6.9.09

I Know I Know

2 months off. We apologize...we will resume again soon. We have 3 new places we really like recently:

Chopt
Sweetgreen
Organic to Go

2.7.09

Vapiano

Vapiano
1800 M St. NW
Washington, DC
202.640.1868

After work, Alison and I met up for dinner at Vapiano on M St. I'm always a bit sketchy on Italian since I grew up with such great Italian cuisine. This is a German company, doing quick Italian salads, pasta and pizzas. I must admit I was surprised at the clean lines and the feel of the decor. Not your average chain restaurant with nice lighting and high wooden tables.

I quickly realized the menu is made up of 30 ingredients in various combinations. I was going to have the antipasti but decided against it because the ingredients were pretty much the same as the bruschetta pizza I wanted to order. The pizza was delicious. Neopolitan style, it was topped with tomato, mozzarella, arugula, basil, garlic, and parmesan. Alison had the insalata mista with chicken which had a plethora of vegetables and came with an excellent piece of bread.

We had a nice time at dinner then went off to Starbucks for dessert.

Vapiano has this interesting system where they hand you a card that you present at each station. Then when you go to leave, you present your card at the cashiers' station and you pay your total there. Apparently the price of losing your card is $50. One question: why not order $100 of food then "lose" the card and pay $50?

Overall: 79

Rating System:
95-100 World class, everything is outstanding from service to ambiance to wine list
88-94 Among the best and favorites.
80-87 Very good, at times outstanding, but could be inconsistent or not provide a total dining experience
70-79 Good. May surprise you at times, usually inexpensive and casual.
60-69 Decent. A good weeknight, quick dinner out. Nothing fancy, but gets the job done adequately.
Below 60 Not recommended

28.6.09

Thoughts: Travels and home

Alison and I were in Durham this weekend for a wedding. The best food of the weekend were the fries at the Durham Marriott! They had a great crunch and were seasoned perfectly.

Last night we had some of the old standby from Mai Thai, my second favorite Thai in the District to Thai X-ing. Had some Tom Yum mushroom, spring rolls, green curry tofu, ke mao tofu and green papaya salad. Everything was nice and spicy. They have the best kee mao in the area beacuse it has an almost smoky flavor I don't experience in most other versions.

Tonight we went grocery shopping at the Kalorama Harris Teeter. I remain baffled why Giant and Safeway are still in business. Harris Teeter is no Wegmans, but is closer and blows away Giant and Safeway in selection and price.

23.6.09

Cheesecake Factory Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Cheesecake

So Alison brought this home for me tonight. Wow. Wow.

Crazy. It's like eating a huge peanut butter cup

Check this out..

Too much....

Must finish this now.

Thanks baby!!

22.6.09

Tonic

Tonic
2036 G St NW
Washington DC 20036
202.296.0211


This used to be our old standby when I was in grad school. Right across the street from the economics department. It opened and we were there for lunch several times a week. But over time, the quality has slipped, the service stinks, and the prices have gone way up. The place just isn't the same anymore and we rarely go there.

I saw some great friends of mine who had moved out of town recently: Hans, Jessie, and their adorable son Liam. We decided to meet at Tonic because we could not get a reservation at Founding Farmers (one of my top 10 in DC). I had the mac and cheese and a Tonic Salad which has blue cheese and toasted pecans.

The service was good for a change and the food passable. The mac and cheese is above average and clearly has some smoked gouda as well as the usual cheddar. Meh. I was unimpressed.

