DMV Dining

While we have dined at Bethesda’s Mon Ami Gabi several times in the past, this was our first time eating brunch at the French bistro.

We had some friends in town and thought it would be a great place for brunch choice given the reasonable prices and expansive menu selections.

Even though the entrees on the menu sounded appetizing, I ordered one of the daily specials instead.

The restaurant offered an open-faced duck confit sandwich served on a slice of toasted brioche, greens, bleu cheese spread, and a side of frites. Combined with the fact that it was only $9.95, I was sold.

The sandwich was as delicious as it was described. The duck was succulent and really worked-well with the “open-faced” presentation.

The only thing I was not prepared for, however, was the overflowing cone of frites. It was clearly quantity over quality as I have had much better frites at other establishments, but that of course clearly did not keep me from shamefully finishing the entire portion.

Rachel ordered the Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon. She likes to have the Hollandaise sauce on the side to dip, and usually asks for the eggs to be poached well so that they don’t run. The waiter took note of both requests and said, “No problem.”

However, there was a problem. When everyone’s food arrived, it was evident that both requests were ignored, prompting Rachel to request a new dish.

The waitress profusely apologized and said that they would bring her another one right away. She didn’t mind waiting, but there is always that awkward time when one person is missing their food while no one else knows what to do because they want to be polite despite their food getting cold.

Rachel kept insisting to our friends that they go ahead and not wait for her, but it is honestly never fun when that sort of situation occurs. Fortunately, the new dish didn’t take too long to come out of the kitchen, and she was happy with the result.

Overall, we were very pleased with Mon Ami. Outside of Rachel’s Eggs Benedict snafu, the food and service was great. The waitress truly seemed apologetic regarding the error and continuously made sure that our waters and coffees were refilled. It’s definitely one of the better brunch spots in Bethesda, especially given the reasonable prices.

We have been meaning to dine at Estadio for months now, and since there is always a wait on most evenings, on top of not of the fact that they do not take reservations for parties of six or less after 6pm, we thought Christmas Eve would be an opportune time to finally have dinner at the Logan Circle venue.

We arrived at the restaurant around 7pm and were joined by our friends Randi and Mike. Because of the holiday, we had no problem landing a table, not to mention a great parking spot!

Mike had recommended we start the night off with some of the Pintxos, skewered selections that were basically hor d’oeuvres. The chorizo, manchego and pistachio crusted quince was a delicious bite but it was the jamon-wrapped fig with bleu cheese that really stood out. It was so good that we had to order two more!

Since we ordered so many plates between the four of us that, giving a brief rundown on each would be the most efficient way to breakdown our meal:

Patatas Bravas: Simply delicious. The rich tomato garlic sauce was not too overpowering while the potatoes were cooked perfectly. I could have eaten another plate just by myself.

Roasted Wild Mushrooms, Parsley, Garlic: Another excellent vegetable dish. Flawless execution. Seasoned with garlic and parsley, these demonstrated how you serve mushrooms.

Scallops, Roasted Cauliflower & Salbitxada: I don’t know what was better – the impeccably cooked scallops or the accompany cauliflower! I think the scallops rivaled those found at Corduroy, but the tasty Salbitxada sauce gives Estadio the nudge. We asked the waiter if the kitchen could provide the cauliflower as a side, and the chef obliged! The waiter said it best: “Only because it’s Christmas…”

Sautéed Shrimp, Garlic, Parsley & Lemon: The shrimp was good but probably my least favorite dish of the night. The garlic was far too intense and completely masked the shrimp’s flavor. The sauce made for an excellent dip to the bread, however.

Grilled Octopus, Potato Caper Salad, Pimenton: Some of the best octopus we have had, and we were in Greece six months ago! Between the charred flavor and Pimenton seasoning, Estadio hit it out of the park with this plate.

Sherry Glazed Black Cod, Smoky Romesco: Incredible. Cooked to perfection. Melted in your mouth. Need I say more?

