Sniffing out happy hours!

Schnozbot is a list of DC Area happy hour specials. It can be searched by area or day of the week. It includes food specials like free paella at La Tasca on Fridays, and the wing nights at Rockbottom on Mondays and Hard Times Cafe on Wednesdays. Some wings would smell good about now! :)

Taqueria Nacionale Revisited

I recently followed up on Taqueria Nacionale. The soft tacos were less stiff. I tried two different tacos, the pork tacos, which have onions and peppers, and the chicken tacos, which have onions. I also ordered the rice, which has tomato in it. It really does seem like they are getting their act together, since the food was tasty, and the wait was not as long.

Oh, thanks "Taco Boy" for your comments on my original taco article. Yes, the Mexican cokes are good. I've even located the bottle opener in my office. :)

Taqueria Nacionale
444 N. Capitol Street
Washington, DC 20001

Hej Hej: May 22

Where should you be tomorrow night?

Enjoying a nice Viking beer at D.C.'s best Scandinavian D.J. night, of course.

Check out Hej Hej, DJed by our own DJ Natalya and DCFUD-friend DJ Melissa, who also writes excellent food reviews for the Washington Blade. There will be lots of cool Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Danish, and Icelandic music that we've never heard of but is all very good and very dance-able.

And, even better, there will be drink specials on Reyka vodka. How can you say no?

So come to Cafe Saint Ex, downstairs, on Tuesday, May 22 at 10 pm.

We'll be there. You should be, too.

A Not-Dark Dark Beer

When the menu at your local beer-house proclaims: “Not available in Georgia [insert your home state/town/country here], but we got some,” with no further description, you kinda have to try it, especially at $5 a bottle.

The pretty bottle depicts members of Louis XIV’s Carugbab-Sallières regimen, presumably marching off to slaughter the Iroquois, but don’t let that detail put you off. Similarly, don’t let the thick black color of this brew put you off, if you’re not usually a dark-beer person (and don’t expect a “Dark” beer either). Unibroue’s Chambly Noire is surprisingly light in body and refreshing in flavor, despite its coloring.

The head is a wispy caramel, more like a crema than proper head, hinting at what’s below – a subtle caramel-coffee nose with hints of citrus and hops, followed by a beautiful, subtle, medium-bodied drink. The sweet caramel flavor dominates the palette at first, but dissolves soon to a citrusy flavor and a spicy, nutty finish.

A special treat for those who might never have tried it (“it’s not available in Georgia”), but for those in more civilized areas, it should be a delicious staple. Unibroue recommends drinking it with grilled fish or smoked meats, and it did go wonderfully with my burger!

Grain of Salt

I first went to Marrakesh (the restaurant on New York Ave, not the city), about two years ago, drawn by the spectacle rather than the food. Marrakesh is not so much about dinner as it is about dinner theatre--a beautiful space, belly dancers, waiters who hand you hot towels and pour mint tea from on high in the Moroccan style--and consequently the food was sort of...meh. I mentally checked off that restaurant from my list, figured I'd never go again, and forgot about it.

But. Last night I attended a group dinner there, again drawn by the spectacle and the good company, and found to my delight that the food had improved. The dinner consisted of seven courses, five of which were worth learning how to make at home. The roast chicken with lemon and olives was tender and juicy, with snappy crisp skin and just enough fat to be difficult to eat with one's hands, but still worth the great trouble. The lamb was heavy, but fall-apart tender and flavorful. The pastry was flaky and buttery and sweet, and, wonderfully, included almonds instead of walnuts or pistachios. (I have a nut allergy, so it is possible that all Moroccan pastry is this good, and I just never knew.) The Moroccan wine (sold only by the carafe/bottle) was also better than expected--smooth and fruity and lingering.

The place is still about the spectacle more than the food, so I'm not going to advise you to rush out and try it again as soon as possible. But if you haven't been lately and think it's not so great, eventually, do give it another try. I hope you get the same belly dancer we did. Wow.)

