DMV Dining

Rachel and I had never tried Korean barbecue before, so when we saw a LivingSocial deal for the renowned Honey Pig last month, we were instantly swayed. We drove out to Annandale with our friend Betsy to finally see what all the buzz was about.

When we arrived, the place was full to the brim, parking lot inclusive. With K-pop music blaring and colorful menus affixed to the tin walls, brace yourself for sensory overload once you step inside. It certainly brings its own authentic charm to the restaurant as we have never encountered a dining environment like this before. Oh, and they’re open 24 hours a day.

Our wait was only 15 minutes or so, and then we were seated to our table – complete with portable butane grill. Our waitress introduced herself and then handed us a multitude of small plates (banchan) which ranged from kimchi to seaweed to apple & raisin salad.

After looking over the menu, we started off with the seafood pancake. Unlike the rest of the meal, this was the only dish that was prepared in the kitchen. Regardless whether it was cooked right in front of us or in the back, it was a terrific appetizer. The pancake was crispy on the outside but not too greasy. The mixture of shrimp, squid, scallions and carrots was very satisfying while the value was even better – the portion was tremendous for $6.99.

For our entrees, we went with the marinated short ribs, bulgogi, and of course, the pork belly. Our server started cooking away right in front of us, with oil splattering just inches from my face. The short ribs (kalbi) were sweet and savory and I really enjoyed dipping them into the sauce it came with.

The bulgogi (seasoned tender beef) was tender, but incorporating some of the lettuce and garlic helped bring out some more of the flavor. The pork belly (samgyupsal) might have been the blandest of the meats, but that may have been due to the fact that it was overcooked. It was the last meat to be served, but I think our waitress simply forgot about taking it off the grill while we were enjoying our other plates. By the time it was served, it was dry and lacking some flavor. I did however enjoy the kimchi, bean sprouts, and onion mixture that was served with the pork belly.

The service wasn’t the greatest as our waitress/chef was bouncing from table to table, not to mention the aforementioned pork belly oversight. But the price was right, especially with the LivingSocial discount. There were plenty of leftovers between the three of us, but after sharing three different plates of meat, it was hard to look at any sort of protein for a few days. On top of that, you’ll want to air out your clothes as they will instantly reek of Korean barbecue. I would have washed them when I got home, but I was pretty much in a comatose state after ingesting too much meat.

A couple of weeks ago, we went to New York City for the weekend to celebrate our second wedding anniversary. Why NYC, you ask? Well, we wanted to be tourists for a change. Seeing as how we have friends and relatives around the area, we have never stayed in Manhattan, at a hotel, just the two of us. Instead of trying to make the last bus to Jersey or catching a late train back to Queens, we were on our own schedule, absorbing the sights and sounds of the Big Apple like we had never visited before. We saw a show on Broadway (Memphis – which was outstanding), walked the entire length of the High Line, and frolicked around Central Park… the whole nine yards.

And then of course, there was the food. I surprised Rachel that Saturday night with dinner at one of the city’s top restaurants – Eleven Madison Park. One of the toughest tables in NYC, their reservation system is very similar to that of Minibar: you can only make a reservation exactly 30 days to the date starting at 9am (Jose Andres’ phone line opens an hour later, but I digress).

However, Eleven Madison Park also takes reservations not only by phone but also via OpenTable, which made things a lot easier. While vigorously pressing the F5 key, I grabbed whatever slot was available. As soon as the clock struck 9, a 6:15pm table for two soon showed up. I clicked, and it was booked. Certainly beats hitting the redial button 100 times. Patting myself on the back, I had to keep our reservation a secret for an entire month.

Fast forward to March 3rd. We grab a cab from the hotel and make our way down towards Madison Square Park. Rachel still has no idea where we’re going, and when we arrive, she admits she has never heard of it before. Nonetheless, the friendly host greets us at the door, takes our coats, and congratulates us on our anniversary while showing us to our table.

The sommelier then comes over and hands me their wine list while providing Rachel a menu of “soft cocktails”. You see, Rachel is… well, you guessed it (surprise!), and I gave the restaurant a heads-up when I originally made the reservation. We were already wowed by the service with that gesture, and we hadn’t even ordered anything yet.