Overall: 76

Rating System:
95-100 World class, everything is outstanding from service to ambiance to wine list
88-94 Among the best and favorites.
80-87 Very good, at times outstanding, but could be inconsistent or not provide a total dining experience
70-79 Good. May surprise you at times, usually inexpensive and casual.
60-69 Decent. A good weeknight, quick dinner out. Nothing fancy, but gets the job done adequately.
Below 60 Not recommended

Vanilla Milkshake Pop-Tarts

Brand: Kellog's
Source: Wegman's

It will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me that my mind went to Pop-Tarts quite soon after started making plans for this blog...in part because my mind tends toward Pop-Tarts at least a few times a day. I remember having my first Pop-Tart back when I was eight years old: strawberry with no icing, heated up in a toaster at my Aunt Polly's apartment in Boston. It has all been downhill since then, much to the dismay of my friends and family whose palates are less tolerant of sweets than my own. :)


But I digress. On to the project at hand: Vanilla Milkshake Pop-Tarts.



As much as I love Pop-Tarts, I'm a little hesitant to try new flavors. That being said, the Hot Fudge Sundae flavor that came out a few years ago has surpassed my old standby of Brown Sugar and Cinnamon in terms of the frequency with which I buy them. So, I thought, why not give the new Vanilla Milkshake flavor a go?


It meets my basic Pop-Tart criteria (chocolaty rather than fruity, and iced rather than plain). Clearly, the jimmies aren't as plentiful as advertised on the box, but this would be forgivable if the Pop-Tarts tasted good. It seems to be the same icing that's on the Hot Fudge Sundae variety, but it doesn't work as well on the vanilla cookie as it does on the chocolate; it tastes almost like Saccharin. The filling reminded me of the Cookies and Cream variety, but again, it does not work as well with the vanilla cookie.


Overall, I was disappointed. I don't think I'll buy these again, given all of the other yummy Pop-Tart choices out there.

Rating: C

Rating System:
A - Pick it up today!
B - Worth a try - Will likely purchase again
C - Interesting but won't likely purchase again
D - Somewhat regrettable purchase
F - FAIL

21.6.09

Michael's Noodles

Michael's Noodles
10038 Darnestown Road
Rockville, MD
301-738-0370

Went to this Taiwanese place in Rockville with some friends of ours. SURPRISE FISH was the theme of the night. So I am a vegetarian most of the time, about 99.9% of the time due to gout. So I haven't eaten much meat over the last few years...let alone fish....let alone dried fish....let alone dried fish that looked like worms....let alone dried fish that looked like worms that were a SURPRISE!!!


SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, so I didn't ask if it was vegetarian. That was my bad. It was totally valid for them to put fish on it. What wasn't valid was Alison ordering egg and tomato on rice and getting beef and egg on rice. When she said she ordered tomato and egg on rice, they took the plate, added tomatoes to the top and gave it back to her with the beef. SURPRISE BEEF!!!

Everything else was pretty good.

So our friends Joe and Robin ordered the sichuan dumplings. The sauce is so good that we hung onto it and put it on everything. Didn't make it to a picture of the dumplings themselves.

Robin had the roasted beef noodle soup and enjoyed it very much.


Joe had the wonton noodle soup and used the dumpling sauce in it to spice it up.


Alison and I started with the vegetarian dumplings and the scallion pancake. I ate the pancakes so fast and half the dumplings that I only got this picture.


I really failed on the pictures this evening. So I didn't get one of the infamous tomato and egg rice with SURPRISE BEEF!!!! But here is one of the spicy tofu noodles.


Overall: 70

Rating System:
95-100 World class, everything is outstanding from service to ambiance to wine list
88-94 Among the best and favorites.
80-87 Very good, at times outstanding, but could be inconsistent or not provide a total dining experience
70-79 Good. May surprise you at times, usually inexpensive and casual.
60-69 Decent. A good weeknight, quick dinner out. Nothing fancy, but gets the job done adequately.
Below 60 Not recommended

Cats Cookies for People

Brand: Trader Joe's
Source: Trader Joe's

Tom lives a few blocks away from the Trader Joe's in West End, much to my delight.:) What Trader Joe's lacks in variety and basics it makes up for with fun, inexpensive treats like Cats Cookies for People.


