#173 - mr shawn goes to washington (pt deux).

hey there, neglected food blog. how're things going? oh yeah. i suppose that since i decided to shun you for the past month, things have probably been fairly crickets & tumbleweed for you lately. sorry bout that. things have been pretty fun for me though. thanks for asking! mid-month, to kick off my annual bday week celebration, i decided to revisit my 2008 d.c. birthday celebration with a trip down to the capitol to hang with my good friend tadley, best known round these parts for his uber-classy guest column on spotted dick. as has become the standard these days for my vacations, my time there ended up being one that was jam packed with food & drink.

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nosh nook #193 - wednesday, december 9, 2009

there's a 'cookie snob' in the kitchen (link)
12.9.09 - the washington post - by jane black

if i've learned one thing from cookie monster's lunatic ravings, it's that C is most definitely for cookie. that may be a public television-supported fact, but it's also a fact that C is for copious calories & chunky cellulite! am i right, cookie-loving ladies? i mean, i love cookies as much as the next guy, but i realize that man cannot live on cookies alone, so i try to keep my cookie consumption in check, lest i become known about town as "the tubby cookie boy." no amount of brownies or samoans are worth that nickname...unless you have a job in a traveling carnival...& you get to sleep with the sword-swallowing chick.

there's this "beer-themed restaurant" down in d.c. called birch & barley and according to the washington post, they have a "cookie snob" in the kitchen. her name is tiffany macisaac & she's been a cookie snob ever since her first job here in nyc at union square cafe, where she perfected the art of baking cookies. she made the move from nyc to d.c. earlier this year after birch & barley contacted her & her fiance (a chef) about an open chef position at their restaurant that they needed to fill PRONTO. it was a few days before their wedding but they jumped through hoops to get to d.c. & show off their skillz & in the end, both ended up getting hired, with macisaac becoming their new pastry chef. then they went to hawaii & got married...& macisaac baked cookies instead of having a wedding cake because she's obviously NUTS about cookies.

at birch & barley, she "turns out ginger molasses, chocolate shortbread and chocolate chip cookies, plus graham crackers." her future plans include "a late-night cookie bake" where "just before the restaurant kitchen closes, she will make about 60 cookies that servers will sell for $1 apiece in the upstairs bar, churchkey." then she'll dispense her tasty cookies to hungry & impressionable drinkers. it's an awesome idea, one that she describes this way. "think about it. you've been drinking and you're thinking, 'wow, i wish i had a snack,' "and then the smell of warm cookies wafts through the room. wouldn't that be awesome?" yes, tiffany. yes it would. wherever there are cookies wafting...that is where i want to be.

nosh nook #183 - wednesday, november 25, 2009

taco: the rules of engagement (link)
11.24.09 - washington city paper - by tim carman

tacos! i have this one friend & boy does she love tacos. girl is CRAZY about tacos. she'll call me up on the phone & we'll be talking & out of nowhere, she'll be all, "hey shawn. i want tacos." every time, i assure her that the only way to fix that is to eat some tacos. usually, that seems to help. i mean, why not? you can't beat a good taco. as long as it's well made & obviously soft shell, tacos are pretty much the bomb. there are a ton of good taco joints here in the city & at the moment, my fave is brooklyn's calexico (winner of the 2008 vendy awards). over the past few months, i've been making a bunch of stops there, specifically for the tacos. other than the twenty minute wait for two tacos, i have nothing but raves for them, with a special place in my heart reserved for their carne asada tacos.

tacowise, it looks like the d.c. area's doing pretty well these days. according to washington city paper (the only alternative newspaper in d.c.), there are a ton of places around the city where you can grab a couple of simple, tasty, mexican-style tacos. they might not be entirely authentic (many are made with pre-made, flour tortillas), but for the most part, they're still good. in rosslyn (VA), there's district taco, whose chorizo-and-bacon breakfast taco "possesses genuine crunch, provided by tiny crumbles of crispy bacon, which contrast perfectly with the fluffy yellow curds." dupont circle's tomatillo taqueria has barbacoa and carnitas tacos, "which rely on marinades and long, luscious braises to provide their succulence and understated flavor." taqueria la placita (in hyattsville, MD) has al pastor tacos that are apparently to die for.