Then comes their fascinating menu concept – the meal is set up as a four-course tasting menu, but the menu lists 16 main ingredients arranged in four rows of four. Diners choose one main ingredient from each row which represents that course, and each dish revolves around said ingredient. For example, the first row had a choice of hamachi, octopus, fois gras, and sunchoke. Needless to say, but we have never seen anything like this before. No descriptions, just the name of the ingredient.

And despite that the menu lists only four courses, the restaurant also provides an array of amuse bouches and small plates along the way. For instance, the meal started out with the kitchen’s take on a New York staple, the black and white cookie, served in a wrapped box. This rendition, however, was savory and comprised of parmesan and black truffle. From there on out, we knew we were in for a memorable evening.

We then received a cup of smoked apple-thyme tea accompanied with a sunny side up quail egg on toasted brioche with applewood smoked bacon.

Our next amuse bouche was a mackerel and scallop crudo. Unfortunately for Rachel, she was unable to have it since she obviously has to avoid raw fish, but the waitress was very accommodating and offered to bring her a cooked version of it. She returned with a new plate within a matter of minutes, leaving Rachel and I very much impressed by the outstanding service.

Our fourth and final amuse was perhaps the most impressive – frozen Greek yogurt lollipops with curried lentils, as well as a plate of panisse (chickpea fritters) with yogurt. Yes you read that correctly, frozen Greek yogurt lollipops!

We were then served a pair of their croissant rolls, which were accompanied by fresh cow’s milk and goat’s milk butter. The goat’s milk butter was irresistible as we both kept spreading it across the warm, flaky rolls. They reminded us of the ones you can find at Fiola.

After a wonderful array of small plates, we then began our first course. Rachel ordered the octopus, which was poached and prepared with chorizo, onions, and lemon.

I went with the hamachi, which was marinated with horseradish and peppercress. It was a lovely piece of yellowtail.

For our second course, Rachel ordered the lobster. The beautifully presented plate featured poached knuckle and claw meat with Meyer lemon beurre blanc and was accompanied with charred leek, leek puree, charred bay leaf, and dehydrated squid ink. The lobster was impeccably poached in the lemon sauce and each bite was heavenly. Amazingly, the charred bay leaf had the flavor of toasted bread.

I, on the other hand, decided to be a little adventurous and opted with… a vegetable? Seeing as how I typically stick to proteins, I’m very much a fan of potatoes and felt that the kitchen could wow me with such a simple ingredient. The plate featured several smoked miniature potatoes on a bed of potato puree, topped with bacon crumbles and black truffle shavings. It was good, but I was definitely eyeing Rachel’s lobster for a good duration.

It was then onto our main course. Rachel ordered the rabbit, which was prepared two ways: loin wrapped in pancetta, and rabbit rillette. It was accompanied with mustard seed au jus, endive, and fried tapioca balls. Now Rachel isn’t one to normally order something like rabbit, but she thought she’d try something different, and it was certainly of the most unique dishes she had.

I ordered the beef, which turned out to be a 55-day dry aged rib eye. It was an exceptional piece of steak, prepared medium-rare and delightfully tender. Lightly drizzled with sorrel sauce and served with picked mushrooms, it wasn’t the largest cut of beef but it was satisfying nonetheless.

Just when it couldn’t get any better, our next course was the restaurant’s take on another New York classic — egg cream. Prepared tableside, our waitress mixed whole milk infused with cacao nibs, orange syrup, and seltzer poured from a classic soda siphon. We loved every second of it.

Then came the deconstructed New York cheesecake. Prepared with goat cheese and situated in a glass with blood orange sorbet while topped with vanilla “snow”, this dessert was simple divine. Oh, and we hadn’t even got to our actual dessert course yet.

Speaking of which, that came next. I ordered the chocolate dessert, which was a combination of sweet and salty. It featured crunchy mounds of chocolate atop of layer of crème, lightly drizzled with olive oil.

Rachel went with their renowned “milk and honey” dessert, which featured milk sorbet with a honey center, dehydrated milk foam, and milk snow.

Our waitress soon came by pouring me a glass of cognac, leaving the bottle at the table in case I wanted to refill it. Yeah, they left us alone with the entire bottle! The restaurant was probably fortunate in that I’m not a huge fan of cognac, so the bottle was left untouched, but still, that’s one incredible gesture. And of course they one-upped themselves by serving Rachel a glass of sparkling cider so she wouldn’t feel left out.