I'm a huge fan of all four varieties - original (pictured here), ginger, cinnamon, and chocolate - although cinnamon is definitely the tastiest. They're about the same size as animal crackers but crispier and denser than most brands - and there's no comparison in terms of flavor. At only 120 calories for 15 cookies, who could resist these adorable little guys???


Well, maybe Tom's kitty, who batted at the cookie a few times before losing interest. :)

So, the glorious tradition of Trader Joe's cheap and delicious cookie tubs is alive and well in Cats Cookies for People.

Rating: A-

Rating System:
A - Pick it up today!
B - Worth a try - Will likely purchase again
C - Interesting but won't likely purchase again
D - Somewhat regrettable purchase
F - FAIL

Le Pain Quotidien - Dupont

Le Pain Quotidien
2001 P Street NW
Blaine Mansion
Washington, DC
202.459.9176

Stopped by the new Le Pain Quotidien in Dupont Circle today for brunch. We really enjoy the ones in Georgetown and Old Town Alexandria and have spent many a weekend morning there. The Dupont location is still experiencing the bumps and hiccups of a newly opened restaurant so be patient.

We ordered our usual: basket of bread, fruit, soft boiled egg, and coffee. The food was solid as usual and we were pleased at the inquiry of how done we wanted our soft boiled eggs.

The new location is much brighter and sunnier than the Georgetown location, but much smaller which makes me suspect a crowd and a wait during busy times. No outdoor seating is also dissapointing.

Overall: 83

Rating System:
95-100 World class, everything is outstanding from service to ambiance to wine list
88-94 Among the best and favorites.
80-87 Very good, at times outstanding, but could be inconsistent or not provide a total dining experience
70-79 Good. May surprise you at times, usually inexpensive and casual.
60-69 Decent. A good weeknight, quick dinner out. Nothing fancy, but gets the job done adequately.
Below 60 Not recommended

20.6.09

Jaipur

Jaipur
9401 Lee Highway, Unit 105
Fairfax, VA 22031
703.766.1111

On the recommendation of a Bengali friend of mine, who said this was his favorite Indian restaurant in the DC area, we decided to have dinner here tonight. The decor is various shades of pink as Jaipur is known as the "pink city" since in 1876 the city decorated itself in pink to welcome Queen Elizabeth and Prince Albert II.

One really nice thing about the menu is the ability to order nearly any entree as a half order, so we took full advantage so that we could try a lot of different dishes. We started with some papdam and two beautiful samosas. The samosa dough was handmade and filled with surprises like cashews, an item I haven't seen in too many samosas. Then we had some paneer tikka (one of my favorites...marinated and grilled cheese), saag paneer (my old standby of spinach and cheese), besan ka ghatta (gram flour dumplings), bhartha baigan ka (smoked eggplant), kulcha do piaza (bread stuffed with onions), naan (bread) and dal (in this case, yellow lentils).

Honestly, the best thing on the table was the dal. It was spicy and rich and complex, one of the best examples of dal I have ever had. The besan ka ghatta was new to me and it was wonderful! The tomato, onion and yogurt sauce was fantastic and the dumplings provided a really chewy conterpart. The paneer tikka was less smoky than the one I love at Woodlands but the cheese was much richer and moister at Jaipur. And the kulcha do piaza was great!!

The service was very attentive, in fact, a bit much, as we were asked if we were finished several times while we were taking breaks, but very politely.

I thought Jaipur was definitely among the best Indian I have ever had, but still comes in a tiny bit under Woodlands overall.

Overall: 92

Rating System:
95-100 World class, everything is outstanding from service to ambiance to wine list
88-94 Among the best and favorites.
80-87 Very good, at times outstanding, but could be inconsistent or not provide a total dining experience
70-79 Good. May surprise you at times, usually inexpensive and casual.
60-69 Decent. A good weeknight, quick dinner out. Nothing fancy, but gets the job done adequately.
Below 60 Not recommended