la placita also goes into territories that aren't for the faint of stomach. they have oreja (ear) & cueritos (pig skin) tacos on the menu. respectively, they have "a pleasant cartilage crunch" & a "soft and unctuous" pork flavor. those are two qualities i never want in a taco. they're not the only ones in the city serving weird-ass tacos though. there's also a place on columbia road NW called pica taco, who has a lengua taco which, "may force you to reconsider your aversion to beef tongue." sorry, but i will never reconsider my aversion to beef tongue. i'm all for non-"leftover pieces of the animal" tacos, but if i'm ever eating ears & tongues & skin, i want it to be because i've survived a plane crash & have no other choice.

nosh nook #99 - thursday, july 30, 2009

the lump sum: washington's best crab cakes (link)
07.29.09 - the washington post - by jane black

ok. true confessions time. in my handful of trips to the d.c./virginia area (still haven't seen baltimore other than from the highway & on the wire), i've still yet to try the area's crab on any of my visits. no steamed crab, no crab legs, no crab cakes. maybe one day i will. i probably should. i hear it's their regional dish & all. funny...during my entire recent trip to chicago, i didn't have a single hot dog either. what's my problem (other than the obvious)?

since they apparently love a challenge, jane black & the washington post food section tried twenty-five different crab cakes as part of a search to "define and discover the best local examples." the most well known ones typically feature lumpy sweet crab with "old bay seasoning, lemon juice herbs and a binder such as eggs, mayonnaise or bread crumbs" for flavor, but there are obviously variations.

of those they tried, the better ones were the ones with jumbo lump meat like those at blacksalt, kinkead's & johnny's (the "more refined" places) & those at jerry's seafood and at g&m (both "more rustic but equally impressive"). these were all relatively straightforward takes on the crab cake, but little variations like the minced jalapeno at blacksalt made for nice additions.

it turns out that the crabs at a lot of these aren't even from the area. the chef at kinkead's gets maryland crabmeat "about eight months a year" & a lot of places get their crabmeat from the gulf coast or the carolinas. those at jerry's come all the way from venezuela, which you'd think would be blasphemy, but both chefs & the post tasters agreed that it's still cool. what was most important to the post tasters? that "they should always taste good." um, i could have told you that.

phew. i made it through that whole thing without making a "got crabs?" joke.

snack away! #12 - obama drama.

snack away! #12 - obama drama.
guest blogger: jason rodriguez, washington, d.c.

snacks:
- eye of round & brisket pho (pho 75)
- half-smoke & chili fries (ben's chili bowl)
- burger & cajun fries (five guys)
- medium-rare burger, topped with applewood bacon, cognac mushrooms, roasted garlic, bleu cheese & heck sauce with cheesy tater tots on the side (ray's hell burger)
- pizza with white garlic sauce, spinach, ricotta, fontina & mozzarella (the italian store)
- birthday cake made with devil’s food, orange flavoring, raspberry icing & smothered in chocolate truffle (heidelberg)
- chorizo corn dog (eat bar)
- roast beef & brie wrap with a side of tabasco onion rings (lost dog cafe)

drinks:
- diet grape soda (ray's hell burger)
- malbec (eat bar)
- dead guy ale (lost dog cafe)

when my wife called last week to tell me that the presidential entourage was staging a block from our apartment my first response was, "please don’t tell me he’s eating at pho 75. i don’t want to imagine my life without some eye-of-round and brisket pho." my response would have been different five months ago. i would have dropped whatever i was doing and headed home as fast as possible for a mere glimpse of the man who’s nothing short of a hero to me. but that was when obama’s movements about the district were exciting and didn’t necessarily infer that one of my favorite eateries was about to be bogged down by a weird brand of people who chose their restaurants based solely on whether or not the president decided to stop there for a power lunch.

