We all scream for...

Apparently Starbucks thinks it's Ben & Jerry's. The coffee chain will be offering free ice cream at its many locations today. Though we'll probably be assaulted by the thousands of readers (shut up; we can dream) who abhor Starbucks' corporate empire, we consider providing you Free Food Alerts our mission.

We won't patronize you and tell you where to find a Starbucks in DC - we'll simply tell you to walk four blocks. Or take a hint from DCist and discover your Starbucks Density.

Ecto Pie

When it comes to the cook v.s. baker dichotomy, I definitely fall in the "cook" category. I have nothing but disdain for this "measuring" thing people always talk about. I'm not good with things like electric mixers. I don't own a rolling pin, and try to make pies using a Pam can instead. I don't even like dessert.

But since I'm competent in the kitchen, there invariably comes a time when I'm asked to bring dessert to a party, bbq or other gathering. I dread it, but also tend to accept the challenge rather than showing up with a frozen pie or box of Entenmann's.

My biggest problem is the whole appearance thing. Chalk it up to my lack of artistic talent, my klutziness or my impatience, but while my desserts usually taste reasonably good, they tend to look, well, kind of unappetizing.

The double-layer Key Lime pies I made for two friends' bbqs last weekend were no exception. Adapting a recipe I saw once in Gourmet magazine, the pies certainly were impressive on the effort scale; there were homemade crusts, custards and cheesecake-like concoctions with which to contend. And I could tell as I tasted my progress that they were going to be yummy in the end. The problem? They were ugly.

My first thought was to use decorative whipped cream to make amends. Perhaps some green food coloring would add a touch of whimsy to the pies' appearance. Not so much. I even tried adding a layer of kiwi fruit to mask the disastrous results, but there was no salvaging things. The Slimer-reminiscent result could only be known as Ecto Pie.

Still, you couldn't say the dessert wasn't a conversation piece, and it still turned out delicious. Here's the recipe, but for those who can manage to whip up a picturesque pie, leave the layer of whipped cream and fruit out of it.

Ecto Pie
(adapted from Two-Layer Key Lime Pie from Gourmet magazine)

a little less than 1 cup granola (regular – avoid anything with
raisins or fruit)
the same amount of graham cracker crumbs
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cans plus ½ cup sweetened condensed milk
some sugar
about a cup of Key Lime juice
3 large egg yolks
1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
a touch of vanilla extract
some whipped cream
Green food coloring
Two kiwis

Preheat your oven to 350. Blend granola in food processor. Mix with granola, along with about a half stick of unsalted butter and a touch of sugar. Press into pie pan, and bake until brown (8 minutesish). Let cool.

While your crust is cooking, whisk together 1 can of condensed milk, about a half cup of lime juice and the egg yolks. Poor into cooled crush and bake until the custard is set (around 25 minutes). Cool until about room temperature.

Beat cream cheese, ½ cup of condensed milk, about a quarter cup lime juice, a bit of sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla with electric mixer. Poor over baked layer and smooth top. Refrigerate for four hours or overnight.

Whimsical Option: Mix food coloring with whipped cream and spread over top. Slice two kiwis and layer over pie. Prepare to be mocked by your friends.

Authentic?

In the US, Italian food has a lot to do with dried pasta and California tomato paste. In Japan, French food is a steak with curry and American food is rice noodles with a hamburger patty, topped with a fried egg. In France, Japanese food is canned tuna on a bed of rice, and Chinese is spaghetti with soy sause. But what is Chinese like in Thailand? Well, there are two ways to find out. You can go to Bangkok’s Chinatown, where a significant portion of Southern China resides, or you could go to Man Ho, a restaurant best described as ‘Chinese tribute’ at the Marriot on Sukhumvet.

Which isn’t to say it isn’t good. The menu claims an Excellent Hong Kong chef and they aren’t kidding- at least about the ‘excellent’ part. The deep wood décor would make any Chinese emperor or comrade glad that he decided to stay at the Marriot. Everything possible is silver, and when that can’t be accomplished, in porcelain, and the waiters can’t replace the plates fast enough.

