beverage brunch restaurants: bistro comfort food virginia williamsburg
by Lindsey
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Blue Talon Bistro
Some friends and I took a weekend trip down to Williamsburg, Virginia a few weeks ago, and I’m here to give you a full report on the food that was had! We took the train down on Friday night, then ventured out the following day for an early brunch. We stopped in to Blue Talon Bistro, located in historic downtown Williamsburg. Everything is pretty close together in the town, and there are lots of cute shops and restaurants just in that area.
The interior of Blue Talon was absolutely adorable, with warm blue, red, and yellow hues that made the place very nice and inviting. Of course, there were a number of rooster decorations propped up around the restaurant, and in the area where we sat, they had a pretty tin ceiling with a design pounded into it. The whole atmosphere was airy, country chic.
As for the food: pictured above is my dish, the Belgian waffles with smoked bacon and fruit compote. This was the best waffle I’ve had in forever! It was incredibly soft and light on the inside, but with just enough crispy on the outside. Loved the compote, which was made with blueberries and had a nice tartness to contrast with the syrup.
The rest after the jump:
Thanksgiving 2011
Okay, so totally belated, but I really wanted to post these pics from Thanksgiving because it was an amazing time with lots of great food, and it would be a shame to let these linger away on my hard drive.
Hosted by my favorite foodie pair N & I, Turkey Day 2011 was bound to be a dazzling affair and it did not disappoint. Pictured above is the turkey that was purchased from an (Amish?) farm somewhere, and shipped fresh and express. I thought it came out really well, succulent and perfect. (Sorry it’s at a weird angle…it was hard to get it all in one shot!)
The rest of the feast after the jump:
dinner restaurants: chocolate comfort food d.c. salad sandwiches wine bar
by Lindsey
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Dickson
Dickson Wine Bar on U Street is a bit tricky to find…I walked right past it, even though I was specifically looking for it! But it’s worth the trouble all the way. I stopped in there for dinner and a glass of wine (a lovely Muscadet domaine de la Foliette 2008) and enjoyed every moment. The restaurant itself is small and narrow, with a few floors (3, I believe). My friend and I took a table on the middle floor by the bar. The place was dark and cozy, and on the night we went, it wasn’t very crowded. It was a nice change from the rowdy places I’ve been to in the vicinity. The service was attentive and nice.
Pictured above is the braised leek and goat cheese flatbread, my favorite dish of the evening. The leeks were absolutely delicious, sweet and simple. It came with a nice fresh green salad with a light vinaigrette.
The rest after the jump:
brunch restaurants: american comfort food d.c. pastries
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Tabard Inn
There are plenty of places in DC that offer brunch on the weekends, but I’d heard especially good things about the Tabard Inn. According to their website, it is recommended that you make brunch reservations two to three weeks in advance. I think I’d ended up making them only one week out, so my reservation was on the tail end of the brunch hours. Metro being…Metro, I was terribly delayed and was afraid I wouldn’t get there in time! Thankfully, they were nice enough to seat my friend, who got there on time, and she went ahead and put in our orders so the kitchen wouldn’t be closed by the time I arrived. The staff there was really nice about everything, and didn’t rush us through our meal or anything. (^__^)
I loved the decor, with the quaint black and white tiles and cozy atmosphere. It was so welcoming and warm. When I arrived, the housemade doughnuts were already on the table. ♥ My friend was so good about this and didn’t start in on them until I had a chance to take my pictures. XD I actually felt kind of bad about this, because as a result of the wait, the doughnuts didn’t taste as freshly fried as they could have, had we eaten them when they first came out. Still, they weren’t bad!
The rest of the brunch under the cut:
L & L
Some time during the trip, we naturally had to stop at by the L&L Hawaiian Barbecue for a quick bite. L&L is a fast food joint that serves Japanese-esque comfort food. They do franchise their brand – mostly in the west, though they do have a branch or two in New York.
Pictured above is the pork katsu (breaded and fried pork), which came with a side of rice and macaroni salad. I’m not sure what was up with the macaroni salad, but that seemed to be the usual accompaniment to the meal. I thought the pork was really tasty, if a little bit overdone.
I had the beef teriyaki:
dessert dinner holiday: cake cheese comfort food ham pastries
by Lindsey
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Easter
Happy May Day everybody! I’m veering off my slowly trickling Hawaii posts to write about last week’s tour de force of culinary mastery known as the Easter Pot-luck Dinner of Epicness. Hosted by my friends who also brought you their Christmas Dinner (where, if you recall, we couldn’t congratulate ourselves enough for a job well done), the event was filled to the brim with so much food and fabulosity that the guests hardly knew what to do with it all. And to make matters even more intense, we had a rowdy game of Taboo afterward that I don’t think I’ve recovered from yet. (Ever notice that when you’re playing this game, your voice keeps rising and rising until you realize you’re screaming at the top of your lungs? I think somehow this contributes to the effectiveness of your strategy, because everyone gets so crazed that they shout back anything, everything that comes to mind, and ONE of those things has to be the right answer!!)
