Siroc

So it's been a while since I've been to a new restaurant. I will admit freely admit that I have been eating at the Cheesecake Factory more often then naught with my insane training schedule since I either smell of sweat or chlorine most of the days. So for Christmas, my roommate made it a point that I actually dress
and smell nice for once and go to a nice restaurant.

We ended up going to Siroc - it seemed close to the White House to be able to check out the Christmas Tree and then have dinner.

The decor is nothing to write home about - though 2 of the paintings were crooked. And the service wasn't as sharp as it could be. But the food was pretty amazing. The whole place had a very much neighborhood restaurant vibe to it.

The Duck Confit & Potato Hash was amazing. It was salty with the poached egg's yolk mellowing it out. It was a very well balanced started.

The House Smoked Salmon was also very tastey but different then expected. Instead of the the typical thin cuts of smoked salmon - it was cut like sashsimi. But I really enjoyed the fact that it wasn't salt cured then smoked - so it retained more of that salmon taste and really melted in your mouth. I would come back and eat my weight in this salmon.

The Burrata Mozzarella was amazing. It tasted like they made this in house in how the center was barely set and oh so creamy.

The Spinach Pappardelle was prefect. The pasta was the perfect texture. The shrimp was cooked beautifully. And it was very well balanced. The American in me wanted the option of more cheese. But honestly this dish didn't need it.

I got a side of House-made Spicy Lamb Sausages and this was the only dud of the meal. The sausage was way over salted. And on top of that the Black Olive Sauce was also overpoweringly salty. The only thing that wasn't salty on this dish was the rapini, but sandwiched between the 2 over salted dishes, it didn't stand a chance. While the waitress acknowledged that this was a very salty dish - but even with only 2 bites taken and it being untouched - the wait staff and manager didn't do anything about it.

Roommate got Veal Ossobuco. The meat was wonderful - but it was the oddest polenta we've every seen. Instead of being a baked solid form, it was more of the consistency and tasted of mashed turnips. It was tastey, just not expected.

And while the Warm Almond Cake was good, the Bosc Pear Poached in Red Wine and Ginger really stole the dessert spotlight. I was worried that the ginger would have over powered everything else - but it gave it a little bite but no sting.

With a glass of wine and a diet coke the whole meal came out to about $125 +tip. So it was pretty affordable. I would definately come here again - though not when I was in a rush or felt like I needed to impress someone. More of if I wanted some good home cooked Italian food.


Siroc

915 15th St NW
(between N I St & N K St)
Washington, DC 20005

(202) 628-2220

www.sirocrestaurant.com

Resturants and places that I want to try out

What can i say, I can't help but jump on a food list bandwagon. Express published thier list of best resturants on various catagories. So this is a list for my efforts to keep track of what resturants that I still need to check out in DC. I always want to try out new places but haven't been really inspired to be adventourous lately.

Rasika (Indian)
633 D Street, NW 202-637-1222

Hook (Seafood)
3241 M St NW 202-625-4488

Kaz Sushi Birstro (Sushi)
1915 I street NW 202-530-5500

China Garden (dim Sum)
1100 Wilson Blvd, Arlington 703-525-5317

A&J (Dim Sum)
1319-C Rockville Pike, Rockville 301-251-7878

Casa Oaxaca (South/Centeral American)
2106 18th Street NW 202-387-2272

Graffiato (New Resaurant)
707 6th St NW 202-289-3600

Estadio (New resturant)
1520 14th Street NW 202-319-1404

Brasserie Beck (Fries)
1101 K Street NW 202-408-1717

Pizzeria Paradiso (Pizza)

Red Rocks (Pizza)
1036 Park Road NW 202-506-1402
904 King Street, Alexandria 703-717-9873

Komi
1509 17h Street NW 202-32-9200

Resturant Eve
110 S. Pitt Sr Alexandria 703-706-0450

Mini Bar
405 8th Stre NW 202-393-0812

Eatonville (Mac and Cheese)
2121 14th St NW 202-332-9672

Volt
228 N Market Street 301-696-8653

Yes this blog is dead

poor bloggy. you tried so hard to keep my attention. But alas you could not keep up with the pace I ate through DC and then me switching hobbies from eating yummy amazing food to working out and living off of hamburgers. :\ It okay bloggy. One day I will come back to you. But until November, you are officially on hiatus.

So new experiment

My co-worker and I are going to try to eat very limited processed food from Monday, April 25 to Friday, April 29.