So what are the tip offs? Well, first off, the waitresses, despite wearing identical pseudo Chinese dresses, bow thai- style (hands pressed together, thumbs pointing at chin, nose, or eyebrows) to you upon entering. This would be like going to a German place and having waiters in full lederhosen perform a complicated Chicago gangsta handshake for you. There are other subtleties. Like the sake martinis, and the tobiko-covered dim sum. In fact, by the time your food arrives you’re already half tempted to just ditch this Chinese pretense and order up from the distastefully named ‘Tsunami’ Sushi bar downstairs.

Anyway, authentic or not, the food here is damn fine and about as different from Chinatown as you can get and still be cooking with soy sause. There we crunched through shrimp around baby corns, pork dumplings, and fish, hot and crispy and oily and fresh from the putrid river. Here, we started with a plate of sautéed oysters covered in peppers and then moved on to steamed rice dumplings frilled with greens and more greens. Next were scallops in a tarot dumpling, the outside fried to a fluffy crispiness that dissolved at a touch. That sounds great till you realize that this made them impossible to pick up, by the time they reached the mouth they were barely a pile of crumbs. Tasty crumbs.

We had one of the better roasted ducks I’ve had- Cantonese duck is lighter on flavor than Peking, but it’s also lighter an the thick layer of subcutaneous fat, and anyway, there was a dish of plum sause to dip in. And lasty, following The Man Who ate Everything’s advice to always order a dish you expect not to like, we got a pigeon in five spice seasoning. ‘Poor man’s duck’ was AMG’s masterful summary-the taste is gamier than chicken but not as tender. Like duck that has been run through a rough meat grinder once. Besides, the surprisingly organic-looking head stares at you with accusing, char-broiled eyes while you eat.

Chefs on the Mall

Are you a celebrity chef stalker (some of us have already admitted as much)? Do hearing the names Emeril Lagasse or Charlie Palmer get you more excited than spotting Christina Aguilera or Christian Bale on the street?

If you follow the D.C. restaurant scene, purchase cookbooks like they're crack or want to see people like Roberto Donna in action, you should check out the Smithsonian Folklife Festival's Food Culture USA. Events begin today.

This is the first time the festival's taking on food as one of its themes, and it will feature book signings, three areas for cooking demonstrations and lectures and events dedicated to various food topics, such as immigrant cooking, slow food and farmers' markets.

Tons of big names are stopping by for signings and demonstrations, including national figures like Brad Ogden and Sheila Lukens, or local stars such as The Inn at Little Washington’s Patrick O'Connell, Zola's Frank Morales, Nongkran Daks of Thai Basil (who's among those quoted in the New York Times' preview of the festival), as well as the aforementioned Donna, Palmer and LaGasse.

D.C. restaurants are getting into the spirit once evening rolls around. Bangkok Joe’s will offer a rice tasting menu through July 4; Charlie Palmer's hosts a wine and farm dinner tonight, and Red Sage will host the Beard Foundation's Best Chef Southwest Janos Wilder tomorrow evening. Additional events are scheduled through July 4.

The festival's website has a schedule of events posted.

And if you're still looking for more foodie fun down at the mall, you can always visit Julia Child's Kitchen over at the Natural History Museum.

Bangkok street food: A spotters guide.

Create a standard bingo card using various items from the list below. Fly to Bangkok. Arrive any time, day or night. Walk one block in any direction, crossing off items as you spot them. I guarantee you that someone will have won before you even get halfway to the scary mob at the bus stop.

Things on a stick:

• Fish balls – Pale, rubbery, fish balls.
  
• Deep Fried Meat dumplings - in a crispy wrapper with sweet chili sauce
  
• Whole Squid - Roasted over an open fire. Variation: dried squid. On a a stick
  
• Sausage – Just what it sounds like, but squishier
  
• Chicken satay – watch out for the big old chunks of fat that are this item’s profit margin.
  
• Whole half chicken – Boned, flattened between two sticks of bamboo, and held over an open fire
  
• Giant fish – Looks like a fish popsicle. Don’t eat the fins. Or the fish.
  
• Corn on a stick – I’m not really sure why this has become a mainstay of Thai street food.