Pictured above is the ham, which our lovely hostess made using Alton Brown’s City Ham recipe. Alton is always a good bet, and it certainly was the case here. The ham actually came out quite late in the evening, but I still scarfed down a few succulent slices despite the fact that I’d already eaten enough food for 3 people. The crust was wondrous and crispy, and the meat perfectly cooked.
The rest:
lunch restaurants: comfort food hawaii noodles oahu sandwiches
by Lindsey
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Victoria Inn
I really wanted to get a genuinely local experience of Honolulu, and my friend – who grew up there – was more than happy to oblige. On Day 2, she took me to lunch at the Victoria Inn, located in the neighborhood of Kaimuki. Its decor is really dated (or nostalgic, perhaps), and probably hasn’t changed for decades. My pictures here turned out with a sepia hue, which I suppose is rather appropriate. There were definitely no tourists to be seen here. It’s actually kind of a dive, but I can understand the nostalgic value of the place, and it serves up cheap local comfort food that people have probably been ordering for generations.
I decided to go full-on local and got the saimin, which my friend described as being like “Hawaiian ramen.” It wasn’t until after I ordered it that she also informed me that she doesn’t care for it much. She and I share a lot of the same taste in food, so I wasn’t surprised to find out that I didn’t care for it much either. In fact, I found it rather bland and unappetizing. The broth wasn’t like any kind of ramen broth I’d ever had before – and I suppose that’s fair enough, since it’s not technically ramen – but it was kind of this bizarre chicken broth-flavored thing that didn’t have much going for it. And then there was the egg! Too much egg. It overpowered the blandness of the noodles and broth until all I could taste was egg. I couldn’t finish it at all, and in fact it rather turned my stomach near the end.
I found out later from a saimin-liking friend that in fact, good saimin does exist…just not at Victoria Inn.
The rest of the meal was an improvement:
beverage lunch restaurants: comfort food hawaii oahu seafood smoothies
by Lindsey
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Crouching Lion Inn
Continuing along with day 1…
We drove from Honolulu, heading east along the shores of Oahu, stopping at various lookout points to admire the view. Around lunch time, we took a lunch break at the Crouching Lion Inn Bar & Grill, so named after a rock formation located behind it. (I don’t think they’re actually an inn where you can stay…?) It’s located right by the water, which you can view from the restaurant’s patio seats. They also had an indoor seating area, and in retrospect, we probably should have sat there. The view was just as pretty from the inside if you got a window-side seat, and more importantly – there would’ve been no mosquitoes. It turned out that the day before I arrived, it had rained a lot on the island. It had cleared up in time for my round the island drive, but it also called out all the mosquitoes in the area, and they just had a holiday under the patio table. I took the brunt of it, as I was wearing a dress. I was probably bitten dozens of times. (;____o) (I also had an allergic reaction, which wasn’t very fun). The people at the restaurant were really nice and let us borrow some OFF spray, but it was too late by then.
Mosquito Hell put a damper on the meal, but the food was still pretty good. Nothing out of this world or anything, but I liked it! (^__^)
Pictured above are the drinks we got – a mango smoothie and the virgin “lava flow” with pineapple, coconut and strawberry. I thought the mango smoothie could’ve had more mango flavor. The lava flow was extremely sweet, which I suppose is good if you want dessert in a drink?
For the food, the three of us decided to get three pupus (appetizers) to share:
ChurchKey
A little over a month ago, I headed over to a friend’s birthday get together at ChurchKey, the Logan Circle bar that opened up last fall to great anticipation. It’s got an amazing selection of beer, and though I’m not usually big on beer, I did get a smallish serving of one they had on tap just to try. X)
The bar is located on the second floor (the first floor being occupied by its sister establishment, Birch & Barley), and it’s a mildly chaotic free-for-all for seating. There are no reservations or maitre’d. If it’s crowded – which it really was on the night I went – you’ll have to stay vigilant and nab a table when one frees up. I didn’t like this system, as it made me feel kind of stalkerish and rude as I hovered around people that looked like they might leave soon. The place was kind of dark and noisy, but it did have an energy about it like a typical happy hour hot spot.