The rules are:
- The condiment aisle is free game (so no need to make mayonnaise from scratch) expect salad dressing (needs to be made from scratch).
- Nothing that has preservatives. i.e. homemade items from the farmer’s market is okay. Items from the supermarket that has items that you can’t pronounce is bad.)
- Organic products are preferable – but not necessary.

So for the rest of the week will be devoted to cleaning out my cupboards, baking loaves of bread, and shopping at the local farmers market to get the necessary items.

I’m hoping to get into the science of why organic, grassfed, and all that is actually worth it. And what’s not. I also want to track how much I spend on this shit and see if that’s actually worth it or not.

We’ll see what happens.

Food! Food! Food!

Diet be damned, there is too much good food to eat and not enough days to fit it all. Though in an effort to keep the glorious calories from going straight to my thighs, a new rule has been implemented – I can only go out to eat if I have worked out that day. So Saturday has turned into a designated food day – mostly because I go rock climbing with friends for a few hours. So I totally earn my butter smeared food. But enough of that rate – here is a recap of some of the places that I’ve been eating at.

Ted’s Bulletin 505 8th Street Southeast, Washington, DC 20003-2835 tel: (202) 544-8337 http://tedsbulletin.com/  
So when I left my house on Sunday morning, I wanted properly made Belgium Waffles. Glorious fluffy waffles with real fruit. Not that canned fruit/pie filling shit. So it was a trek out of Belga Café. But without reservations, it wasn’t meant to be, so we walked across the street to Ted’s, because of the rumors of the amazing homemade poptarts and twinkies. The wait was an hour and half – but the breakfast gods had pity on my growling stomach and seats at the bar opened up in 15 minutes. My friend started off with some amazing coffee and then moved onto an “adult” milkshake – which was a perfect balance of ice cream and liquor. I had Jon’s Omelet; she had T.U.B.S (Ted’s Ultimate Breakfast Sammy); we shared a side of biscuits and gravy; and we started with a cherry poptart to calm our growling stomachs. Everything was very well done, no complaints on the quality or quantity of food. I wished that the hasbrowns were a bit more fried, but that’s my only “meh”. But I can see why people bought the poptarts by the dozen. They were perfect. We also got a snowball and twinkie to take home. I wasn’t a fan of the snowball, but that might be because it wasn’t pink and to be honest, I’m not a big fan of mergenie – and it was a very nice Italian Mergaine that was used instead of marshmallow fluff. But the twinkie – I could have eaten a dozen of those as well. The bill came out to about $25 a person. I would totally go back to this place again, if only to have twinkies, poptarts, and milkshakes.


Metro 29 Diner 4711 Lee Highway Arlington, VA 22207 tel:(703) 528-2464 http://metro29.com/  
Okay – so this is hands down my favorite find this weekend. It was so good that I had to go twice. Though, I have to admit that the breakfast here is better than the dinner. For dinner I had prime rib, baked potato, corn, side salad, and soup – for a listed price of $20.95! Seriously, the only better deal would be in Vegas! The duck someone had as a bit over cooked, the new york strip steak was perfectly done, but the dessert so far is nothing special. For breakfast, I finally had my waffles, which were perfectly made and had fresh strawberries! Steak and eggs, were an amazing deal as well. The Omelets were nothing super special but still tastey. It was solid food, decent service, and exactly what a diner should be like. This is one of my staple places to go eat at now! It was about $15 to $25 a person, depending on what you got.

Le Madeline 3000 M Street NW, Suite 205, Washington DC, 20007 tel:202-337-6975 http://www.lamadeleine.com/  
It’s what Le Madeline always is – just a place to run in and grab a bite to eat and run back out. It’s not bad. I tried something off their smart choice menu, broiled tilapia – it was okay. Not very filling. It would have been better with a side of veggies of any sort. My friend had the Tomato Basil Pasta – which of course is super tastey with all the fat and carby goodness. I’ve never been blown away by it, outside of the prices. But if there is one nearby and I don’t feel like Chipotle, I will continue to pop in. It is about $10 to $20 a person.

