SoCo Eats

Breakfast, Coffee and Italian

2012-01-23T18:34:00.007-05:00

"Good food coming soon." OK, there is your update on Fresh Start. I walked by this morning and they had an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper in the window telling the neighborhood what's to come. We'll see what kind of time line they are on. Not much has changed in the place in the 2 1/2 weeks since we've returned. But I will keep my eyes on them.

Coffee. Before I left at the end of June, I predicted Zed's Cafe would be no more on my return. Well, they are still around. Passed by them on my morning dog walk too, but no customers were in the place. I assume at some point in the day they do have customers, but I have yet to see that for myself. I typically walk by early or late, and so they are just opening or are closed. The place is fully of comfy chairs and looks inviting, so who knows. Long live Zed's.

Finally - Italian. I have lived in this neighborhood almost nine years now, and I can't tell you the last time I ventured over to the Blair shopping center. When we previously lived a bit north of here (near the YMCA off Colesville), we were at Blair fairly often. I remember many annoyed experiences at what I called the Geriatric Giant - not sure if that still applies however.

Anyway, the missus and I walked over and literally crossed the tracks to Blair the other day for a meal at Mama Lucia. I was a bit hesitant, but the friends we met wanted some place 'kid friendly.' As a non-procreator and food lover, this made me a shudder a bit. But, we didn't want to be complete food snobs. I do love almost all Italian food.

As we entered, it was clear Mama Lucia was kid-friendly (and very well lit too). Now I won't say the food my food was lousy, but I can't say it was any more than mediocre, that is for sure. I could have given my simple dish of penne in arrabbiata sauce a little more than mediocre if perhaps it had some heat to it (I mean the dish is supposed to be spicy, that is why I ordered it), but at $13.50, I just cannot do it.

They advertise they use De Cecco pasta - which by the way they also sell in dry form at Mama Lucia and promote it as 'Imported Italian Pasta'! That seemed kinda odd to me, since it's sold in pretty much every grocery store. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against De Cecco pasta, I buy it too. However my problem lies in the fact that the dish contains a pretty inexpensive dry pasta and a very simple tomato sauce - no meat, no seafood, no cheese - and the price of the dish doesn't seem to fit. Yes, I was disappointed.

The missus did find her eggplant parmigiana pleasant enough. And I admit, I had some of her leftovers the next day and reheated, it was OK. But our starter of fried calamari was some of the worst I have ever eaten. I don't know if the squid had been sitting in the freezer too long or fried too long or what, but it had so little taste. Even when dunked in the marinara sauce, the taste was still MIA. And again, $12.50 for not such a big plate of not-fresh squid, breaded and fried. In my mind, this was a $9.95 dish at most!

We did appreciate a salad that accompanies each entree, but beyond that, the best apart about the meal was certainly the company. In my opinion, I would choose Olazzo over Mama Lucia any day of the week. The prices are competitive, salad comes with each entree, and they both serve traditional Italian-American dishes. But for me, the atmosphere, quality and service at Olazzo trumps Mama Lucia by a decent margin.

One final update - the covering is off the windows at Society Lounge. It looks like it's almost ready to open. And maybe it is open already? Looking at their web site, it has their hours, menu and a link to reserve. Anyone have any news on this??

Back in the 'hood

2012-01-08T14:14:00.009-05:00

Hey, hey, hey. Happy new year. SoCo blogboy is back in town and ready to eat. The missus and I got back late on Friday and for lunch on Saturday we hit the SS restaurant where we first at back in the mid-1990s. It was called Kim Than then and it is now known as Lotus Cafe. And they did not disappoint.

But before I talk about the lunch, I did want to mention a couple changes I noticed after being in Maine for the last 6 months. First off, Fresh Starts is no more. What happened? I don't see anything about it closing on-line. But when I walked the dogs by there about 8am on Saturday morning, the doors were closed and all the old timers were nowhere to be seen. Kinda sad. While I was not a customer of Fresh Starts, I was glad they were still around. But I'll keep my fingers crossed that a new restaurant will take over and not another braiding establishment!

Another item also caught my eye right across the street from Fresh Starts in the County parking lot. It was a food truck called Krazy Klaws. It claims to sell lobster, crab and shrimp. Their Facebook page says they have the "best" seafood on the east coast! Their web site says they are, "proudly to serve executive lunches starting at $6.00." Hmmm? I think a web site editor may be in need. Also, as a non-executive might they still serve me an executive lunch? I will have to inquire. Has anyone tried them out? They are selling Maine lobster rolls and shrimp rolls too. They better bring their 'A' game if they want to impress this lobster aficionado. I certainly ate my fair share of lobsters over the last few months, so let's see what they got.

Now back to Lotus. We didn't recognize any of the staff from our last visit in June. I assume since it was early on Saturday, maybe the regular servers were not working till the evening. However, the food was very familiar. We started with some veggie spring rolls. Crispy, not too greasy and quite tasty. What a deal for $3.00.

And as you can see I had a Fischer to accompany the meal. Yummy. For our lunches, the missus order the vermicelli salad with fried tofu and I had the soft egg noodles with bean curd and peanut. The preparation was a bit different than I remember. I never recalled in the past that string beans were an ingredient. But that's OK, it was still quite good. The vermicelli salad was also a winner, with the missus saying it was the best one she'd had in a long time.

It's a little odd, even though we did not eat meat or poultry for almost 20 years, now that since we're fully back on the carnivorous diet (as long as the animal was humanely raised) we rarely eat a vegetarian meal out. The meal may not always include meat or poultry, but if it doesn't then there's probably some kind of fish in the mix. But we have no problem at all skipping meat at Lotus or many other Asian establishments. Tofu fills the void quite well, especially if it's been deep fried.

I think this was our first Vietnamese meal in over six months and it definitely hit the spot! Now, what's next??

On hiatus for the rest of the year

2011-06-28T11:33:00.002-04:00

Sad news to report, SoCo Eats will be off the air (do people still say that?) until 2012.

My wife and I are taking advantage of an opportunity to move to mid-coast Maine for 6 months and we are taking off as of this Thursday. We are very excited. We will try to merge our real jobs with hosting friends and family who will no doubt be crashing at our place over the summer (and probably fall too) and also our new underground supper club gig (Dining on the Rocks Georgetown).

DOTR is now live with its own web site (I know, how passé) at Dining on the Rocks Georgetown.com, and we are also venturing into Twitter, our 'handle' is @DOTRGtown and Facebook (you can search for 'Dining on the Rocks Georgetown').

I'm sure for all your local restaurant/food news Sligo and Thayer will keep you well informed.

I wish you all a good rest of the year and if you happen to be near Bath, Maine over the next few months and are interested in a home-cooked meal (that would likely include lobster in some form or another), give me a shout.

Thai Charm(ed) me, plus other news

2011-06-24T07:46:00.010-04:00

The missus and I finally got over to our new Thai establishment last week, Thai Charm, and we were both very happy with our experience. And I will tell you, if you don't know already, I am a Dedicated fan of Thai Derm. So I am not saying I am changing my allegiance, but I will say, I plan to be back to Thai Charm.

Now at least as it compares to Thai Derm, Thai Charm obviously has a newer look, certainly more modern, and I'm guessing in the evening (we went at lunch), probably more atmosphere than TD. I know some of my friends complain TD is a bit of a dive, and while I won't argue too much, TC definitely cannot be lumped into that camp. I see it as a frequent lunch spot for folks doing a business lunch in downtown. Anyway, onto the food.

While it was only lunch, we did want to start with a couple apps so we could sample more -- and we were starving! We ordered the garden rolls served with plum sauce and the curry puffs. Both winners in my book. The garden rolls were like you might find at many places, but they were fresh and tasty and the plum sauce was not overly sweet. The curry puffs we had not tried before. I would compare them to a veggie samosa on the inside, but the outside was flaky and buttery puff pastry. They were accompanied by a relish sauce. I recommend them.

And for those who like it spicy, make sure you ask for the spice tray. I certainly did and it added a good kick to both of the apps. I will also say TC has lunch specials too, $7.95. But if you want a spring roll or soup and a drink with it, they charge $3 extra. It's really not much cheaper than just ordering a standard lunch and a roll/soup. Maybe my only complaint of the meal.

For our lunches we did green curry and the mai pha. The curry was tasty and filled with peppers, eggplant, bamboo shoots, etc. They give you a nice amount. As expected this is a mild dish, but the curry sauce does have a rich flavor. The mai pha was a noodle dish, cellophane noodles with egg, celery, carrots and spring onions. And for my meat I added fried tofu. That's kind of like meat, isn't it?

I was very pleased with this dish. Again, a nice serving size (especially for lunch) and the noodles were well cooked; the dish was a hit. And since I still had the spice tray I definitely increased the heat.

I heartily recommend TC. I very much expect it to have a longer lifespan than old Mr. Chicken.

After lunch we walked over to our latest cafe, Zed's. Now I can't say I really expect Zed's to be a longtime fixture in the hood. The owner, Zed, has said he wants folks to see his place as one big living room and to hang out. That's all well and good, but don't they need to spend money too. I assume he has rent and other bills to pay. I am just not sure he's going to sell enough coffee drinks to keep things going. And by the looks of the food in the fridge, I'm thinking folks will grab a sandwich elsewhere.

But hey, I'd like to be proven wrong and see Zed succeed. He did seem like a very nice fellow -- just one who may not have the best business plan around.

My final thoughts take me north of Colesville, yes, NoCo. I heard from a commenter on the blog here that Ren's Ramen, formerly of Bethesda had recently re-opened in Wheaton. Once I heard that I made my plans to head over for a lunch. And I am glad I did.

The place is pretty small, 8 tables and about 6 seats a the window. They don't serve alcohol at this point and the menu is limited. But if you want ramen and don't want to head over to NE, check out Ren's. The broth in my ramen was great. I got the Sapporo style with the miso and pork broth ($10), but opted not to get any ground pork or pork roast with the ramen, only veggies. They have about three other options available and a veggie option too if you want to avoid the pork broth.

And man, it was tasty. The noodles were perfectly cooked. I would call them toothsome. And again the broth was fab. It wasn't too salty as some Yelpers have complained, but it could have been much spicier. However, they did have some Japanese pepper on the table so that helped.

There were plenty of veg in the dish and a little bit of seaweed too. I would have liked more of that. And I guess if I had forked over an additional $0.75 I could have had more seaweed. But in the end I really didn't need it.

One thing to note, Ren's is a cash only place. That could change, but if you head over anytime soon, hit the ATM if you need to. You won't regret your trip. It is oishi!

Fire at Big Greek Cafe

2011-06-15T07:42:00.002-04:00

Just a quick note here. I walked by the original and famous Big Greek Cafe this morning and noticed a sign on the door stating they would be temporarily closed. It appears a small fire broke out the other day and so no gyros for you.

I don't have anything else to report except that they hope to re-open on Thursday (6/16). If you're planning to head over for some grub I would definitely give a call beforehand. But I guess you could always head over to the Greek Place for your fix. Just don't tell the guys at the BGC you betrayed them.

Review: Taste of Fenton Village

2011-05-18T16:53:00.013-04:00

I hope you had the opportunity on Sunday to participate in our first local "Taste" event. I want to congratulate the organizers for pulling off a fun event and coordinating with Mother Nature to keep the rain away for the afternoon.

Almost all the restaurants in the hood were part of the event. The map stretched south to Lotus Cafe, north to Ghar-e-Kabab, east to Fenton Cafe and west to Piratz. In all, about 2 dozen establishments were part of the mix - so folks had a good variety of food from which to choose.

We picked up our "passport" at the County parking lot between Thayer and SS Avenues about 2:30 leaving us plenty of time to roam the hood. We were told that each participating restaurant would be offering a special for the afternoon ranging in price from $2 to $5. We then headed over to Jackie's to start our taste.

Well, I guess the one good thing I can say about starting at Jackie's was the afternoon had nowhere to go but up. I will say Jackie's should be ashamed of itself for what they offered.

I mean look at what they offered for $5! And let me tell you, this was the better deal than simply getting the crostini plate (all 2 of them)!! Don't get me wrong, the crostini were tasty -- pictured above the hummus and cucumber, not pictured the smoked piquillo pepper, cheddar and chive. But the choices were either 2 crostini or one plus a mango-basil limeade. Two slices of a baguette topped with a small amount of spread and veggies for $5. I mean give me a break. At most, this should have been $3 and given that I assume Jackie's was trying to build goodwill by participating in the Taste, how about $2?

I'm sure many folks did like my buddy and me and ordered full-price beers to accompany the crostini. So it's not like Jackie's was going to take a big hit on this. I'm not sure if I'll ever be ready to step foot back into that restaurant after this episode. I'm just glad I wasn't that big of fan to start. Again, shameful!

OK, another good thing I can say about starting at Jackie's was we still had a big appetite afterward in order to try other participating restaurants. Next up -- Pacci's. I don't have to say too much about what was being offered here, pizza! Pacci's gave folks the choice of either a personal (8") margherita pizza or spicy salami. We ordered two margherita and one salami for the three of us - and two beers.

Check these pies out - very tasty. We were all pleased. I mean this is what I am talking about. Thanks Spiro! The one bad thing was, we lost a fair amount of our appetites after we chowed down. But I am OK with that. One last thing, by the time we left there was a decent line of eaters taking advantage of this deal - as well they should have.

We bypassed Fire Station 1 after Pacci's - no time for their food today (or really any day in my book) and then checked out the Big Greek Cafe. They were offering $5 gyros and $3 Greek Salads (all day too, not just 2-5:00). But alas we needed a short break. I also did pop into Olazzo too -- you could get 3 arincini (deep-fried risotto balls, yummy) or 2 meatball sliders. Sound like good options to me. But again, we needed to keep walking to build back some appetite.

As we approached Bonifant our friend voiced an interest into heading down to Roger Miller. OK, why not. We hadn't been there since they had re-opened and thought this was as good as time as any to try them again. And we all were glad we did. There were a few folks in line in front of us. RM was offering a sampler plate for $5. It included broiled chicken, plantains, rice and some kind of fab spinach dish. It was all really good (we shared one plate between the three of us) and we all agreed the spinach was the best. I asked about it and they were kinda secretive. One lady opened the menu and pointed to the Egussi stew. She told me the spinach comes with it. The description said spinach, ground melon seeds in an African sauce. I think I'll be back for that one. We all sat on their patio and thoroughly enjoyed the food.

And since we were right next to may fave, Thai Derm, we had to pop in there too. As soon as I stepped in, the owner graciously shook my hand and said, "you know what we have." Yes I do. I would guess I have eaten at TD about 100 times over the last few years. But we opted not to eat and just ordered a couple Singha (and magically some spring rolls appeared before us too). For the Taste, TD was offering spring rolls and your choice of chicken panang, veggie pad Thai, and chicken with basil. Nice.

We were about to call it an afternoon but mustered up enough energy to walk over to Ghar-e-Kabab. They also had a sampler plate going for the event (for $4). They were offering veggie pakoras, basmati rice, butter chicken and something called rajan (spicy red kidney beans in sauce). Good deal for $4! And each dish was well done.

After that we were through. Well we did try to get a sweet crepe to finish things off. But Fenton Cafe was very low on batter and told us it would be about 30 minutes. So we passed. Maybe we'll hit them up for breakfast tomorrow?

What an afternoon. It kinda felt like we tasted the world all in Fenton Village. What a concept. Can't wait till next year.

Reminder and updates

2011-05-11T08:05:00.006-04:00

I'll make the reminder quick -- this Sunday (2:00-5:00) in downtown, Taste of Fenton Village. I know it's all over the local blogs but wanted to make sure you didn't forget. Let's hope the weather cooperates. But rain is in the forecast, so make sure to bring your brolly.

On the updates, if you missed the news on Thayer Ave, Highland Market has now opened up their 'restaurant.'

As you can see, they have fancied up the place some with tablecloths and everything, but other than that, it does look pretty much the same. I know they do now have an expanded menu, but aesthectically it doesn't appear too much has changed. I will say they have a roped off section on the sidewalk now for al fresco dining.

We also have another Ethiopian food option coming in the form of a market. The new place is to be called Arat Kilo Market and it is taking over for the old Siembra First/Forever Frugal location behind Alliance Comics on Easley.

I can't say that I ever saw the doors open for either one of these establishments. But even though I am not thrilled with the entry of another Ethiopian food establishment, I do wish them better luck than the previous tenants.

And at least to me, we may be reaching the threshold soon to be called Little Ethiopia. I mean, how much more will it take? We have several restaurants and now multiple markets in about a one-square mile area from around Colesville to the DC line. I guess we'll know we've made it when the neighborhood produces a world-class middle/long-distance runner.

On to a couple other items. In the old Sage Collection clothing shop (8225 Georgia), right next to the Big Greek Cafe, a new and kinda odd cafe is on the way. The photocopied sign in the window says, "One big living room." What in the hell does that mean? The place could be close to opening. It doesn't appear much more than a coffee shop with a few tables. I would have rather seen the Greeks take it over personally.

And finally, I hope you're not holding your breath for the new establishment taking over for Nicaro/Newcaro. Because that place has been pretty much gutted. I always thought the interior of the place was fine. But I guess the new owner wants to start from scratch. He must be sinking some decent money into the place. Let's see how it turns out.

OK, see you Sunday. I'll be the one with a gyro in one hand, a papadam in the other and some curried vegetables in my mouth. And let's not forget, some Alka-Seltzer in my back pocket.

Taste the World in Fenton Village

2011-04-21T08:29:00.005-04:00

OK folks, save the date -- Sunday May 15, 2011. During the afternoon of the 15th (2-5pm), I hope you can make time to join the event.

As you probably know, SS has been well behind the curve on the "Taste of..." events in the area. Well the times are changing. Thanks to some of our hard-charging neighbors next month we will have our own event. It won't be for all of SS, our geographic area is way too big, so the focus will be on our own little Fenton Village. Sweet!

