn off, folks will be back at other destinations in downtown for lunch. Felt a little bad for Baja Fresh as we walked by on the way home. 12:30 and no one in line ordering. I'm guessing they'll be OK.

And on another topic, underground dining in Silver Spring, aren't we something?

Lunchin' in the 'hood

To make up for not spending much time in our neighborhood dining establishments as of late, I made an effort to hit a few of them yesterday as the wife and I did kind of an eating melange.

We started by heading west on Thayer and hitting Safeway. Wait a second, we just picked up a prescription there so that doesn't really count. But with pills in hand we could see our first score of the afternoon - Negril. We had been to Negril (965 Thayer Ave) years ago, but wanted to give them a second look and really see what they had to offer.

I know most folks who eat there are going for their meat dishes, but since I know they're not serving happy meat, we opted for a couple veggie dishes and one seafood item. Since we knew we wanted to hit other spots in the 'hood we didn't want to order too much, but we did end up with a substantial amount of food. We tried one entree, the veg roti, and then two apps, a veg patty and the fried cod cakes. As described on the menu, roti is carrots, potatoes, plantain, pumpkin, cabbage, mixed vegetables, kidney beans, chickpeas and coconut cream in a stew, wrapped in a pancake-like dough.

I can certainly say the dish was filling, but even with all those veggies, it lacked any real flavor - no pizazz . It really needed the add hot sauce and a couple other sauces that were provided to help it out. The cod cakes were also substantial, three for about $2.95. However the cakes can almost be considered a vegan dish given the amount - or lack thereof - of cod that was found inside the deep fried balls. Again, another filling, but not a terribly flavorful item. The veg patty ended up being the best of the lot. It contained the same veggies as the roti, but they were served inside a flaky turnover. All in all a fairly disappointing experience. I would go back to try a couple of the other seafood items, but maybe this place is mainly meant to chow down on flesh.

Next on the list for us was Señor, excuse me, Mr. Chicken (8408 Georgia Ave). We knew we would not partake in their poultry dishes (again, not serving happy chicken), but we wanted to see what else they were serving. There were plenty of sides from which to make a meal, but neither of us were very hungry after our Jamaican starters. But we bore down and ordered more food. We tried the black beans, the yucca and their cole slaw.

The black beans were quite tasty and we were told they were completely vegetarian. I'd definitely get them again. They were even better when you took a spoonful of their green sauce and added that into the mix. Yummy. Now the yucca were pretty good, better when dipped in the beans, but the cole slaw was too sweet and had way too much mayo. There were a few other non-meat sides we could have tried if we had room -- rice, tortillas (5 for $1.50 - not home-made though), and plantains. I definitely would have considered an empanada, but they all had chicken in them.

They've done a nice job with the space. It is nicely decorated and clean. The folks who were serving customers were friendly and their prices were reasonable. I'll likely be back. And if they did ever serve happy poultry I'd be all over Mr. Chicken.

Since we were right next door, we figured a sweet from Velatis was in order. We noticed they are now serving home-made cupcakes. While they looked good, we opted for a few chocolate chewies with almonds, some sea salt caramels and a sea salt chocolate turtle. We took these for home though as we were both about to bust at this point.

But that did not stop us from checking out the new and improved Roger Miller Restaurant at 941 Bonifant. You all remember them well, right?

A few months back, RM did close and a Casa de Pollo was on its way to replace it. While the pollo place did open, it did not last long and now the folks who previously ran RM are back to run it again.

They have kept the chicken on the menu. But when I asked, I was told the chicken really wasn't Peruvian-style, but chicken with a lot of African spices. In addition, they are serving essentially all the dishes the old RM used to serve. And while you may not be able to read it, the entire right side of this outdoor menu are vegetarian dishes. Many of them sounded quite good -- Spinach Delight, Okra Stew, Ndolle (a bitter leaf soup), and of course, the Ayaba Special. I remember seeing lines around the block on the nights when the Ayaba Special was being served. Yes, fond memories. And now it is back!!