Florida Ave Grill 1100 Florida Avenue Northwest, Washington D.C., DC 20009 tel:(202) 265-1586 http://floridaavenuegrill.com/  
This is a staple of tourist fooding at its best. There are a few places that I take out of towners for food – Ben’s Chili Bowl, Old Ebbits Grill, and Florida Ave Grill. It’s good, but if it wasn’t to showcase the “local vibe”, go somewhere Obama has eaten at, or emcompasses DC history – it would be passed over. They do make a mean bowl of grits, but it’s nothing amazing. You get the feeling of either being out of place because clearly everyone knows everyone or you feel included in the scene – it all depends on who is flinging food at you. But if you are looking for a greasy spoon in DC where the staff will remember you, this is your place. It's about $10 a person

Mandu 453 K Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001 tel: (202) 289-6899 http://www.mandudc.com/
If you love bastardized Korean food, this is your place. I’m not the best person to come to when critiquing Korean food, because everything is compared to food that my family makes. But my non-Korean friends seem to like it and think it’s tasty. I would rather get something at Safeway and keep my friends company while they eat here. But I think that this place is worst then their location near Dupont. The ambience is nicer. But seriously - $6 for 6 dumplings that I can’t taste the shrimp in is just wrong. And their kimchee is unripened. Urg. This place is meant for hipsters that want to seem cool eating food that isn’t completely mainstream on this coast. I will be avoiding it like the plague. It's totally craptastic in my book. It's about $30 to $50 a person

Againn 1099 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20001 tel: 202.639.9830 http://www.againndc.com/  
So I had really high hopes for this place. Apparently it’s award winning for concept, scotch selection, food, and service. The whole nine yards of a new up and coming restaurant. Well, the service wasn’t the best because we had a newbie waiter. Understandable but annoying. And for the type of food – British pub food. I guess if I was a British ex-pat and I wanted food just like home – maybe I wouldn’t mind spending $18 on Bangers and Mash – but as a non british connoisseur, I don’t want to spend that much on sausage and potatoes that would take me 10 minutes to make. The Pork belly and crackling was pretty tastey and very fatty, as it should be, but it wasn’t something that I wanted a whole plate of. It was all too rich. We also started with something off the charcuterie section … I think it was some sort of tripe dish that was just okay. I don’t think that I would be going there again unless I had a hard core single malt scotch drinker with me, because it was an impressive selection.

Bar Pilar 1833 14th Street, NW Washington, DC 20009. tel: 202-265-1751 http://www.barpilar.com/
I went here in January and I have been trying to figure out a reason why I need to go back. I loved the chill atmosphere of young professionals that are there just the hang out, grab a bite to eat, and relax. There was no pretense of being hip, trendy, or anything else. It’s just a nice place with medium noise levels, decent service, and good solid food. An upscale diner if you will. I don’t really remember what I had to eat, expect for the Beet Salad, which was amazing, and the potatoes – which I could have eaten 12 plates of. If it was off the red line instead of the green/yellow, I would come to eat here every week. Total sad panda face for it being so far from me and for me being a metro snob. It's about $40 a person

The Majestic 911 King Street, Alexandria, VA 22314 tel: (703) 837-9117 http://www.majesticcafe.com/  
This is my first real adventure into the food world of Alexandria. I heard about rumours that Old Town has some amazing resturants – but that whole being a metro snob keeps me from really eating in this part of town. And oh boy that have I missed out on! So hands down, everything here was amazing. The bread was amazing. The butter with the bread was amazing. The cocktails were amazing. I had a shirely temple that was amazing. The mac and cheese was amazing. The meatloaf was huge and amazing. The salmon was freash, flaky, moist, crispy, and amazing. The chicken “hunter style” was a very filling catchatorie style dish that was simple and amazing. Have I mentioned that everything here was amazing? Including the dessert. All amazing! I can’t wait to come here in the spring when the menu changes and everything is once again, amazing! It's about $50 a person.

Et Voila! 5120 MacArthur Blvd NW, Washington DC 20016 Tel: (202) 237- 2300 http://www.etvoiladc.com/  
Apparently DC is not in wanting for little beligum cafes. But Et Voila is the best of Belga Café, with none of it’s faults. The service is perfect, it’s not to crowd, this not pretentious, and the patrons are very comfortable with their own skins.

The balance between loving to go out to eat and trying to lose weight.

I think I’ve made it very clear that I love food. I love the smell, the taste, the ritual, the actual cooking, kitchens, gadgets, basically everything to do it with food. So how in god’s name is one supposed to eat all the glorious foods out in the world and lose or even maintain his weight? Do you just treat it like an addiction and avoid all tasty foods all together? There’s always moderation – eat the pork belly and cracklings only once a month and the rest of the month live off of celery?

Okay I’m totally exaggerating. But let’s take a simple example. Last night I was watching Lie to Me. And they were talking about poisoned muffins. That just triggered me to just want to eat a muffin all night last night. I tried to substitute it with something else – I had a piece of See’s Candy, some chips, and a mint. I ended up having to walk away and pre-cooked some breakfast burritos to take to work. I also just kept busy with packing my healthy breakfast and lunch to make sure that I have lots of healthy snacks and meals.