If you don't know, FV is generally considered to be the area between Wayne Ave, Fenton, Burlington Ave (to the south) and Georgia Ave (to the north). All restaurants in this area were invited to participate in the event. And from the list of those that have accepted, there will be quite a variety of food to sample. Here are some you can expect to see:

Bombay Gaylord
Fenton Cafe (new kid on the block -- crepes!)
Jackies
Original Big Greek Cafe (and the copycat too)
Thai Derm (one of my faves)
Pacci's Pizzeria
Piratz Tavern
Vicino
Lotus Cafe (AKA Kim Than for you old timers)
Odalis Cafe (who are they??)
Society (not open yet in the old Nicaro spot, so we'll see what to expect from them)

Here's the deal, each restaurant is encouraged to offer several apps or small plates. Event attendees will be encouraged to move from restaurant to restaurant (a movable feast!). As encouragement, each participant will obtain a 'passport' to be stamped at each restaurant.

From what I can tell (but need to find out for sure), these small plates may run from free to $5 a pop. There will also be street vendors, a concert at the end and other non food-related businesses in the 'hood participating.

The event is sponsored by the SS Citizens Advisory Board and Downtown SS.

So let's hope for good weather and a good crowd to sample and support our local restaurateurs. I for one am looking forward to the event.

Fenton Cafe, aka crepe central

2011-04-06T10:07:00.007-04:00

OK, Fenton Cafe (8311 Fenton St) is now open. And fair warning, if you are not a fan of crepes, stay away. Because all they do are crepes!

But if you do like crepes, please head over -- because they are good. If you are not familiar with crepes, they are very popular across the pond in France. It's essentially a very thin pancake made from wheat flour and it can be filled with either something savory or sweet. They have both of these types at Fenton Cafe.

Now another fair warning, they have just opened and are going through some growing pains. The service was quite slow this morning. Even though they opened at 8:00am, when we went a bit past 9:00am the crepe makers were still not warmed up. So we had to sit a bit until the crepe makers were ready to do.

And I'm not sure why, but even though they have 2 crepe makers, only one was used for our crepes. So my wife was served hers first and then they did mine. So she was already finished by the time mine arrived.

But I am happy to say both crepes were tasty. She had the ricotta and jam crepe for $4.95 and I tried a savory one -- cheese, avocado and tomato -- for $5.95. We were very happy with both of them and I will say mine was very filling. This could definitely do for a lunch. It was really too much for a weekday breakfast, but I did wolf it all down.

The crepes run in prices from just under $4 to $8.50, with most in the $5-$6 range. The savory crepes include chicken, turkey, cheese, ham, feta/spinach, eggplant/veggies, spinach, tuna and several combinations in between. There are 31 varieties of the sweet with several nutella choices, jam, lemon, maple syrup, and a few fruit types.

The cafe serves coffee, espresso, bottled water, soft drinks and Red Bull. If you want real milk/cream for your coffee you'll probably need to request it since the only stuff out is of the non-dairy variety.

There are 3 tables and 5 bar stools for eating in and it is a decent and cozy setting. We will definitely be back and since they're the only place that I know of in the 'hood doing crepes, I'm guessing as long as the service improves, they'll do OK.

I'll see you there!

An opening and closing

2011-03-25T13:46:00.004-04:00

Although not in SoCo, you probably already heard that the General Store and Post Office closed its doors this week.

Management said, "the landlord has not paid his back taxes and the county is taking back the building." However, a commenter on SS Singular alerted us to the landlord's version of the story.

The Washington Post spoke to the landlord, Spiro Gioldasis, who is also the GM at Mrs. K's Tollhouse and runs Pacci's Pizzeria in our neighborhood. Spiro admits he is behind on his taxes, but only because Gillian Clark and Robin Smith, the proprietors of the General Store were woefully behind on their rent.

Clark claims Spiro is a bully and uses the courts to get his way. It looks like here he is getting his way. A judge this week found Clark and Smith are on the hook for $160k. They'll have to sell a lot of meals to pull that money together.

Clark and Smith are not immune to disputes and bad press that's for sure. And while never dealing with Spiro in a formal manner, he does seem a decent guy who's simply trying to collect the rent he is owed.

For the opening, we're getting a new addition to Fenton Village. A place called the Fenton Cafe is on the way. It will be located at 8311 Fenton on the east side of the street between Thayer and Easley (right next to Alliance Comics).

Looks like it will be quite a modest place (maybe competition for Fresh Start). Peering through the window, it appears as though they'll have just a few small tables and a counter to order coffee, espresso, sandwiches and maybe other small items. I wouldn't be surprised to see them opening very soon.

I wish them the best and am glad to see a new cafe in the 'hood as opposed to another braiding shop.

Societal Fezzing

2011-03-21T15:17:00.011-04:00

Doesn't make sense, I know. I was just trying to capture the essence of the 2 restaurants coming to the 'hood.

But don't get too excited; it doesn't appear either will be opening tonight or tomorrow. By the looks of it, I'm guessing Fez Bistro should get their act in gear sooner than Society.

I walked by both today to get a look-see of what was going on. First, the doors were propped open at Society (taking over the old Nicaro and Newcaro spot) and several work men were inside, as you might expect, working! My excellent investigative effort shows a restaurant going through some serious renovations. There were workers both on the bar and restaurant side.

But from the looks of the menu at Island Flavors, the existing restaurant of the entrepreneur opening Society, I have to say I am not terribly excited about it. To someone like me who is not that familiar with Caribbean food, it looks quite similar to the Negril menu. I assume this place will be a couple steps up from Negril, I mean it is a nice space. I guess we'll just have to wait and see if they serve more than curries, roti, plantains, etc.

Across Thayer at Fez (taking over most of what was Langano - although Langano Express is housed right next door - side note, there will be some interesting aromas here), I saw no work going on; but from glancing inside it looked quite closer to being ready for prime time. The place needs much less work than Society and some furniture is already in place. I could see it potentially being open in the next couple weeks.

I guess in the end, I'm a little more excited for Fez. Perusing the menu from their NoVa outpost, they do offer some interesting sounding Moroccan dishes -- various types of cous cous, shawarma, kabobs, seafood, and veggie dishes.

And I still need to get over to Skew Works too (the new Asian fusion fast casual restaurant at the bottom of the Crescent building). And do me a favor, check out their web site - not really sure what to make of it. Anyway, they opened I believe the 1st week of March, but I haven't tried it yet. I want to do a comparison/contrast between Skewers and Thai Market. I'm betting TM is more down-market than Skewers, but at the end of the day, it's essentially pan-Asian fare.

So far on Yelp, SW has a 3, 4 and 5-star rating. Pretty mixed bag so far. But as always, I will be the ultimate judge!

Dining Under the Table

2011-03-10T08:26:00.003-05:00

I know many of you have heard about our local underground dining scene via Thayer Ave.com. And I was going to stay out of the fray since I have a hand in the venture (actually two hands), but now I'll come clean.

Our supper club, called Dining Under the Table, is run by a small group of cooking (and eating) enthusiasts. The meals are held about once a month or so in downtown Silver Spring, with a focus on local fare and a heavy Mediterranean influence. And all the meat, whether beef, fish, fowl, pork, etc., that is served during the meal are sustainable and have been raised in a humane fashion.

I figured I'd come forward with this right now since we just launched the web site and have actually started taking reservations. We had our first hit last week.

While we can seat six comfortably, and I guess up to eight, our first reservation was only for two people. So we're looking to see if others are interested. The meal will be Sunday evening March 27. The menu has yet to be set so I can't mention anything about that at the moment.

But you can peruse the web site to check out some of the previous items we have served and the suggested donation for dining with us. But you can expect at least a four-course meal with definitely some home-made items included on the menu.

We'd be happy to answer any questions folks might have. OK, I guess that's it for now. Thanks.

Fat Tuesday

2011-03-07T15:07:00.002-05:00

For those interested, just wanted to pass along news that Jackie's is featuring a special Fat Tuesday menu tomorrow with special drinks and dishes. So if you want to take advantage and celebrate before the Lenten season begins, here's your chance.

And wear a Mardi Gras mask and get a free drink. That's not an official Jackie's offer, but if you do it, just go in and demand it. Tell them SoCo says you deserve it.

Starters

Wedge salad with bleu cheese dressing
Louisiana oysters with classic mignonette
Chickpea crusted crab fritters and thousand island remoulade
Frog's legs Rockefeller with bacon & spinach

FAT Entrees

Vegetarian jambalaya with saffron
Fried catfish, lemon aioli and old bay chips
Shrimp and grits with green onions
Chicken ‘n’ crawfish gumbo with okra over rice
Pork and red beans
Creole sausage, marinated peppers and dirty rice
Steak and béarnaise with roasted potatoes and vegetables

Sweets

King cake

Cocktails

Sazerac-rittenhouse rye bottled in bond, mata hari absinthe, peychaud's & angostura bitters, sugar
de la Louisiane-rittenhouse rye bottled in bond, mata hari absinthe, dolin rouge, benedictine, peychaud's & angostura bitters
Vieux Carre-rittenhouse rye bottled in bond, st. remy vsop, dolin rouge, benedictine, peychaud's & angostura bitters
Absinthe Suissesse-mata hari absinthe, orgeat, orange flower water, heavy cream, egg white
Crusta-st. remy vsop, luxardo maraschino, cointreau, fresh squeezed lemon juice, angostura bitters
Hurricane-flor de cana 7 year old, house passion fruit syrup, fresh squeezed lemon juice

Silver Spring - shut out again

2011-02-20T16:24:00.006-05:00

Well, the James Beard Foundation award semi-finalists were announced, and lo and behold, SS was shut down. Maryland really didn't even get much love except for Charleston in Baltimore. DC did get some love as did a few places in NoVa - but not us.

I'm not surprised, but was hopeful that maybe Pedro at 8407 would have been a semi-finalist for rising star chef of the year or maybe in the mid-Atlantic category, but it was not meant to be. I did not think the burly Greek guys serving up falafel and gyros up on the Avenue would make the cut or even the little old Thai ladies at Thai Derm. But maybe next year.

In other local news, I'm sure everyone has already heard that Langano is on its way out and Fez Bistro, otherwise known as Taste of Morocco, is moving over from City Place to takes its place. Never did try ToM, but I do have to say I'm interested to see what Fez Bistro will have of offer. Their menu from their Arlington location looks intriguing, but certainly doesn't bowl me over. A lot of offerings for groups. But I do plan to eat there more than I did at Langano - which was never. I only went in once when I mistakenly went there to pick up my take out from Bombay Gaylord. Didn't take me long to figure out I was one block off.

And with Cake Love moving from its current location to 8512 Fenton, taking over for the Fractured Prune, we'll have another sweet from which to choose via FroZen Yo. Not sure exactly when we'll be getting the self-serve yogurt, but Cake Love is planning to throw open its Fenton St doors in early March.

Finally, in the bottom of the Crescent condo bldg on Wayne, we have a new Asian restaurant for the hood. It is called Skew Works. According to the web site TBD.com, the owner of the restaurant says they'll serve, "rice, noodles, and of course there's a big skewer out there, so there's going to be lots of skewers. Different types of meat, chicken, fruits, vegetables. It's going to be fun." OK, I'm kinda interested in skewers; let's see what they have to offer. Could be opening soon.

No power, well then it's time to eat out--Jackie's

2011-02-01T09:08:00.011-05:00

I was already starting make dinner last Wednesday when the heavy snow falling altered my plans. I actually kept at it with candlelight since we have a gas oven and stove top, but it got to be too much. I covered the prep work I had completed, threw it in the fridge for another night and we headed out into the 'hood to see what we could find.

I first called Olazzo, no answer and also tried 8407 before we left the house. Again, no answer. While disappointed, I appreciated the break the restaurant gave to their staff. I'm sure driving home after a very slow night would have been a mess (not even mentioning getting to work).

We headed up Bonifant and saw our old stand-by Thai Derm had its lights out and the same for Mandalay. While we were about to turn around and settle for Baja Fresh, we passed some of our neighbors who just finished a meal at Jackie's. They said the restaurant was planning to serve for another hour and than they were doing a deal, $25 for an entree and either salad or starter. OK, that made up our minds (thanks Lane and Steph).

We trudged over in the snow and the restaurant had a small, but lively crowd. We were informed of the special and also saw that several bottles of wine on their list were going for half price. OK, this is nice. While we would end up spending a lot more than say Baja Fresh, this would be all right since we'd get a very nice meal, wine and fodder for a new blog post. We had visited Jackie's right after their new chef took over and I wanted another visit before I did my 'review.'

We scanned the wine list and the waiter recommended a nice pinot noir that was going for 50% off. It was a 2008 pinot from Oregon called A to Z. The waiter claimed it had good structure. Can't really say exactly what that means, but it did have a nice bouquet and we liked it a lot. We wouldn't have ordered it at full price, but certainly glad we did at half price.

We then made our choices for the $25 special. My wife started with some lightly fried cauliflower with a romesco sauce and I tried the charred octopus.

Before the apps arrived a basked of bread was brought to the table. While the butter was tasty and easily spreadable (hate it when the butter is essentially a frozen block), the bread was completely lackluster. No real body, no real flavor, easily forgotten. But our starters came soon thereafter. They were both good, but not great. The cauliflower itself was nicely done; it was a very light breading and fry on each of the florets, but the romesco lacked any real punch. I expect romesco sauce to be much bolder than what was served here.

And my charred octopus was actually undercooked. I have cooked squid and octopus enough that I know it takes some skill to do it properly. But I assumed Jackie's would get it right. But not in my book. It was too chewy. I love seared/charred octopus, but this one didn't make the cut. The fingerling potatoes that came with it were nice and the foamy sauce was really good, but as Ming Tsai would say, the 'hero' of the dish was disappointing.

Next up came our entrees. And at least I am happy to say, the meal started slowly, but ended on a high note. My wife ordered the mustard-crusted lamb shank (rather Flintstonian in size) and I tried the Meyer's strip loin.

While at least in my opinion the lamb was quite good, it was not as tasty as the strip loin. This was a pretty thick cut, prepared nicely at medium rare and was really tasty. We ended up sharing our dishes and both were pleased with each. The lamb was served with bok-choi, red potatoes in a rosemary sauce and my loin was accompanied with broccoli and a potato prepared 2 ways, twice baked and then old-school style with bacon bits, sour cream and chives. Reminded me of a prime rib joint where I worked in college. I liked both preparations.

So I am not sure I would go as far as Tom Sietsema has and award Jackie's 2 stars. I think our meal this trip and our previous one was too uneven for that. While the previous one was several months back and frankly I can't remember much about it, what I do remember is our apps and entrees not being served hot. They were all brought out not lukewarm, but not as hot as they should have been. Again, we expect more from a place like Jackie's.

But hey, I am not a real restaurant critic; I'm just a guy with a blog. So maybe you should be the judge. Either way, if you haven't been, or haven't been in a while, you should probably check out them out for yourself.

Time to Garden?

2011-01-13T13:03:00.003-05:00

Yes, I know, we have snow on the ground. So why am I blogging about gardening? Well, I want to spread the word that SoCo will soon have a community garden at Fenton Street Urban Park. The park is obviously located on Fenton, just east of downtown at the intersection of Fenton and EW Highway.

According to an article in the Gazette, the County Dept of Parks is accepting applications through Feb. 10 for those who would like to rent a plot of land. On Feb. 11, a third-party will choose the lucky winners who will be notified in March.

I guess the County believes we have a lot of gardeners in the 'hood looking for land to cultivate. If you live within .5 miles of the community garden you will have first dibs on a plot. And those outside that radius will have to wait till the second round of the drawing.

This does not seem particularly fair to me. I guess the assumption is, if you live more than .5 miles away you're not as likely to tend to your plot. But why? Isn't it about interest in growing great plants not just about proximity? I could see after the first year and an analysis is done and if there was evidence that those who lived farther away didn't tend to their plots sufficiently. But this seems premature to this gardener.

Anyway, two plot sizes will be available to the lucky winners -- a 200 sq foot plot will cost $30 per year and a 400 sq foot plot will go for $50. The Fenton Street location will have 27 of the smaller plots and 15 of the bigger ones.

If you're interested in throwing your name in the hat, you can go to
http://www.montgomeryparks.org/permits/find/community_gardens_program.shtm and scroll down the page till you see the lottery application for Fenton Street.

I hope to see something terrific garden plots this year. And since you asked, my recommendations on what to grow -- tomatoes of course, but also look for some exotic pepper varieties (mine have done quite well over the last few years), like Japanese, Spanish or Italian peppers. Also, spring peas are to die for, my okra has been doing great, and you need greens, so throw in some chard, arugula, bibb lettuce, you know what you like. And, try to save room for some herbs such as parsley and basil. It seems criminal to me what the grocery stores charges for this when you can grow them easily yourself.

OK, get growing!

Happy New Year

2010-12-29T15:07:00.006-05:00

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

2010-12-09T14:54:00.009-05:00

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?

2010-11-19T08:59:00.005-05:00

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

2010-11-09T09:07:00.007-05:00

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!

2010-10-28T14:30:00.010-04:00

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

2010-10-11T13:51:00.010-04:00

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

2010-10-03T23:32:00.014-04:00

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

2010-09-22T09:38:00.005-04:00

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

2010-09-16T16:15:00.009-04:00

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

2010-08-26T15:12:00.012-04:00

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

2010-08-19T14:55:00.012-04:00

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!

2010-08-05T20:59:00.009-04:00

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...

2010-07-28T12:27:00.008-04:00

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

2010-07-13T09:40:00.015-04:00

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!

2010-06-25T00:22:00.007-04:00

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

2010-06-16T20:42:00.003-04:00

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

2010-06-08T16:54:00.007-04:00

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!

2010-06-02T10:16:00.007-04:00

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!

Alert

2010-05-16T10:32:00.003-04:00

Well, I don't really have an alert except that I'm out of town for a couple wks and won't be able to alert you on breaking SS dining news. And I know, I missed the boat on Taste of Jerusalem closing so I'm not even that reliable about passing on pertinent restaurant news.

I will say I just started a new job, this blogging thing certainly does not pay the bills, so my mind has not been as focused as usual on SS food. But in short order I will be back to spread the good word on local food news.

The one thing I can say is the SS Farmers Market is in full bloom. If you haven't been over lately, you probably missed the run of fresh asparagus. They were fabulous. But no one had any this wk so I'm guessing asparagus season is behind us. And I would not recommend getting any from the grocery store that's traveled a few thousand miles from CA or South America -- in my book, they can't compete with our fresh, local stuff.