The Five Paragraph Bitter Food Critic Came In, Shopped Happy-ish

Come in, shop happy! After spending the past few weeks trying to get their too-catchy-to-be-ignored, too-kitchy-to-be-respected reworking of the Partridge Family's "Come On, Get Happy" removed from my conscious, I finally broke down and went into a Bloom grocery store. Since it was Mother's Day, it only seemed fitting for the Five Paragraph Bitter Food Mother to tag along as well. After a relaxing day of pancakes in Rockville and coffee in Frederick, we spotted a couple of Blooms, and the two of us went in to see if the most annoying commercial song since "Empire Today" was worth the pain. We didn't see any choreographed dancers, and no background music, but we did find a lot to like about the store.

From the folks who brought you Food Lion, Bloom's goal is to concentrate on freshness, offering an easy-to-shop, upscale layout. To call Bloom upscale, though, is a bit of a misnomer - this is not even close to the gourmet mass of Wegman's, or the organic sensibilities of Whole Foods - though it is better looking and better stocked than parent Food Lion. The store offers a good-sized prepared foods section for the busy shopper on the go. The basics - chicken, ribs, cold cut sandwiches, mac & cheese - are next to the more sophisticated - paninis, salads, sushi - are all displayed next to a nice, if not spectacular, deli. The bakery is loaded with surprises, featuring dozens of muffins, breads, cookies, no-bakes and fudges. The 5PBFM was shocked to see potato candy, a beloved fixture of her youth, made fresh in the store.

The produce section shines with a dazzling array of vegetables and fruits, many from local suppliers, arranged in well-labeled bins. Nearly a dozen different types of apples sit near such oddities like brocoflour, and a mix-and-match area of chili peppers. The whole produce area is washed in a Rainforest Cafe'- inspired environment. The walls shimmer with lighting effects, and small speakers pipe in the sounds of nature. It's supposed to give the effect of getting the produce straight from the farm, but the constant sound and impression of water just triggered my bladder response. Wisely, there's a clean restroom right around the corner. Apparently, I'm not the only one susceptible to such stimuli.

The meat section was pretty typical, with prices about 80% of Harris-Teeter, 90% of what Giant and Safeway offers, and roughly the same as Shopper's and Magruders. The seafood section was nicely stocked, again at 90% of Giant and Safeway prices, but with a higher quality and better selection than the typical Shopper's. The wine and beer sections were quite large, with special end-caps for local vineyards and breweries - apparently Bloom is trying to be a good corporate neighbor. The international sections were solid, and the baking supplies section showed their Southern roots with all sorts of fillings, chips, glazes and sweeteners. The spice section was as loaded as any store I've seen, and barbecue fans will love the range of sauces, rubs and supplies.

Basically, Bloom is a cleaner, newer Food Lion. It has some great touches - portable price scanners, online shopping lists, hand sanitizers for the grocery carts, recipe stations - that other stores will no doubt incorporate. Those who view Club Discount Cards like John Goodman views salad will like Bloom's lack of of them. Buy One, Get One Free discounts and savings are open to all shoppers. The store has some drawbacks, though. The low aisle height makes the bellowing of screaming children reverberate in the store like The Three Tenors in a shower stall. In an odd design twist, the store aisles are mostly run north-south, and then several turn 90 degrees, creating plenty of hot cart-on-cart collisions. Plus, Bloom seems to view The Beltway as its 38th Parallel, refusing to enter the urban landscape as the closest stores are in Rockville, Accoceek, Laurel, Fairfax and Chantilly. However, given the amount of advertising they're spending on the market, I can't imagine it won't be much longer before those of us inside 495 will be wandering the aisles, trying to get that damned song out of our collective head. Come in, shop happy... *grumble*

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Bloom earns 7 out of 10 possible Whammies!; a solidly above-average score for being a solidly above-average grocery store. It's clean, reasonably priced, great produce section, and it's got some nice consumer touches. It's also not nearly as upscale as its marketing would lead you to believe, and it doesn't have the large amount of loss leaders that smart shoppers know to target. It's not worth the drive like a Wegman's or a sweaty Metro haul like Whole Foods, but it's definitely a nice touch for our ex-urban neighbors, and should provide a real challenge to established chains like Safeway and Giant in the region.
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Circa (finally)

Sound the trumpets and break out the confetti, the Dupont eatery for which we’ve been waiting five long, hungry years has finally arrived. When signs for Circa first showed up at the location of the ill-fated Wrap Works I know I couldn’t have been the only one holding my breath; mid-range options in the area have long been limited to waiting in line for Raku or settling for Bistro Du Coin, (french in only the bad aspects of the term). And while the recent arrival of Hanks Oyster Bar two blocks east has alleviated the misery somewhat, it’s still not the type of place hungry tourists and CEO’s alike could stop off after work.

