The Great Pumpkin comes to SoCo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shabu Shabu

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Silver Spring restaurant expands to the city

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

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

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

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

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

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

Opening Day - Nando's

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lunchin' in the 'hood

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

North of SoCo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pho Hiep Noa!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Can someone pass me the butter?