California Lovin'

Mobile food vendors have been around for decades, and yet in the past few years they have again captured the imagination of our nation. LA has been on the forefront of this movement with the many food trucks that are daily twittering their wares to a very hungry city. In a state that most people consider to be a culture of salad eaters and general health nuts, you are seeing people who want some haute street food with meat and spice. Not what one would usually consider "healthy".

DC is following suit with many food trucks now gathering a following, but since I am currently in LA it only made sense to try some of the originals. With my brother in law playing tour guide we made our mission, and that mission was tacos. With the help of http://www.ilovestreeteats.com/la we were able to check out all the different food trucks twitter feeds at once which made it super easy to find which truck we could get to quickly. The Flying Pig was heading to Downtown LA and with pork belly buns as a prospective edible delight we hopped in the car and headed to the freeway.

On a side note, can I just say how much I miss California driving. It just makes so much more sense to me then the craziness that is NoVA and DC. Driving around the district with friends can be quite stressful and I'm not even the one driving. Thank god I can walk and metro to everywhere that I need to go. But how I miss the buzz of driving with the windows down, warm sun coming down, and the landscape of mountains and ocean surrounding me.

Now back to the Flying Pig......

We found the truck around 12:30 and there already was a pretty decent line. We were all set to split a few things, but were a bit disappointed they were already out of the shrimp burrito. Oh well! We ended up order 2 pork belly buns, 2 duck tacos, and 2 spicy pork tacos.

As time passed we realized that this order seemed to be taking much longer than it should be. By the time 30 minutes had passed we began to wonder what was up. "Hanger" was beginning to creep in on both of us as well as all of the other customers. Trucks are supposed to quick lunch spots to grab in a few minutes and run back to the office. As another food truck passed promising delicious burger sliders, and the smell of beef wafted past, everyone seemed to surge forward on the truck with the intent of making these tacos appear.

An hour passed. You read that right. One Hour! Utterly ridiculous, I know. Why did we wait? Who really knows. We could have cancelled our order and moved just down the block to the next trick. But I was determined and kept thinking that we would soon have our food. It turns out that 2 very rude girls ordered enough tacos to feed about 20 people, which held up everything up for everyone. First of all, a mobile food truck is for quick eating not catering. Second, the people who run the Flying Pig should have a policy of what is an appropriate amount to order to keep their "kitchen" moving so as to benefit the lunchtime crowd. Needless to say, once we finally received our food we were a bit perturbed. I wanted to hate it, to have my anger justified but damn, it was so freakin good!

The pork belly bun was my favorite of the three things. Fatty pork belly with pickled cucumbers and onions in a soft pastry bun. The tacos were also delicious, though the spicy pork was my favorite. I do think that the wait was most likely an anomaly due to the those girls that ordered for an army, but I would hope that the Flying Pig would learn a lesson from this as well.

Here is the thing, I was still hungry and 2 small tacos and a pork belly bun were not going to fill me up. After an hour of waiting and smelling the burger truck down the way, it just seemed right to check it out. With only a few dollars left we headed down to the Pattywagon which sells organic grass fed beef mini sliders. We were able to order 2 mini sliders, a regular burger and another with sauteed onions and peppers. The meat was flavorful that we did not even to add any sauce or condiment. This was the ultimate burger and I would definitely love to check them out again and try some of their specialty burgers.

Can anyone please tell me why the paragraphs above were all underlined and how to remove said underline? I am too lazy to figure it out, so sorry for the inconsistency. But I will leave you with this, if you are in LA it is worth finding one of the many food trucks that drive around the county. Just remember to have some cash on hand and to have your twitter account. To close I must share the cutest little dog ever that should leave you with a smile. My aunt's dog Gigi who was saved from an animal shelter. She had some teeth problems and had to have a few of them removed, thus her tongue is always hanging out of her mouth. Awwwww! Have a wonderful week!

My favorite holiday of the year has arrived! Happy Restaurant Week!