But if you're looking for fresh herbs to plant, you can find plenty over at the market. You will also find plenty of fresh greens -- arugula, chard, spinach, etc -- and also, chicken is back. I bought one yesterday and roasted it. Quite a hit for dinner. Although I had to cook about 30 + mins longer than the recipe stated (thanks Eric Ripert)! Luckily my meat thermometer saved the day and I didn't cause any food poisoning - at least not that I'm aware. At $4 per pound, I thought it was quite a good deal to feed the missus, a friend and me, with enough leftover for lunch today.

OK, that's it for now. Be back posting in a couple weeks. I have to start packing.

A weekend of good eating

2010-05-04T14:40:00.010-04:00

All right, we started at 8407 on Friday night with a going-away happy hour for a friend. We arrived a bit passed 6:00 and the downstairs bar was almost full. Was not expecting this. We did secure part of one of the couches, but abandoned that quickly given a lethal combination -- the warm weather, the sun hitting the downstairs as it set, and on top of that, all the windows being open. W escaped to a nicely air conditioned upstairs bar where we all downed some cocktails and nibbled on cured meats, cheeses and pickled shrimp. Yummy.

But we couldn’t stay too long. It was opening night for Pacci’s, so we picked up and headed south on the Avenue. We arrived -- opening night and already a wait! Were folks aware you could get good pizza before Pacci’s opened its doors? I'll admit you had to travel outside the hood to get this pizza, and it appeared to us that our local yocals were simply biding their time till SS had its own wood-fired pizza shop.

And yes, if you went this weekend I’m sure you noticed Pacci’s needs to work out a few kinks. But let's give them a bit of slack since this was the first weekend. I’m not sure how they did on Saturday or Sunday, but Spiro told me they sold 400 pies that first day. Wow.

The poor service was the biggest obstacle Friday night, but I’m confident that will soon be rectified. I would have been more worried if the food was sub-par, but on the whole it was not. We tried 3 apps – two winners, one loser. The buffalo mozzarella with prosciutto di parma was a big hit and the cantaloupe also with prosciutto di parma was tasty, but the grilled octopus with greens lacked punch and flavor. I know this dish can be good, but at least on the first night, it needed some serious work.

Since it took a bit for our pies to arrive, a tronchetto (Stromboli-like sandwich) was sent over and that kept our hunger at bay – definitely good hospitality there. Soon thereafter our pies arrived – Napoli (tom, mozz, anchovy oil and black olives), margherita, another with fresh basil and one more time – prosciutto di parma – and we also did one white pizza, the 4 cheese (the least exciting of the bunch). This was all washed down with three bottles of the Super Tuscan wine.

And on pricing, the wine list ranged from about $25-35, the apps from about $5 to $10 and the pies go from $5.50 for the most simple white pizza to $13. Size-wise these are good to split if you’re not hungry or order an app or two. But if you are hungry, I’m sure you can eat an entire pizza. And also please note, I ran into Spiro last night and he says they are paring down the menu a bit. Not sure what he might knock off, but it does seem clear a few items will go.

One last thing, I saw a couple comments from my last posting saying the wine prices were too high. A suggestion was to have something available in the $12-15 range. For a bottle? Hello, we live in metro WDC. You are more likely to find a glass in that range than a bottle. Now I can see the wine list being expanded to have something in low $20s and maybe even something in $40s, but below $20 is too much to ask for in this area if you want something that’s drinkable.

On Saturday the feasting continued. Julie Stinar from Evensong Farms sold me some wonderful hot Italian sausage that grilled up nicely. When combined with onions, mustard and placed on a bun; it made for a hearty late lunch.

The evening took us out of the neighborhood into DC to meet a friend at Sushi Taro. If you’re a fan of Japanese food I would recommend you try Sushi Taro. While it is not inexpensive, they have an exotic menu full of fabulous small plates and raw fish. After their makeover from the previous straight-ahead sushi joint they used to be, they now specialize in kaiseke – which is similar to omakase (chef’s choice), but your meal is more based on items that are in season and it is set, as opposed to a more flexible menu when you and the sushi chef plan your omakase meal.

While I greatly enjoyed the dinner, I do think the fall menu was better. The spring menu relied more heavily on sushi, and I was hoping for more Japanese small plates of cooked meat and fish items. But I’ll be back when the weather cools off to try their later season menu.

Finally Sunday began simple enough, eggs and polenta, then moved on to a fabulous tuna, celery and arugula (straight from my garden) salad for lunch and while we typically don’t eat out three nights in a row, our Ivorian friend had arranged for another dinner at Dominique’s African restaurant at 6115 Georgia Ave.

Luckily the food was wonderful once again, since warm weather had the restaurant unprepared and its AC system was not running. We were fortunate to have a fan placed by the table to keep my body temperature somewhat in check. But needless to say, by the end of the meal I was ready to curl up on the floor of a walk-in freezer.

But I digress, on the food, Dominique started us off with what she called nem. After a little research, I found out this is a simple term used in France to describe hors d’oeuvre such as an egg roll. And that was essentially what this was – a meat-based fried roll, but really not in the form of a roll like we’re used to seeing. But hey, it worked.

We were then bombarded with several dishes – chicken cooked in a light tomato sauce with rice, a dish of braised shredded cabbage and carrots, and then another chicken dish, broiled, covered with diced tomatoes and zucchini. If that was not enough, next came a big plate of fried plantains. It was a lot of food, especially since these are not individual dishes, but family-size dishes!

And it was wonderful to hear that my last blog post on Dominique’s actually helped drive new business to the restaurant. She told us that several customers had come in and said, "We read about you on the Internet... we want to order what we saw in the pictures" – whole fried tilapia, chicken with olive oil and parsley and of course, the fried chick pea balls.

This made my night. As we left, Dominique hugged us au revoir and then gave us each some ice cream. I left with an ice cream sandwich and devoured it before the car made it 2 blocks.

Correction: Pacci's now open!!

2010-04-30T14:29:00.002-04:00

I know last night I wrote that Pacci's would not be open till this evening, but they are already open. So you better get over there.

If you can believe it, they sold 43 pies in the first hour alone. I'm also told they WILL be serving beer and wine tonight. So you don't have to get liquored up elsewhere, you can now do it while chowing down on your pizza. Sometimes life is good.

Pacci's update

2010-04-29T22:36:00.005-04:00

OK, is your mouth watering yet for a Pacci's pie? Well if so, you don't have too much longer to wait to get some yummy goodness coming from this wood-fired oven. But you will at least have to wait till the end of the day on Friday.

While Pacci's plans to do breakfast (as well as serve late night crowds on Friday and Saturday nights -- 1 AM I think), it doesn't appear to be ready quite yet. You'll have to wait or look elsewhere for your espresso and croissant. However, you won't have to wait too long tomorrow, since Friday evening they will be throwing up their doors to the pizza-hungry public.

I'll also point out one more thing for opening day at Pacci's -- no alcohol. So, if you're inclined, you may want to get liquored up elsewhere before walking, cabbing, metro-ing or grabbing a designated driver to get your pie fix. Because of MoCo's liquor laws, the restaurant is waiting till Saturday, May 1 to serve beer and wine. If they served on April 30, they'd have to pay the full month's rate for the license -- no pro-rating here. So to save a bit of dough -- pun intended -- those eating at Pacci's on the first night will have to do without the good stuff.

But it'll still be worth it. I didn't mention the other day the famous Italian flour (Caputo -- double zero) that Rosario, the pizzaiola at Pacci's, uses to make the pies. It makes a mean dough. But they'll be other fine offerings too -- salad, several apps, stromboli-style sandwiches, and of course for sweets they will be serving gelati -- straight from Takoma Park.

And since the place is not too big, I'm guessing it's gonna fill up fast. I think in total they have 15 tables, about a dozen stools next to the bar and then another dozen stools facing the side window. Also when the weather cooperates the outdoor section will open things up to feed a lot more people. It looks like the weather will be good on Friday, so we shall see.

All right, I'm already hungry. Quando mangiamo?

Pacci's opens on Friday!

2010-04-27T16:42:00.004-04:00

Good news, we'll have our own authentic pizzeria in the 'hood as of Friday. Went by last night and tried a sampling of the pies and they are molto buono! I'll do a lengthier piece on my visit either tomorrow or Thursday, but I did want to pass on the good news.

8407, Jackie's, Pacci's, Mandalay, Quarry House, Ghar-e-Kabob, Olazzo, + +, you know, we're doing pretty good for what some consider a suburban backwater location that only has room for chain restaurants. They need to come by and check it out for themselves.

SoCo Reviews 8407

2010-04-21T11:39:00.016-04:00

All right, I know you’re a little tired of hearing about 8407 on the local blogs. But after now having a couple dinners and a lunch, I wanted to write a full-blown review to give folks the lowdown. Maybe next I'll focus on Jackie's since she has replaced Frank Morales with a new executive chef, 28 year-old Diana Davila who previously worked at Ardeo.

First off, I am very happy Pedro and Nancy are back in Silver Spring. It seems many others share my feelings as the crowds on the last 2 Saturday nights have been solid. Nancy did a fabulous job on the renovations. The place looks great and has a very comfortable feel to it while still maintaining a certain sophistication.

I’m also very pleased that Pedro is making a serious effort to support local farmers and vendors as many of the items you’ll find on the menu have come from within 100 miles or less. In addition, Pedro and staff are making their pasta homemade (gnocchi and tagliatelle) and the meats for the charcuterie are being cured in-house. A tour of the kitchen shows that a back corner is being used to hang prosciutto, and he has also done a little DIY fridge where the temperature can be closely monitored to assist in that process. Seeing cured meats hanging from the kitchen ceiling has a definite appeal for me as my Italian relatives still do this back home in Abruzzo.

OK, on to the review. While I don’t want to go all Sietsema on you (and btw, he has a short write-up in today’s Post on 8407), I did want to point out some of the highlights of my meals and I won’t say lowlights, but areas I believe where improvements are needed.

I’ll start with the lunch. While it’s not uncommon to find mussels on our area menus, 8407 does a very good job with their version. You’re served a decent-sized portion – good for a starter for two – of wild Johnny Blue mussels (from Maine) that are steamed and served in a delectable broth of shallots, garlic, herbs and white wine. The bread that accompanies all the meals – which is stupendous in its own right (from Upper Crust Bakery) – should be taken and soaked in that broth. If you’re skipping the carbs, get your spoon out!

An additional lunch standout – for carnivores – is the charcuterie sandwich. Depending on the day, the sandwich is a mix of typically 3 meats. My version had a couple different kinds of pork and Pedro’s house made mortadella. While the sandwich was great, I will say the pork overwhelmed the more delicate mortadella. That mortadella is so good – best I’ve had in the states – and should be ordered simply as part of a charcuterie board or Pedro needs to find a way so that its flavor and texture isn’t compromised to the degree it was. For the vegetarians out there, you’ll be more than happy if your lunch order is one of the salads. The version we had with field greens, judion beans, marcona almonds – love them – and tarragon dressing was a nice complement to our meat-filled sandwich. Also, the salad is quite big for a lunch entrée. I’m sure it could be ordered on its own and would fill up most folks.

On to the dinners -- let’s start with something raw. How about the oysters? Sampling the Maryland and Virginia oysters 8407 had one evening, my party was pretty pleased. I’m typically partial to Pacific NW or New England oysters, but these bivalves held their own pretty good. I’m not saying I don’t prefer the other varieties, but our local boys were nice and plump with a decent amount of brininess. The pickled mignonette could have packed a bit more of a punch though. If you don’t like raw oysters, then how about some semolina crusted fried oysters? These have improved in my opinion, the first time I tried they were pretty boring, but there’s still room for improvement with possibly a tad more salt in the crust and maybe fried so there’s more of a crunch. One other way to improve them would be to include just a bit more of the pickled kim chi with the dish. OMG – that kim chi is out of this world. Last, but certainly not least for the apps is the pickled shrimp. Do yourselves a favor and order some up, you won’t be disappointed. They are served with house made crackers and the shrimp come in a small mason jar where they’ve been pickled with pepper corns, ramps and I think a couple other goodies. They are not to be missed.

If you want to skip the ocean on your starters, then as I mentioned before, go for the charcuterie. I’ve already raved about the mortadella, but the duck prosciutto is also a winner, very rich, as well as the salami. Order some cured meats and mix them with a couple different cheeses – 2 local standouts are the Grayson and Monocacy Ash, and if you’re in the mood for some sheep’s milk cheese, the Dante from Wisconsin will go quite well with your charcuterie board.

All right, let’s get serious and talk about entrees. I’ll start with my favorite – the jumbo lump Chesapeake crab cake. Now I have lived in the area almost 20 years and have eaten my fair share of crabs and crab cakes, and this rated right up there. While you are served just one with your dinner, it is good sized – I’ll guess you’re getting 6-7 oz of crab – and it’s cooked to perfection. It’s served with a wonderful homemade tartar sauce which pairs so well with this cake you’re gonna want to order another one. I know I did.

Another dinnertime winner is Pedro’s gnocchi. It kills me to say it, but the 8407 version is better than mine. I’ll chalk it up to the pillowy dumplings being lightly pan-fried before they are served. Mine are a bit more traditional. The parmesan coulis with which it is served seems to mesh quite well with the gnocchi. If you remember this dish from Nicaro, and you liked it, you’ll like it here too. I was less exited about the duck. And maybe it’s less the dish and more that duck is not my fave meat – that’s at least what my wife says. So while I enjoyed the dish, I simply found the duck a bit too dry and orange-soy glaze wasn’t enough to make me want to order it again. On the other hand, as I’ve said before my meat du jour is quail. And so for dinner one night Pedro indulged me and doubled up an order of a quail appetizer that turned into a perfect entrée. I believed it was broiled and served with a sauce that included lemon zest and a couple other ingredients on which I am blanking. Either way, I give it 2 thumbs up.

And surprisingly, the halibut is not as good as one might expect. I have not ordered it myself yet, but 3 friends have ordered it and again while they all liked the dish, it seemed to fall short of what they expected. As one said after he finished the dish, “my socks are still on.” Maybe if you’re in the mood for a seafood dish, go for the seared scallops. I thought these were delicately seared and served in a wonderfully-tasty beurre blanc sauce. In addition, the pea shoots that come with the dish are fantastic. I could have eaten a plate of those all by themselves.

One other note about the entrees, don't expect much to accompany them -- not withstanding the pic of the halibut. It seems several of the dishes came simply on their own and others didn't have much company. As with the halibut, I'd like to see 8407 give a bit more thought to pairing their entrees with a bit more substance - starches or greens - so that a side order is not necessary.

OK, I’ve gone on long enough. I will say the desserts we’ve tried we have liked – the chocolate tart and homemade ice creams are both quite nice and the rhubarb crisp with ginger ice cream was also one I would order again. We were less excited about the cookies and milk. Kinda kitschy, but kinda forgettable too.

On the drinks, everyone seems to love the 8407 Pimms and the ginger lime martini also got high marks. I can say that the draft Pilsner Urquell was much to my liking and the bartenders make a mean Hendricks gimlet. I know - that is bar low, gin and rose's, it's not rocket science.

If I use the WaPo/Sietsema rating system, I’ll would give 8407 2 ½ stars right now – putting it in the good/excellent category. However I don’t think the restaurant will have to reach far to move to 3 stars (excellent). While this might seem odd to say about a place that’s only been open for just over one month, but Pedro Matamoros and Nancy Mola know what they are doing and perfected many things during their time at Nicaro and have successfully transferred their winning ways to this new establishment and are beginning to take them to the next level. I am more than happy to go along for that ride.

One alarm news

2010-04-09T09:28:00.006-04:00

With 8407 throwing open its doors a couple weeks ago, and Pacci's coming close to serving its first pie, I know folks are wondering what's going on with our new restaurant and brewpub. Well I'm here to say we all should be ready to throw down a burger (or veggie wrap - whatever your preference) and a brew before the end of May -- and perhaps sooner.

I spoke to one of the principals behind Fire Station 1 (8131 Georgia Ave) the other day and got the lowdown. I was told they hope to open within the next 30 days, but we all know how that works in Montgomery County. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed for more like 45 days. Which will be fine with me. We'll have plenty of spring left and be ready to cool off from our hot summer days with some cold beer.

If you've driven by lately you've seen the new roofing being installed. And while the place may not look like it'll be ready for prime time in the next month or so, the storefront is scheduled to be installed next week, so I'm guessing that will give it the appearance of a restaurant ready to serve hungry and thirsty customers.

More importantly, the bar will be installed in about 2 weeks and for food, the kitchen is already in. FS1 is still short on staff however. They've hired about 1/3 of the people they need, but will still be holding more job fairs to fill the remaining positions.

In addition, I know there were questions from when I mentioned FS1 in a previous blog entry concerning their connection to Hook & Ladder. Now while our new place will not be a H&L bar, they will be serving 3 or 4 H&L brews, but folks will have a lot of other choices too since they will have 12 taps. I like the sound of that. And beyond that, some of the founders connected with H&L are behind FS1 -- although to be fair, they are two different entities. It appeared there were a few too many glitches for our new place to become a H&L brewpub. And so the folks behind FS1 stepped in to save the day.

FS1 plans to be open for lunch and dinner 7 days a week, and will offer brunch on the weekends. You can check out their menu on the website. Looks like pretty much what you'd expect -- calamari, O rings, salads, pizza, sandwiches and some full on entrees too. I typically never expect a bar which has a strong focus on beer to serve great food, but I'm hoping FS1 convinces me otherwise.

A couple other notes, the place will be pretty kid friendly (I guess as much as a bar can). They purchased a fire engine for the kids to play on and will have larger rooms available for b-day parties. For the adults -- besides good beer- they plan to have live music from Thurs to Sat.

That's all I have for now. I'll keep me eye on the construction progress and wish them to luck to finish on time. I'm parched already.

Peruvian chicken?

2010-03-30T11:44:00.004-04:00

Yes, it is on the way. Casa de Pollo is taking over at the spot last occupied by Roger Miller (941 Bonifant St). But don't try to link to their website (casadepollo.com) yet since it appears they have yet to purchase it. Go Daddy is selling it for $69.99.

Anyway, according to the proprietors, their hope is to open this week.

However, I am a bit dubious about the authenticity of the Peruvian chicken coming into SoCo. I stopped by the restaurant on Saturday as I walked to the farmers market and noticed activity inside.

I knocked on the door and was greeted by the new owners. I don't want to stereotype, but I had a hunch they were not Peruvian. But when asked about it, the reply was, "You don't think we're from Peru?"