Well, Circa is. Mild-mannered coffee bar and café by day, mild-mannered restaurant and wine bar by night, someone heard my fevered prayers. Dressed in dark wood, the newly redone location at the corner of Connecticut and Q boasts a crazy sound system, comfortable chairs, a nice outdoor patio, and absolutely lovely staff to match. The long communal bar table is perfect for breaking out the laptop to leach off the free wifi while soaking up something from their 1500-strong wine locker.

A recent lunchtime visit brought an excellent grilled shrimp salad to my table, as well as one of the best bacon burgers I’ve had the privilege to absorb. Any earlier and there would have been muffins and coffee; a little later and I might have tried what I swear sound like bangers and mash, Lobster ravioli, and Scottish smoked salmon as part of their late night menu.

With hours from 6 am to 2am, could it be that Kramers is about to lose its stranglehold on Dupont’s late night food scene? I sure as hell hope so.

Bloody Pretentious Tacos

Tacos can’t possibly be pretentious, right? Wrong: when you find yourself at the farmers market and faced with $2 per pound ground lamb and gorgeous $3 tubs of pico de gallo, evil schemes begin to hatch. Those two ingredients in basket, I looked around for more markety goodness to add.

Ultimately I ended up heading home with a gorgeous looking poblano pepper and a bag of Vidalia onions (which I go through like crazy, as they are awesome), and started in the usual way: putting my ever-more-beautifully-seasoned pan on my seriously-underpowered stove to heat up. It takes about 6-8 minutes to get very hot, so I have time to chop.

--1 lb. ground lamb
--1 poblano pepper (diced)
--1/2 of a Vidalia onion (diced)
--Fish sauce
--Vegeta

Once the pan was hot enough, I added the meat and some salt, and reduced the heat to medium. When it was about halfway done, I drained most of the grease and added the peppers and onions, as well as a few shakes of fish sauce and a few of Vegeta. When it was almost done, I popped my soft flour tortillas in the microwave (unnecessary if you don’t keep them in the fridge/aren’t too lazy to make them fresh). I removed everything from the pan using a straining spoon, to minimize my grease consumption. It’s tasty, yeah, but I my arteries can only take so much!

I garnished the tacos with my lovely fresh pico de gallo, queso blanco, and a dash of hot sauce. They were delicious, and while pondering this it did occur to me that they were also ridiculous: Bloody Pretentious Tacos!

Cookies & Booze - The Breakfast of Champions

A while back, Ray had posted an article about Voyant Chai Liqueur (the creator's comments can be found here). Not too long ago, I found another good one to try.

Faretti Biscotti Famosi makes a liqueur that tastes like a mixture of Anisette and Frangelico, which gives it a perfect blend of hazelnut with fennel overtones, making it taste like an alcoholic version of biscotti. As such, it is very drinkable on its own, and it also pairs very well with coffee.

Unfortunately, I can't find either a web site for this cordial, or a list of who carries it, but it's definitely something worth keeping an eye out for!

Gnocchi Night in Rosslyn

When my boyfriend and I met friends of ours for dinner at Piola before catching a show at Rosslyn Spectrum the other night, I had no idea we were hitting the restaurant on its most special evening of the month...gnocchi night!

On the 29th of each month, the Rosslyn-based branch of the European chain offers All You Can Eat Gnocchi for something around $10 a plate.

The question is...how much gnocchi can a person actually eat?

The answer? Probably more than one should. Piola lets you choose from any of its menu's varieties (the night I went, it was tomato basil, four cheese, and ham/eggplant marinara - friends have raved about the pumpkin variety on other evenings), as well as mix and match when it comes time for a refill. It's impossible not to leave the place bursting.