Things in a bag

• Soft drinks – A seller pours the drink on the little bag filled with ice and give you a plastic straw to drink it with, thereby negating the point of his keeping the bottle to recycle it. Useful as a water balloon in an emergency
  
• Fresh orange juice – Salt added. Made from tiny little oranges. You will never drink that garbage from Tropicana again
  
• Roasted peanuts with sesame seeds – Usually sold out of large baskets balanced on yolks carried over the shoulders by tiny little men
  
• Deep fried banana chips – Light and crispy, or covered with salt and sugar
  
• Muffin and cream roll-ups – Exactly what they sound like
  
• Chili sauce- Careful of unwrapping, or beware the spicy rubber band of doom
  
• Broad beans- They're better in the shell, not too bad without. Fried in oil and salty.
  
• Tempura sweet potato – Tasty, but sits in your tummy forever
  
• Little round honey cookies -Yep
  
• Fresh doughnuts in sugar, in peanut oil - Greasier than you're used to
  
• Bread crusts- For the catfish, not for you

• Deep fried potatoes – Look out for the huge metal shield being used as a frying pan
  
• Pad thai omelet – A noodle omelet. Really good. Surprisingly. Add sugar and chilies, and maybe some lime and peanuts
  
• Noodle soup – Clear broth with fragrant green leafy veg, nice thick noodles, and sliced pork. Add sugar and chilies, and fish sauce.
  
• Different kind of noodle soup – Sweet broth over fish balls, plasticy fungi, (see ‘things on a stick’)
  
• Beef broth thick noodles - Or thin. who's keeping track.
  
• Rice and duck - Or chicken. Or pork.

• Bamboo sticky rice - I really don't have a clue how this is made, except they crack the bamboo open with a hatchet
  
• Sticky Rice with mango in banana leaf - Apparently they teach how to origami these things in home-economics classes here
  
• Sticky rice with custard in banana leaf - Also
  
• Coconut - Chill it in a bucket of water.Hack off the top. stick in a straw.
  
• Deep-fried Sticky rice - Yes, in a banana leaf
  
• Rice pancake - With coconut and fructose. Don't just use sugar or all the other pancakes will laugh at you
  
• Mini pancake - With bean paste, hot dog, or custard
  
• Banana crepes - See above. Bigger, with a banana

Things on Ice

• Tasteless gelatin deals - with red beans and coconut milk
  
• Fruit - sliced, served with a skewer
  
• Sweet coffee - sweet coffee. condensed milk not optional

• Scorpions - Deep fried and battered
  
• Cicadas - Likewise
  
• Grasshoppers - Stir fried with chilies.
  

Burrito Bulletin

Ah, Chipotle and your mysteriously addictive burritos. Sure, sometimes the overstuffed tortillas make us ill, have an aftertaste that stays with us for hours, and boast four days worth of fat grams. But despite our vows to avoid the chain, we can’t seem to stay away for long.

Tomorrow is a good day to come crawling back to the evil master that is Chipotle – if you buy a burrito and hang on to your receipt, you can get a free one if you come in again before Sunday. As free food deals go, the purchasing component makes it less attractive than, say, Ben & Jerry’s or Krispy Kreme’s offerings, but a free burrito is a free burrito.

Finding a Chipotle shouldn’t be too difficult: there are 13 in the DC/MD/VA metro area. For those of you, though, who persevere in navigating the company’s overly-busy, headache-inducing website to figure out your closest location, we salute you.

We be broken. sorry-

Update: Fixed! long live the fud.

Hi there folks,

We've been having a few technical difficulties here at fud, sorry about that. Everything's fixed now except the comments...which just aren't working at all. We'll figure it out later. after some chocolate. And a bath.

Bubble Tea!

I love bubble tea. I know many who think it's gross, but I love it; I love the oversweet tea, the strange tapioca balls, and the oversized straws you drink it all through.

You can imagine my delight (and my bank account's horror) when walking to my office this morning I notice a brightly colored sign in the window of the once-great-but-now-mostly-mediocre Lawson's Gourmet advertising their newest offering: Bubble Tea!!!!