OK, I didn't want to make assumptions. But then as the conversation progressed, I was told the restaurant would also be serving African dishes. "We will serve dishes from our homeland, Togo."

All right. Is it Togo or Peru? I did a little checking and was not able to find anything which showed that a lot of Togolese have immigrated to Peru. In addition, the official language is French, not Spanish. Once they officially open I'll try to get to the bottom of this mystery.

But one thing that is not a mystery is what CdP will be serving -- pollo. I was given a semi-glossy postcard menu when I left and it shows that quarter, half and whole chickens will be available to eat there and for take-out. The prices range from $4.65 to $11.95, served with fries, or yucca and salad.

Side dishes will also be available to accompany your chicken, fried yucca and plantains, in addition to rice and beans. I'm doubtful alcohol will be served - at least not right now - but to quench your thirst you can reach for a cold Inkala Cola or perhaps they meant Inka Cola. I've never tried one before but the Wiki description compares it to bubblegum. Sounds refreshing!

So let's welcome what I'm guessing is the only Peruvian-Togolese restaurant in the metro area -- hell, who knows, maybe the country.

8407 Opens Tomorrow

2010-03-24T13:49:00.008-04:00

8407 opens tomorrow. Our long wait is over. Our "Vote for Pedro" campaign has worked! I knew it would.

This is certainly good news for SS and beyond. Stopped by 8407 earlier today and they were holding a "mock opening" for family and friends, but officially the doors open tomorrow for lunch - which I believe is 11:00 AM.

Anyway, the place looks great. They have done a fabulous job with the renovation.

The downstairs has a full bar, a lounge and few tables. The upstairs also has its own bar and this is where the formal dining room is located. Walking around upstairs I certainly felt like I wasn't in SS. But then I looked to the west and couldn't miss all the construction at the subway and I was quickly reminded, yes I am in SS. But that's OK. The windows are floor to ceiling and are a great addition. It's a great view to keep your eyes on the construction and to watch life go by in our unincorporated city.

The missus and I will be there tomorrow night to test drive the food. We'll let you know how it goes. Here are a few pics till you can get there yourself.

The downstairs bar is to the left, the downstairs lounge is directly below and the other is the upstairs bar. No one will go thirsty at 8407 - that is for sure.

Friday Food Update

2010-03-19T11:11:00.009-04:00

Forgive me, I know it's been a while since my last post. I've been busy coordinating an NCAA March Madness pool. And I'm sorry to say after the first day, I'm not doing all that well. But it is early!And while I don't have a lot to report here, I did want to pass along what I've heard on our local dining scene.

First, Pacci's Pizzeria. I spoke to Spiro from Pacci's yesterday and he tells me they are getting very close. They are now finishing the drywall and painting will begin next week. I can confirm the drywall work as I stopped by the restaurant on my way in to the office today and saw for myself the drywall work taking place. And while these pics aren't the best, they do provide a little glimpse into what is coming our way.

Spiro is hoping the restaurant will open in mid-April -- right around tax day. If that happens maybe you can take your refund check and exchange it for a few pies. He did not confirm that would be the case, just a little speculation on my part.

Next up, 8407. As we all expected, they will have a spring opening. What I am told is they are "very very close." Sounds familiar. 8407 is having their fire inspection today and it looks like one more inspection is due next week. So I guess if they have plenty of buckets to provide to the "fire brigade" in case Pedro sets the kitchen on fire, then I think they're golden. I'll give an update on this next week, but let's keep our fingers crossed that their doors open very soon.

And unfortunately I don't have any real information to report on Hook & Ladder - although it does appear their doors are open! Well really door, and it's probably just for the construction workers.

To be correct, the name will be Fire Station 1. And if you're in need of a food-industry job, they are hiring. They will actually be holding a job fair March 25 and 26. Check out their website for an employment application.

I've called them over the last couple days and left messages to find out more details, but no call back yet. Like my review is not gonna make or break this place? They better stay on my good side. Otherwise I might have to stumble home from another bar.

But if you've driven by recently, you've obviously seen their construction crew hard at work. They will certainly open after Pacci's and 8407, and based on the job fair, my guess is mid to late May. But that's OK. We'll need the time to frivolously throw our hard-earned money at these other two establishments before FS1 starts pouring us some cold ones.

Finally, two other quick updates. Went by Roger Miller the other day and nothing has changed. I thought I'd see some action going on to ready us for some Peruvian chicken - well, not yet at least. Also, thanks to Springvale Roader, I am now aware that Ceviche has shut its doors. The City Paper reports that chef Javier Angeles-Beron headed south to Miami after unsuccessfully trying to relocate his Olney restaurant Aroma, in Ceviche's location. That's too bad. While I was not a big Ceviche fan, I would have given Aroma a shot to win me over. Ceviche lost me a long time ago.

But who knows what we'll get to replace it. I'm doubtful it will be hair braiding, but you never know.

Underground dining in SoCo?

2010-03-03T16:00:00.002-05:00

A friend of mine recently asked that I take a poll of my vast readership to determine the viability of doing underground dining in the 'hood. For those not familiar with this, you can check out this article from the NY Times which talks about unlicensed restaurants opening up in apartments and other private spaces.

I'm assuming this SS venture might be kind of similar, but it may be too early to determine. I doubt it would be much more than once a month, say a couple different seatings on a Saturday night.

I'm told the menu would be pretty limited. It would range from salads and small plates to start, a few different types of homemade pasta and homemade sauce, pizza, and maybe some contorni (side dishes) to accompany the entree. If another friend can be cajoled into assisting, then homemade breads and dolci would also be on the menu.

The donation to partake in the dining is still in discussion, but would be nominal - essentially covering the price of ingredients and not much more. Until my friend has you hooked and then will gouge the hell out of you.

OK, I'd love to hear what readers think of this idea. If things fall into place, this could start in the late spring/early summer -- just in time to take advantage of the first harvest.

A Great Food Town

2010-03-01T10:50:00.001-05:00

No, I'm not talking about Silver Spring. I guess on the scale of 1-5, SS would get about a 3 (good) in my book. Now that's not metro DC, just SS. If I rated the metro area, I think it deserves a 3.75 or 4 (great). A couple weekends ago, I visited another 4 star food town, Portland, ME.

But the major difference between here and there is size. Portland's population is just over 60,000 and even metro Portland is only slightly more than 500,000. The city here is more than that, getting close to 600,000. However, Portland does rank high in the country for restaurants/bars per capita and just a few months ago, Bon Apetit ranked Portland as the top foodie small town in America.

And because of its compactness, if you live in Portland you don't need to drive 30 minutes or longer to reach any one specific place. We know living here you need about a 45 minute drive to dine at Volt, or 30-odd minutes to eat in downtown DC and even longer if you're hankering for some top-notch Korean food. So for me, Portland is very appealing because of its small size and great dining options. Moreover, we still felt it worth the trip in mid-February assuming we'd have to confront mounds of snow and freezing temperatures. But guess what, we left that behind here! Portland is having an unseasonably warm winter. Walking around town was very comfortable. And while all the tourist destinations weren't open, there was still enough going on to keep us busy - and I mean busy eating and drinking.

I won't list all the gluttony in which we were involved, but I will mention some of the highlights. First off, Paciarino. This is a small restaurant located on Fore Street, one of the main drags of town. While it's been open just over a year, they really seem to know what they're doing. We were startled a bit after we walked in and the server greeted us, quickly showing us the daily specials and then asking that we order before being seated. OK, wasn't expecting that but we'll roll with it. All the pasta was homemade and there were about 6 choices. In addition, the meat used at Paciarino, like many restaurants in Portland, was sourced from local farms. My kinda place. We ended up with 2 ravioli dishes - mine with a ricotta and bolognese and my wife's with goat cheese and a simple pomodoro. We also split a small salad (big enough for two) and a bottle of red. Needless to say after the wine it wasn't the most productive afternoon, but talk about a great start. The pasta was outstanding. In addition, the prices are reasonable and the serving sizes were much bigger than expected.

Before heading to dinner later in the evening in a neighborhood called Munjoy Hill, we took a short walk from the hotel since we were both in the mood for some bivalves. The short walk led us to a restaurant where we've snacked on oysters previously - Street & Co - located on a charming cobblestone alleyway. The restaurant has a major focus on seafood so we expected some oysters to be available even though we technically were past oyster season on the east coast. But I thought with aquaculture, maybe the month didn't matter as much as it once did. I'm not sure if I was right or not, but there were 3 types of oysters being offered, 2 varieties from Maine and one from Massachusetts. We started with some of all three and the winner - hands down - was the Island Creek oyster from Duxbury, MA. They were not the best we ever had, but they were right up there. They had good size, a nice meaty texture and a good level of brininess. You definitely had a taste of the sea. We then got serious and ordered up a dozen more - had to have something to accompany our 2nd bottle of vino for the day. And who can fill up on oysters anyway, right?

OK, now on to our 8:30 reservations in Munjoy Hill at Bar Lola. The restaurant does a lot of small plates, so we knew going in if the oysters did fill us up, we could go light on the small plates. And while the missus was not as thirsty as I was for round 2 of dinner, we both still had decent appetites. We enjoyed our meal pretty thoroughly, but there definitely were some higher points than others. My highest point was the Cavendish Farm pan-roasted quail from Vermont. It was a knee-buckler. In my book quail is the #1 bird - to eat that is. It came with wilted greens and a pine-nut puree; it was dreamy! But for some reason we don't have a pic of that. We do however have a pic of the piece of heritage pork belly I devoured. As you can see it was a nice, big chunk of belly. And while it was good, it could not compare to the quail. I think the size of the piece led it to be overcooked (for me) in the middle. I would have liked it a bit more rare. But hey, I didn't complain and cleaned my plate. For my better half her top dishes were the fennel and pear salad, gnocchi (not as good as mine though) and the piece de resistance was the sticky toffee pudding. This was by far the best one we've had on this side of the Atlantic. It is an English specialty of a sponge cake topped with a toffee sauce. This might not sound to die for, but done right, it is. And hats off to Bar Lola for their version. We would have ordered a second had any been left. But we realized, enough was enough.

I've gone on kinda long and I just finished the first day - and we didn't arrive till noon. All right, brevity. Day two - Valentine's Day - we actually only consumed two meals, brunch and dinner. But brunch was a feast. It was like eating 2 meals - get it? A small attempt at humor. Anyway, we had 11:00 AM reservations at Vignola. This is maybe a 2-minute walk from the hotel - very convenient. Of course we started with a couple bloody mary's - virgin ones though - need a little recovery. One of the mary's was your standard fare, but mine had the addition of clam juice with the rim lined with an Old Bay-type salt, and the garnishes included a carrot, celery and 3 Maine shrimp. Almost like a meal.

For the eating portion of the brunch, we started with some simple polenta cakes - again, nothing elaborate, but oh, so good. Then the missus could not resist the dish that included a couple lobster claws - and I'm glad she didn't. The lobster was joined by a couple poached easy eggs drizzled with hollandaise, along with some sauteed kale and mushrooms. I tell you right now, Maine lobster tastes better to me in Maine. Once it leaves the state it loses something. My brunch was not as fancy - over easy eggs and crusty bread covered with a turkey sausage gravy. Quite filling and quite delicious. Definitely a good start to the day.

Needing to walk off some of the brunch, we headed for a local bookstore which only sells books on food/spirit-related topics (only in Portland). The place is called Rabelais, as in the quote, "When I drink, I think; and when I think, I drink." It's a wonderful little independent bookstore with both new and used books on a wide array of subject matter - again all connected to food. We browsed for quite a while, communed a bit with the store pooch and I ended up purchasing a couple books on the business of food. I still need more convincing that it's a crazy idea to sink money into opening a restaurant/market. Hey, maybe I'll be the SS Mario Batali? OK, you can unroll your eyes now.

For our Valentine's day dinner, we hit one of the more well-known places in Portland -- Fore Street. This restaurant is very much a farm to table kind of place. Unfortunately because the lights were dimmed so much - they said it was for something called atmosphere - we didn't take any snapshots of our meal. So I won't go into too much detail, but I will say I we had a great meal. However, having dined at Fore Street in the past, I had set the bar very high and do have to say I don't think they reach the level I was expecting. Similar to Bar Lola, there were some high points - again, the quail - to be specific, a wood-grilled Harlequin quail, and the wood oven roasted mussels. Both were stupendous starters. And surprisingly, my wife actually liked my lamb entree more than her fish entree. I ordered Maine lamb cooked two separate ways - one was a lamb shoulder which had the consistency of pulled pork, and the other was more of a chop. While the dish was tasty, it again did not meet my expectations. This is possibly because I'm so enamored with a well-cooked rack of lamb that other preparations can only fall short. But even though I have these criticisms, I would still say the experience was wonderful when combining the excellent service, atmosphere and food. You'll pay for these things when dining at Fore Street, but even though I have had better meals, it still felt worth it. If you're interested in finding out more on the restaurant, check out this clip.

We did do one more day in Portland after Valentine's and continued to gorge ourselves, but besides mentioning my lobster omelet and lobster pizza, I'll skip the rest of the details. It was a fab trip and can't wait to go back in August for our annual summer lobsterfest. Hold on, maybe I don't have to wait till August. I see Big Red's got one going on right now. OK, out of my way.

Au revoir Roger Miller

2010-02-21T14:34:00.003-05:00

Well, the next time you're jonesing for fufu, you're not gonna have 'ol Roger Miller to satisfy your cravings. Some time in the last couple weeks, the Cameroonian restaurant at 941-1 Bonifant (just next to Thai Derm) closed its doors.

While there aren't a lot of details available, the good folks at Thai Derm say a new dining spot will soon be taking over. Had it not been for the blizzard, a new place might have thrown its doors open already. Word has it that we're getting a Peruvian chicken outpost. Now don't confuse this with the new Portuguese chicken restaurant, Nando's Peri Peri, that is supposedly opening a place on Ellsworth in the Peterson Development. However there is no mention of that on the company's website.

While I doubt a Peruvian chicken shack will hold much interest for me, I'll be curious to see what they have to offer. I can't say that I'll miss Roger Miller all that much. It's a good thing that Cafe d'Abidjan opened a couple miles south of RM on Georgia Ave for the next time I'm in the mood for some west African fare.

And if anyone has any details on the closing of RM or the new restaurant taking its place, please shoot me a note. Thanks.

Lotus Cafe comes through - big time!

2010-02-12T14:53:00.013-05:00

After spending several days cooped up in the house, the missus and me ventured out into the hood on Thursday afternoon seeking lunch. Rather than call places ahead, we decided just to take a stroll and see what was open. We felt confident we'd find something.

We did not want to hit the Ellsworth area, so we figured we'd walk to Georgia and head south. On the way to Avenue we did notice that Thai Market was open. So this was good, just in case other places were shuttered we knew we could do TM if necessary.

As we walked south on Georgia, we first saw La Bamba was closed. That was OK, we aren't big fans. Next up, Olazzo and Newcaro - but they typically don't do lunch, so as expected they were shut tight. In addition, the awning had fallen down from Newcaro and a sign in the window stated they'd be closed for a bit while snow-related renovations were completed. Not sure how long this will take. In addition, I couldn't make a direct link to the restaurant's website here on the blog. When I tried to pull up their site, it says "account for nicarorestaurant.com has been suspended." Maybe someone more tech savvy than me can explain. Are they just behind on paying the hosting service?

OK, what's next? Abyssinia - closed - don't like Ethiopian food too much anyway. Big Greek Cafe - closed? Now wait a minute. We thought they'd be busting out the falafel. But no. We kept walking. Hook & Ladder, Pacci's? Well, you know the answer to that. We can't really complain they were closed since they have yet to officially open. But Pacci's is coming along nicely. I'm feeling good for a spring opening. Next, Taste of Jerusalem - closed. We didn't peek around the corner for Vicino, but we did see Jackie's was closed - again, no real surprise since they usually don't open till 5:00.

All right, with fingers crossed we approached Kim Than (or as it is now known, the Lotus Cafe). Open! And with a crowd. Why not? No one else is serving. So we were ready to chow down. We started with some crispy veggie spring rolls (well I started with a big boy Fischer - tasty). As usual, the rolls were very good. The missus then moved on to the Pho with tofu and I did the vermicelli noodle salad dish.

The pho comes loaded with veggies (carrots, jalapenos, mushrooms, onions, broccoli, bean sprouts and cabbage) that accompany the noodles, cilantro, tofu, and a wonderful broth.

My vermicelli had lettuce, tofu, shrimp, peanuts, another spring roll and that killer fish sauce I love. Mmmm. Throw in a hearty amount of rooster sauce and I was in business.

Needless to say, we left Lotus Cafe stuffed to the gills and ready to head home for an afternoon siesta - thanks mother nature. If you haven't been to Lotus lately, or yet to give it a try, check 'em out. While the decor is not the greatest and the atmosphere is lacking, the food is really good and the prices are very reasonable. I am certainly glad we have them in the hood.

A Taste of West Africa

2010-02-05T10:20:00.013-05:00

While the region begins to settle into our most current form of snowchosis, I've decided to stray outside the region of SoCo and post a story on a brand new west African restaurant that has opened its doors about 2 miles south of the 'hood at 6115 Georgia Ave.

Typically, a place like this would escape my notice, but having become good friends with an Ivorian (someone from Côte d'Ivoire) I became well aware of its opening. The restaurant is called Le Cafe d'Abidjan. While it is new, Dominique, the lovely proprietress of the restaurant has actually been serving Ivorian food for quite some time. Prior to the Cafe's opening Dominique ran what is known in Côte d'Ivoire as a maquis, located in Adelphi, MD. If you're not familiar with the term - which I was not until a few months ago - a maquis is the name given to private houses that have been transformed into little restaurants. Their prices are typically very low, but they're always not easy to find since their addresses are passed around by word of mouth. (I hear we have our own maquis in the 'hood near Montgomery College - if I find it, I'll let you know).

But now Dominique has left her maquis and her new place is up and running on the Avenue. I've now had 2 of Dominique's meals - one at her home and one in the restaurant - and I must say both were quite tasty. On our most recent outing, we started with an order of what are essentially fried donuts made from ground chick peas. If you are a fan of garbanzo beans, you need to try this dish. It is great! You can eat them plain, but they're served with a mildly spicy sauce made with tomato paste, onions, garlic and other secret ingredients.