According to the sign, the Fearless Food critic gave RM the best food award for 2009. However, I have not been able to ID this critic and am a bit dubious of the award. Anyway, I am glad RM has returned. I'll be making my way over soon to try a couple of their non-meat dishes.

North of SoCo

I have returned from vacationland, AKA Maine. Had a fabulous week filled with cool weather, low humidity, cold beer and fresh lobsters. I am now ready to dive back into the SS dining scene once again, but before I do I wanted to quickly share some highlights from the week.

Highlight number one, walking around the first evening and contemplating whether I needed a light jacket. I didn't - but it was nice jut having to think about it. The second highlight, and one that captures all the other highlights, is Maine's thriving lobster industry. And man, did we do our best to contribute to the industry. In total for the house (6 of us) - so this doesn't include any lobsters we ate elsewhere - we prepared (and killed ourselves) 22 of the wonderful crustaceans. I ended up doing the deed on 21 of them while one house member stepped up a took care of a single lobster.

I think this one was the final lobster for the week. Trust me, before we did them in we thanked them profusely for giving up their lives for our meal.

Buying the lobsters live certainly saved us money - our cheapest of the week was $4.25 per pound. But in general they were between one and two dollars cheaper per pound not having them steamed on site. And this way we were able to purchase them earlier in the day and just prepare them when we wanted. They do make a bit of a mess, but now that I've taken the step of killing them myself, I figured this is the way to go.

OK, some of our meal highlights. One meal we did was home-made tagliatelle with lobster, leeks, chanterelles and white truffle oil. Maybe the best lobster dish of the week. It was pretty rich. I think we included the meat of three lobsters and at least a couple cups of lobster stock and heavy cream. Here's a pic of lobster stock being prepared. You cook the shells by themselves in oil for a few minutes before adding your water, herbs and veggies if you like. I brought home about 2 quarts!!

This was not the week to diet! I'm surprised the pasta came out as well as at it did since my sous chef for the night and me were pretty inebriated when we made them. But in the end it all worked out.

Some of our other experimental dishes included lobster tacos with queso fresco and guacamole, a white lobster pizza with pesto, and a crunchy "lobster roll" done not in the New England way, but as sushi. I used a bit more rice here than I should have, but they did turn out pretty good. I added in some avocado, sliced peppers, and cucumber. After I steamed the lobster I pan fried it to finish the cooking. To make it crunchy I dipped the lobster in some egg white and then covered it in panko and fried it in sesame oil. They're drizzled with a mixture of soy sauce, ponzu, hoison and sambal.

Another dish that worked well that you can easily do at home this time of year - sans lobster - was gazpacho. Our version did include lobster and sliced avocado on the bottom of each bowl topped with the smoky and fine (as opposed to chunky) tomato-based soup. Great on a hot summer night. I do it Spanish-style with sherry vinegar and pimenton - a big hit.

And even though we did prepare a sushi "lobster roll" during the week, we could not very well get away with not preparing the more authentic version. As you can see for the bread we used the traditional Nissen roll, but for the lobster salad we went a bit more exotic than you usually get at the pound. Here I added thinly sliced and chopped kohlrabi, radishes, red onions and some fennel fronds too. I might have thrown in a small bit of basil but I can't remember now. I then added about 1/2 cup of mayo and 1/4 cup of sour cream and the meat of 6 lobsters. I mean there were 6 of us. And trust me, it took me quite a while to pick all that meat. The rolls were quite tasty - we had enough for two each, accompanied by some wonderful cole slaw.

I'll end with a pic of me about to gorge on two lobsters on the dock. Since August is shedder season up there (soft shell lobsters), I had to order two. The soft shell variety have less meat than the hard shells as the lobsters are growing into their new shells during the season. I can say after those 2 lobstah, a few cold beers, corn and cole slaw I was feeling pretty damn good.

And I bet you like that Hooters huggie I got going there. I mean, that's how I roll.

OK, that's enough for now. If I have you craving lobster you're in luck, I'm throwing an all-you-can-eat lobster fest at my house soon. Wait a second, I mean Red Lobster has got a promotion running. But seriously, the Red Hook Lobster Truck has just made its way to DC. Check them out on Facebook. They just went live in town this week and they're serving lobster rolls and other New England fare. Don't expect them in our 'hood, but if you work downtown you're in luck. If not, hop in the car. It's only about 10 hours to Maine. It's worth it.