Though the service was equally chaotic and spotty, the food was pretty decent and I enjoyed almost everything I tried. =)
Pictured above is the truffled grilled cheese with tomato soup dip. I had a bite, and it was good, though not very “truffled” in my opinion. It was clever to pair it with a soup “dip,” though I would’ve preferred a real soup in its place, had it been my dish.
The rest after the jump:
dessert dinner restaurants: bistro comfort food d.c. pastries
by Lindsey
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1905: Part II
Whoa, long time no update. (^__^);; I should’ve put this post up a while ago…my friend’s birthday dinner at 1905! I’d been there once before, and enjoyed the food and atmosphere, so was really looking forward to dining there again. ♥
Since I already covered the basics in my previous post, I’m gonna just dive right in to the food! Pictured above is my main course, which was the special of the day: Chesapeake crab cake with vegetable slaw and black eyed peas. Delicious! It had lots of crab meat and wasn’t overwhelmed by fillers. I got a few tiny sharp bits in it though, which made it somewhat uncomfortable to eat.
As for the rest:
Fado’s Irish Pub
Posting has been sparse this past few days, as I’ve been recovering from my San Francisco trip from last weekend. The work week is always so hard to come back to after a getaway! The good news is, a whole lot of great food was had on the trip, and I’ve loads of posts to work on from it! Meanwhile, I’m going to clear off some of the backlog here.
Ah….Irish pubs. I love a good pub. It makes me wanna chug a pint of ale or beer, and I usually don’t drink either of those things. There’s something I really love about Fado’s Irish Pub in Chinatown. Maybe it’s the interesting, somewhat mismatched decor on the inside, blending odd, random pillars with authentic stained glass and woodwork from Ireland. It’s so unique and welcoming, somehow. It’s always bustling here, and I think for good reason. Obviously it’s in a great location, but the ale is good here, and the food is delicious (and relatively cheap).
Nothing really rivals Alton Brown’s excellent shepherd’s pie, but Fado’s is actually quite good. Pictured above, it’s served in a shallow dish with a side of garden salad and two slices of hard, grainy bread. I’ve ordered it at least 3 times, and it always comes piping hot! The mashed potatoes have a great crusty finish, and the filling is always flavorful.
1905
The restaurant 1905 is located near U Street Cardoza Metro station…specifically, at 1905 9th Street, NW. (Oh hey, isn’t that cute). I am sorry to say that it actually took me a while to realize WHY this place was called what it was… I should’ve caught on much sooner, as it’s even more obvious than TenPenh, the restaurant located at 10th and Pennsylvania.
This place came recommended by a friend of a friend, and it was pretty much a first experience for the whole party of us that sat down to eat here a few weeks ago. The restaurant is located on the second floor, with a bar near the back and a narrow, smallish room for a dining area in the front. The benches that line the walls are a little on the narrow side, but I forgive this minor detail because the rest of the place is so dark and beautiful. It’s got a lot of character, and is all in all quite lovely.
The menu is also on the smallish side, but I think they put a lot of care into it, so each dish is executed well and thoughtfully.
So let’s see what they’ve got here:
Cottage Pie
Shepherd’s Pie (or cottage pie) is my ultimate comfort food. It’s got so many of my favorite things piled one on top of the other, and best of all – it’s so easy even *I* can make it. \(^O^)/ And I make a damn good cottage pie, if I can say so myself. Actually, all of it is thanks to Alton Brown and his fabulously simple but delicious recipe for shepherd’s pie. I just substitute ground beef for ground lamb to convert it into cottage pie. Though someday, I would like to make a true shepherd’s pie with lamb.
My friend Jen is my big enabler. She has cottage pie once a week, much to my extreme jealousy. Every time she mentions having cottage pie for dinner, it makes me crave the stuff. Unfortunately for me, oven usage is kind of a big deal in my household, since Japanese people just don’t bake. My oven is used as a storage device, not a cooking mechanism.
Last week, after hearing my friend mention cottage pie yet again, I was determined to make this stuff, oven or no! I decided to utilize my toaster oven to make a couple ‘mini’ pies stuffed into small meat loaf pans. I was apprehensive about putting the tiny oven to work like this, but I had to give it a try. And what do you know? SUCCESS!
See below the cut for the making-of. X)
The General Store
Recently mentioned in the Washington City Paper, The General Store is a quaint and adorable place off Post Office Road near Forest Glen Metro, and it serves up some tasty down-home comfort food.
Here’s the highlight (which unfortunately I did not get, so I could only watch enviously as it was devoured with much flourish by my friend): the fish tacos topped with guacamole and sliced radish. I did take a bite of it, and they were amazing!
Actually though, everything was really good, including my own dish, the kids’ sized fried chicken meal:
