Restaurants - - Page 34

by tvff

To Please the Mouth

Is there anything better than getting an amuse-bouche?

You sit down at the table, order your drinks and menu items and kick back and relax, thinking that your best-case scenario would be some freshly-baked bread and olive oil for dipping. Then, much to your amazement, out comes a small plate of deliciousness prepared by the kitchen especially to whet your taste buds. And you didn’t even have to ask!

I bring this up because it happened twice in the past few weeks. Mrs. TVFF and I were out and about in Philadelphia, seeing the sights, when we were able to snag an early seat at Chifa, a popular Peruvian/Chinese tapas bar. After ordering our five plates, out came a bowl of bite-sized pastries and a small dish of spreadable topping…manchego puffs with spicy guava butter. It was a highlight of the dinner and the meal itself hadn’t even started yet.

Then, the following weekend, we decided to take it easy after splurging and headed out to our neighborhood Italian place. We’re used to getting the complimentary bread and salad, but we were presented with a plate of grilled vegetables — cauliflower, green beans, peppers and more. Mrs. TVFF hardly put a dent in her pasta, having enjoyed the various appetizers along the way.

Hell, getting anything for free is great. (OK…I know it’s priced into the cost of the overall meal, but don’t burst my bubble.) But there is something more to the amuse that elevates it above the other freebies like the fortune cookie or starlight mint…

in Restaurants 1 comments

by BS

Hot Carb-on-Carb Action in the Buff

It’s an unwritten rule of lunchtime that whatever food you’re eating should be somehow encased in a layer of bread or alternate form of carbohydrates. Yet despite the waning popularity of the Atkins diet, few establishments are bold enough to up the ante and serve lunch encased in two layers of said carbs. You wouldn’t wrap a quesadilla in a taco shell, throw a bagel sandwich on a sub roll, or stuff spaghetti inside a bread bowl. OK, well at least most of you wouldn’t do that last one.

Fortunately, Jamaicans (well, specifically the Jamaican Buff Patty lunch counter by my house in Brooklyn) observe no such standards of carbohydrate restraint. I was shocked/delighted to learn that their patties — which come with beef, veggies or jerk chicken inside — are not only surrounded by a crispy fried shell, but that shell is then wrapped inside a hefty hunk of coco bread. Insane? Genius? Both, I say. You get crispy carbs and doughy carbs in each and every bite. Now that’s what I call a lunch.

PS – this concoction costs a whopping $2.50 — cheapest lunch ever.

PPS – Yes, I went for a 5-mile run afterwards. No, I don’t think that burned off all the carbs I consumed.

by Russell Warnick

Burns My Bacon: An Open Letter to the Salt & Pepper Shaker Filler Upper

You know we always love a good rant here on ES, so it’s time to introduce our newest feature: Grinds My Gears Burns My Bacon.

As much as I love food, there are just so many little thing to complain about. Every time I go to a restaurant, deli, grocery store or coffee shop there is always something that’s just not right. It’s usually a simple thing that can be easily rectified but it persists, probably because no one has ever complained about it before. Not any more, people of ES. I’m not prepared to sit back any longer. This is a time that demands action. So, without further ado, here is your first Burns My Bacon:

in Rants & Raves / Restaurants 10 comments

by Maids

Time to Social-ize

Social’s savory spin on the traditional Louisiana pastry, the Beignet.

Brace yourselves people… I’m about to gush. Last Saturday I went to Social – a new D.C. restaurant located at the north end of Columbia Heights. Social is the first lounge-y, Dupontish-style joint to venture north of Columbia Road, but it thankfully forgoes the snooty downtown attitude in favor of warmly welcoming waitstaff and hosts, and a design that encourages you to stay and hang out all night (and get Social – get it?).

The service was superlative, the lounge-y setup is comfortable (think low lights, candles, comfy black couches and chairs, softly stuccoed walls, and plenty of cherry wood tables to rest your drinks and food upon), the drinks were fun and dangerously delicious, and the food … the food was incredible. Period.