Pho Hiep Noa!

In the interest of research, the missus and I ventured to the 2nd floor of downtown SS for lunch today. It was against my better judgement, but in the interest of research...

Anyway, we tried Pho Hiep Hoa, and while neither of us were hungry after we finished, we really can't say much about our lunch. We started with the garden rolls ($4.95). We ordered the veggie rolls which came with wrapped with tofu, veggies, greens, etc and were pretty good. It was served with peanut sauce and really anything served with that stuff cannot be all that bad. Let's admit it, the item we are dipping is essentially a delivery system to get the peanut sauce into our pie hole, i.e., summer rolls, old shoes, cardboard, c'mon, you dip anything in there and it ends up being pretty damn good.

Given it was like 99 degrees outside we didn't want something piping hot for lunch so we both ordered vermicelli noodles. We had one with shrimp and the other with tofu (although tofu is not on the menu they did make it for me - I liked that). What came to the table was pretty straightforward, vermicelli noodles with some veggies and bean sprouts and fish sauce on the side. However the shrimp served with the one dish were perhaps the worst I have ever tasted in my life. I am not sure what they did, or if maybe the shrimp was from like 1998, but man, it was not good. And I am not one to pass up on shrimpies, but these things were not acceptable at all!

I know, it does look pretty good, but trust me, it was not!!

Thankfully the kitchen was confused by my order and they ended up adding tofu to my dish and then cooking up another order for some reason. The waiter brought out the extra tofu and asked if we wanted it - on the house - so we said sure. I am glad we did since the shrimp were inedible.

I guess all in all this place is not the worst of the worst, but overall the setting is bland and sterile - I know, Ellsworth, I'm really telling you something you don't already know - and the food is completely uninspiring. And the prices were more than I thought they should be too. No lunch specials and most of the lunch dishes were about $9 and up. What about something for $6.99 that comes with a spring roll?

If you are jonesing for Vietnamese and can walk a bit, do yourself a favor and head south on Georgie to Lotus Cafe. While this is not fine dining, I am confident you will have a better meal and you'll be dining in a place with a little character. And the folks who run it are great too.

Now I will juxtapose our lunch with a great dinner at Thai Derm. Again, this place is not the be all and end all of Thai restaurants, but it is a wonderful place to have in the 'hood. They are consistent, the people are wonderful and the prices are good. And I must say it helps that I can walk there. But I for one would not be a happy camper if TD was not around.

And although the deep-fried whole fish (tilapia) is usually reserved on for Fridays, they served me up one tonight. Mmmm, it was yummy. And what a site it is. I mean, look at this thing.

If you are there on a Friday night (or perhaps a Thurs) I would recommend you try it.

OK, my next post will be focused on lobster as we head to paradise in the morning for some needed time off. Maine -- vacationland!

Can someone pass me the butter?

Life without electricity...

Really sucks! We are now pushing 72 hours with no power at our SoCo casa. Everything in the fridge is shot. But with the uncomfortable temperatures in the house, we cannot bring ourselves to do a fridge clean out. I imagine we'll do one later tonight to get all the rotten food out for trash pick up in the morning. I pray that this clean up happens with cold air blowing on me.

Feeding ourselves has certainly been a challenge. We actually had friends over Sunday evening, but things worked out on the grill. I had already made a nice cous cous salad (that luckily is served room temperature) and we combined that with some happy beef and pork sausages that were thrown on the grill with some lovely yellow squash from our neighbor's garden. And the beer stayed cool enough to keep everyone happy.

After that, things started to get dicey. We ate our remaining eggs and more sausage on Monday morning, but after that we had misgivings on what else to eat. To get some work done during the day we camped out at the bar at 8407 (which is where we did work on Tues, and where we are right now), but it's not the best place to actually be productive. But we were able to commandeer an electrical outlet all to ourselves, which is more than we could accomplish at Panera. That however is offset by a higher tab at 8407 than Panera. But extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. And Pedro, Nancy and staff have been extremely accommodating, so we very much appreciate that.

