Zaytinya
I’m browsing through my food photos folder and realizing how horribly behind I am with my posts. (o____o);; I’m just getting lazier and lazier as the hot summer heat continues to simmer outside. You’d think that it would be conducive to a nice indoor activity like blogging, but I think the heat just drains all energy from you. I’m gonna try harder, really!
So, on to the post!
Some co-workers and I headed over to Zaytinya a little while ago to take advantage of their lunch specials. For about $12 or $13, you can get a tasty sandwich and a choice of sides – fries with yogurt or maroulosalata, a Greek style green salad. The portions are pretty generous, and I usually end up saving half of my sandwich for lunch the next day, so I get two lunches for the price of one. (^O^)v
Pictured above is the “cerkez on toasted olive bread with “shredded chicken, walnut cilantro sauce, roasted red peppers, feta, mache, caramelized onions.” I didn’t have any of this, but it was well received. Looked like a lighter fare than the other sandwiches at the table.
The rest:
dessert dinner restaurants: bistro d.c. fries pasta seafood
by Lindsey
2 comments
Marvin
I had actually never heard of Marvin when my friend suggested we go there for dinner a few weeks ago. I discovered that it’s a nice little Belgian bistro on U Street “featuring home-cooked classics that combine the tastes of Belgium with the American south.” The staff was really friendly and helpful in their suggestions, and each dish was really thoughtful and well balanced.
We started off with a selection from the Moules Frites – mussels and fries. I thought the coconut curry sounded interesting, but we ended up going with the white wine with garlic. Although I’m not a big fan of large slices of garlic in sauces (or any dish, really), they were easy enough to avoid. I thought the flavors were pretty good in this, though the garlic might have been on the strong side.
The rest after the jump:
The Source
I found this out after dining here, but apparently The Source is ranked #3 in Washingtonian’s 100 Best Restaurants (2010) behind Komi and Minibar! I don’t always agree with the rankings, but I do read their reviews often, especially when looking for a new place I haven’t tried before.
The Source is one of Wolfgang Puck’s restaurants of the Asian fusion variety located next to the Newseum, which explains where it gets its name. Though I’d heard some negative reviews from friends before, I was still curious to check it out. Anyway, I’m rather fond of Wolfgang and his occasional Top Chef guest appearances. (He’s always so amusing XD)
I liked the decor of the place, which had a glassy, modern feel similar to Zaytinya. My only gripe would be that the ladies room on the upper dining room was a single, and the only other ladies room in the restaurant was two floors down.
The food was pretty fabulous for the most part, and between the three of us, the two appetizers, two entrees, and two desserts were totally filling. Pictured above is the “Tiny Dumplings” with pork belly, black vinegar, chili oil, ginger, and cilantro leaves. These were as good as they sound. (*____*) I’d definitely order them again!
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Yokan by Toraya
I wrote about Toraya’s mizu yokan last year, which I actually prefer over the regular yokan, but this stuff isn’t too bad either. Toraya is a pretty renown maker of this bean paste confection, so it’s often given as a gift. This one was a double pack: “Yoru no Ume” (plums of the night) and “Haru no Iro” (colors of the spring).
I haven’t opened the Yoru no Ume yet, but according to a review I saw online, it’s not actually plum flavored at all, but regular sweet red bean. I did try the Haru no Iro, however:
Oro Pomodoro
I poked around on the internet a few weeks ago, looking for a restaurant I’ve never tried before in Rockville. I’m actually not sure how long Oro Pomodoro has been around, but it’s one of the restaurants in the Rockville Town Center area, which has seen quite some development in recent years. I decided to wander in for a lunch one sunny weekend afternoon.
I really liked the interior of the place, which had great high ceilings and a very airy feel. It was a lovely spring day, so the glass wall panels had been opened up to the alfresco dining area in the front. Even though I sat inside, I could still enjoy the pretty weather and nice view.
Of course I had to try their pizza, so my main course was the Margherita, pictured above. I thought it was pretty decent. I wouldn’t say it’s the best in the area, but not too bad!
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Silver Fountain
The Silver Fountain is a little off the beaten path for Washingtonians, but good, cheap dim sum is usually found in the suburbs. (^___~) The restaurant doesn’t have a website, but their Yelp page is over here. They do dim sum every day between 11:00 ~ 3:00 in the afternoon, and on weekends and holidays, they come around on the cart. The cart style is the most fun. Even if you get carried away, it still won’t cost you a whole lot. Though, I don’t usually eat in, and mostly swing by to get something to go on the weekends.
These pictures were from a rare dining-in experience that I Tweeted about a few weekends ago. Pictured about is the fried shrimp dish with scallions and green pepper, one of the first things I yoinked off the cart. These were whole shrimp, with heads and shell intact, coated in a thin batter and fried up to a crisp. Very flavorful and satisfying.
The rest after the jump:
Warabi Mochi
Ah…muggy DC summer has arrived. I feel like we’ve hit the 90’s way too early this year. We’re barely into June, and we’ve already had several days where it’s so humid it’s hard to breathe! A cool, refreshing dessert is much needed and deserved in times like these. *nods* (^__^)
The Japanese dessert “warabi mochi” is technically not mochi (rice cake) at all, but made from konnyaku, a transparent jelly type thing. It’s a big Kansai (Western Japan) thing where my own folks are from. The konnyaku itself doesn’t really have much flavor on its own, so it’s usually served with kinako, a powdered soybean flour. Kinako has this vaguely sweet, nutty flavor to it that provides a strange but not really undesirable contrast to the wet and slinky konnyaku.
If you like very sweet desserts, this probably won’t be your thing. But it’s nice and light for a hot summer’s day.
A few more pics:
El Floridano
OMG an update. (o____O)!! It’s been a lazy month, what can I say? I think once you get out of the habit of posting, it’s easy to just put things off until the next day, and the next day. Pretty soon, you end up giving up the month for a lost cause. And now here we are in June. (What?) June 2009 is actually the month I started this blog, though I’m too lazy at the moment to go back and figure out exactly which date it was. So, happy 1st birthday, blog! XD ♥
Today I saw on Twitter that El Floridano (on Twitter @FLmeetsDC) was around my neck of the woods, so I decided to give them a go. They are one of the newer food trucks to hit the streets of DC, and I don’t think they’ll be the last, either.
I tried their “Turkey Bahn Mi with Pickled Green Mango and Tamarind BBQ Sauce.” As you can see from the photo, it’s like a turkey meatloaf type thing, and it also had arugula, cilantro and julienned carrots. My first bite was excellent! But then…I’m not sure what happened, but the flavors didn’t quite come together again for me. Perhaps there wasn’t enough cilantro, which (for me, anyway) adds that extra something. I think the tamarind sauce could have used some more punch, especially since the turkey was a little subtle (or under seasoned). Something needed to counteract the sweetness of the pickled mango.
However, this was a pretty big sandwich, so you definitely feel like you’re getting your money’s worth. Sandwiches are $7, and the other two kinds are: “Classic Roast Pork and Ham Cuban Sandwich” and “Chicken Chiang Mai with Charred Tomato Salsa, Avocado and Pickled Onions.” They also have soup, but I didn’t try any.
On a non-food related note (re: Floridano’s Twitter feed): It’s a pet peeve of mine when I click on a link in Twitter and it takes me to a Facebook update that just reiterates what was just posted on Twitter. Ah, a petty critique, I know. XD;;;