And to top things off, the meal ultimately concluded with black and white cookies, but this time they were actually sweet, prepared with vanilla, chocolate, and lemon. A fitting end to a fabulous meal.

Just when we thought we were done, they not only handed us a jar of granola to take home for breakfast, but also gave us a box of chocolates with a “Happy Anniversary” insert placed inside. Talk about leaving your customers with an everlasting impression. Chef Daniel Humm even stopped by our table to say hello. The staff at Eleven Madison Park went above and beyond and truly made our anniversary a memorable one. If you’re ever in the city for a special occasion, Eleven Madison Park is highly recommended.

Rachel and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary last week, so what better way to honor the occasion than by, you guessed it, going out to dinner? We headed out to BLT Steak as our friend had given us a gift card as a wedding present for said restaurant and felt that it was an opportune time to finally use it.

We started the evening off by splitting a sparking wine flight of prosecco, rose, and champagne between the two of us. Soon after, we received a plate of crusty bread with chicken pate. The pate had some excellent consistency and certainly beats your typical spread of butter.

Then the restaurant’s trademark item arrived — their popovers. We have heard the stories and seen the images, but yeah, I’ll let the below shot speak for itself.

Piping hot, I nearly singed my fingers trying to crack open this mammoth piece of bread. But the pain was worth the reward once I pried inside and started tearing away pieces. Warm and soft, the restaurant even provides you with a recipe so you can try to make them at home.

We decided to split their Caesar salad for our first course, and it’s a good thing we did since the portion is large enough to share between two people. It was a unique presentation in that it is served with two giant croutons that you breakdown into smaller pieces. We also liked the fact that it wasn’t drenched in dressing yet wasn’t dry enough where you needed to ask for extra.

Following in the tradition of our previous courses, Rachel and I decided to share their 12 ounce filet for our entree. Rachel preferred a medium temperature while I wanted mine medium-rare, so BLT was able to accommodate both of our requests by indicating as such when the steak arrived.  You also have your choice of sauce to accompany the steak, so we went with the béarnaise and peppercorn (our waitress was kind enough to let us try both).

The steak was excellently cooked as it had a subtle amount of char on the outside but melted in your mouth once you took a bite. It’s as simple as it gets – a dash of salt and pepper, then seared to perfection. I was very impressed by the tenderness as well as the flavor.

As for sides, we ordered the caramelized brussel sprouts with bacon lardons and truffle mashed potatoes. While we enjoyed the former, the latter was the more memorable of the two. Not to make such a bold statement, but these were some of the best mashed potatoes we have ever had. Creamy and buttery, we were savoring each bite until the bowl was scraped clean.

BLT Steak proved to be a great place to celebrate our anniversary in DC. And while we also celebrated in New York as part of a weekend getaway, the write-up on that extraordinary dinner will have to wait until next week.  Stay tuned…

In early March, Brett and I had a wonderful weekend in New York City to celebrate our second wedding anniversary. We had some amazing food (more on that to come), but I thought I’d start our trip recap with one of the more casual and fun places that we went to. We were looking for a place to go for brunch on Saturday that was near our hotel, affordable, and had a good number of options to choose from. Our friends suggested 9 Restaurant NYC in Hell’s Kitchen, so off we went.

Upon checking in on FourSquare, Brett noticed a deal for a free glass of sangria (score!). Not a bad way to start our morning. Looking over the menu, several items sounded appealing, but the one I kept coming back to and couldn’t resist was dubbed The King French Toast. It was essentially a large piece of French toast topped with peanut butter, banana, maple syrup, and bacon. Just what Elvis would have ordered. I couldn’t resist trying it, partly out of curiosity and but also because I love the combination of peanut butter and bananas. Plus, bacon and maple syrup could only make it better!

Well, let’s just say I made the right choice since Brett and our friends were eying my meal and looking rather envious that they hadn’t ordered it as well. When it arrived, the French toast looked more like a piece of cake than its traditional appearance as it was one very tall piece of bread. Also, the way the bacon was assembled on top made it look like a crown fit for a king. Once I broke into it and ate it all together, all the ingredients added up to a perfect bite.