For dinner Monday we rolled the dice and cooked some ground pork we had in the freezer. Earlier in the day I threw an 8 pound bag of ice in the freezer so I figured that would help keep some of the items in decent shape for a few hours longer. It seemed to work OK. I did a nice dish using my peppers from the garden - stuffing them with the pork and onions (cooked on the gas stove). I gave it an Asian twist adding fish sauce, Asian spices and soy sauce to mixture. I then threw all that on the grill to cook and served it over some jasmine rice. All things considered I felt pretty good about the dinner. And eating it al fresco wasn't all that bad. We certainly didn't want to go back into the kitchen since it heated up even more with my cooking.

And as you know, we woke up Tuesday still with no power. Another restless night of sleep (or lack thereof) and another few hours at 8407. But our frustration, sleep deprivation and irritation levels were continuing to rise so our productivity certainly suffered.

The evening called for dulling our senses. So we hit Olazzo for their $5 martini night and dinner. Was nice just to chill in there for 2+ hours and try to regain some of our civility back. We milked the AC as long as we could and then took in a couple more hours of AC at the AFI - saw the Kids are All Right, good movie. And even though the temp outside was quite nice, inside the house upon our return was still uncomfortable.

Three nights straight without a good night's sleep. Not good for us. I know readers who have raised kids will have little sympathy for us on the lack of sleep, but this is something we were not used to.

Now, back at 8407 hoping that when we return home the gods from PEPCO will have finally smiled on us. Though I'm not holding my breath.

A Return to Pacci's and Ramen Redux

I know, my posts have been pretty infrequent lately. I'll blame my new job and their expectations that I actually do work. How dare they!

Anyway, I did want to jump back into the blogosphere but didn't really have a lot to say. I can however review a lunch last week at Pacci's and another LA ramen experience. I'll start with Pacci's.

It had been at least a couple months since we had eaten there. I think we did 3 visits in the first couple wks after they opened. We then tried to go back with a friend a few wks ago on a Friday night and could not bring ourselves to go in. You want to talk about crawling with kids. Wow! My single buddy trekking to SS from Adams Morgan was a bit aghast when he surveyed Pacci's. We agreed to come back another time.

So the missus and I walked up for a quick lunch last week to see how things were going. It was pretty quiet, just a few tables were full. Rosario, the pizzaiolo at the restaurant told us the lunch business had been a little slow. But we were definitely interested to see if they had worked out some of their initial kinks.

And granted I know this was not gonna be easy to tell over a lunch with just 2 people, but we still could get a general sense. Since it was working hours we passed on anything alcoholic and asked for tea -- but they only offered sweet tea. Where am I, McDonald's? At least the server pointed this out. He also said most folks are disappointed to hear they only serve sweet tea, so perhaps a non-sugar option will appear soon.

We shared a simple salad to start -- romaine, cherry tomatoes, olives, some fresh mozz, in oil and vinegar. Was good, not great. Perhaps the dressing could have been a bit more flavorful. But we came for the pizza, not the salad.

For our lunch we shared la verace -- tomato sauce, buffalo mozz, parmesan, basil, and extra virgin olive oil. While we both agreed the sauce was tasty, the pizza itself was a bit too limp for us. If you had picked it with one hand to try to eat, the tip of the slice would have been very droopy. You needed to use a knife and fork for the first bite and then hands-only would have been OK. I think next time we'll have to ask for it to be extra crispy. I've been making my own pies at home for a couple years now so we're certainly used to having a crispier dough.

I guess all in all it was a good experience, but it did not meet our expectations. But we'll be back to throw them some more business. However we'll definitely ask for our pies to be cooked a little longer than what they would normally do.

All right, on to ramen. So on the suggestion of Tina & Drew, a couple readers, I visited an LA ramen institution in Little Tokyo called Daikokuya a couple wks ago when I was out on the west coast for work. I had eaten at a well-known ramen place the week before, but Tina & Drew said I had to eat here. So I did.