The gnocchi itself is decent, if not a revelation. The pasta is heavy but homey - the marinara-laced varieties definitely benefit from a little Parmesan cheese, while the four cheese is almost overwhelmingly rich, though the gorgonzola adds a much-needed bite. My favorite of the three definitely was the ham and eggplant, which were both delicious accents to the doughy pasta.

I've had Piola's pizza before, and liked it without being blown away; the place boasts tasty salads and fun treats like Bellinis as well. Whether the restaurant is a destination spot, either on the 29th or otherwise, can be debated, but they sure are generous with their gnocchi.

Piola
1550 Wilson blvd.
Arlington, VA 22209
P: 703-528.1502

A Wonderful Surprise

While in Chicago for a wedding a few weeks ago, I was really taken by surprise by a truly great meal, right out of nowhere. On Friday night before the wedding, I was out with some other (meaning “not affiliated with the wedding”) Chicago friends and one suggested that we go to this little organic place in Logan Square for dinner. Now, I’m all for organic in theory, but am generally skeptical of Organic Restaurants: in my experience, they tend to be pricey and a bit full of themselves. Lula Café did a brilliant job proving me ever so wrong, and even more than that, did so in a way that didn’t bruise my ego in the slightest!

Our cabbie did not approve of the address, and asked why we didn’t want to eat in a ‘nicer’ part of town. I suppose it was nice enough of him to be concerned, but we didn’t get mugged or anything, so I don’t really know what his problem was. We arrived at the specified address, and went inside to put our name on the list (no reservations). It was gonna be a while (this was about 8PM on Friday night, afterall), so we sat at the bar and the asked the slightly adorable bartender for some $2 PBRs.

An aside: while we waited, a woman with a particularly spectacular plastic surgery addiction was standing nearby, and we couldn’t stop noticing that her facial expression never changed. Her companion bought her a drink - she looked surprised; her companion told a joke - she looked surprised; she took a sip of her drink - surprise! We also noted that her upper torso was similarly … immune to gravity and inertia. It was funny to see, at an organic restaurant, a customer so, well, inorganic.

The silicone princess gave up after about half an hour, so our party moved that much further up the wait list! Finally, we were seated in Lula’s charming little dining room - it has a comfortable farm-housey feel, jazzed up with a modern edge, and is without the pretense of far too many places bearing the Organic label. As it turned out, well-balanced combinations would be the theme of the evening…

While perusing the menu, our server brought out a lovely goat-cheese amuse-bouche from the kitchen, and eventually, we made our decisions. I started with confit of organic beets and my companions with Caesar salads; for main dishes two of us had the “macaroni,” and the other had the chickpea and sweet potato tagine.

The Caesars were good, but the confit was amazing. Little cubes of it came in a little pot, with prettily arranged garnishes of apricot paste, chocolate, rock salt, and crème fraiche on the surrounding plate, a basket of pumpernickel crisps alongside. Our server instructed me to scoop a bit of the confit onto one of the crisps, and add little bits of each garnish. I did, and the results were fantastic. The flavors meshed amazingly, and each bite was a new experiment as I altered the mix of ingredients - tasty and fun!

On to our main dishes: the tagine was brightly colored and smelled divinely of cinnamon and vegetable goodness. It tasted as delicious as it looked, and is a great option for lighter dining - not too heavy, but filling and satisfying and very healthy. Someday I need to get myself a tagine and attempt to do something like this at home, but for now it’s good to know someone else is doing so well with their own.

The tagine was delicious, but the macaroni was outstanding. The first thing you notice about it is the yellowfin tuna: large-but-still-bite-sized chunks (raw, though the menu offers no hint of this) sit atop the bed of penne pasta. It’s fresh, flavorful, and a wonderful surprise to see such a twist on an ingredient almost exclusively seen in Japanese (and Japanese-esque) dishes. Below the fish are more surprises: the penne is bathed (but not swimming in) a sauce of melted emmental, mushrooms, and pickles.