Spice Grilled Chicken, Cabbage Slaw, Rice, Salsa Loca: Our final dish of the night. There were a lot of components to this plate between the dark-meat chicken, cabbage, rice, and salsa. The chicken, however, tasted great and while it wasn’t my favorite item by any means, it was certainly one of the most creative.

Overall, Estadio was fantastic. It never felt like the kitchen/waitstaff was bombarding you with plates, something we have encountered at similar venues such as at Jaleo, while the service was cordial and pleasant.

I can see why there is always a wait for this place: it’s one of the best tapas restaurants in the entire District. Special thanks to Don Rockwell for the recommendation!

Rachel and I were in Los Angeles following Rachel’s annual meeting in Anaheim a few weeks ago. Of course, we had our fair share of California cuisine, but we closed out the weekend with dinner at one of the country’s greatest fast-food chains

You see, it’s not a West Coast trip without going to the legendary In-N-Out Burger.

This was Rachel’s first experience with In-N-Out, so I took over ordering responsibilities to ensure she had a great meal as a first-timer.

I ordered two hamburgers, Animal Style of course, fries, and a soda. Total? $6.80. God Bless America.

For those not familiar with In-N-Out, they have a “secret menu” where you can customize what’s traditionally offered at the restaurant.

Animal Style burgers come with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, grilled onions, and extra spread. The best part, however, are the patties that are cooked with mustard in them. Simply delicious.

As for Rachel’s reaction? Well, she immediately agreed how awesome everything tasted.

While the fries are not as good as McDonalds’ (let’s face it, they set the benchmark in french fries), In-N-Out’s burgers are tremendously superior to the patties served up at Five Guys (the closest thing we have seen to an In-N-Out on the east coast).

While DC has run rampant with burger chains, In-N-Out is still one of the country’s very best.

It’s that time of year again, DC!

Restaurant Week will be held Monday, January 17 through Sunday, January 23. Prix-fixe menus will be priced at $20.10 for lunch and $35.10 for dinner.

Notable restaurants include Blue Duck Tavern, Rasika, Ris, and J&G Steakhouse.

Reservations can be made through OpenTable or by directly calling the restaurant.

You can rest assured we’ll cover a meal or seven come the third week of January.

A few weeks back, we mentioned some new restaurants opening in Bethesda, one of which was Annie’s Bistro Francais on St. Elmo Avenue. My coworkers and I were looking for a lunch option with some good soups, and I had been meaning to try this place for awhile, so off to the “other side of Bethesda” we went.

Annie’s is a fairly small space, and it wasn’t crowded when we arrived. The menu was fairly simple and consisted mostly of sandwiches, salads, and some daily homemade soups. I had a hard time deciding which to try, so I opted for the small house salad and the roasted tomato soup.

The soup was simply made with tomatoes and water blended with fresh herbs and spices, and there was no dairy in it. It was the perfect soup for a late fall day, and the small salad was more than big enough to complement the soup. They also served the meal with fresh bread, and it was a nice touch to have a large bottle of water on the table to refill our glasses if needed.

My coworkers chose a heartier soup and some sandwiches, which they said were delicious as well. If the space was a little closer to the office, I could see us going there all the time.

It looks like they are planning to serve alcohol there at some point, but as of now, they don’t have their liquor license yet. It appears that they are only open for lunch at this point and will begin serving dinner at a later date.

If we have any recommendation for Annie’s, it would be to have a legitimate website so customers can easily find the place and menu. As of now, the only information about Annie’s comes from a few reviews on Yelp and a Facebook page that is sparsely updated.

We hope a small new eatery like this survives the dizzying Bethesda restaurant scene, and will be going back soon to see how it develops.

It seems Bethesda has lately become a revolving door for restaurants. After a flurry of new restaurant openings in late summer and early fall, it had seemed that things cooled off a bit as Bethesda residents were busy trying out the new arrivals.