Got to the restaurant after work, arriving about 8:00. I knew there would be a long wait so I was prepared with reading materials. After checking up some on the place on Yelp I knew to go in to write my name on the list. And while there were plenty of folks ahead of me, I thought, how long can it take to seat one person? Right?

Well, it can take almost an hour. It was a lively crowd of mostly young folks, mostly Japanese (descent at least) waiting to chow down. I seem to have been the only solo diner. Woe is me. Yes, was a long wait out there by myself. It was just before 9:00 when I got the OK to take a seat at the bar. Needless to say I was quite thirsty and famished. I quickly ordered a big Asahi and settled in to survey the menu.

I was told the tempura was a good way to start things and of course, I knew I was gonna have some ramen. There were other choices for dinner, but hey, if I'm waiting an hour because they have the best ramen in town - maybe the country - I am damn sure ordering ramen.

The service was friendly, but pretty no-nonsense. I got my beer fast and didn't have to wait long at all till one of the servers returned for my dinner order. I did try the tempura and also the Daikoku Ramen. The tempura was mix of shrimp and veggies. The batter was light, but not that flavorful. It came with a dipping sauce that also lacked any real character. It was a bit bland, so I added some Ichimi Togarashi -- Japanese red pepper -- to spice up the sauce a bit and it did help. But still, I was not wowed by the tempura.

My main course arrived and it was quite a dish. This pic really doesn't do it justice. It was a large bowl filled with lovely egg noodles, pork belly (yes, I cheated), bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, scallion and an egg. Of course it is surrounded by their special broth -- pork bones and joints that have been simmered to a wonderful concentration and then added to their special soy sauce. And yes, wow was the first word that came to my mouth when I tasted this broth. This was something special.

For a while I only sipped on the broth since it was so good. Then I finally got down to business and started slurping down the noodles - nicely cooked with a little bite, and then the veggies and pork. And to be honest, I could have done without the pork belly in the ramen. I know the broth is a pork broth, but I really didn't need the belly too. I would have been happy with some tofu thrown in there. And while I tried my best I could not finish all the broth. I did eat all the noodles, pork and veggies, but the broth was too much after starting with the tempura.

My final conclusion, while I really liked the Daikoku Ramen, I'm not sure how interested I'd be in waiting another hour - or longer - on a subsequent visit. One thing quite different than the ramen I ate the previous week was that this broth had no spiciness at all. I kinda missed that. I like my broth to have a good kick to it. At least for me, that is something I look for.

And while I probably won't have to get ramen my next trip out to LA, if I do start craving it, I'm likely to go back to Orochon Ramen where I can much more easily get a table and have my butt kicked with the spice. I know it's not right, but I like it when my nose runs when I eat ramen. What can I say?

Ramen!

All right, I'm not in the hood. The new job took me out to LA for the week so I thought I'd post a short report. Had my second meal of the week tonight in LT -- yes you're right, that's Little Tokyo. Even though I come from Italian and Mexican stock, Japanese food is way up there for me.

My first LT meal of the week was a bit disappointing, was good, not great. I had some izakaya at a place called Izayoi. Was a lot better the last time I was in town. Was gonna try another izakaya place tonight, but when I walked up the place was dead. So I thought, what are my options? I knew there would be ramen places nearby, so I pulled out my phone and surveyed the scene.

Lo and behold, what did I find -- Orochon Ramen! This place has a bit of a following since it is both really good, but it was also highlighted on a Travel Channel show called Man v. Food not that long ago. A main draw for the show was the Special 2 ramen.

This is an extremely spicy ramen. And I think if you actually finish an entire bowl you get some kind of special prize. I am not that loco, but I did want to push it a bit and I ordered Impact - Orochon 3. It would have been better if I didn't start with a couple small dishes -- the spicy scallops and the cucumber with miso -- but hey, I was hungry. Both dishes were good, but the ramen is very filling. Especially when all the broth is combined with a couple big Sapporo's.

You can choose from 3 styles, miso, soy sauce and salty. I chose miso.
I can't imagine what salty would have been like. I'm already gonna have to double up on my blood pressure medicine after that meal.

