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?