Well, it looks like new spots are on the horizon as we head towards 2011.

We already told you about Cava Grill, and it seems the place is coming along quite nicely and should open as planned by the end of December.

In other news on the Bethesda Row side, it looks like Rock Creek is closing its doors on December 31st to make way for a new restaurant, Newton’s Table.

Dennis Friedman, the former chef at Bezu in Rockville, will take over the space and hopes to reopen in March 2011 offering American food with an Asian twist while focusing on farm fresh ingredients. Thanks to BethesdaPatch for the heads up!

Friedman can also be seen on Sundays at the Bethesda Central Farmers Market serving woodfire pizza from his food truck, Fired Up Pizzas, so he already has a relationship with local farmers.

Moving to the Woodmont Triangle area, it looks like Grapeseed chef Jeff Heineman is opening a casual eatery next door to his formal restaurant, Freddie’s Lobster and Clams.

It will be a seafood shack serving food such as lobster rolls, clams, and fish and chips. This seems like a great new addition of a more casual dining establishment, and I can always go for more lobster roll options! Heineman plans to open by the end of the year. Thanks to Table Talk for the tip.

In another scoop from Table Talk, Jetties, a sandwich and salad eatery, will open in the Spring of 2011 on Fairmont Avenue next to BGR. There is already a location in Northwest DC on Foxhall Road, and they are known best for their carved turkey sandwiches.

I’m always glad when a new sandwich and salad place opens, since there never seems to be quite enough options around lunch time aside from old standbys like Sweetgreen, Potbelly, and of course, the new Taylor Deli.

Check back for updates as these new spots get ready to open, and for other breaking restaurant news.

For our final day in New Orleans we knew we had to go out with a bang, so we decided to treat ourselves to the Jazz Brunch at the renowned Commander’s Palace.

Know for its alumni of famous chefs and southern hospitality, Commander’s Palace was located in the heart of the Garden District and fit in right in along the stunning mansions found on the neighboring streets.

We were seated in one of the restaurant’s dining rooms, but not before cutting through the kitchen in order to get there. Each of the tables had several balloons as a centerpiece while a jazz trio was making its rounds around the room, taking requests from diners. It was quite a scene to say the least.

We started the morning off with some cocktails. This was brunch, after all.

I ordered the Adelaide Swizzle (rum, lime juice, bitters, soda water) while Rachel went with her go-to, the ol’ Bloody Mary. This time, however, the vodka was freshly poured into her glass from a bottle of Finlandia that was enclosed in an ice block!

Our waiter delivered our drinks then served us a basket of their complimentary garlic bread. It was delicious, but that could be because it was drenched in butter. Nonetheless, we went through it rather quickly, and, unsurprising, I asked for seconds. Shocking, I know.

Their brunch is a three course format where the price depends on what entree you order. You also have a choice of an appetizer or soup and dessert.

I kicked the meal off with their signature turtle soup after asking for the waiter’s recommendation. Once it was served, the waiter took a bottle of sherry and poured some in the bowl in the shape of a heart. Nice touch.

The soup turned out to be an excellent choice as the tomato base was rich and hearty while the pieces of turtle (and pork, as the waiter described before ordering it) really added to the overall texture. It was almost like a bisque, and I would not hesitate to order it again if I’m ever back in town.

Rachel decided to get poached oysters in a champagne cream sauce topped with caviar. She had been talking about getting oysters during the whole trip, and we never quite made it to ACME Oyster House, so this seemed like her last opportunity in NOLA to get some.

The dish was very different from what she had anticipated as the sauce was a little heavy, but the oysters were huge and unlike anything she had ever tasted. They were so plump that you could eat them with a knife and fork. Considering that she was expecting something more like traditional oysters, she might have ordered something else if the dish was described to her a little better.

For the main course, I ordered the Harris Ranch beef tips with poached eggs and grits. I hate to say it but I was honestly disappointed with the entree. It was not anything special as the beef did not necessarily stand out. In fact, it tasted rather bland and could have used some more seasoning. The grits were decent but the overall presentation really missed the mark.