The food is Creole/Cajun and Asian fusion inspired. This is a serious claim to make in my estimation – as much of my mother’s family hails from Louisiana. I get pissed when restaurants purport to be Creole or Creole-inspired and then fail to come through with the requisite creativity and spicy zestiness that typifies Creole cooking. But Social delivers creative menu items ranging from meatball pomodoro sliders (a large portion of which our group scarfed down in less than five minutes) to “Mud Bug” Beignets (the crawfish fritters, pictured above. Sometime ES blogger Edubs described these fritters as shredded and deliciously spiced crawfish goodness, surrounded by a lightly fried batter). Edubs also fully enjoyed snagging bites of her husband‘s Sonoran Mahi Mahi Tacos — corn tortillas filled with an unexpectedly intricate blend of southwestern, Mexican, and south pacific flavors – the crisp citrus tones of the grilled and marinated white fish were accented by jalapeño cabbage and mango salsa and were topped with tomato and garlic sauce.

The menu is organized in a really interesting fashion. It’s built to handle parties of varying sizes. You can order 3 different portion sizes, which was perfect for our birthday group, as we waxed and waned in size throughout the night.

More stories about gorging on cheftastic kitchen creations and dodging skeezey dudes after the jump…

in Cheese / Drinks / Restaurants / Veggie 9 comments

by broadandpattison

These Tacos Are Making Me Thirsty

So, I went to Mexico City. And I survived. And it all happened in Denver. Allow me to explain:

Mexico City is a Mexican restaurant in downtown Denver. They’re famous for their……FRIED TACOS. Don’t believe me? Check out their aptly named website.

The tacos are fried with the cheese embedded in the fried taco shell. In the taco: steak, lettuce, tomato and avocado (a nice touch). The issue with melting the cheese to the fried taco shell is that the distribution of the cheese is somewhat uneven.

Some bites provide cheesy, delicious explosions, while others are dominated by the steak and other toppings. This is why one member of our group exclaimed, “That’s why I order four—to maximize the amount of opportunities for a fried taco/cheese explosion party in my mouth.”

Touche.

in Cheese / Restaurants / Trends 9 comments

by ML

Death to the Hoagie Man

Maybe I’m watching more television these days (well, what else are you supposed to do after college anyway?) but commercials over the last year or two have gotten increasingly annoying. I know nobody can forget the Lenten McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish jingle (GIVE ME BACK THAT FILLET-O-FISH, GIVE ME THAT FISH…sorry), or the YouTube fan rap turned commercial advertising McNuggets (who ISN’T into McNuggets, y’all?). And you can’t tell me you haven’t been to Subway for a Five Doollllaaaa Footlong .

But this time, WaWa has crossed the line…

in Restaurants / Sandwich / TV 7 comments

by Russell Warnick

A Bazaar Duel

Editor’s Note: When I (this is gansie) was 12 my jazz dance recital class performed to Paula Abdul’s Opposites Attract. At the time I thought it was the silliest thing I ever heard: how could two people that didn’t agree on a majority of issues actually like each other. Turns out almost every couple I know are comprised of fairly dissimilar people. Same is true for Britannia and his love-thang. Brit will experiment with rare ingredients; his boy doesn’t even like bananas. Here’s their he vs. he take on one of the most innovative and popular restaurants in the country.

On my not-so-recent trip to LA I decided to pay a visit to a not-so-new-restaurant, The Bazaar by José Andrés at the SLS Beverly Hills. The Bazaar’s food concept is similar to that of minibar in DC: adventurous meals in one bite. I was too impatient to wait for a reservation at minibar so I figured jumping on a plane was the easiest thing to do, natch.

The LA Times 4-star-rated Bazaar is an Alice in Wonderland of sorts, the décor is ostentatious and the furniture is playful. Exactly what is needed when one eats food from Andrés. Upon entering the restaurant you are greeted by Bar Centro, a place where the drinks are as simple as a Dry Martini or unusual as a Nitro Raspberry Daiquiri, which was worth every penny (how many pennies are in $20?)

For dinner there’s a choice of dining in one of two rooms, Rojo or Blanco, one room steeped in traditional Spanish flair or one of white drapes, white chairs and white tables. I have poor taste so I opted for the latter.

There were four of us dining, two friends from LA and my better half (Deej). If you are a regular reader to ES you will know that my other half is not so easy to please when it comes to his palette. Despite this we tried the Seven Wave tasting menu.

Here is my take and my bf’s barely clothed hatred take on our experience. And whatever Mr. Picky has to say, do know that the meal was a lot more expansive than we had anticipated and certainly worth the money.

in Desserts / Rants & Raves / Restaurants / Sandwich 11 comments