We followed up our starter with what felt like a sampling of the entire menu - including chicken, lamb and fish. The chicken we had was baked and marinated with parsley and oil. Not an elaborate production, but moist and very good. Accompanying the chicken was a platter of baked lamb, seasoned with onions and topped with a mixture of cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, mustard with oil and vinegar. We also sank our teeth into a couple of whole baked tilapia.

While tilapia often times gets low marks for its bland taste, if it's prepared the right way and is topped with something big and bold, I think it really works. And these tilapia really worked. They were topped with a similar mixture to the baked lamb, were nicely cooked and while it does take some work to extract the meat from the bones, it is definitely worth it.

And while our dinner may already seem to have been gluttonous, we can't eat an Ivorian meal without also having rice, fried plantains, and a specialty of the country, cassava cous cous. For vegetarians, this would be a great dish to have, and when combined with the chick pea donuts and fried plantains it would be a good meal. And I'm guessing if you still had room Dominique would whip you up another vegetarian dish of your liking.

Le Cafe d'Abidjan has now been open a little more than a month, taking over an African restaurant called Chez Aunty Libe, but has still yet to have its grand opening. Dominique is planning something for either March 13 or March 20. The restaurant opens every day (except Sunday) at 11:45 AM. From Mon-Thurs it closes at 11:45 PM, but on Friday and Saturday she gets a big late night crowd and remains open till about 6:00 AM if you can believe it.

There is no website for the restaurant yet, and if you drive by you'll only see 'African Restaurant' displayed on the front window. But do yourself a favor and try it out. If you do, tell her you read about it on the blog. The entree prices run from about $12-$17 and on Valentine's, she doing an all-you-can-eat buffet for just $10.

It's also worth noting she does not serve alcohol. But I believe it's fine to bring in beer or wine for your meal - I know we did. OK, I hope you get out there and try some very traditional Ivorian (and Senegalese) fare. I'm confident you'll be glad you did.

A Plug for the Peruvian Taste Test

2010-01-27T15:14:00.004-05:00

Wanted to give a plug for fellow local blogger Dan Reed, who writes Just Up the Pike and is running the Great Peruvian Taste Test.

Starting this Friday (Jan. 29), you'll be able to vote on your fave Peruvian pollo dining spots in the area. The top five rated restaurants will then be taste-tested by an obvious connoisseur of pollo a la brasa, Mr JUTP.

I myself have never tried Peruvian rotisserie chicken. It certainly sounds good with its mix of garlic, cumin and chili powder. Maybe if I can get a rotisserie attachment for my home grill I'll give it a try over the summer. Watching this video of one of my fave TV chefs, Tony Bourdain, does make my mouth water. And please note, he's eating in Northern VA.

But I just can't bring myself to hit up one of our local places to try out what I'm sure I would like. Since abandoning the vegetarian bandwagon I have chowed down on my fair share of poultry. But for me, I don't want to eat any industrially-raised birds. And I feel confident this is the case at pretty much every place that serves pollo a la brasa. I'd love to hear otherwise, because I'd definitely go out of my way to try it.

I know we have some great farmers locally raising terrific birds and I'm sure there are even bigger ones outside the region using humane practices that probably could supply a fair amount of birds to a restaurant. I'm not holding my breath, but it'd be fabulous if one of these restaurants gave it a try to see how popular this would be.

I know everyone would not want to pay a premium for this, but I bet some would. I mean, what would it be, $1 or $2 more per entree? Here's hoping someone emails and says they've found humanely-raised pollo a la brasa.

Now we need a dentist in the 'hood

2010-01-11T15:10:00.008-05:00

And no, that mobile dentist guy on Easley Street does NOT count.

I write the need for a dentist after trying a few different treats from Velatis, our new caramels shop on Georgia Ave. Man, is some of their stuff sweet! I guess I shouldn't be surprised when the main ingredient found in most of what they sell is sugar.

But I do have to say, as not as big sweets guy - I would definitely choose savory over sweet if it came down to it - they make some pretty mean caramels. The two distinct styles they make are sugary and chewy - coming in about 20 different varieties. Now I can't say I've made much of a dent in the 20 different varieties, but I did try a few over the break. This is much to my chagrin of my waistline.

I think the first one I tried is still my favorite. That is the Sea Salt Turtle. It is pecan halves covered with caramel, dark chocolate and then topped with sea salt. To me, the addition of the salt really takes it over the top. And I like the crunch of the pecans. Just one is a nice dessert. This also helps since each one is $3.50 a pop. However you shouldn't go into Velatis looking for bargain-basement sweets. You're gonna need a little bit of scratch to sample their goodies.

In addition to the turtles, I've also sunk my teeth into their truffles. It appeared Velatis offered almost 2 dozen different varieties of truffles ($3 each). While many sounded good, I tried a couple of the cappuccino variety. And yes, I recommend them! They were excellent. Very rich, chocolatey-gooey and not too over the top sweet. I would have to imagine if you like truffles, Velatis will have one to meet your needs.

I also tried the toffee with nuts. This one was my least favorite. I bought a 1/4 pound and I just couldn't get through it. This one was way too sweet for me. I was thinking since it had nuts it would be more brittle-like. But it really didn't have much of a crunch to it, and that's what I was looking for. It really was predominately chocolate and toffee. Oh well, two out of three isn't bad.

I do plan to throw Velatis my business when I can, but at least for me, I can't see shopping there on a regular basis. I was told that during the holidays they did a brisk business. I'll be curious to see how they fare in the post-holiday season when folks are heading to the gym, not the caramel shop.

My guess is the most profitable part of their business is corporate events and weddings. Just as long as they're not relying on us local yocals walking into the store and buying pounds and pounds of caramels to keep them afloat.

But I definitely recommend you give them a try if you've yet to go in. I think you'll be happy you did. Just stick your scale in the bathroom closet for a while.

Felice Anno Nuovo!

2009-12-30T15:51:00.004-05:00

Well, we're less than 48 hours away from a new year and a new decade. Where did the time go? Can I finally throw away my Y2K ballcap?

But I must say I am looking forward to the new year. First, we have several new restaurants on the way. I won't go on about them since I have in posts past, but I think we can look forward to Pacci's, H&L Brewpub and 8407 coming in the months ahead. However we won't have Jackie's charcuterie to add to that mix since she finally pulled the plug on that. Just as well - it leaves an opening for yours truly. That's a niche I'll hope to fill at some point in the new decade if someone doesn't beat me to it.

We also can look forward for the first time to the SS Winter Farmers Market. They'll kick things off in a couple weeks (1/9) and you can get your fill of potatoes and cheese - maybe turnips too. Well, there will be more, but the offerings will be limited since we are talking about seasonal items. For you carnivores out there, you can now get good local meat all year round. I love that! I purchased a lamb loin from one of our vendors (the guy who usually sells only lavender) for Christmas dinner and boy was it good. Very simple preparation (coated with olive oil, salt and pepper) and cooked for about 40 minutes and then topped with this fabulous rosemary/ olive oil drizzle. It was a winner. And had plenty of leftovers for lamb sandwiches all week. Just finished the last bit for lunch today. Still tasty!

And speaking of home cooking, I will quickly say that our Feast of the 7 Fishes went very well. I think we ate for about 5 hours straight - just my speed. We ended up with 9 fishes - here was the line-up (and pics may come later, I can't access them right now, sorry).

Smoked salmon (Alaskan - not Atlantic, that is way too over fished) on top of rosemary and olive oil Triscuits (if you haven't tried them do yourself a favor and get a box) and then topped with creme fraiche, red onion and capers. A very big hit.

Brandade - this is a dish with potatoes and salted cod (I know, I'm a hypocrite, talk about being WAY over fished - but it's a must have with the Feast so I broke down) mixed together with garlic olive oil. I was a bit disappointed here - too much potato flavor and not enough cod. If I do this next year I need to cut out at least 8 oz of potatoes.

Salad with seafood - simple mixed greens with a vinaigrette and squid, shrimp and octopus. This was a winner, but my wife complained about the greens. But I love salad - so I think the greens have to stay.

Mini crab cakes - straight out of Maryland baby! Pretty straightforward, very little filler and covered in panko and then pan fried - with aioli. Another winner.

Tuna and white beans - needed some legumes in the mix and this did it. We do this often, but this time we took the extra step and made fresh beans and had a better grade of tuna than we usually buy for ourselves. Mix in some red onions and olio and that's it.

After our 5 antipasti, we did linguine alla vongele for the primi. Did it with just an olive oil and garlic sauce and had both fresh and canned clams. I took the easy way out and just use dried pasta instead of making fresh. I almost think it worked better with the dry pasta. Molto buono!

For our secondi we went back to Maryland and cooked about a 2 pound fillet of rockfish. Again, the simplest preparations worked best. I marinated the fish in olive oil, lemon and salt and pepper and let it sit for about 45 mins. I then put it in the oven at 400 for about 30 minutes. Once it was cooked through I pulled it out and then topped it with a putanesca (a mix of cherry tomatoes (local, hothouse toms), red onions, capers, olives, parsley and olio - about 4 cups). It really did top off a fab dinner.

For our dolci, a friend made an Italian cheesecake topped with currants. I am not a big sweets person but this was great. Again, I've been eating leftovers all week. To make sure everything went down well, I broke out my new digestivo - Fernet Branca. It went over better than expected. It's only meant to be drank in small amounts and I really think it does help with digestion after a big meal. It is a acquired taste and can be considered a little medicinal, but it has a nice finish that really warms up the body. I also cracked open the Sambuca for those who needed something a little sweeter.

All right, that's enough out of me. Wishing you all a happy new year. Looking forward to many fabulous meals in the year ahead and hopeful that our local restaurant and food scene continues to thrive. I think soon more people in the metro area will take notice and may begin to consider SS a dining destination area.

Happy Holidays

2009-12-23T10:54:00.004-05:00

Just wanted to wish folks happy holidays. I hope you eat some wonderful meals during this festive time.

My Feast of Seven Fishes seems to be coming together nicely. I'll post some pics soon. I think we might end up with more than 7 fishes though. But who's counting. I'll also report on an Italian digestivo I'm serving. Our County liquor store did not carry this variety (Fernet-Branca), but were very nice and brought in a few bottles for me. Although I only needed one. I hear it's an acquired taste. We'll see how it goes.

And I'd love to hear from anyone who's been over to the caramel shop -- Velatis -- on Georgia Ave. I know they opened about a week ago. I think I'll make my way over tomorrow so I can include some of their goodies as part of the dolci for our Feast.

OK, go on now and eat, drink and be merry!

News and notes

2009-12-08T14:34:00.009-05:00

OK, I have a few things to report on the local restaurant and dining scene.

First, it looks like our new caramel shop, Vel atis (8408 Georgia Ave), may be opening its doors this weekend. So you better get to the dentist to make sure your teeth are up to this task. These are sugary sweets - so come prepared. My wife and I walked by today and there were about a dozen people inside making preparations. They had planned to open last month, but alas, we are in Mont. County aren't we.

But they will certainly be open to supply much of our sugar needs for the holidays. We learned the family who started the shop had both Italian and Greek ancestry - not a bad combo. And while the Velatis' sold the shop in the 1990s, the recipes made today are the originals! I look forward to chowing down on some caramels - which will be made right at the SS shop - very soon.

Next up, just south of Velatis, and immediately south of Pyramid Atlantic, in a former pawn shop, is a building that is undergoing tremendous renovation. I'm sure if you've driven or walked by you have noticed the transformation. It's not done yet, but it certainly stands out on the Avenue. It's quite a mod design. Anyway, I just learned that the owners are looking to lease the space downstairs to a restaurateur. The upstairs will contain a business of some sorts. But who really cares about that. No one has leased the first floor space yet, but you can be sure I will stay on top of this one. If the restaurant matches the setting, you can be sure it'll be a nice place.

I also heard that our new pizza place, Pacci's, had its brick oven delivered last night. It is so big it had to come through the ceiling. Wow! I can't wait to order an extra large pie there! But it looks like we'll still have to wait a while till any of us can do that. It appears Pacci's and 8407 are in line for spring openings. But I think most of us expected that anyway.

And while I cannot confirm this, rumor has it that Mayorga (8040 Georgia Ave) will be shutting its doors on their SS location. I'm not sure how much business they do since I have not set foot in the place in at least two years, but I just assumed they were doing OK. Maybe the recession hit them like other places? I guess if you're interested in getting one of their brews, you'll have to truck your way over to Rockville. If anyone can confirm or refute this news, please let me know.

One last thing, Frank Morales, is taking over for Sam Adkins as head chef at Jackie's. Morales was previously the chef at a place in Alexandria called Rustico. While I have never eaten at this establishment, it has received good reviews. He gets good marks for creating gastropub fare that matches well with beer. I look forward to seeing his influence soon at Jackie's. I'll try to get some more info on Morales and his plans for downtown SS. But it's obvious he prefers downtown SS over stuffy old Alexandria. As always, SS rulz!

The Feast approaches

2009-12-02T14:45:00.008-05:00

We are just over 3 weeks out from the Feast of Seven Fishes. And I must say, I'm getting pretty excited. For those of you unfamiliar with La Festa dei Sette Pesci, it is celebrated by Italians and those of Italian descent all over the world on Christmas eve. It is believed to commemorate the 7 sacraments. And to do this, seven seafood/fish dishes are prepared for family and friends. My wife and I will be hosting our 3rd annual celebration this year. And with Thanksgiving behind us, I am all about thinking of the dishes we'll serve this year.

So with that in mind, I did some experimenting on Sunday night. I was pretty excited that the fish monger at Whole Foods gave me a couple big fish heads (just ask them) to make stock. I've made veggie and chicken stock before, and they've turned out great. By the way, if you have the time it's cheaper and you'll consume a lot less sodium if you can make your own stock as opposed to the store bought versions. And it's so easy. But with fish stock I learned, there's a bit of a learning curve.

I threw both heads (I think one was red snapper) in with several cups of water with some garlic, onion, carrot, salt, fennel leaves, pepper corns and a bay leaf thinking I was well on my way to having some killer fish stock. After a simmer of about 45 minutes my wife walked into the house and almost fainted. I think her words were, "what the hell are you cooking?" I had not noticed the strong odor, but it hit her like a ton of bricks.

I turned off the burner after about an hour and let it cool on my deck to start the defunkifcation of the house. I then filled a couple big plastic containers and stuck it in the fridge still hoping for the best. And while it wasn't the worst stock around, it was in fact quite strong. Some might say overwhelming. But I still wanted to use it in a dish I'm considering for the Feast - cioppino.

But, I want to make a modified cioppino. This is due to a dish I had in Spain a few months ago called arroz caldoso (soupy rice). It was kind of like cioppino, but with rice and it had a lot of fabulous seafood/tomato broth. Trust me, it was to die for.

Anyway, my attempt fell woefully short. Although I bet you're saying - it looks pretty good.

I used arborio rice in the dish and man, did it ever suck up the 3 cups or so of fish stock (which I had reduced some) I poured in. It was still edible, I mean the fish, mussels and clams were all good, but the rice really did overwhelm everything else. So at this point, this dish is definitely not Feast-worthy. Back to the drawing board. I think for my next attempt I'll try it with shrimp stock. Wish me luck.

Bolivians storm downtown, plus other news

2009-11-25T09:32:00.005-05:00

Sorry for the long hiatus. Had to say goodbye to the person who helped nurture my love of food for the first couple decades of my life - my Dad. He was 84. And since I was the youngest and essentially an only child while growing up, I got the benefit of a little better standard of living than my brothers. This meant dinners out pretty much once a week. For the most part they weren't fancy, but my folks did love their seafood, and this for sure rubbed off on me. I'm just thankful that only a month before he was admitted to the hospital, my wife and I visited my folks for a long weekend and we all enjoyed a terrific Italian meal together. It started with mussels, then antipasti and of course pasta. My Dad had a hard time not ordering frutti di mare at any place that offered it. He certainly knew how to enjoy his food. Ciao ciao papa.

OK, on to another topic. Thanksgiving arrives tomorrow, and this past weekend I'm sure most folks know we had the SS Thanksgiving parade. I bet many of you were in attendance. We had a nice day for it - certainly better than last year. Folks lined Georgia Ave to get a glimpse of all the dancers, bands, floats, politicians and some of our four-legged friends. It was a good event.

Similar to last year, the Bolivian dance troupes were out. If you haven't seen them yet, do yourselves a favor and check them out next year. They're great. While I think there were 5 or 6 different groups out this year, we failed to match the number who danced last year. Are they too busy with other parades? Was there a mass exodus of Bolivians from the area? I don't know. But either way, we did get a nice sampling of dancers - men and women and very young and older folks.

I'm not sure what the county might allow, but the parade would be a perfect location for a vendor or two selling snacks to all us parade watchers. If those snacks paired nicely with the participants in the parade so much the better. But even if they didn't, I bet someone could clean up offering hand held treats. The kids most definitely clean up with all the candy that's tossed around. So what about us?

In other news, it looks like we have at least a couple months to go before we get any new dining additions to the 'hood. While Pacci's had hoped to open by mid-November, it looks more like the first part of 2010. Behind them will follow 8407 and Hook & Ladder. I know son of Nicaro, AKA 8407, was hoping to open this fall - but I now hear they still have a few months to go. Maybe Feb? My prediction will be that H&L opens last. While I haven't tried to poke my head in to see the internal progress lately, on my drive by this morning it seems they've got a ways to go.

But I guess that's OK, I'm not going anywhere and neither is my appetite. Have a great Thanksgiving. Safe travels if you're driving and hope you have the opportunity to eat some good locals meats and veggies with your dinner tomorrow. I'm told I'll have an free-range Amish turkey sitting at my table. Maybe sitting is not the right word, but you know what I mean.

Turkey day approaches - Are you prepared?

2009-11-03T15:11:00.003-05:00

In just over three weeks, Thanksgiving will be upon us. I'm guessing that many of you cooking dinner for family and friends have given thought to the feast you'll prepare. I myself have been invited to a dinner and only have to think about a side dish (or two). Maybe my aunt's pumpkin roll recipe? But certainly something savory too. Need to figure this one out!

Anyway, I wanted to write a post for those interested in landing a local and sustainable bird that will most certainly be the centerpiece of your dinner. The MD Dept of Agriculture has a nice listing of MD turkey farms. The list is sorted by county and many provide a description of the type of turkeys that are still available.