I’ve seen poached eggs served a handful of times, but in this particular occasion, one of the eggs was already severed with the yolk running into the beef and grits below. Considering the elegant presentation of our first courses, it was kind of surprising to notice this gaffe.

Rachel’s entree was a crawfish, crab, and seafood courtboullion served with two poached eggs and cakes of goat cheese grits underneath. She asked for the hollandaise sauce on the side, which was probably a good idea since it was easily one of the richest breakfast dishes she’s ever had.

The combination of the eggs on the grit cakes with the seafood broth and various types of shellfish made each bite incredibly decadent. If she wasn’t already fairly full from the appetizer and garlic bread, she would have easily cleaned her plate, but the whole dish was just too much to handle. I helped a little but I was so full myself.

I concluded the meal with another southern staple, pecan pie. Commander’s Palace certainly redeemed themselves with this dessert. Between the accompanying vanilla bean ice cream, caramel sauce, and candied pecans draped atop, it was a delicious ending to a very filling brunch.

Rachel decided to go with the dish Commander’s Palace is best known for, and got the Creole bread pudding soufflé, served table side with a whiskey sauce. It had familiar flavors of a bread pudding, but it was so light and airy that it was almost hollow when she dug into it. She was definitely glad she had the opportunity to try it, but wasn’t so sure if it was worth the three dollar up-charge.

While Commander’s Palace is described as one of the places you must visit while in New Orleans, it may have been one meal too many, as we were beyond full by the time we were ready to head to the airport. Let’s just say we didn’t need to eat dinner that night.

After spending the first day or so in the French Quarter, we had the opportunity to walk around the Garden District on Saturday. We could not have asked for better weather while passing by all the historic mansions on our way to lunch.

We had made reservations at Coquette after reading such glowing reviews about the restaurant both on the Interwebs  (I diligently do my research, as you can tell). They also featured a prix fixe lunch menu which included three courses for $20.

The drink list reminded me of something you would see at PS 7’s or The Passenger as Coquette is well renowned for its excellent cocktails.

I ordered the Coquette Collins which featured bourbon, Pimm’s, Cherry Herring, lemon, and soda. It was so clean and refreshing given how warm it was outside.

Rachel went for the traditional Bloody Mary which was made with house-infused black pepper vodka. She remarked how it was one of the best she has ever had, and after I had a sip, I could not agree more, and I don’t even like Bloody Marys!

I started the meal off with the Burrata appetizer. Severed atop pieces of crostini and layered with roasted tomatoes, the burrata and its creamy texture really worked well with the rest of the ingredients. The cheese had a mild flavor, which was perfectly fine with me as I am not the biggest fan of strong cheeses, while the tomatoes were simply savory. It was quite the enjoyable first course.

For the entrée, I opted for the Cochon de Lait, another one of New Orleans’ specialties. After tasting the first bite, I could see why.

The dish’s main component is the suckling pig that is marinated and then pit-roasted. The presentation made it appear like a variation of pulled pork, but regardless of how it looked, it was simply fantastic. Accompanied with pepperonata, fingerling potatoes, and pork jus, the tenderness of the pork combined with the well thought-out seasonings made this one of my favorite dishes of the entire trip.

Rachel ordered the drum fish since, after hearing about it at NOLA the night before, she wanted to try a local, regional fish.  The filet was served over a mushroom broth with some pieces of smoked ham and leeks. Much to her delight, it was moist and not too heavy for a lunch meal.

As for dessert, I ordered the beignets with chocolate coffee pot de crème. The beignets were light and fluffy, but the pot de crème might have stolen the spotlight from its fried counterparts. Between being not too heavy and possessing such a fresh, potent chocolate flavor, this item could have been served by itself. Not that the beignets weren’t bad, but I preferred the ones we had the night before at Café du Monde instead.