Oh Restaurant Week! How long I have waited for you? What is that? It's only been 4 months? Logistics friends, it has been too long since I have felt your sweet embrace.

Who doesn't love a good deal? Well that is what Restaurant Week is if you plan your meal strategically. I know I have stated the rules before but I think they should be repeated.

1. When looking at the list of participating restaurant on OpenTable sort that list by price and stick to the $$$$-$$$. The point is to go try a restaurant that you can't go to often, that is a splurge, an where you get the most bang for your $35.10.

2. Go check if the restaurant has a theatre or daily prefixe menu. If they do, pick someplace else. Having a prefixe menu all year makes it, well, readily available so go someplace where this is a special event.

3. Check out DCFoodies.com. They have past restaurant week menus online and great feedback on participating restaurants.

4. Most restaurants post Restaurant Week menus online so go check them out. If the restaurant pares down their menu then it is best to look elsewhere. I also like to check out the prices so I see what items I get the most out of. (people my life is on a budget! I want the most bang for my buck)

Now that that is out of the way let's talk about some food. I know that I am constantly extolling the virtues of DC and what a great city it is, but I am not completely against our neighbor suburbs: Silver Spring, Bethesda, Alexandria, and Arlington. So this time around we ventured into the dangerous land of NOVA into the area called "Ballston" to partake in a gastronomic adventure at Willow restaurant.

Willow describes itself as modern continental with major influences from French and Italian cuisine. One could definitely feel these influences in the food offerings preparation. Butter Poached Lobster Agnolotti were ravioli-like pillows stuffed with rich lobster swimming in a decadent pink sauce. What was amazing was to have such sizable pieces of lobster in each of the 3 agnolotti so you could truly taste and enjoy it. The dish was finished with Parmesan "chips" which were delicious. (see picture below)

As you can tell from the picture below, I did not enjoy this appetizer at all!

My friend had the mushroom bisque. A rich, creamy soup that was finished with creme fraiche and basil oil. I am afraid my pics are not doing the food justice but trust me, it was wonderful.

For my main course I had the crispy leg of duck with cassoulet. Anyone who knows me that I love duck and this fulfilled all of my ducky desires. The skin was crisp and rich, while the meat just fell off the bone and melted in your mouth. The cassoulet had sausage that is made in-house and was a little bowl of meat heaven. I thought the pile of greenery put on top was a bit much, but hey I understand the desire to add color to your presentation. I think that it was the only thing, beside the bone, left on my plate.

Finally, to round things off you must have dessert. Yes you are stuffed and could stop, but what would be the fun in that! Besides, we all know that the dessert part of our stomachs is always open and ready to accept sweet treats. And when your dessert is sticky toffee pudding with peppermint ice cream, well you would just be crazy to pass this up.

I wish you could see the fleck of green in the ice cream, but you'll just have to believe me. At this point I am in a food coma and nothing makes sense anymore. Everything has been so freakin' good that I am just content and warm with happy thoughts. It could also have been that wine pairing we did as well, which I would totally suggest. $15 for 3 glasses, that is seriously a steal and worth the extra splurge.

Willow Restaurant

4301 North Fairfax Drive

Arlington, VA 22203

Next up.....Venison Chili!

Dinner Parties and Brunch

This weekend I showed off my mad hostessing skills.  That's right...I have skills!  Mostly I just wanted to try out some recipes and needed people to be fatties with me.  Selfish, but also delicious.  So I think it is really a win-win situation.  Unfortunately I did not take any pics from Friday's get together which included such fun as carne asade (pre-marinated and packaged from the great Trader Joe's.  Or Trader Jose!)  I then made cilantro lime rice, spiced black beans, and corn pudding.  I know that corn pudding does not exactly go with the theme, but I had a ton of corn left over from last weekend's labor day festivities and wanted a recipe that would be fun and use up all of it.  Oh man people, was that corn pudding delicious.  Sweet and light with a bit of sinful cream to keep you coming back from more.  It will definitely be on the roster for Thanksgiving this year.