Brett ordered the seared eggs and short rib mushroom hash. While it wasn’t a bad dish, it could not hold a candle to the Wagyu corned beef hash he had at Bluestem in Kansas City last fall. 9’s rendition was more on the bland side and was lacking flavor. Again, if it wasn’t for Bluestem’s excellent preparation, he probably would have enjoyed this dish more.

While I admit that I was skeptical at first, The King French Toast at 9 is definitely an amazing dish that I would recommend the next time you’re in New York and looking for a good brunch spot. I was happy with my choice and it reminded me to be more adventurous when eating out and to not always go with standard eggs and potatoes fare. I’m fairly certain the “create your own omelet” would not have been nearly as fun as my breakfast that morning.

Last month, Rachel and I finally ventured out to Johnny Monis’ latest effort, Little Serow. Located in an English basement below his outstanding restaurant Komi, Little Serow could not be more different than what presides upstairs.

Featuring Issan, a regionalized cuisine found in northeastern Thailand, dinner is served family-style at $45 per person. Little Serow does not take reservations; it’s first-come first-serve, and with a small dining room, expect to wait. Oh, and just like Komi, photos are prohibited (sorry, readers!).

We decided to go on a Wednesday, and when we arrived at 6:15, we were told it would be an hour and a half. We killed some time over at nearby Agora over a few glasses of wine before the hostess texted us informing that our table was now ready. Talk about accuracy, it was precisely an hour and a half when we got the text.

Once you walk into the space, it does not feel like DC at all. And that’s not a bad thing. With its mint green walls and the Black Keys playing on the PA system, this isn’t your typical Thai restaurant. The friendly, inviting staff wants to ensure that your dinner is a memorable one. It’s always refreshing when your waitress not only has a personality, but also enjoys the atmosphere and sounds interested in what the chef is cooking. It’s rather infectious.

Oh yes, the food. We started with gluray tort – a duck liver and shrimp paste accompanied with fried plantains and pork rinds. Dipping the crispy pork rinds into the pate was one of the more interesting ways we have ever started a meal, but we all really enjoyed it.

Up next was ma hor, a gorgeous concoction of sweet and crunchy with ingredients ranging from fried catfish to eggplant to pineapple. Topped with dried shrimp, this was one of our favorite dishes of the evening. Just a wonderful array of flavors.

Soon after came om gabi baan, a green curry featuring at least four jumbo shrimp per bowl (this was the only dish served individually as opposed to family-style). If you’re a fan of bold flavors, this is right down your alley. The curry proved to be a little too strong for both Rachel and I as we tried to turn it down a notch with some sticky rice.

The next course was gai thiang kheun, perhaps the spiciest dish of the night. Featuring chicken, sawtooth, and shallots, it’s best to use the accompanying basket of vegetables to dull the heat. Wrapping the chicken in the lettuce was encouraged by our waitress, but given my impatience I went right for the dish which set my mouth ablaze. Not that I minded it that much.

Up next was nam tok tow hu. I never thought I would actually enjoy eating tofu, but Chef Monis did an amazing job here. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this dish. Prepared with mint, rice power, and peanuts, the tofu was crisp and spicy.

Our next course was easily my favorite of the entire evening. The ped grapao featured shredded duck, noodles, and basil and was topped with a sunny-side-up duck egg. It was like a Thai variation of corned beef hash, though I would much prefer Monis’ version on a Sunday morning any day of the week.

If the duck wasn’t savory enough, the short ribs easily tipped the scales. The si krong muu was simply decadent. The braised pork, glazed with Mekhong whiskey, was crisp on the outside but fell off the bone with little effort. The meat was beautifully tender, but we were so full from our prior courses that we had some difficulty finishing all four of them. You could even extract some marrow from the bones which was a nice bonus.

Our final course was a plate of coconut cream sticky rice, a light, mildly sweet dessert which capped off a simply fabulous meal.

Just like Komi, Little Serow’s service was exceptional. Their staff really knows how to treat its customers and made us feel welcome in their basement bistro. And for $45, you certainly get your money’s worth. If you are ever looking for a completely different dining experience that is just as rewarding, Little Serow is a fantastic choice.