Dinner, on the other hand, would be much more casual that night.

As stated before, I am a big Maryland fan, and since they were playing Florida State in a rather important matchup, I wanted to find a decent place to watch it as well as enjoy some good Louisianan bar fare.

I recalled walking past a place called Tracey’s in the Garden District when we were heading over to Coquette earlier in the day, and the place was jam-packed with LSU fans who were watching the Tigers take on Ole Miss.

Turns out that it is a rather popular sports bar (used to be named Parasol’s), and since it appeared like more of a local hangout as opposed to tourist central on Bourbon Street, it was right down our alley.

First off, I was in love with their beer selection. Three dollars for Abita bottles? That alone won me over.

The restaurant didn’t really have waiter service per se, but instead you just went up to the kitchen and ordered your food off of the blackboard menu hanging on the wall. While I was scrolling through my list of options, there I saw it: roast beef po-boy.

Rachel and I split a sandwich knowing it would be huge as well as ordered a side of gravy fries, because, well, they’re gravy fries.

We had no idea, however, how good the roast beef po-boy would actually be.

Now, I despise mayonnaise on my sandwiches, burgers, you name it. I didn’t realize the po-boy came with mayo, but you know what, it was pretty frickin good.

I think that can be attributed to how the hot roast beef au jus, gravy, and mayo combined together inside the po-boy and created a sauce I can only describe as purely delicious.

The bread played a crucial element as well as it held up rather well despite the greasy, appetizing mess that was stuffed inside. Observing the fresh loaves stacked in the back of the kitchen further emphasized why the sandwich was on such a level of greatness.

As for the gravy fries? They went hand in hand with the po-boy. Freshly fried and topped with the same gravy found in the sandwich, you could not ask for a better dinner at a reasonable price.

A day later, I found out that Gourmet Magazine had named Tracey’s roast beef po-boy the best roast beef sandwich, ever. And we had gone there on a whim! I love it when stuff like that happens.

Oh, and the publication was absolutely right by the way.

Stayed tuned for Day Four of our New Orleans adventures…

Before heading over to the Free Energy show at Rock and Roll Hotel last Wednesday night, we thought to ourselves, what better way to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah than by having a “holiday meal” at nearby Star and Shamrock?

While we have been to the Atlas District countless times, we finally had the opportunity to step foot into H Street’s Jewish deli meets Irish tavern.

We grabbed two seats at the bar and, without hesitation, ordered the latkes. It is Hanukkah, after all.

Just a few minutes later, six huge, freshly fried potato pancakes arrived in a basket with a side of apple sauce. While I wasn’t too crazy about them being deep-fried as opposed to being traditionally cooked in a pan, they were still rather good.

And since I’m the type of person who strays away from having his latkes on the soggy side, I came away impressed with the crispy texture. Just judging from their sheer size alone, these are not definitely your bubbie’s latkes.

For dinner, I ordered the open face roast beef sandwich with gravy, one of the specials Star and Shamrock was offering that night. While the roast beef itself was decent, the bread was ridiculously over-buttered to the point that you could nearly taste the food that was cooking on the griddle earlier that day.

The butter flavor nearly overpowered the sandwich’s contents, and that includes the subpar gravy. While the bread surprisingly did not become too soggy, it was unfortunate the meal took such a dive after the latkes.

Rachel, on the other hand, played it safe and went with the traditional matzo ball soup. The matzo ball itself was very large, yet had good density – not too hard but not soggy either. Yes readers, there is a science involved when it comes to matzo balls.

In fact, it was so big that it took up nearly the majority of the bowl. It was difficult to enjoy the broth when you had to cut through so much of the matzo ball. In regards to flavor, it was just average.

All and all, nothing really stood out except for maybe the latkes, and considering we recently cooked some frozen ones from the Golden label a few days ago (which are excellent, by the way), that’s even a stretch.

At least Free Energy put on a great show.