You'll need to be committed to this since it does not appear that these farms deliver. But you do have some choices in both Montgomery and PG counties.

In addition, if you act before November 8 (this Sunday), South Mountain Creamery - located just north of Fredrick - will deliver a turkey right to your doorstep. Their delivery charge is just $3.75 and the birds are raised on a family farm in Thurmont, MD. The turkeys range in price from $30 for the smallest ones to around $80 for the really big birds.

I haven't ordered from SMC in a while, but those are good folks who run the farm. They have definitely have good quality products. If you do order, you should do yourself a favor and get some egg nog too. We drank a lot of this last holiday season. Tasty!

I know it's more costly to purchase a bird from a local farm, but I feel confident in the short-run (taste) and the long run (your family's health) it will be a wise choice.

Hello, candy corn-infused vodka...

2009-10-30T11:40:00.003-04:00

it's me, SoCo. Guess what? Success! I had to trek about a mile from my office to Walgreens, but I found some appropriate candy.

As any sugar/corn syrup aficionado will notice this is not Candy Corn, but another Brach's product called Indian Corn. The top of real Candy Corn is yellow. The top of a piece of Indian Corn is brown.

But I think this will do to induce my sugary sweet vodka buzz on Saturday night. Indian Corn is made with cocoa (or so claims the bag), so perhaps this is a healthier version. That's the way I see it.

Either way, I'm looking forward to mixing a batch of this for Halloween night. I'm thinking though that I might pull back on the 1/2 cup of Corn to mix with 1 1/2 cups of vodka. I don't want the drinks to be too sickeningly sweet. I'm guessing more like 1/3 cup. I mean who wants to get sick on sweets 0n Halloween night, right? OK, now repeat with an eye roll.

I'll report next week on the results of the drink and how many trick or treaters end up doing Candy (or Indian) Corn cordial shots with us. Now beware of EVIL homes.

Three Days and Counting ++ Halloween drink recipe

2009-10-28T17:05:00.006-04:00

Halloween will be upon us in three short days. So I hope you have hit Safeway before they run out of treats. I stopped by last night and they had some good deals going -- some 2 for $5! For starters, I picked up Raisinets, Milk Duds (spousal request), Twizzlers, Twix and some Hershey’s.

Also for old-time sake I grabbed a pack of Good & Plenty. Wasn’t sure if those were still made. I’m guessing there won’t be many requests for those. Too bad! Little brats should be grateful they’re getting anything. I mean, what have they done for me lately. And another thing – oops, I’m going off a bit here.

And check out this old G&P commercial from days gone by. Pretty cool. Maybe I’ll be Choo Choo Charlie this year? I just hope all his costumes are not sold out already.

Look for me on my porch with other tipsy friends passing out candy and trying to lay off the ghoulish cocktails I plan on concocting. I'll also pimp out my yard some with carved pumpkins, other misc decorations (one recent purchase is to the right) and scary music as the backdrop. Maybe Bauhaus? I've pulled out Throbbing Gristle in the past too. Not sure about this year yet.

And by the way, here's one drink recipe I'm definitely gonna try on Halloween night:

Candy Corn Cordial

Infused vodka: 1/2 cup candy corn and 1 1/2 cups vodka
Cordials: 2 ounces orange liqueur (or triple sec if you want to go cheap), juice of 1/2 lemon,1 large egg white, and then candy corn for garnish.

You'll need to infuse the vodka with the candy corns in an airtight container for a few hours and then strain. To make the cordials you'll need to add 4 ounces of the candy corn vodka, the orange liqueur/triple sec, lemon juice and egg white to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously for at least 30 seconds. Strain into 2 chilled martini glasses and garnish with candy corn.

I'll obviously need to triple this recipe since I'm expecting some real boozies on Saturday night. OK, be careful out there.

A couple updates - 8407 and Pacci's

2009-10-10T15:41:00.009-04:00

Got an update from Nancy Mola last week at the SS Farmer's Market on 8407. Nancy and Pedro were working the crowd and cooking up some lavender chicken - in addition to dishing up a fabulous little apple, endive and blue cheese salad. Here she is hard at work.

And by the way, these were serious local dishes. The chicken came straight from Evensong Farm, the lavender from Welsh Gardens, the apples from Quaker Valley Orchards and the blue cheese from Firefly Farms. I think that is great.

According to Nancy, they are hoping to open the doors at 8407 some time next month. If you have walked by the restaurant you have undoubtedly seen all the new windows that have been installed on both the top and bottom floor. The place is really coming around. I am sure there are a lot of folks looking forward to getting Pedro back in the kitchen on a full-time basis. Here he is last Saturday preparing the lavender chicken - which by the way I did NOT get to try.

So much for customer service! I don't know why they couldn't work around my schedule, right?

Here's hoping 8407 throws its doors open in November. Lord knows the old Nicaro has yet to live up to the high bar that Pedro previously established.

Update number two. Got a text on Thursday from Spiro at Pacci's - the new wood-fired pizza place opening next to the World Building on Georgia Ave. He received the necessary permits on Wednesday and they are moving at "full speed" to get the place ready to go.

It should be an exciting couple of months in the 'hood. Get your discretionary income ready!

Hold on, pizza is on the way -- Pacci's

2009-10-02T09:08:00.008-04:00

For all those who’ve moaned and groaned about not having anywhere to turn for really good thin crust pizza in the ‘hood (although I still think Vicino bakes a good pie – ask for it extra crispy), it appears your prayers will be answered soon. You’ll no longer have to trek into town to 2 Amy’s or RedRocks, you’ll now have Pacci’s.

As I wrote back in July on the blog, Pacci’s will open up shop at 8113 Georgia Ave, just south of the World Building. Anyone who walks/drives by at the moment certainly won’t see a place that’s ready to throw open its doors, but I have been told that as soon as the necessary approvals are secured from the County (and that may be this week), then you’ll begin to see some serious work taking place.

Pacci’s will be run by Spiro Gioldasis, currently the GM at Mrs. K’s Toll House. The longtime establishment at the corner of Dale Drive and Colesville Rd. Spiro is hopeful to begin serving pizza as early as mid-November. Pretty exciting, huh?

And although mid-November is not that far away, I think we can be confident that the place will be up and running shortly since all the furniture and equipment they need has already been purchased and is being warehoused close by for quick delivery and installation. This is not to say there’s not a fair amount of exterior (and interior work) that will be need to be completed beyond furniture and equipment. But, I am holding out hope they have a good contractor lined up to do this work.

Besides wood-fired brick oven pizza, Spiro says they’ll also be doing salads, appetizers and, I hope you’re sitting down, gelati. If I can get maybe some good cured meats or perhaps some marinated veggies to start, then a nice funghi pizza and to end a pistachio gelato and of course an espresso, I may never leave. And for us drinkers, we’ll also be able to quaff beer and wine (no hard stuff yet). I'm hoping that Spiro serves some decent Chianti and Montelpuciano D’Abruzzo.

It’s also worth noting that Pacci’s plans to have an outdoor patio - by the looks of it on the north side of the building. It will seat 60-80 people. This seems pretty big to me. It’s likely they’ll need this since it doesn’t look terribly roomy on the inside – although the place is quite deep. Not sure what the plans are for the south side of the property with the huge awning. Maybe that goes? What else, turned into a drive through window?

And while Spiro did not mention any local vendors in particular, he did inform me that he will try to support our local farmers. This is certainly good news in my book. So I am hopeful we’ll see cheeses, veggies and meats from around the area. That’s not to say I’ll turn down a fine Italian cheese, but we’ve got some kick-ass cheese producers locally. Has anyone tried Blue Ridge Dairy’s fresh mozzarella or ricotta? Both are excellent. Let’s hope these make it on the menu.

OK, I’m ready to order.

South SS Block Party - this Saturday

2009-10-01T15:54:00.003-04:00

Just wanted to spread the word about this Saturday's (Oct. 3) South SS Block Party. It will be held in Bethesda - just kidding. The festivities will be happening on Newell St, right off East-West Hwy and close to the intersection of Kennett St. You can go to the South SS block party web site for a map.

Head on over after you finish buying your grub at the Farmer's market and the Fenton Street Market. You'll need some lunch after all that, right?

In addition to good beer from Hook & Ladder, local restaurants will also be serving up their fare. They include Ghar-E-Kabab, Mamma Lucia, and Taste of Jerusalem. The party will be running from 1:00-6:00 pm. Hope you can make it and support the community.

A Great Meal

2009-09-28T08:54:00.010-04:00

Last weekend, for the first time in probably about three years, my wife and I, along with a friend, dined at Jackie's (8081 Georgia Ave, entrance on Sligo). The long drought was partly due to the opening of Nicaro, but we also became a bit soured on Jackie's because we thought the prices did not match the quality, as well as a hit or miss wait staff. In addition, when we last ate at Jackie's neither one of us was eating meat (outside of fish), which left most of the menu untouchable.

However, we are both now experimenting with humanely-raised meats which makes Jackie's really an ideal place to dine. But first, I'll start by saying that as we walked south on the Avenue, we did make an attempt to check out the new Nicaro. But you know what, we could not make our way through the door. There was just something about it that didn't sit right. And then when we reviewed the menu and saw a fish sub as one of the featured dishes, that kinda clinched it for us.

Now that may sound a bit harsh, and don't get me wrong, I have no problems with a good submarine sandwich, but this is not what I think of when I think of Nicaro. But I guess I'm thinking of the old Nicaro. However, after reading their review in the Gazette last week, I'm glad we kept walking to Jackie's. The typically easy to please Gazette found a Nicaro steak, "undercooked, tough and chewy with a significant rim of fat" along with a less than impressive wait staff. In addition, the Gazette stated that Nicaro adds an 18% gratuity to all parties of four or more. Unbelievable. While customers can ask for the gratuity to be removed, it is unacceptable that it even shows up at all.

All right, enough of that. I do want to give Jackie's plenty of props for a terrific meal. First off, even on a busy Friday night with no reservation, we were seated quickly. It was nice the host remembered us after all this time. Second, while perusing the menu we quickly noticed the more than reasonable wine prices. These prices were not just reasonable for DC, but SS too. At least two of our choices - a Malbec and a Tempranillo were $6 and $7 respectively. And not just for short pours either.

So far so good. And given our expanded diet, there was a lot more on the menu from which to choose. I will say for those who don't eat meat or fish, the menu is limited. I believe that night there was only one veggie entree. However, I would not be surprised at all if you asked, or called ahead, that the chef would not be able to put together a veggie plate. We all had plenty of good veggies with our entrees, so you might want to give this a try.

We started with three appetizers - the sauteed peppers to the left, a nice beet salad, and a plate of fried oysters with pickled veggies. All three were winners. The peppers were served with a pesto-like sauce and corn bread. These were more mild than hot peppers, and full of flavor. The beet salad was simple, but very fresh and not drowned in dressing that often can ruin a salad. And how can you go wrong with fried oysters? These plump little devils had a thin layer of breading and were perfectly cooked. I would have been happy to eat an entire plate as my entree.

For our main courses we did two meats and one fish. The two meats were a skirt steak and a pork loin. And to be sure of their origin, I checked with the server and both were local and humanely-raised. My wife went with a Carolina Wreckfish - a member of the bass family and listed as a "best choice" by the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Of the three, I think my pork loin was everyone's least favorite, nonetheless it was still a great piece of pork. It just had trouble competing with the medium-rare and juicy steak along with the flaky and very tasty Wreckfish. Now I do want to be clear, all three of these entrees were still above the $20 mark, but given the quality of the dishes, the wonderful sides that accompanied them, and knowing that they came from local farms (at least the meats), we had no problem paying those prices. It made it easier knowing the wine we ordered was at such good prices.

The meal ended with a couple Tawny ports. Was a fabulous way to round off a great meal. We'll certainly be back soon to see what else Jackie's has to offer. If you have a little money to drop on dinner and don't want to head to the city - and you're OK with meat - I would heartily recommend Jackie's as an option.

Back in town

2009-09-18T12:27:00.005-04:00

Well, I missed the inaugural flea market. It sounded good, but not great. I'm certainly glad something got going in that parking lot. I'm sure if it can keep going, it will improve in time.
I was out of town for a week - in Pittsburgh - but I am back and ready to eat some good SS grub.

While I was out, I did have to make a couple pilgrimages. First, to Primanti Brothers. If you're not familiar with them, their sandwiches are served on good Italian bread along with your choice of meats, or fish (even imported sardines), egg or cheese. In addition, they also come with a big handful of french fries shoved on top and cole slaw. Not the healthiest sandwich around, but definitely a Pittsburgh classic. I had the colossal fish and a couple beers. When in Rome, right? I mean who can pass up the classic taste of an Iron City Light. Certainly not me.

My second pilgrimage was for pierogies to a classic spot just outside the city in the working-class town of McKees Rocks. The place is called Pierogies Plus. It is run by a bunch of older Polish ladies and man, do they make some mean pierogies. I brought back 5 dozen with me - some plain, potato/cheese, sauerkraut - a nice mix. I haven't fried any of them up yet - with butter and onions of course - but I have plenty of times in the past and I know these will be spectacular.

But now since I'm back in SoCo, I need to find some worthwhile news to write about. I'll do some digging this weekend and see what I can unearth. Is it time to give the new Nicaro a try? Not sure I'm ready for that.

Mediterranean So-Co Style

2009-09-02T08:43:00.023-04:00

So, we got a hankering for some falafel on Sunday afternoon and thought, OMG, where can we find good fried chick peas in our neighborhood? And then we were like, oh yeah, who doesn’t sell this stuff around here anymore.

But alas, when we tried the door at the Big Creek Café, it was locked tight. Damn those God fearing Greeks. Just kidding, I’m sure those guys work hard enough. They need the place shut down one day a week just for recovery -- whether it’s physical or spiritual. But instead of heading north on

rgia

to the Greek Place – it’s kinda on our do not patronize list after hearing stories from Nikos and Simos at the BGC – we decided to head south.

In actuality we were planning to get a couple calzones at Vicino (they are quite good), but then we walked past Taste of Jerusalem (8123 Georgia Ave, next to the World Building). We stopped. We pondered. We checked out the menu. And since it was so nice outside, we sat in their sidewalk patio and figured we’d give them another try. We first ate at ToJ right after they opened a few years ago. We liked it OK, but weren’t blown away and we thought the prices were a little steep compared to the food quality. On top of that, the place lacked any ambiance at all. The lights were quite bright throughout the entire dining room.

But we figured it was the afternoon this time, we planned to eat al fresco anyway, and we could see from the menu that the mezza prices were reasonable. We tried four different dishes. Two were really good, and two were just so-so. I’ll start with the latter.

The two so-so dishes were spinach fatayer and the lebneh. We’ve had spinach pies a lot of times before and these just didn’t rate with the others. First I don’t think there was enough spinach filling, and second, the dough was a little too soggy on the inside. I would have liked it to have been more flaky. The other dish, lebneh (home-made cheese topped with olive oil), was a decent starter, but it didn’t pack a whole lot of taste. It might have been a bit too mild for my taste. But either way, it would have been much improved had the pitas we were served to scoop up the cheese had been of better quality.

OK, but I did say we really liked two dishes – those were the hummus and the falafel. We scarfed down both of those pretty quick – even with the lackluster pitas. The hummus was very tasty, not too much tahini, with a nice puddle of olive oil in the middle. While we really liked the hummus, the falafel was fabulous. These were 5 little heavenly balls of fried of chick peas. In my opinion, these rate better than the ones served at both our Georgia Ave Greek places and at Lebanese Taverna. And I’m glad I got them on their own and not in a falafel sandwich, because I think the pitas would most definitely have taken away from those fine little chick pea balls. On top of all that, these two dishes were the cheapest of the four - $4.95 and $5.50 respectively. I will also say the service was friendly and prompt.

I am not quite ready to say I’ll be back there soon. But I certainly will be tempted to go back for lunch at some point and order more hummus and falafel. They have a lot of other good veggie options to try as well – Baba Ghannouge, Tabboule, M’Saka, and lentil soup to name a few.

I’m a bit surprised to see that ToJ has lasted as long as it has. It never appears terribly busy. With three other restaurants in the hood serving similar fare – typically at lower prices – I’ll be keeping my eye on them to see if they can keep their doors open. I hope they can and I’ll try to throw more of my business their way.

Is it worth a Dama?

2009-08-26T17:08:00.001-04:00

Well, has anyone been to Dama yet? This is the new Ethiopian restaurant that opened up on Roeder Rd, just to the west of the parking lot to the County liquor store (on Colesville).

Since I am not a big fan of Ethiopian cuisine, I doubt I'll be dining at Dama any time soon, but wanted to throw it open to others to see what they think. Maybe I can be convinced to give it a try.

A Yelp reviewer says the wait staff doesn't have the best English, but if that doesn't bother you, the reviewer also said they staff is "very pretty, young." One other on-line review says the food was excellent.

I've also seen mention that Dama will/is serving a vegetarian steak. Now I am not sure exactly what this is, but it does give me pause especially with some things I've read recently about fake meat products. What I found was that many fake meat products contain industrial-food byproducts, chemically processed soy and grain powders, artificial flavorings, colorings, and other chemicals. In addition, many vitamins and minerals are leached away during their high-heat production.

Brendan Brazier, the author of a vegan nutrition guide advises people to drastically cut these products out of their diet, and if possible, drop them all together. It seems the better choice is to stick with products made primarily from whole-food ingredients rather than relying on products made from soy protein isolate, hydrolyzed vegetable protein and TVP.

Or if you choose not to eat meat, just go with veggies and legumes. I feel confident that places like Dama and others can supply you on that front. If it wasn't for the injera, maybe I'd be more open. I guess also it's that lack of texture for me. There doesn't seem to be much of a crunch in Ethiopian food, right? Or did I miss it?

Either way, I'd love to hear what folks have to say about Dama. And if someone did try the veggie steak, how was it?

Whole Foods chief: there is no "right" to health care

2009-08-19T12:21:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the hiatus. I know I am way behind on local food news with the "Newcaro" story on SS Singular and then Thayer Ave giving us the Fractured Prune update. But I had to make my annual pilgrimage to Vacationland (AKA Maine) to stuff my face full of lobsters for a week - and boy, did I.