In fact let me tell you what I packed –

2 boiled eggs
Breakfast Burrito made with egg beaters and a low calorie tortilla
Broccoli
Carrots
Cucumbers
Hummus
Low Fat greek yogurt
Half a Turkey Sandwich
Apple
Rice
Shrimp Wanton Soup
Cooked Steel cut oats
Pudding Snack
Nalgene of hot tea

You would think with all this food I could resist the muffin. But no, I could resist the siren call of the deli near the metro and their freshly made muffins. I bought it, brought to my desk, closed my cube door, and scarfed the muffin down. I didn’t savor it. I didn’t enjoy it. It was all about getting it into my food as quickly as possible before someone took it away from me, or, more threatening, someone saw me eat it. I think that’s a sign that I may have a food problem. :\

Anyway, out of guilt, I think that I will scratch Restaurant Night tonight to make up for my muffin mishap and try to make it to the gym. Maybe that’s the balance act that needs to happen. If I screw up, then my consequence is I can’t go out to eat. And when I do go out to eat – I’m just going to eat with hedonistic abandonment and enjoy the meal.

A walk down memory lane.

So I am from California, and over the holidays, I did the faithful trek back home to the land where family is. But honestly if you asked me where to eat in California or even where I grew up, I would just look at you blankly and give you trite answers of places that I’ve only read about. While I went to school in driving distance of Napa Valley (CIA test kitchen, French Laundry, and just amazing food) and San Francisco (the city that has more restaurants per capita than anywhere else in the US), I didn’t really venture out of my little collegiate town.

Why? Mostly because my food awaking didn’t happen until college. My idea of good Italian food was Olive Garden. I had very limited exposure to foods that weren’t Korean or American diner food. And in a college town, I ate more Indian, Japanese, Nepalese, Mediterranean, and Czech food in 4 years then I did in my whole life before combined. It was amazing enough for me. And when I traveled for speech and debate conferences, my friends would introduce me to more amazing food.

I remember when I was a sophomore, we traveled to Philadelphia for a conference. And we did the normal things of eating at Pat’s and Gino’s. But they convinced me to part with my hard earned cash to go to Le Bec-Fin in the fall of 2002. I also remember that the pre fixed meal was $210 a person - the same amount I would make in 2 weeks working at the school cafeteria at that time. So it was scary to think about the life of ramen I was committing myself to.

So why am I taking this stroll down memory lane – mostly because I read recently that the once beacon of fine French cooking fell on hard times and will be closing this spring. This was my first taste of fine dining. Le Bec-Fin was where I really learned about what a charger was, what silver service entailed, and just the sheer elegance that a dinner could be. And most importantly – what cheese should taste like. I don’t really remember much about the food outside of being really confused on what to do with the rabbit bones in my mouth (I actually just ate the bones until someone noticed that there were no bones on my plate and to this day I am ribbed about it).

But I do remember the cheese cart. In high school, I knew that I loved cheese. When getting together with friends for lunch, we would go to our local supermarket and grab grapes, roasted chicken, a loaf of French bread, and some cheese from the deli. And I thought that was the be all and end all of amazing food. But Le Bec-Fin introduced me to camembert, humboldt fog, what parmesan that doesn’t come out of a green paper can tastes like, and just soo much more. Okay, I am now just drooling thinking about that cheese cart. And the servers there were soo nice about letting this table of young’uns try everything and explaining what we were eating.

I also remember the dessert cart as well. The amazing 3 level dessert cart of heaven. When we walked in, we passed by the dessert cart that was being served to those that were there for the earlier seating. And when we were seated in the upstairs small loft area – we were all a bit dejected thinking that we were not going to be able to see the dessert cart. But of course with service this people provide, they somehow timed for all 3 tables in the loft to get to the dessert at the same time. And they lugged the tray up. It was seriously the most amazing things I’ve seen in my life. And I remember asking if we were allowed try more than one item in a soft hushed tone, and the waiter telling us that we were allowed to ask for anything we wanted on the cart. Then he proceeded in fixing all of us our own plate of amazing sugary goodness.

Tonight I’m going to Citronelle. And I’m hoping that the food and expereince will be equally amazing and elegant as Le Bec-Fin was. My only regret about going to Le Bec-Fin was that my palate was not refined enough to really enjoy what I was eating. So let’s see how tonight goes.