Tidbits: Early July Edition

A few things I've been eating lately:

* I have been playing a lot of soccer lately - both pickup and league, and my shins hurt like hell (note to self: find something to make these shinguards more, er, comfortable to wear while running around for one or two hours). Last night after one such pickup game down in DC (where I did pretty well, considering my lack of experience), I headed to Adams Morgan for a quick beer and bite before making the long slog home. I ended up at the cozy L'Enfant Cafe & Bar where I ordered a delicious savory crepe of salmon & boursin cheese ($13). It was a bargain, though the refreshing cherry beer I ordered, normally served with ice, clocked in at $10! That kind of took me by surprise (note to self: ask how much the damn beer costs).

* Whenever I eat Indian, I often gravitate to one or two recipes that are tried and true favorites: chicken tikka masala, saag gosht (lamb with spinach), murgh makhani (butter chicken), etc. At Mughal Garden the other night I settled on something somewhat different: their lamb methi ($14), which is lamb in a fenugreek sauce (hence the methi, which is fenugreek). It's not a taste I can easily describe, because I don't have a reference point. It's a very mellow dish, a lovely one with a lot of sauce you can soak up with much of your garlic naan. I recommend it.

* I haven't been to Rocket 2 Venus lately. I did go last week, and could not get over how quickly I was seated... and how my waiter just completely forgot about me (very irritated about that). Fortunately after about ten minutes of tapping my fingers and checking my email, a waiter did come by to find out if I was being helped (nope), and my service was quite fast after that. R2V is a place with such an eclectic menu that you can spend a good long while trying to figure out what to order - maybe that was a plus for waiting while people seated after me ended up ordering first. After all the classic American, Southern, Western, Chesapeake, Cajun and Korean offerings, I ordered the bulgogi plate with fried rice ball, mashed potatoes & kimchi ($13). It was a very satisfying experience, with the soft bulgogi, kimchi and potatoes providing a flavorful contrast against each other. Plus, my food came out much faster than I had anticipated.

* Alas, all the area Super Fresh stores are now history, excepting for the one downtown on N. Charles Street. Some of them are already slated to become something else (like the one in Hampden, for example). The rest are just sitting around, twiddling their thumbs. I hope a Harris Teeter or something moves into the one on Putty Hill.

* I realized the other day: sometimes you want a nice, hearty breakfast of pancakes, sausage, bacon, etc., just like Mom used to make. And other times, all you want is a bowl of kimchi flavored noodles (second kimchi reference in this post, by the way).

* Find out in a few weeks what happened to this little guy that I got at the Maine Avenue Fish Market in Washington, DC, for all of $7 a pound:


* Soda update: I have been sticking to about 2 cans a day. With Dad in the hospital and the occasional late long drive back from DC I have allowed myself a little more of the stuff. But on the contrary, I have also found myself just normally drinking less. It's been a long time since I have ordered it in the restaurant, preferring beer, tea or water (I did order a soda at Lou's City Bar after a game the other day, to give me a shot of caffeine - which worked). But overall I have been going through a good bit less of it lately.

* And finally: I know he is moving out soon (er, being forced out by our landlord), but could my idiot neighbor please stop putting all his crap out by the side of the road for the trash and recycling people to just leave there!?!? It's bad enough he used to go through my recycling bin for cans, and the only reason he doesn't seem to do this anymore is because I have started putting it in a place where he is too lazy to look.

Ouch, did I just let all that pour out? Maybe I should smack him with one of my shinguards?

Adams Morgan for Capital Pride

I was in DC last Saturday night for Capital Pride. No I wasn't living it up, but I did eat out and then crashed at a friend's place before our Sunday morning soccer game and then my first ever visit to DC's pride festival. Said dinner was at Casa Oaxaca on 18th Street in Adams Morgan. Casa Oaxaca brings not just Mexican, but specifically Oaxacan dishes to DC diners. I had been meaning to head here for a while but was always flummoxed with the variety of restaurants.

I chose to eat downstairs in their softly-lit, earthy-colored restaurant. The menu does not offer much in the way of cheap eats - average entrée prices are about $15 to $25. Casa Oaxaca notably has a dizzying array of moles, a Oaxacan specialty. It's not just mole poblano.: it's red moles and black moles, yellow, orange and green ones. There was even a fig-based mole that intrigued me enough to seriously consider ordering. Eventually I went ahead with their three mole plate ($19) - red, black and green moles smothering a nice piece of chicken breast, with beans, Oaxacan cheese and small corn tortillas. It's a delicious combo that gives you a nice sample of several moles that would be pricey to order on their own.