Talk about fresh, caught that morning, brokering a deal with a lobster wholesaler right on the dock, and then bringing them back to the rental house to steam and BBQ. And at least for the moment, this is as close as I can get to really know what I am eating (for something that had parents) and where it has come from. I see the lobster in front of me before it is sacrificed for the meal. And trying to be as humane as possible, I sever the nervous system of the lobster by putting a sharp knife through their head. Although writing that sentence does make it seem quite cruel, it appears - though others argue against it - that this is the most humane method. In addition, I cannot argue with the results - mouth watering delight!

But back to the topic at hand, if folks missed it, John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods had an article in the Wall Street Journal last week on "improving" health care in the U.S. Mr. Mackey describes several free-market reforms that the government should take into consideration. Mackey wants "less governmental involvement and more individual empowerment." Yes. If we all act individually and not collectively, I'm sure we can leverage our insurance providers to establish less expensive and more comprehensive coverage for our families.

This is the same ethos Mackey has for unions - more individual empowerment. The last thing he wants is his employees coming together to collectively seek a bigger voice on the job. If you didn't know, this so-called progressive is rabidly anti-union. At the first whiff of employees talking union, the company jumps into action to squash any attempt by employees to exercise their democratic right to form a union.

But I digress, sorry. Of all Mackey's idea's, what bothers me the most is his assertion that the "right" to health care does not exist in the US. OK, true. But that doesn't mean we can't change things so that U.S. is not the only industrialized country without some form of universal health coverage. The suffragists fought to gain the franchise for women, right? Previously that "right" did not exist. And what about the Brown v. Board decision which overturned separate but equal? The court ruled this was a violation of the Equal Protection clause (14th amendment).

So now, forward-thinking people are working hard to ensure this new "right" is available to all Americans. Mackey should be on board with this given his philosophy on health. Earlier this month in London Mackey talked about his store's healthy eating initiative which will rid the WF shelves of unhealthy food and try to better educate customers.

This is good. If we're healthier we're less likely to fall ill. This should be the logic he uses for health care -- prevention. But Mackey's ideology trumps this. It appears he only wants the free-market to set the guidelines. We see how well that has worked for us with approximately 46 million (18%) Americans under 65 without health coverage. Why can't there be an affordable option (like a public option) for people to choose for their coverage? If people have this option, it is likely that more people will be pro-active about their health care and not simply reactive, so they don't have to visit the emergency room when an illness strikes.

This happens much too often today which is why the US is expected to spend $2.5 trillion (17.6% of GDP) on health care in 2009. Staggering. Worse, if nothing is done by 2018 this may reach $4.4 trillion.

This all leads me back to being very disappointed with Mackey and his proposed reforms. As business leaders go, he seems to be better than most - even with his stance on unions. I would have guessed given his holistic approach to food and health, he would have been supportive of a plan - whether run by the public or private sector - that allowed the largest number of Americans to receive health coverage. I know there are people calling for a WF boycott. While I am not one of them, it does make me second guess the amount of money I drop at WF on a weekly basis.

But should I shop at a store that pays its employees poorly and provides them no health insurance, and also stocks its shelves with mostly junk and overly processed foods rather than at WF? Safeway is at least a partial option since it's a union shop, but frankly I want more than that. I want sustainable meats and fish. I want fresh and local veggies and cheese. I want a good bulk section. Maybe I want too much.

Eating locally or altering what we buy?

2009-08-06T10:39:00.000-04:00

If you missed it, there was an interesting article in the food section of the Washington Post last week called, Meat of the Problem. Now I have been back on the meat bandwagon a couple years now. I am not a complete carnivore, there are still many days during the week when I don't consume any meat. But I have to say, I have enjoyed allowing myself spare ribs, burgers, sausage, steak, etc. Not really doing chicken yet, but maybe soon given the information I just found.

I felt OK about the meat consumption since I try to be a very conscientious eater of animals - where did it come from, how was it raised, is the farm a sustainable operation? At least asking these questions make me (and perhaps unfortunately everyone who eats with me) really think about my food choices. I mean there is no way I will eat factory farmed broccoli, please!

But the Post article and the academic piece on which the article is based (Food Miles and the Relative Climate Impacts of Food Choices in the United States) bring to light important information that should be taken into account if you have an interest in lowering your carbon footprint at the dinner table.

The authors of the Food Miles, Christopher Weber and Scott Matthews, argue that changing our diet will go much further to lowering our carbon footprint when it comes to food as will just eating a local diet. This is unfortunate news for yours truly. I was feeling really good about buying my local pork, bison and beef, but now, I need to rethink these choices. I know I'm still OK when it comes to my 3 questions, but I guess I should be thinking about things a little more broadly.

Weber and Matthews argue that continuing to eat read meat - even if it was locally and humanely-raised - still contribute a lot of green house gas (GHG) emissions. Their analysis shows that for the average American household, “buying local” could achieve, at maximum, around a 4-5% reduction in GHG emissions. But if that household shifted less than 1 day per week’s consumption of red meat to other protein sources or a vegetable-based diet could have the same climate impact as buying all household food from local providers (which we know is not realistic).

This is a very similar argument that Mark Bittman makes in Food Matters - available from our Montgomery County Public Library system (and they'll happily transfer it to the SS branch for you). Bittman talks about being a sane eater. By this he mean not going on some kind of fad diet, but by increasing the amount of plants we eat and decreasing our consumption of meat. Easy for him to say, he didn't go almost 20 years without eating beef, chicken or pork. I have to a lot of making up to do.

But now I need to think twice about it. I do want to do my part, and I know following this advice will make me healthier in the long run, help improve the planet, and save me money at the market too. It's unfortunate that one of the choices we're given to help lower our GHG emissions is fish. But because of the problems with sustainability with so many different varieties of fish (FYI, a couple good choices are Arctic Char and Mackerel), this option seems pretty limited. So I guess it's less meat, more veggies and maybe now some chicken.

KFC, here I come. Oops, can someone direct me to a local and humanly-raised chicken-frying outfit?

The old Nicaro - the new Nicaro

2009-07-29T08:37:00.000-04:00

Here's a quick update on Nicaro (8229 Georgia Ave) - it is scheduled to re-open on Monday, August 3.

After reading some chatter on-line from our readers here and from ThayerAvenue.com (thanks Eric), my wife and I decided to go by the place on our way home from work to see what we could find out. We peeked through the window and could definitely see some activity, but the door was still locked so we didn't think we'd find out too much. But right before we left, the front door opened and out walked the new owner, Luis.

He gave us the scoop about the Monday opening (over a couple beers at the bar) and said he plans to keep the name Nicaro. The new Nicaro will definitely be a family-run place with Luis, his wife and daughter working as hostess after her school days are through.

Luis is Venezuelan, but does not plan to serve dishes from his homeland. He plans on keeping a New American bent to Nicaro and serving food along the lines that Pedro did. Luis comes to SoCo from many years in the industry, having previously run the Potomac Grill in Rockville.

It's been certainly sad to walk by Nicaro and see the place shut down, so I am excited it will have new ownership and again be serving the hood. While Luis has big shoes to fill, I am hopeful the new Nicaro will be a pleasant addition to the SoCo restaurant scene. And it seems we win on both counts since we know Pedro's new place, 8407, will be open later this fall.

Quarry House Yard Sale - Tomorrow, 7/25

2009-07-24T16:53:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the late notice, but I just received word that there will be a Quarry House and Jackie's yard sale tomorrow (July 25) from 5-11PM. It will take place in Jackie's back room (8081 Georgia Ave). The money raised will go to charity.

Word has it that some of the old art and beer steins from the Q House will be available and then a bunch of odds and ends like stemware, plates, platters, pillows, and vintage furniture from Jackie's. In addition, some regulars and staff from Jackie's will be offering jewelry and rock posters. Pyramid Atlantic will also be there with handmade papers and books.

I don't know about you, but I have longed to get a hold of some of the classic beer art (yes, I know, it's mainly commercial stuff) from the walls of the Q House. Although I don't know if this piece of "art" will be available, but I'll be looking for something like this.

Let's hope I come home happy.

Pizza on the Avenue?

2009-07-16T22:12:00.000-04:00

I'm not holding my breath on walking to a good brick oven pizza place anytime soon, but I am glad to see someone interested in renovating Georgia Blue, the beat up little hovel which sits just to the north of the World Building. Not sure when the last time Georgia Blue served anything, but Google still lists the proprietor of 8113 Georgia Ave as Polonez Gourmet Deli. The only thing I know about Polonez is that is was a Polish deli. If they made pierogies I would have been set. Man, I love those little potato filled guys.

Anyway, as was reported a couple months back in the SS Penguin, next up for 8113 Georgia Ave looks like Pacci's, Brick Oven Pizzeria. Penguin staff reported the owners of Mrs' K's are behind this move. While I did not speak to anyone at Mrs K's, the MD Dept of Assessments and Taxation does list the same address for the ownership group of Mrs K's (Quick Cuisine) and Pacci's (8113 LLC).

I'm not overly concerned about this as long as Pizza Hut or Papa John's is not trying to fool us like Coor's tries to do with the beer drinking masses with its Blue Moon, Belgian-style beer.

I've always believed that spot had potential and it's disappointing to see it there empty. And what's the deal with the awning on the north side of the building? It looks like at some point it could have been part of a pick up window. Could there actually have been a drive-through place for pierogies? Oh man, I'm dying.

Well, let's see about Pacci's. I've seen no workers outside the building and I cannot see anything that's been done to the building. It doesn't fill me with a lot of hope for something coming anytime this year or even next year. Moreover, the tight credit markets don't help. I guess if things do fall through I'll look into this spot for myself. As I've said, I like the spot and maybe my Italian deli/market/sandwich shop would do well there. Perhaps in a couple years I'll have the financing ready. Probably not, but it's still nice to think about. Any potential customers out there for a nice mortadella sandwich or maybe grilled eggplant with ricotta on some crusty Italian bread?

Vote for Pedro

2009-07-10T08:16:00.000-04:00

Now wait a minute, this is a pic of Pedro Matamoros, formerly of Nicaro, right? I mean I googled 'Pedro' and all these pics came up, so I just assumed...

Anyway, we all know who I'm really talking about. I assume most of you SS blog readers have already read on SS Singular or via the Washington Post about Pedro's new dining spot in town - 8407.

Nicaro is just a distant memory now, OK, hold on while I wipe the tears from my eyes. But supposedly we don't have too long to wait - maybe October - for the new digs to open at 8407 Ramsey Ave, right across from the SS metro stop. While I don't expect any exotic Hawaiian-style drinks to be on the menu, I do expect the same kind of top notch food that was served at Nicaro.

Also, I did hear that most - if not all - of the staff who helped make Nicaro such a great place, will be offered employment at 8407. So I do hope to see Rich, Brent, Shola? and maybe others there.

And here's what I hear from Nancy Mola, the former manager at Nicaro, and Pedro's business partner at 8407. First off, the new place is big - 5,800 square feet. They'll have 2 floors, the first will contain a bar and lounge (with couches for what else, lounging). And get this, there are like 6 doors off the main bar that will open up on to Ramsey, so when the weather is nice, this should be fab. You'll be able to start drooling for a drink and a snack as you approach the SS metro stop as the restaurant comes into view.

On the second floor there will be 3 dining rooms, yes 3, along with another bar. There will be seating for approximately 150 folks up on the 2nd floor. Does this mean no waits ever for dinner? I guess we'll see how popular it becomes. And as already reported, 8407 will be doing small plates such as charcuterie, cheeses, and I'm sure much more. You'll be able to order casual items like sandwiches and burgers and more high end choices like a nice local steak. I stress the local because Nancy and Pedro are committed to supporting our local farmers for both meats and veggies - and I hope fish too (although that's a bit more complicated).

Nancy says that 75% of the menu will be available all the time - for lunch, dinner and late night snacks. I assume the other 25% will probably kick in at dinner times. And for those just wanting a coffee and to lounge, wi-fi will be available at the new place.

So keep your eyes and ears out for more news. Nancy, Pedro and others will be looking to spread the word on the new place. For those on Twitter, you can keep up with them at Twitter.com/8407. If I get more info on 8407 - or Nicaro - I'll be sure to do a post. But one note on Nicaro, no one should be holding their breath for them to open next week (the end of the supposed 2 week closing period). Maybe they'll open their doors in August. Till then, keep walking and get your gyro on, or maybe some pasta at Olazzo.

The Greek Battle Begins

2009-07-06T14:27:00.000-04:00

It's supposed to start on Wednesday at 11:30. It will be epic. Think back to the Greek civil war in the 1940s. Not sure which side is the left and which one is the right, but all I know is the left cooks a lot better than the right, so they'll have my support.

If you're not following, the Big Greek Cafe, is scheduled to reopen on Wednesday, July 8 at 11:30 AM at 8223 Georgia Ave. The BGC is replacing the very short-lived Oasis Pupuseria. What, we're they open even two months?

But, we still have the Greek Place just up the block (8417 Georgia Ave), which was previously the Big Greek Cafe until a squabble took place between the owner and the family who was actually operating the restaurant. Everything is clear, right?

It'll be curious to see how the 'hood handles 2 Greek restaurants literally 2 blocks apart from one another. We survived many years with the only place in SoCo to get a falafel fix being Lebanese Taverna. Now we'll have 3 places all within very close proximity of the other. The question is: can we support them all?

I see Lebanese Taverna surviving since the restaurant has been in SS for several years now and obviously there are others in the area. It has name recognition - and good food too. However, I just cannot imagine that both the Greek Place and the BGC can survive. It might have been better a few years ago when money was growing on trees for homeowners - otherwise known as Mont County real estate prices - but not anymore. This will be a battle royale. I'm wagering by the end of the summer you'll be seeing $1.00 gyros, then $0.99. You get my drift.

In a month I'll run a scientific poll of all my readers to see which one folks prefer. Maybe I can get a commitment that the loser relinquishes their space to a braiding salon.

Please note: According to their ad on the SS Penguin, the first 50 guests at the BGC on Wed will receive a free Gyro platter. I don't know about you, but I'm bringing my sleeping bag and camping out Tues night. I mean, come on, a free gyro platter! It ain't $0.99 yet.

Nicaro - Closing??

2009-06-29T08:32:00.000-04:00

In case you were heading to Nicaro for dinner tonight, or tomorrow, or anytime in the next couple weeks, think again. As of today, June 29, Nicaro will be closed for "2 weeks." I added the quotes since I am a bit dubious about the mid-July re-opening.

Word on the street is that head chef, Pedro Matamoros, is heading west. Well, not too far west, Ramsay Ave in SS. Pedro is working to open a new place where Teddy's previously served the best roti in town. You do know roti, right? It's that fab West Indian griddle-cooked flat bread traditionally served with a curry dish of potato mixed with seafood or meat.

I've actually never had, but it does sound interesting. You may know Teddy's as a previous incarnation, the Luau Hut, which was recently featured on the award winning Silver Spring Singular. However, Pedro's new restaurant is not scheduled to open till the Fall.

Supposedly, a new ownership group will be re-opening 8229 Georgia Ave. However I don't want to say Nicaro will be re-opening since that really won't be happening. It looks like when the doors do re-open, Nicaro staff will be in place, but perhaps just to train new servers and cooks, maybe? It's all pretty uncertain at the moment. However what is certain is that the Nicaro we knew and loved (at least I did) has shut its doors. What's to come at 8229 Georgia and at 8407 Ramsay is a mystery. Stay tuned. If I find out more I'll let you know.

Buy Local Block Party

2009-06-18T10:38:00.000-04:00

In my efforts to encourage folks to buy local produce, meats, etc, I wanted to help get word out about an event taking place on Sunday, June 28 from 1-4:00 PM in (or at?) Arts Alley, right next to Mayorga Coffee at 8030 Georgia Ave called the Buy Local Block Party.

While there won't be many food vendors at the event, it does look like something worth checking out. Moorenko will be there to cool everyone down with its wonderful ice cream and if that doesn't work for you Hook and Ladder will be out pouring their finest brews. You'll no doubt see me in that line. I may have to break out my rather large German beer stein for the afternoon.

You'll be able to enjoy your sweets and brews accompanied by some Afro beat hip hop sounds - I won't even attempt to comment on this since I absolutely know nothing about it - and then later a couple DJ's from the good folks at Roadhouse Oldies will likely be spinning some old school vinyl.

In addition, Pyramid Atlantic will be there, also portrait sketching, yoga demos, and our own Jerry McCoy regaling folks with stories of SS history.

It's undoubtedly an event not to be missed. See you there.

Back in the states, but...

2009-06-09T20:52:00.000-04:00

not yet back in SoCo. Had one day back in the hood - ate some great crayfish (thanks Eric) - but then had to head to Ithaca, NY first thing Monday morning. Drag! So since I wanted to do a new post, I figured I'd do one highlighting a really good little Korean place here in Ithaca (specifically Collegetown) called KoKo.

I've been there a few times now and always look forward to sinking my teeth into one of their sizzling hot pots. But, before you get to your entree, KoKo - like many other Korean restaurants - provides a few different panchan (small dishes served gratis before your entree). Tonight, I got kimchee, some pickled zucchini, bean sprouts, some interesting cold potato cubes, and a sizzling egg. Yum! I wish I could add sound because this bad boy was really sizzling when it hit the table. First time I ever had anything like it. I waited a few minutes before I ate it and the egg had pretty much cooked and was surrounded by a wonderfully seasoned broth.

And since I don't eat Korean all the time, I typically forget about the panchan. Tonight was no different and of course I had also ordered an appetizer. I don't really regret it, but all total it was a lot of food. The app was a wheat flour pancake filled with kim chi. Again really nice, served with a soy-style sauce. Add some hot sauce and I was in good shape. Fortunately I had plenty of water and another reason I like this place, I was able to bring in my own beer. I walked down the street from Ko Ko to a kinda dumpy little convenience store, but they really have a good beer selection. Maybe 'cause it's a college town? Maybe 'cause I'm used to the ultra-lame selection at our County stores? Either way I walked out with a big bottle of Blanche de Chambly, a white ale from Quebec. Tasty.

Once done with my pancake, and some of my panchan, I was ready to dig into my sizzling hot pot. You can choose from 3 kinds - seafood, meat, or vegetarian. Given the amount of meat I had consumed on my vacation, I opted for the veggie route. Two days in a row for me now. Not bad. So this one was filled with tiny cubes of tofu, carrots, zucchini, onions with a raw egg dropped in the middle. Of course since it's a hot pot, the egg does get cooked. Don't worry. All the veggies are sitting on a mound of rice which because of the sizzling hot pot stays warm and the rice on the bottom gets this nice crispy texture. You actually have to jab the rice with your chopsticks to pry it off the bottom. Love it when you need to do that.