So for my afternoon sugar break, I went down to Lawson's and paid my whopping $3.85 (incl. tax). Their menu is confusing: it appears that they have many flavors of bubble tea (as you can get at a proper Chinese place), but they only have Black Tea. "Oh well," I thought, my dreams of green tea flavored bubble tea returning to their dark corners in my mind, and ordered Black Tea flavor.

The tea itself was a bit too bitter - probably brewed too hot (as seems to be the custom in these parts) and too long (ditto) to boot - but the sweet milk with which it was mixed canceled most of that out. The tapioca pearls, which are what makes Bubble Tea so special, were good, if a bit mushy. I expect this will improve as Lawson's staff gain a bit of experience handling them, and as long as they don't go all the way to the other end and end up hard and awful like the miserable Teaism bubble tea, I'll be happy. There was also a bit too much ice in my cup. More
flavors would be nice.

I'll have another one tomorrow.

Lawson's Gourmet
1350 Connecticut Ave, NW
Washington DC 20036

Hug a US Department of Health worker

It’s a more fortunate soul than zaf who can make it through southeast Asia without some kind of health crisis. And so, as I sat writhing on the borrowed bed yesterday while my neither regions did battle with Cipro, I took a moment between hallucinating about Simpsons reruns to think about how great the US Department of Health is. I mean, it really really is. You might just know them as the bastards who keep on shutting down your favorite pizza place because the refrigerator was 1 degree off, But from now on I shall think of them in terms of my personal gods. Lemme tell you what you’d have to do without them

1. No ice. None. That means no slushies, no cold drinks, no sorbet, no girlie mixed drinks. It might look like factory ice (round, with a hole) but who knows that kind of water the factory was using, or what that ice was being used for before it arrived in your drink- (see # 3)

2. No water. And that means no fruit juice, because there’s a high chance that is cut with water to increase volume, no dishes that have been washed in water unless they have been bone dry for a few hours, no soups you don’t personally witness at a rolling boil, and you better be damn sure you keep your mouth closed in the shower. And even that bottled water? It better be name brand or carbonated. No fruit or eggs, or vegetables washed in water, even if you could eat them, which you can’t - (see # 3)

3. No fresh fruits or vegetables. Unless you can peel them, but then you have to use the patented lafb-tecnique: Ethyl-alcohol the knife you’re going to use, ethyl-alcohol the entire skin of the vegetable, rinse both with carbonated water. So no salads, no little decorative leaves on your plate, no lettuce or tomato in your sandwich. And that pre-pealed fruit you see gracing every corner? Check out the ice it’s sitting in. (See #1)

4. Meat products – Maybe. There’s no refrigeration to speak of, but everything is fried till its crunchy. This one’s a draw. But make sure that there’s at least a basket over it if it’s sitting in the sun all day, or that black crust? It ain’t barbecue, it’s flies. Mmm, protein.

Editors note: zaf is now feeling much better and can even read web comics unassisted.

Cook and Tell: Chick Pea Burger with Tahini Sauce

When I was living in New York and strapped for cash, one of the pleasures worth setting aside a little money for was brunch at Kitchenette. During the week I dreamed of fluffy scrambled eggs, perfect triangles of toast with strawberry butter, fresh squeezed orange juice and home fries. If I was feeling really indulgent, I would get dessert -- like their chocolate cupcakes with the white curlicue of icing just like Hostess does, but so much better. I spend so many great weekend mornings at Kitchenette that I decided to buy their cookbook.

The little spiral-bound volume is now a kitchen veteran, covered in oil splatters, cake batter and shortening. I've cooked a number of recipes and all have proven to be rib-sticking good. For the hotter weather, I whipped up Kitchenette's Chick Pea Burger with Tahini Sauce. If you have a food processor, this recipe is easy to prepare ahead of time and doesn't require a lot of laboring over a grill. The recipe is also flexible if you want to substitute other veggies in the burger, just make sure you cook out any excess moisture. Doll up your burger with some fresh summer tomatoes, lettuce and some warm pita bread, and voila! -- veggie delight. My only complaint is that the provided recipe for tahini sauce is bland. Instead, I recommend Gourmet's souped up version which gives the extra kick this recipe needs to be truly taste-bud pleasing.