And all the prices are cheap, around $6 to $7. Same for the small plates; mine were less than $4 each. I also added tofu to the ramen ($2 extra), but it obviously comes with ramen noodles and veggies. I thought it also might come with pork - since the menu said that - but mine didn't. Just as well since I know it was not happy pork.

Now doesn't that look good?

And the spice level didn't kill me. It was hot, but not so much it wasn't enjoyable, But for sure, as I made my way down to the bottom of the bowl it did get hotter - or liquid lava as my fellow ramen eater next to me called it.

And even though I tried my best, I could not get all the way to the bottom of the bowl. It was a bit of heaven and hell, agony and ecstasy. I was so full, but the ramen was so good. I didn't want to stop, but I had to. I did make it pretty far. I would highly recommend this place if you're out in LA for any reason. It's on the 3rd floor of a little mall called Sutton Court - has a lot of other restaurants - at the corner of 2nd Ave and San Pedro.

I wish I knew of a place in the metro area that did ramen like this. Given the low price of serving ramen, I bet it would do well. I read the other day in SS Singular that Langano is losing its lease. Is there any way a ramen place could take it over?? If so, I would be one happy man.

Two quick items of note

First off, some news outside the 'hood but still pretty close -- a very good vegetarian eatery in Langley Park, Udupi Palace has lost its lease and is shutting down. I believe this may be taking place at the end of the month. If you need a fix from Udupi you only have a couple weeks to get this done with a short drive, otherwise you'll have to haul yourself out to Chicagoland where they have two other locations. Or if you're just jonesing for Indian cuisine in general, you can always hit the vegetarian Woodlands or Udupi's sister restaurant, Tiffin, both located in Langley Park. And let's not forget Ghar-E-Kabab right here in SoCo.

Next, wanted to alert folks that Charlie Koiner, our local SS farmer is being showcased in a short film at Silverdocs this year. Charlie was actually on the front cover of the Montgomery Gazette today talking about his big screen debut. The short will air three times, the first one Tuesday night, June 22 at 9:00 pm outside at the Silver Plaza on Ellsworth. If you miss this one you can also catch it on either June 25 or 26.

Glad to see Charlie is gaining some notoriety, just hope it doesn't go to his head and he raises his prices. I just can't pay more than $1.50 for green onions. OK, see you there.

Taking one for the team - my lunch at FS1

Well, that sums it up pretty good. And I know I am not alone in thinking this given all the chatter about Fire Station 1 on ThayerAve.com.

I concur with many people who are seriously disappointed about our new addition to the neighborhood. Some of it is forgivable -- waiters who seem unclear on beer/food, the service perhaps being a little slow, and the kitchen not getting things quite right yet. But others are not in my book. First, FS1 still calls itself a brewing company when it is not brewing anything, and worse than that, a lot of what they are serving is some of the most generic beer around. Here's what was being offered today in bottle: Coors, Miller, Bud, Michelob, Heineken, and Corona. They also had Newcastle Brown Ale, but I don't find that very interesting anymore. As one might expect they did have H&L to offer too, but that along doesn't cut it for me. The taps were not that different -- Bud, Stella, Yuengling, and then two H&L varieties. My assessment of the beer selection: boring!!

My hope was that at least I'd have good beer to drink since I was not expecting great food, but now we have the mix of average food and boring beer. As people have already complained the menu is generic and very uninspiring. I know this place is not a chain, but man, it really does feel like it. What else can you say about chicken wings, queso sticks, wraps, pizza, burgers and sandwiches.

These dishes could be somewhat interesting if done right, but it appears FS1 is trying not to offend anyone with its dishes. I'm guessing these meals would fit in without anyone blinking their eyes at Ruby Tuesdays or TGIF. It's like they had a formula and they followed it without letting any creativity get in the way. This restaurant is a business plain and simple. To me it primary mission is to make money, not serve good food or provide good brews.