We decided to rent a car for the day so that we could not only drive out to Abita Springs and tour the famous Abita Brewery, but also take a swamp tour up in Slidell, Louisiana.  After seeing several alligators, turtles, and birds, it was nearly lunchtime and the group was pretty hungry.

I checked out some well-received places on Yelp and came across Southside Café, and since it was only ten minutes away from where we were at the time as well as a local hangout, it seemed like a no-brainer.

We started our meal off with an order of crawfish balls. It was basically crawfish meat blended with stuffing that was then breaded, deep-fried, and served with a side of remoulade. It proved to be an excellent starter as the homemade remoulade really complimented the flavor of the crawfish.

Learning from my past mistake at Johnny’s, I opted for a half order of the house specialty, the muffaletta, in fear of receiving too large a sandwich this time around.

Well, it turns out that I should have ordered a quarter of a sandwich had such an option existed on the menu. The supposed “half order” was monstrous! I cannot fathom someone actually ordering let alone eating a whole muffaletta. It would feed a family of four easily.

As for the sandwich itself, it was not only very good but also unique. One of New Orleans’ signature dishes, the muffaletta features ham, mortadella, salami, provolone, all of which is piled high on round Italian “muffaletta” bread.

The centerpiece, however, is the olive salad that is layered on top. The combination of the meats and cheese with the marinated olives and slightly toasted bread was divine, so much in fact that I could only eat half of it. Rest assured the remaining half would not make it the rest of the day.

Rachel ordered a half order of the seafood muffaletta and, needless to say, hers was even harder to consume given the shear height of the sandwich. She got a seafood combo of shrimp, oysters, flounder, and catfish, and while delicious, a quarter was more than enough food to last through the late evening. She decided to get the olive salad on the side, which proved rather difficult to manually place inside the sandwich, and wound up just trying some of it a la carte.

After lunch, we made our way towards the Abita Brewery to checkout the home one of our favorite brews (Purple Haze, for those inquiring).

This might have been my favorite brewery tour as we not only got to see the brewery actually in operation, but also had the opportunity to serve ourselves from nearly a dozen or so brews on tap!

And the best part? It was all free!

After we returned the car and took a nap back at the hotel, it was on to Emeril Lagasse’s NOLA for dinner.

We started things off by splitting two appetizers amongst the four of us. First we had the stuffed chicken wings with homemade Hoisin sauce. We found out from the waiter that the “wings” were stuffed with shrimp, pork, and noodles, almost like a Southern take-off of an egg roll. Seeing how the table quickly devoured them, I’d say they were a hit.

The second dish was the andouille sausage and shrimp gumbo and it was simply outstanding. Rich in flavor and perfect texture, it was arguably the best gumbo I’ve ever had. Then again, being in New Orleans while eating at one of its most famous chef’s restaurants, this should come as no surprise.

For my entrée, I ordered the grilled pork chop which was served with sweet potatoes, toasted pecans, and a caramelized onion reduction sauce.  While I thought the pork chop was rather flavorful, it was a bit too dry for my liking despite asking for it to be cooked medium rare which took it down a notch or two (sorry, couldn’t resist).

Rachel got one of the most famous Southern staples, shrimp and grits. These shrimp were really large and coated with a delicious barbeque sauce. They were swimming in a pool of cheddar smoked grits topped with apple smoked bacon, crimini mushrooms and red chili-Abita butter sauce. Delish. I was actually drooling more over her dish than mine, and of course, finished it off.

At the end of the night, we decided on splitting the chocolate bread pudding for dessert. Accompanied with sweet potato ice cream (!), chocolate sauce, and caramel, it was decadent to say the least. The bread pudding itself was great, especially since it was still very warm, but mixing it with the sweet potato ice cream made it that much better.

As for those muffaletta leftovers? Let’s just say a late evening spent on Frenchman Street took care of that.

Stay tuned for Day Three of our New Orleans adventure…