Chick Pea Burger with Tahini Sauce
From Kitchenette: Recipes From Our Kitchen
By Lisa Hall and Ann Nickinson
Makes 4 burgers

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1/2 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup sliced mushrooms
4 oz. fresh spinach, cleaned and chopped
2 14 3/4 oz. cans chick peas, drained
1/2 cup tahini mixed with equal parts water plus 1 tablespoon lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste
4 pieces pita bread
4 large leaves red of green leaf lettuce
4 tomato slices

Place 2 tablespoons oil in medium sauté pan. Add onions, celery, garlic and seasonings. Cook over medium heat 10-12 minutes until vegetables are tender. Add mushrooms and cook 5-10 minutes longer until mushrooms are also tender. Stir in spinach and cook until wilted. Remove from heat and cool. Process drained chick peas in food processor (or use potato masher). Place in mixing bowl and stir in cooked ingredients until well combined. Form mixture into 4 burgers. Meanwhile heat remaining oil in large sauté pan. Place burgers in pan and cook about 8-10 minutes on each side until golden brown. Split pita bread open and place one burger in each pocket with lettuce and tomato slices. Serve tahini sauce on side.

La Tasca

Last Thursday afternoon, my boss came into my office with her usual order: a last-minute semi-crisis. She wanted to hold a cocktail reception the following Thursday evening, for about 35 people, in a private room at a restaurant within easy walking distance of the DSC Convention Center, that wasn’t too expensive. As a recent transplant to DC, she had consulted someone else and gotten three suggestions – Zaytinya, Café Atlantico, and Jaleo – which were more or less my first instincts as well, so we hoped they might not be booked. The manager at Zaytinya may have snickered a bit when I asked, but Atlantico’s manager was lovely and suggested a number of other places I might try; it turns out that the downtown Jaleo doesn’t do private parties.

Scouring my memory and the internet, I identified and phoned more than 20 restaurants on Friday morning, and one place I had never really heard of not only had a private room available but the manager/owner was also exceedingly friendly and helpful on the phone. So, after a walk-by and consultation of one person I found who’d eaten there, we decided on the DC outpost of British tapas chain La Tasca. Please note that by “we decided on” I mean “I made a reservation while my bosses held a meeting and argued about it and then finally got around to apparently realizing that I am the only one who knows the area and that we had no time to mess about and agreed.”

Fast forward to Wednesday morning, when I arrive to the Convention Center to find that my bosses had failed to sign the contract or make menu selections, so I run through the hot sun at lunch to do it all myself. The owner is lovely and understanding about all of this. He is also twelve years old. By “twelve years old,” I mean “not enough older than me to possibly justify owning anything more substantial than a few CDs and maybe a hoopdee.”

Thursday night arrives, and our party descends on 722 7th St, NW, where we have the whole lower level. The setup is lovely, a fun theme without being kitschy, and as we all deliberate over the impressive list of sangria options (they have nine!), plates of food are set about the room.

I began with a white sangria, very tasty, with hints of cinnamon and peach, over the first tapas course of mixed olives and sun dried tomato bread, soon followed by Manchego cheese. Very tasty. Other tapas, brought out one at a time over our two-hour party, were grilled salmon with veggie salsa, a Spanish tortilla (egg and potato goodness), lovely fried calamari, a truly inspired shrimp in garlic sauce, and finally some really fantastic chorizo in red wine sauce.

The food was excellent, and the service equally so. They had a live salsa band upstairs, but we didn’t hear that where we were. I will definitely go back to this place, although hopefully not so stressfully!

La Tasca
722 7th St, NW
Washington DC, 20001
202.347.9190

The Übermarket

An instructive way of comparing supermarkets is to compare them to cars: especially around the Washington area, there are a variety of brand names, sizes and price points from which to choose.

For example, when I need the basics and nothing more, I go to the Soviet Safeway on 17th and Corcoran in Dupont Circle. The Soviet is like a late-model Honda Civic you keep around for small errands or to pass on for use as a teenager's first car. It doesn't have many features, occasionally has annoying quirks and doesn't exactly drive like a dream, but it's functional most of the time and a step up from your old scooter (the corner store).

The Whole Foods in Logan Circle is like a fully loaded top-of-the-line Volvo: safe, expensive and oriented to boring upper-middle class living. Many people would be more inclined to shop at Whole Foods more often if they were cheaper and they got over themselves and sold Coke and Pepsi products.