While food-wise I can only comment on my lunch and it was mediocre at best. A Caesar salad and a fried mahi-mahi wrap. The salad was fine, but not worth $7.99. The wrap was pretty much tasteless - not sure where the cajun aioli was or the pico de gallo. In addition, the tortilla which wrapped the sandwich was not that hot - even cold in some places. And check out the McCormick salt and pepper. Wow, this places takes their food serious!! Also my pint of Sam Adams was $5.50, a little too steep in my opinion. I could see $5.00, but would prefer $4.50. It is only Sam Adams. To accompany my beer I had a glass of soda water -- $2.39! Not acceptable for carbonated water.

The office worker who was sitting next to me asked how my wrap was and I told him. I think I convinced him to get something else, but he never had the chance since no one wanted to take his order. He waited patiently and then finally left. I bet he ate better elsewhere. Maybe he got a gyro!

Not sure what else to say about the place. I do not expect to be back unless the place gets a serious makeover. I typically grade on a sometimes pretty easy curve when restaurants are walking distance to my house, but this place still gets a failing grade.

And for those interested in the World Cup, FS1 does have 4 big TVs behind the bar, but not surprisingly the bartenders did not know if the games would be televised. Even if they are, I bet the muzak will not go away, so no volume on the games. Just head a block north on the Avenue to Olazzo. They already have their World schedule out on the street.

All right, I need a $1.25 pupusa to make things right again.

Hay pupusas en el barrio! Ole!

After a prolonged hiatus I am back. Had a good trip - spent part of it in Spain and will blog about that later - but am glad to be back in the hood. Even though I write this email from the west coast (another work trip).

Looks like I missed a lot in my absence -- the Nicaro fire, wonder what's going on there? Also a lot of pollo news with Nando's on the way and Mr. Chicken planning to roost right next to Velatis on Georgia Ave. We also have FS1 getting pretty close to throwing its doors open to serve us beer and some grub. Certainly a lot of chatter on this place. Will anyone go once they do open? People seem to have already formed serious opinions even before they've had a sip of beer or a bite of a burger. While my hopes are not sky high, I will certainly give them the benefit of the doubt and give them a try to see what they have to offer. Hope I can do that this weekend.

But in other SS food news, wanted to let folks know that Charlie Koiner's downtown farm has plenty to offer at always good prices. If you don't know Charlie, his little farm is at the corner of Easley St and Grove St -- just one block east of Fenton. While my pic of his signage to alert folks what he's offering at the moment leaves a bit to be desired, I will tell you he has kale, spring onions, lettuce, bok choy and if you get lucky - strawberries! While walking the dogs the other night we happen to notice Charlie had strawberries for sale ($5 per quart) so we high-tailed it over there and picked some up. Talk about sweet and good. Topped them with a little whip cream and it was an excellent dessert. Hope you can tell how good they look.

And since I haven't mentioned anything as it concerns pupusas, I did want to make sure you all were aware about the pupusa truck we now have in the hood. It is called El Salvadorena Pupusa. They have set up shop in the county parking lot right across from SS Towers in between Easley and Bonifant.

I will say the ladies who run this truck are not at this location all the time. We tried to get a handle on their hours and thought we were told they are there - todos los dias - from about noon to ten. But we've walked by a couple times this week during those hours and no truck. So, not really sure what to tell you. But if you're in the hood in the evening and can easily walk by, or swing by in the car, it is worth it if you'd like a good -- and inexpensive -- pupusa or tamale. And also don't mind eating in the parking lot or your car (aqui), or maybe taking it home if you live close by (para llevar).

Our first trip landed us one cheese pupusa and four bean tamales. All good. I have not often seen bean tamales and these were very tasty. Also, the cheese pupusa was not greasy at all. The items were served with some nice salsa and latin slaw. All this came to $6.50. Can you believe it? I wasn't planning on having this for dinner that night, but hey, you can't argue with good Salvadoran food. And for those looking for beef, chicken or tongue, they had that too. Hope you can find them and throw them a little business. Just be aware, little to no English is spoken. But food speaks for itself, right?

OK, that's all I have for now. Will be back soon with a review of Jackie's and her new chef. Maybe see you at FS1 this weekend!