I did take pics of my amazing pizza I made on Saturday though!

As it was college football night, Go Trojans!  Fight On!, I wanted to make something fun and easy.  I know that pizza purists will send a hex on me, but I did not make my own dough.  I do not have the cajones yet to take on the task of making my own dough, but who really cares when the end result is the same.  Sausage, peppers, tomatoes, onion, cheese = savory, meaty goodness.  The pizza stone was a good investment and I cannot wait to try out some new crazy toppings.  As Fall is rolling in I feel that some pumpkin may take a run on the pizza with some goat cheese and basil.  I love that pizza has no limits and you can have an array of toppings as long as you have some imagination.  If you have any other crazy pizza ideas, shoot them my way.

Sunday I had a lovely brunch date with two of my girlfriends at Bistro Bis.  The bartender saw three girls who were ready for a Sunday Funday and decided to concoct us all kinds of different bubbly drinks.  And who was I to argue with him.  I just kept gulping them down with a huge buzzed smile on my face.  

The food was delicious as well. The tarte flambe was a bacon and onion tart that was salty and sweet and the duck hash was a rich duck confit with a red wine poached egg on top, which was decadent.   I wish I had better adjectives to use today but as we continued to drink most of the afternoon my vocabulary has been reduced to that of a child.  Actually my whole being is currently reduced to a child as I am currently craving a PB&J, and who am I to argue with that. So for now I will leave you to salivate over my photos and I will now go make a sandwich.  Have a wonderful week! 

Labor Day Weekend was a clusterf*** of activities!

Hello to my few, but devoted readers! I hope that everyone had a wonderful extended weekend and that the burden of returning to the weekly grind has not launched you into thoughts of throwing yourself off the nearest high rise. In DC this is actually more difficult to achieve as our buildings cannot block monuments and important buildings, but I'm sure the more creative people could figure something out.

Anyhoo, my weekend was fabulous and thank you for asking. I actually achieved a few things which is always exciting and makes me feel like maybe I contribute more to the human race besides carbon emissions. Here is a synopsis of my absolutuely fabulous life that you should be super jealous of! j/k

Saturday: Labor Day BBQ

Let me begin by saying that I did not sleep in on this past grogeous Saturday. As fall has already begun to encroach on us the last thing I wanted to do was stay in bed. I must be up and about so I can take advantage of every last minute of sunlight and warmth. Plus I had plans. Big plans. So I was up at 7 am and off to the supermarket to buy my weekly groceries and the ingredients for the best baked beans ever. Ummm...okay that is a bit if a lie. My dad makes some of the best baked beans you will ever taste. They are too die for and my mouth waters thinking about them. Still this recipe that I used from The Pioneer Woman c/o Pamanderson are a close second. Here is the first reason you know it will be good: Bacon. Sorry to offend all the vegetarians out there but bacon makes everything better. Sometimes I cannot believe that I did not eat bacon, red meat, or any type of pork products for 12 years. It was not for political reasons, but rather health reasons that I began my meaty hiatus. And once I cut out the meat it was just as easy to keep going with it. 12 years later I decided that the bacon smelled to good to be passed up and with that I was back in love with meat of all kinds. As simple as that. No epiphany of any kind just a craving that could no longer be ignored and with these beans you will not be able to ignore it either.

The second reason that this recipe is awesome is that it is super easy to make. There is no bean soaking (3 can of pork and beans), no complicated sauce (BBQ sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, and dijon that's it!), and you just simmer and bake and than you will have achieved........

My god that is beautiful! And it was an absolute hit at the BBQ, as you can tell, and tasted even better the next day after the beans had a chance to marinate in their love sauce over night. Here is a link to the recipe: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/08/the-best-baked-beans-ever/

Sunday: A bike ride sounds like a good idea!