Much of my bill came from what I ordered to drink - unusual for me, since I rarely order anything pricier than a small sake when I get sushi. In addition to the obligatory Mexican beer (Dos Equis on draft for $5.50), I considered ordering one shot from their extensive tequila list - I wasn't driving anywhere. Instead, I moved my eyes to their mezcal list. Most mezcales are made in Oaxaca (unlike the more Jalisco-based tequila), and so it seemed appropriate. Since I have no experience ordering mezcal I had no idea what to order. The waiter recommended the Del Maguey Minero ($10 - they were all that much), which goes well with moles. After the obligatory offering to Mayahuel, the Aztec goddess of fertility and of maguey (the source of mezcal)* I very slowly sipped the warm, tangy shot of mezcal while I ate. This may be why it didn't hit me so hard. Mezcal is strong if you drink it all at once, and since I was spending so much for such a small glass of alcohol, I intended to make it last.

To finish off my meal, I ordered a chocolate flan ($6), a silky and rich custard that also went well with this brand of mezcal. This topped off what ended up being, after tax and tip, a $50 bill. That is not chump change for me, and it is the rare time that I will spend so much on one meal. Heck, that's usually two or three meals out for me. But I'm not eating in Adams Morgan often, and I thought I would splurge for once. Yes, for me that is a splurge.

Before meeting up with my friend, I walked over to the 18th & U Duplex Diner for a few Sierra Nevadas on tap, while I navigated around all the much more drunken gays in silly beads from the day's parade, and watching the United States lose their CONCACAF Gold Cup match to a Panamanian team they were roundly expected to defeat.

* Now that I have an Android phone, I decided to look up how to drink mezcal while I was in the restaurant (these devices are pretty handy). Traditionally, among other things that I was in no place to do, one makes an offering to Mayahuel by spilling a little mezcal on the ground. I stuck my fingers in the glass and flicked a little on the floor. Hey, I don't want to take any chances here.

A few tidbits: Start of May edition

1. Found some potatoes and peas vindaloo in the freezer (recipe from Julie Sahni's Moghul Microwave). Tastes as fresh as ever. Score!

2. I just love Fat Tire. When are they coming out to Maryland!? I have to go all the way to North Carolina to get it. Though for a very limited time, it's being sold somewhere in DC, at the Black Squirrel in Adams Morgan. But just temporarily. By the time I can get down there it'll probably be gone.

3. A few things I've eaten recently that have caught me off guard because of their tastiness:

• Trader Joe's French Vanilla ice cream has an extremely luxurious richness to it. Really, it has to be the best commercially available (that is, not farm made) vanilla ice cream I've eaten in ages.
• The Helmand's vegetarian platter ($14). I don't often eat meatless when I eat out, but this past Saturday I made the choice and it was a winner!
• Dietz & Watson hot dog - I had one at Bon Bon's Ice Cream in Belvedere Square today and I was very impressed. Didn't even feel bad about the $2.85 I spent on it and the sauerkraut that came with it (I actually saw the caraway seeds).
• The cute little mini-cakes that you can get at City Café for a mere $3. I had a cup-sized red velvet cake that had two different layers of icing - a whipped one and a much denser cheesy one. The carrot cupcake I had today was almost as good.
  

4. Went to a sake tasting at Honeygo Wines - not in my neck of the woods so I had to go out of the way for it. The one I left with, after snarfing down three pieces of free nigiri sushi (What kind of fool passes up free sushi?): Gekkeikan's Haiku brand. The woman said the rice is polished. Gekkeikan says: "Slow fermentation at low temperatures gives this sake a slightly dry flavor with a light aroma reminiscent of orchard apples." I didn't taste apples. But I still liked it.

5. And finally, something that has nothing to do with food. As I've hinted once or twice on here and Twitter, I can sing! I'm a member of the Baltimore Men's Chorus, and I've got a plug to make. Our big spring concert and silent auction is coming up on Saturday, May 22, 8:00pm at the University of Baltimore Auditorium. Yes, I know that's the same night as the big Anthony Bourdain-Eric Ripert event at the Hippodrome. Yes, I know many foodies will be going there. But if you weren't planning to go see Bourdain and you wanted to listen to more than a few talented gay men singing some great music, you have your chance! Tickets are only $15!