Trader Joe's is the Volkswagen Jetta of the supermarket world. Youth-oriented, sporty, friendly and occasionally adventurous, it goes well with catchy indie tunes and spontaneous picnics.

The Wegmans in Sterling, Va. is way beyond the sedan class. It’s a tricked-out Cadillac Escalade with the full leather package, nitro boosters, 22-inch rims and LCD screens in the seatbacks. If Xzibit was a foodie, this is how he'd pimp his ride.

The main entrance of this Loudoun County monster leads to a prepared foods area about twice the size of the large-ish steam table joint I used to frequent when I worked in the Judiciary Square/Union Station area. Sandwiches, pizza, sushi, pasta: you name it, they have it ready to consume. Although Wegman’s position in the sad, sad tangle of copycat housing and uncrossable intersections that is the outer NoVa burbs makes it a less-than-ideal spot to grab lunch, you’ll want to carbo load before seeing the rest of the store.

So where exactly is the Metro that goes here?

Next come the packaged meats, cheeses and baked goods. This section alone is about the same size as the Soviet Safeway, allowing for far, far wider aisles in which you can actually pass other shoppers with carts. The size of the section, a sad little corner even in the larger Social Safeway, emphasizes the sheer size of the place, like a powerboat on a retractable arm hanging off the back of a luxury yacht.

Next come the wine and luxury goods. Unlike the District’s mostly pathetic Safeways and Giants, you can buy beer and wine in Virginia supermarkets. It’s a genuinely redeeming feature of the state, but not nearly enough to make up for the “droopy drawers” bill of the last legislative session. There are wines on shelves like at Whole Foods, but there are also wines in a special room off the general sales floor, perhaps too expensive to expose to supermarket shoplifters.

Around here, you’ll find the olive bar. This photo is a bit blurry, but those are all olives.

The thoroughness of the olive bar is repeated throughout the rest of the supermarket. While even the larger suburban Giants have a few cheap-o pots and pans Wegmans has a selection that rivals that of Bed, Bath and Beyond. While the Soviet devotes one half of one side of an aisle to pasta and sauce, Wegman’s has two aisles, including the brand of fresh-ish gnocchi I love but can’t find reliably.

I could go on and on about the variety of brands of everything from ice cream (see left) to root beer to soup, but much more would be redundant. Wegmans is bigger than the college gymnasium down the block that my high school borrows each year for the biggest basketball game of the season.

Just like Wegmans, I don't know if this represents all that is good or bad with America.

Of special interest is the ethnic foods department. While some Adobo seasoning and a few jars of gefilte fish and biryani paste are all you’ll find outside of a genuine ethinic market in D.C., I was able to find the preferred brand of guarana cola, the right flavor of Japanese gum, the best Israeli couscous and my Croatian seasoning of choice. Wegmans’ ethnic section devotes as much space to each country as the larger Safeways devote to everything foreign.

But there are drawbacks. Prices are reasonable, but the time you have to spend to get through all of it is not. Just like the monstrous SUVs that fill the parking lot, most people will not need the full Wegmans treatment more than once or twice a year for the hardest-to-find items, Otherwise, just like the Escalade, it’s a waste of gas.

The Best Burmese Around

When it moved from its College Park home to its current Silver Spring location, Mandalay Restaurant garnered a great deal of attention. If you neglected to check out the Burmese Restaurant when the critics were sweeping through, give the authentic, delicious and reasonably-priced place a chance now that the chatter has died down.

Located in an unassuming spot on Bonifant Street in Silver Spring, the place is borderline empty for a weekday lunch, but hopping when Saturday night dinner comes around. Though the service can be slow, it’s always friendly. But if you go to Mandalay, you’re not there for the atmosphere – you’re there to get suitably spicy fare for ridiculously reasonable prices.

I can honestly say I've never had better Burmese - particularly since I'd never tried Burmese cuisine pre-Mandalay. It strikes me as Thai meets Indian, though I'm not sure how educated that comparison is. At Mandalay, order a Burmese iced tea, a condensed-milk drink with a bitter, yet chocolatey taste - similar to the iced tea like they serve at Malaysia Kopitam. Appetizers, mostly deep-fried, are satisfying, such as flavorful samosas and firm, perfectly-prepared squash fritters (BooThee gyaw).