Another beautiful day and what did I decide to do with it? Well I threw on some of those padded bike shorts and rode my bike from Captiol Hill to Dupont to Georgetown to the Mall and back to Capitol Hill. Why did I decide to put myself threw a grueling bike ride of hills, honking cabs, and tourists you may ask. Simply said: Jetties. And yes it is safe for you to assume that Jetties is a food spot that I had to check out after hearing about it from a friend. Don't judge me!

After making it up a long and steep hill on Reservoir Road in Georgetown (and this is after riding for a good hour non-stop) I turned to my left and saw it. Jetties was like my desert mirage as I stood there sweating through my diaper bike shorts, except this was not some sick mind game; it was real and so needed after the work out I had given myself. Jetties is a simple, no fuss place with picnic tables in the grass and sandwiches and salads that are simple yet quirky. And these are solid sandwiches with everything made onsite. You eat one and you are set. Unless you are me and have a bottomless pit for a stomach. But man oh man was that sandwich divine.

What you see above is the Sconset which is hummus, muenster cheese, sprouts, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers and avocado spread on multi-grain bread. Can you say delicious? I am so going back to try out something else, but will probably not involve the bike next time. :)

Monday: Damn you rain!

I guess Mother Nature decided that the last weekend of summer was too good to be true, and decided to throw a stick in the spokes. Rain and clouds shrouded DC in a bit of gloom which kept most Washingtonians at home for the better part of the day. I include myself in this group. My day was spent doing laundry, cleaning my kitchen, and reading My Life in France by Julia Child (awesome, by the way). My one accomplishment of the day was roasting my first butternut squash.

Hooray! Olive oil, salt and pepper was all that I added to this squshy beauty before throwing it in the oven for 40 min. I then used part of it in a salad of spinach, cranberries, goat cheese, and a red wine vinaigrette. I know....I'm good! Today I included some squash in my cous cous salad, and tomorrow I will finish the last of it though I'm not sure what I will do with it. I could always just keep it simple and not do anything to it, but will see. All I know is I see a lot of adventures with squash and pumpkin as Fall approaches. Good thing I like them so much!

This Friday I am hopefully having people over for dinner so I will be sure to give you the low down on the corn pudding I plan to try to make with my gargantuan bag of left over corn from our Labor Day BBQ. Until then, have a wonderful week.

It's Restaurant Week: Round 1

I would not be a good foodie if I did not participate in restaurant week.  I mean how else can I afford to go to some of these high class restaurants without a little help from restaurant week?  But first I have rules for this sacred holiday: 1) You pick restaurants that are in the $25 and above range.  What's the point if you can afford it on a regular basis. 2) Check out the menu early and compare it to the regular menu.  You want to order things that are on the more expensive side so you actually get your $35.09 worth.

With that said my first reservation for the week was Friday night at Hook, a Georgetown seafood establishment which believes in only serving seasonal and sustainable seafood.  That is something that I can support. I have wanted to go to this restaurant since it opened and out of the 2 reservations I made for restaurant week, this was the one I was most excited about.  Did it live up to all of my high expectations?  Did it provide a delicious meal and good service?  Yes & yes!  I would definitely return to Hook again and would say that of all the restaurants I have gone to for different restaurant weeks this was by far the best meal I have ever had.     

The first thing that I liked about Hook upon perusing the menu is that most of the regular items were put onto this prix fixe menu as well.  You will see so many restaurants take away their best items, dumb an entree down, or put it on there with an $5 charge to try it.  What is the fun in that?  And I think that this completely defies the purpose of restaurant week.  To Hook I say thank you for allowing the masses to try some of your best dishes without extra fees.  

I began my meal with the grilled calamari with a fennel/spring mix salad.  The portion was amazing.  4 (head an legs!) gorgeous squid was set before me with alight salad on the side.  I was actually amazed to see that the head of the squid still had their little rutters attached, as I had never seen one this way before.  The calamari were smoky and still had a satisfying chew to them that set my palette off into a happy dance.  I literally closed my eyes and may have even let out a little moan of satisfaction.  It was so simple and clean, and yet it set off a complex set of emotions of satisfaction, desire, and need.  To put it bluntly, this dish will turn you on! 