mr. president – i can forgive you for ben’s chili bowl. Honestly, i never really had any right to eat there in the first place. i’m not going to lie – i never ate there pre-U street "renaissance" (re: gentrification). in the interest of full disclosure, i didn’t even know about ben’s chili bowl until several years after my move to DC. like all DC-area transients from a decade ago, i was told to avoid U street and i did, without question. whenever i go to the chili bowl i feel like a treasure hunter that’s going into some pyramid, stealing a golden cat, and kicking a mummy for good measure. so it makes no sense to look at all of the new customers there and say that they’re ruining the chili bowl. i was part of the original movement to ruin the chili bowl when i went in there for a half-smoke and chili fries several years ago.

and, mr. president, i have no problem with you eating at five guys burgers and fries. there are plenty of them around and i tend to eat at the georgetown or courthouse location and not at the downtown one you and biden ate at. i haven’t seen a mad flux of people at my usual five guys and i can still get in and out, burger and cajun fries in hand, in 5 to 10 minutes.

but, mr. president, why did you need to eat at ray’s hell burger? how did you even know about ray’s hell burger? it’s tucked away in a strip mall that’s tucked away between the courthouse and rosslyn metro stations – it’s in no-man’s land, mr. president. the establishment doesn’t even have a sign in front of it. i talk to long-time DC (and arlington) residents and tell them about ray’s hell burger and they usually respond, "what’s that?" and the thing is – despite its relative obscurity – there were still considerable lines, occasionally out the door, during weekends and weeknights.

and then you ate there.

i tried to get a burger there several weeks ago. it was at around 7:30pm on a sunday and i was expecting a slight line. i was going to get it medium-rare, topped with applewood bacon, cognac mushrooms, roasted garlic, bleu cheese, and heck sauce. i was particularly hungry, so i was probably going to get some cheesy tater tots on the side. wash it all down with a diet grape soda. it would have been heaven, mr. president. the line, however, was out the door and down the block. i walked to the end of it only to hear some woman saying, "i’m sure they have veggie burgers." she was sure ray’s hell burger would have veggie burgers. ray’s - a place that’s basically a counter, a meat grinder and a grill. a guy wearing a butcher’s apron is pushing sides of beef into the grinder while you’re ordering. pre-obama, ray’s would have never attracted the kind of person who was sure they’d have veggie burgers. it might sound ridiculous, but the very fact that that woman was one of the thirty-or-so people in front of me in line made me kind of sick. i haven’t made my way back to ray’s since.

mr. president – let’s not lose site of one thing. you are awesome. there’s really no other way to put it. i think your decisions since entering office have been mostly rock solid and even if they all end up killing us somehow, at least i can say you’re working you ass off. and i can understand how being awesome means that you’d eat at places like ben’s and five guys and ray’s. but, please, in the future – if you have the hankering for some pizza with white garlic sauce, spinach, ricotta, fontina, and mozzarella – send an aide to the italian store instead of showing up with your crew. if you want to get sasha and malia a birthday cake made with devil’s food, orange flavoring, raspberry icing, and smothered in chocolate truffle call heidelberg and see if they’ll deliver to the white house. and if you think a date night consisting of a fantastic malbec paired with a chorizo corn dog would be the way to go, consider cooking it yourself before going to eat bar – michelle would appreciate the sentiment and it would save the taxpayer some money while you’re at it.

that’s all i’m saying. it’s great to have a president that appreciates the district and likes to explore some of our quirkier little eateries. but i swear to god, if three months from now i walk over to lost dog cafe to get myself a roast beef and brie wrap with a side of tabasco onion rings and a pint of dead guy ale and there’s a two-hour wait to be seated, i will vote for crist in 2012. at least he’ll be too busy hitting the tanning salons to eat out all the time.

jason rodriguez lives in arlington, va with his coincidentally newlywed wife robin, two dogs, four cats, and a quaker parrot that he hates with a passion. his 2007 graphic novel postcards: true stories that never happened is all acclaimed & whatnot.