So if you have reason to be in Ithaca - it is pretty this time of year - and you get a hankering for Korean try Ko Ko. I'm not saying it's the best, because it is a bit of a dive, but I have certainly found they serve some tasty dishes. Once you're done you can walk down the hill a bit to the Chapter House and get your beer on.

And I will give a plug for the DC Korean vendor on the corner of L and 14th streets (SE corner). Try them out; you won't be disappointed. I know there's plenty of good Korean places in No Va, but if you don't feel like hauling your ass over the Potomac and you're already in the city, try out this mom and son vendor.

Eating the Adriatic

2009-05-26T12:13:00.000-04:00

OK, another non SoCo post since I'm still away from home. I felt compelled to write about two fabulous meals that we had on the beach of the Adriatic. The restaurant, Ciaschi, is located in a small seaside town called Grottammare. There is a long boardwalk in town and while it was a little early in the year when we visited, I imagine the town gets pretty full during the summer months.

Now I cannot comment on anyplace else in Grottammare because our only two meals were at Ciaschi. We had dinner one night and it was so good, we had to go back for lunch the next day before heading south to Abruzzo.

Ciaschi, as one might expect, is a seafood restaurant--and man, do they know how to do seafood well. It is mainly prepared in a simple fashion to let the natural taste of the fish shine through. Given the amount of food we consumed during our visits, I'll only focus on a few things. But rest assured, on the taste scale the dishes we tried fell between very good and excellent. (Socoblogirl adds: the other draw here is the owner/chef, Antonio. He is so enthusiastic and proud of his local cuisine. He brought out raw fish to show us what we were eating, and bragged about the local catch. So charming!)

I assume the creature below may look familiar to folks who live in or near Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay, but these were not anything like our blue crabs. These crabs, granchi, were much smaller and as you might expect, containing less meat, but they were so sweet; incredible. Part of the wonder of this dish stemmed from the spicy olive oil sauce in which it came. The crabs themselves were pan fried in olive oil and then presented as you see them in the sauce. Fab!

Another highlight of the meal came before the main course, lightly fried squid legs with oil, parsley, and tomatoes with what seems to be a local delicacy, fried jumbo olives. We had them the night before and they were stuffed with a mix of beef and pork, but since this is a seafood spot, theirs were stuffed with fish. Scrumptious. And I know fried squid legs is not something extraordinary to find, but these were very fresh and having them with toms, parsley, and oil did make them different from at least what I was used to.

And how could I write a post about an Italian restaurant, even if seafood is its specialty, and not mention the pasta. Here at Ciaschi they served us spaghetti with roe and little lobsters (more like shrimp for us) in olive oil. Again, a straightforward dish done very well.

While I won't post more pics, other dishes in our dining extravaganza included cold marinated salmon, alici (anchovies), mussels, turbot, skewers of grilled fish, and a couple Adriatic oysters (ostriche) which were briny, clean, and really gave you a taste of the sea. I'll also mention a lot of white wine was consumed, making everything taste even better.

The owner, Antonio, says because the Adriatic is not as deep as the Atlantic, the fish are more flavorful. After that meal, how could I argue?

Dinner and lunch in Cossignano

2009-05-21T08:26:00.000-04:00

Settling in to the Italian countryside. We are in Le Marche. Found a fabulous ristorante called Castello de Marte, run by a young guy named Fabio - no, not him. Our guy buttons his shirt.

This is a tiny little village. Some older Italians are chilling in the square drinking whiskey and playing cards. Is this what older Americans would be doing if we had a real social safety net and a younger retirement age? I'd like to find out.

Anyway, back to the food. Since it's the closest place to our lodging, we dined here for dinner last night and then again for lunch today. Have consumed a lot of cured meats, asparagus - very much in season - and of course pasta! All washed down with some local wine. I'll be sending some of this home to SoCo.

If you are ever near here, I would heartily recommend you make your way over to see Fabio. Mixing countries, our dinner last night was all omakase. We ordered nothing, but everything came. I think we had 5 starters. It was pretty incredible. Our only choice was which wine to drink. It's nice not have to give too much thought to where you'll eat and then what to order. It was very much appreciated.

This is ideal. I think it's nap time. Ciao.

Early Summer Break - back in 3 weeks

2009-05-18T10:00:00.000-04:00

I hope the flag to the left gives you an indication of where I am heading later today. I see much cured meats, vino and pasta in my future.

My wife and I are celebrating a significant wedding anniversary so we're heading across the pond. In addition to eating, I guess we'll do some sightseeing, and visiting some of my family who live in Abruzzo.

And once done there, we move on for the second half of the trip. We'll undoubtedly continue our gastronomic journey eating probably the best pork on earth, paella, fresh seafood, and drinking more vino - but this time poured from high over our heads. There will certainly be a large dry cleaning bill for me once I get back to SoCo.

I plan to take many pictures of the delicacies we encounter. If I can blog while I am gone I'll do so, if not then upon my return. OK, behave yourselves. Ciao.

Long Live The Greek Place

2009-05-12T16:38:00.000-04:00

Man, I was so over the Big Greek Cafe. It's time for something new and exciting at 8417 Georgia Ave. And that new and exciting dining spot is: The Greek Place. Now open for business.

So for those jonesing for gyros, hummus, or falafel, you can now get your fix. Well you probably could have before at Lebanese Taverna. But if you specifically need a Greek fix, you're now in luck.

I was told the same hours, same food, same menu, but because of new owners they had to change the name.

Not sure yet exactly what happened on the ownership front. SS Singular reported in March that the Big Greek Cafe was being operated by the same family who have run the Golden Flame since like the 18th century. So I did a little searching on the website for the MD Dept of Assessments and Taxation. However, that provided little clarity.

It was odd. On Feb 16, 2009, a document was filed stating 8417 was now owned by the Big Greek, Inc. Then on April 16 a document was filed stating the trade name of 8417 Georgia Ave was the Big Greek Cafe. But says the president is Jose Carino. Then just last Tues (May 5), another document was filed stating the new name is Taqueria El Mexicano, owned by Carino. What?? The taqueria is certainly long gone. What gives?

But this is probably way more than you want to know, right? Does anyone really care? If so, let me know and I'll dig in more. If not, just get over there and eat some hummus.

Cinco de Mayo en SoCo

2009-05-05T12:35:00.000-04:00

In case folks in the hood are looking for a Cinco de Mayo celebration, there is one happening this evening on Hellsworth.

However, it should be noted, Cinco de Mayo is not Mexican independence day, that is Sept 16, the most important national patriotic holiday in the country. Cinco de Mayo is mainly celebrated in the state of Puebla commemorating the Battle of Puebla where French forces were defeated on May 5, 1862.

However, we have co-opted this day as a convenient excuse to party and drink. Yeah for America. And appropriately, SoCo will have its own "fiesta." Hellworth will be closed to make room for a stage that will host mariachi music, Latin jazz and dancers - this is according to the Washington Post. It is reported that Austin Grill is expanding its patio to create a "Mexican beer garden," with $2 Mexican Flag shooters and $5 margaritas and beers. This sounds pretty authentic to me.

If anyone goes, I'll be really curious to see AG's "Mexican beer garden." My gut says it's their patio decorated with some Mexican flags. Viva Cinco de Mayo!

New pupuseria on the Avenue

2009-04-28T22:28:00.000-04:00

I know a lot of you out there really miss Pinto Thai, but it's time to get over them, right? If you're craving Thai food you still have 4 choices in the hood - Thai Derm, Thai Market, SS Thai Flavor, and Thai at SS. If that doesn't meet your needs, well you might want to think of relocating to Bangkok or something.

But this post is not about Thai food, although I do love the deep fried tofu they do at... oops sorry.

This post is about a new dining spot in the hood called Pupuersia El Oasis at 8223 Georgia Ave. I believe they have been open about a month now. And while they are still going through some growing pains, like almost any new place, it is worth checking out.

Our first visit a few weeks back was for lunch. I went basic and did pupusas while my wife went a bit more exotic and ordered the whole fried fish (we were told talapia).

As you can see, be prepared for a whole fish. This takes some work since this little guy is pretty bony. But in the end I think you'll be satisfied with what you get. The meat was pretty tender and juicy and had a nice flavor. Just don't be in a rush to wolf down this order- I guess it could be considered slow food. And while the beans are tasty, at least this order was VERY salty. They are small whole black beans and are yummy, but you might want to bring your blood pressure medicine with you.

No pics of my pupusas, but use your imagination here. They are your standard fare pupusa. I ordered the bean and cheese pupusa - very good - and then one with flower petals and cheese. I thought I'd be a little adventurous. I did not get much taste out of the flower petals. Maybe there weren't enough in there, but I mostly tasted cheese. Which I like. So it was OK. Next time I plan to stick with the bean and cheese pupusas.

Our next visit was for breakfast. I was surprised to see El Oasis opens at 8AM on Sundays. Not sure how many folks are strolling in that early. My guess they could open at 10AM and be in pretty good shape. Perhaps they're trying to pick up the Sunday Fresh Start crowd since they're not open that day.

Anyway, we were the only ones in at about 11AM. The proprietor was taking a constitutional on Georgia when we approached, but he scrambled back in to take our order - which should not have been that hard. But alas, it was. The breakfast menu is not long and I think the cooked egg dishes may not number more than two. But it still took some doing for my wife to order one of the egg dishes and me the other. If I could tell you why I would. The chef in the back had to come out to lend a hand, but that didn't actually help very much. And it wasn't the language barrier either. My wife has an OK grasp of Spanish and the folks at El Oasis speak English pretty well. But even pointing at both items on the menu, it still took a few minutes for them to kinda grasp what we wanted.

Fortunately when our orders arrived they were the right ones. On the right you'll see an order of huevos rancheros, with tortillas, plantains, queso, crema and beans - a filling breakfast. These beans were not nearly as salty as our last ones, so that's a good thing; but the eggs were a bit overcooked.

My order was pretty similar except just scrambled eggs. The menu did claim my beans were hand ground. But they appeared and tasted the same as my wife's beans which were refried. Maybe it's such a fine distinction my palate just couldn't discern it.

I would say both were meals good, certainly not great. But the proprietors are charming and as you can imagine the prices are very reasonable. Our 2 breakfasts along with a couple juice drinks ran us $18.

I hope El Oasis does well. But they need to pick up some restaurant basics to help ensure the place runs smoothly. I would be frightened if a large crowd was there how the folks could handle it. My gut tells me at least right now, it would not be pretty. We'll keep our eyes on them.

Farmers Market back in session

2009-04-21T18:49:00.000-04:00

If you missed the opening weekend, you're in luck. Our vendors will be back this Saturday and every other one till December. They started early this year and are running longer. I am pleased at this change.

Many of the same vendors returned for 2009, but we have some new ones too. As I previously mentioned Gunpowder was there with a full range of items. I picked up some ground bison and made some burgers on Saturday afternoon. It's amazing how lean the meat is. I'm not sure if the patties shrunk in size at all after they were grilled. I was quite pleased with the purchase - 1 pound for $6.

And if you don't have any greens ready yet in your garden, I highly recommend these folks to the left. I'm sorry I don't know their name, but let me tell you, their greens are fabulous. They do a mixed bag or you can simply by a head. They're also selling micro greens. Last week they were selling micro arugula and micro celery greens. I tried the micro arugula. I was told it was super concentrated so a little went a long way. And while I do like it, I did not get that big arugula pop I was expecting. Maybe it's because one time I added them to a bunch of other greens and the next was between a bison burger covered with cheese and my bun. It's pretty neat stuff. You may want to give it a try.

But for a wider selection of greens you need to try this vendor. Their selection included swiss chard, spinach and other greens, along with ramps and a bunch of other goodies. I was disappointed since they did not have any leeks, but oh well. And I was also a bit shocked at the price. It might be partly due to the fact that I have a bunch of chard and spinach coming up in my garden - although it's not ready yet - that I could not bring myself to pay $8 for a large bunch of spinach (or chard). I don't remember it being that much last year. And I know as soon as I prepare it, it will cook down to almost nothing. So I really needed a large bunch - but couldn't pull the trigger.

I guess the one expensive item I did pull the trigger on was sheep's milk cheese from a new vendor - Everona Dairy in Rapidan, VA. Be prepared, this is not inexpensive cheese. We bought something called Stony Man, a very smooth tasting cheese, not overpowering at all with a nice flavor. But even though I bought a small piece, I think less than 1/2 pound it was still around $12. This was one of the least expensive because I think it was a smaller cut. I'm sure I will continue to throw some business their way, just not every week.

There are plenty of vendors I haven't covered here that are worth checking out. There are a couple great bread stands - one with mostly loaves and the other with breakfast goodies. As you can see by the expression on this shopper's face (and a neighbor), their selection was delectable. I also want to report that Charlie Koiner and his daughter had their stand set up, so that was great to see. They did not have a lot to offer, mostly some giant spring onions. And these are monsters. For a $1.50 there is no way to go wrong. I've used them in a miso/noodle soup and with some homemade pasta already this week, with still plenty to spare. Can I find a role for them in my pizza?

So get on out there and support these local vendors. They are offering some great fresh stuff. While you won't walk out without your wallet or purse being a decent amount lighter, I think by the time you eat all you bought - and you better - you'll be pleased with your purchases. See you on Saturday morning.

Farmers Market Returns This Weekend

2009-04-13T09:12:00.000-04:00

Yes, it's still in the 30s when you wake up, but it is time for fresh, local veggies and fruit. If you've made the trek east to the Takoma Park Farmers Market lately, you've been seeing plenty of vendors with great looking greens, fruit, and misc veggies along with eggs, cheese and meats.

And now starting this Saturday the Silver Spring Farmers Market returns (9AM-1PM). Not sure yet if we have new vendors coming or not, but I did hear that for you meat eaters out there, that Gunpowder Bison from Monkton will be offering bison burgers and steaks. They've been at Takoma Park lately, but I have yet to try anything. Although I must say it looks awful good.

Also, I'm a little worried whether or not Charlie Koiner will be back this year. If you don't know Charlie, he has a plot of land at the corner of Easley St and Grove right off downtown SS where he typically sells fruit and veg from the spring till the fall. He and his daughter are also stalwarts at the SS Market. But this year I have yet to see Charlie out in the garden much (if any) and his sign which lists what he has for sale has not made an appearance in the yard. Hope things are OK with him. He is getting up there in age - probably mid-80s.

And I hope if you have any space to do gardening yourself, you've gotten the bug and have planted, or are thinking about planting, a few things. I can tell you that my greens are coming up nicely - arugula, spinach and lettuce - and I'm getting things ready for a bunch more stuff. I've expanded my plot this year to include okra, peas, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, string beans and more. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

OK, hope to see you at the market this weekend!

The Big Greek review

2009-03-30T22:04:00.000-04:00

While I am thrilled that the BGC (8417 Georgia Ave) has made it into the neighborhood, my first review is mixed. Now granted, I am not Tom Sietsema and I don't dine at a restaurant 3 or 4 times - with friends - before I review them. So this review is based on my first visit.

And at least in my book, when a new restaurant opens, it takes them a while to figure out exactly what they're doing and to get their legs underneath them. Given that, I will readily go back to the BGC and try out some of their other fare. And on our first visit, a friend did join us, so at least I can add his thoughts on a chicken dish wish neither my nor I would ever order.

The Cafe itself is a great step up from the taqueria which it replaced. It is a small setting, but it's been cleaned up nicely and is a welcome place to eat a casual meal. Orders are taken at the counter and then staff bring you the food. The menu is pretty extensive with several starters, meat, fish and vegetarian salads and sandwiches, larger platters and plenty of desserts too. One thing missing is alcohol. And I forgot to ask if they're planning on selling it. So for right now you're pretty much stuck with juice or soda.

We started our lunch with the trio of dips - we did hummus, feisty feta and tzaziki - served of course with soft pitas. I think we all agreed this was a wonderful way to start the meal. And it was definitely a good sized appetizer for three people. We didn't know it at the time, but we could have easily skipped the app since the meals were so big. But no worries, we just brought home a couple doggie bags.

We barely had time to finish our dips before our lunches arrived - was pretty slow that day. I was torn between the shrimp souvlaki pita and the falafel. Given that I'm huge chick pea (and garbonzo and ceci for that matter) fan, I opted for the latter. And this really is the crux of my mixed review. I did not love the falafel. I was told when I ordered it, the BGC prepares its falafel a little different than other places and I guess I'm just a traditionalist when it comes to falafel. I think partly it wasn't as crispy as like it and there were other spices added which altered the flavor a little too much for me. I wouldn't say I hated, but I don't think I'd order it again. It also lacked sufficient spiciness for me, even though I did add the feisty feta. I would have liked maybe some spiced peppers of some sort and probably more tzaziki as well. I would have sacraficed a bit of the falafel for some other add ons.

My wife ordered the spanakopita, which came with green beans and a salad. Again, this dish did not hit the mark either. While the spanakopita was good, it wasn't heated through. I think it could have used maybe 5 more minutes in the oven. So this is something that could easily be remedied. But I believe they need to rethink the string beans. These beans were cooked too long and were limp. They would have been better placed on a nursing home cafeteria menu. But this was mainly my wife's mistake for ordering them. I think I'd go for the rice or fries.

And last but not least - the chicken. Our dining partner ordered the Greek roast chicken with olive oil and herbs and I will say he was very pleased with it. He said it was well cooked and juicy. As you can see, it was also accompanied with a salad. I feel confident he would order this dish again. And while he ordered the shrimp souvlaki sandwich to go for his wife, I neglected to get her opinion on it. But he also ordered several baklava to take home too and I did hear those were a big hit!

So, if I did a star-based rating - which I don't do - I'd give the BGC 3 stars. I think in time they will correct/eliminate their sub par dishes and be a solid addition to the hood. And lastly, the place is pretty cheap too. Our dishes ranged from about $6-$8 and the staff themselves were very friendly. I hope you can make it out.

On a side note - a new pupuseria opened a couple blocks south from the BGC on Georgia Ave called El Oasis. My first experience was pretty good. More later.