For my entree I had the bluefish with polenta, carrots, green beans, and pesto.  Bluefish is an oily, flaky white fish which played well against the simple unfussed sides.  No heavy sauces., which would have drowned out the richness of the fish, just a perfectly crispy salted skin with  the flesh of the fish giving away easily to my fork.  I have never thought of seafood as decadent, but this entree changed my mind on that. There were definitely contented sighs and affirmations of "I must come here again", because it was that good.

 Dessert was a rich chocolate pudding topped with whipped cream and chocolate hazelnut biscotti on the side.  I wanted to make my bed in that bowl!  Curl up next to one of those little chocolate balls inside and never let go!  It was a rich, but manageable portion size and man was it good.  The perfect ending to this meal that blew me out of the water.  Get it? Water? Seafood?  HAHAHA.....okay it may have been funnier in my head than it is written down.   

Hook:

3241 M St., NW

Washington DC, 20007 

202.625.4488 

Sidebar: Whenever I read about Hook I think of the movie with Robin Williams and start chanting "Where's the hook?!" and "Rufio!".  Although hook is in reference, in this case, to what is put on the end of a fishing pole. :)

Joe's Noodle House & a poached egg

This past Saturday I was in Frederick, MD for a meeting that the BF had to attend. Okay, so I will just say now that I am scared of the burbs'. Track housing, strip malls with nothing but TGIFriday's and McDonald's, kids running around willy nilly....these things bring chills down my spine. What can I say? I love the city environment, it's more my style. But since I was heading out to the MD burbs I decided we should make the most of it. So the plan was to see Frederick (check!), head to the Sugar Loaf Winery for a lil wine tasting (fail! winery lost power in a storm and could not do the tastings.), and then head to Rockville to return to a Chinese restaurant that changed all my assumptions of Chinese food (delicious, salivating, wish I could have more CHECK!).

This moment of self-discovery in what Chinese food can be happened last year at Joe's Noodle House. A friend took me there and I fell completely in love. I have never gone back because I lack a car and Joe's is not very metro accessible, so when I realized we would go through Rockville to return home I demanded a stop for some delicious Chinese food. And let me tell you, it only got better.

This is a place where 75% of the clientele is speaking some form of Chinese and are eating things that most Americans have never seen before, always a good sign. In this nondescript restaurant, where the sign only says noodle house below Chinese characters outside, you will find real Schezuan cooking where the number of chilies outnumber the protein content, savory pork dumplings, salty crispy shrimp that you eat with their shell and head still on , chicken gizzards, and oh the list goes on! This time around we had lamb Tibetan style with cumin, rice noodles Singapore style in Curry, pork dumplings, and a scallion pancake. To all that is holy.....Thank You! Spicy, savory, tongue tingling, want to keep eating when you know you should stop DELICIOUS. If you are ready to go beyond sweet and sour pork and orange chicken then you should take the time to come here. Not only is it great food, the prices are reasonable as well. All that food I just mentioned...under $30. Yes, we could have ordered less as it was two if us, but what is the fun in that. And there was plenty of leftovers that were just finished the other day which makes everyone happy.

Joe's Noodle House: 1488-C Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852-1414

Now I am going to take a moment to just toot my own little horn. I poached an egg! Woo-hoo! I know there are people out there who just don't see the big deal, that can poach blindfolded and with 7 eggs in the pot, and to you I say congrats; but for me, lowly beginner cook, this was a momentous feat. So maybe the first egg didn't work out, but the second one I slid into that pot turned into a floating white little orb that topped my dinner salad and brought me back to France. Okay, it was not quite as good as that salad in Lyon, but it brought those memories back to the surface and made me so very content and happy.