Main-dish portions are generous without being obnoxiously huge . KyetThar Ohno Hin, chicken in a coconut cream sauce, is tasty, though a bit less assertive than I would have liked. The dark-meat chunks of meat, though, are moist, and retain the flavor of the sauce well. WetThar HtaMin Paung features pork, delicious vegetables and a savory sauce – the crisp cauliflower is the highlight of this dish. My favorite entrée was WetThar ChoChin Gyaw, another pork offering (fork over the extra $1 and get the Chinese sausage), and a great balance of vegetables and spice. KyetThar ALoo Masala Hin, a chicken dish, tastes more Indian-influenced than some of the other options, and is a hearty choice. When giving your spice preference, hotter is better here - I learned this after my early orders of "medium" left me hoping for more heat.

I’m looking forward to returning and sampling some of the seafood or noodle choices – and with nearly every dish on the menu priced between $8-$9, I certainly can afford multiple trips. I was less impressed with the dessert ShweJi, which while boasting an interesting blend of tastes, had a texture to which I wasn’t accustomed.

Mandalay fulfills most of the criteria I look for in a restaurant – a lack of pretension, a variety of dishes, a balance of flavors and a price I can afford without adding to my ever-growing Citibank balance.

Mandalay Restaurant
930 Bonifant
Silver Spring, MD 20910
301/585-0500

Chef Geoff’s: Bacon Makes Everything Better

Not being much of a drinker, I’m one of those Happy Hour hoppers who gets more psyched about appetizer specials than half-priced martinis. That’s why I’m more than content with the fact that my coworkers tend to make Chef Geoff’s Downtown a frequent post-work destination.

Chef Geoff’s has a few drink specials during Happy Hour, including $3 longnecks and $7 "super mugs" (34 oz). On weekends, there’s a $4 Peppar Mary special as well.

But when my coworkers announce earlier in the day that Chef Geoff’s will be our gathering spot that evening, it’s the burgers I crave all day long. Chef Geoff offers $5 burgers during Happy Hour. But they’re not just burgers. They’re generously-sized bacon cheeseburgers served with a plentiful heap of thin-sliced, crispy French fries. At $5 a platter, they’re a bargain, and even if I don’t go to Chef Geoff’s hungry, I never can pass up ordering one. A warning – usually a medium-rare girl, I tend to order my burger "medium" at Chef Geoff’s – their "medium rare" offering leans more toward the rare. With that qualm aside, giant burgers with two types of cheese where bacon comes standard? Hard to beat that.

The place also has $8 mini-pizzas during its Happy Hour, but I’ve never branched out beyond the burger. Have any DcFud readers sampled a not-too-pricey pie there?

The atmosphere is mildly yuppie, but unpretentious. Well-lit, classy and usually stuffed with professionals in their late 20s to early 30s, Chef Geoff's has the vibe of being busy and popular without feeling like an over-hyped hot spot.

The restaurant is also known for its pre-theatre dinner specials (it sits just across from the Warner theatre), its Sunday brunches and its half-priced wine nights on Mondays at the end of each month. I have yet to sample any of these offerings, but if you can judge a restaurant by its burger, Chef Geoff’s is worth a stop, even beyond those hours which are happy.

Chef Geoff’s
13th (between E and F), NW
202/464-4461

Time To Eat The Donuts

At the risk of mixing up our donut chains' slogans, we at DCFud want to let you know that tomorrow is DONUT DAY over at Krispy Kreme. The chain is usually pretty generous when it comes to handing out their sweet treats when the "Hot" light is lit, but this time you can actually branch out beyond the glazed flavor. Any visitor tomorrow gets a free donut: any time of day, any flavor.

Krispy Kreme has locations scattered throughout the area, including Alexandria, Rockville, and the one right at Dupont Circle near the Metro Station. Expect lines to be long, but it could be worse - at least you're not showing up the day of one of their infamous store openings, when people camp out the night before for a shot at a year's supply!