Yeah, pickles. My tagine-eating companion HATES pickles, but tried a bite of this and loved it - you get the sweet-sharp overtones without full-on pickleness. Most amazingly, we didn’t feel like all these strong flavors - Swiss cheese, pickles, and mushrooms - fought each other at all, or overpowered the tuna. They blended wonderfully, and made for a really odd dish that was tasty, satisfying, and just the right bits of filling and satisfying.

After two courses like this, how could we not look at (and order from) the dessert menu? I got the spiced chocolate crème caramel, and my companions each had a batch of the chocolate banana bread pudding. The crème caramel was itself fabulous, and the topping of brandied fruits and candied pumpkin seeds really made it special (we are all familiar with my general feelings about pumpkin). And then there was the bread pudding: wow. It’s not like bread pudding I’ve ever had before, what with its chocolateyness and banana-containing, so maybe we were just blown away by the realization that such a thing was possible, but it might have just been that awesome.

How much did we pay for all this incredible food, you ask? It must have been expensive! This is where my little grad-student-foodie heart really gets happy: the total bill for the three of us, including tax and tip, was about $85. That’s less than $30 each. If there’s a really good special on airfare, it’s conceivable that the price of the meal, including transport, could still be in the range I’d not be shocked to pay for this level of food-happiness.

Lula Café
2537 N. Kedzie Boulevard
Chicago, IL 60647
773.489.9554

Takeout Tacos Near the Halfshell

Johnny's Halfshell opened Taqueria Nacionale next door to their restaurant this week. Breakfast and lunch, and carryout only.

Today, I tried their fish tacos ($2.50), beef tacos ($2.50), and yuca fries $1.50. The tacos -which are soft tacos- were not as soft as I would have liked. They were also small, but they are relatively inexpensive. The fillings were tasty, and seemed to be made from quality ingredients. The beef taco contained small cubes of beef and the fish tacos contained pieces of fried fish, and coleslaw. The yuca fries were tasty, but they oily, and not crispy.

They do make their own horchata, but I haven't tried it yet. I did notice a bag of chufa nuts. :)

Complaints: They need to work on their packaging, and I had to wait 15 minutes for my lunch order. Oh, and they sell the bottled Coke that requires a bottle opener, so if you don't have one at work, you need to walk around with an open bottle.

I'll give them a month or two to work things out since they are brand new, and then I'll try it again. It does seem like a better option than a lot of the Union Station competition.

Taqueria Nacionale
444 N. Capitol Street
Washington, DC 20001

On A Fish Frenzy

Ever since the weather started reasonably cooperating, I've been on a grilled fish kick. I get home, and it's all I want to cook, since it's quick and outdoors, and all I want to eat, since it's fresh and light tasting. Plus, I've recently discovered (like MAW) that those Trader Joe's frozen fish fillets taste better than I ever expected.

Last Monday, I did tilapia. Since grilling makes me think of corn on the cob, I was brought to think of my favorite way of preparing the vegetable (namely, using lime butter with chili powder), and figured the combination of flavors would lend itself well to fish. Sure did - a squirt of lime juice, a dash of powder, a dollop of butter and everything came together. Served it with a roasted red potato with cumin, and steamed green beans.

This Monday, it was Mahi Mahi. I didn't go too crazy on the marinade (just a little salt and citrus), but I topped the fish with a salsa made of fresh tomatoes, avocado, lime, red onion and a little turkey bacon (namely because these were ingredients I needed to use up). A red wine risotto with spinach and peas served as my side (a bit indulgent, given the main course, but it seemed a good idea at the time).

Tonight, I gave cod a shot. I had one lone piece of prosciutto left from some appetizers I made recently. I soaked the fish in a bit of Worcestershire sauce, seasoned, and then wrapped the fish in the prosciutto. Cheated on the side dishes, though - frozen fries from TJ's coated in garlic salt, and a carrot/bean vegetable medly weren't inspired choices, but they were easy ones.

All these recipes, by the way, are thirty minute meals without the annoying acronyms and exclamations of "Yummo." Next week, I'm thinking my favorite tuna recipe - coated in red, black and white pepper, seared, and served over white beans simmered with sage. What's your favorite way to grill fish?

Taking the Easy Way

What can I say? I’m lazy. I want good, home-cooked food, but I don’t want to plan for it more than an hour (at most) in advance. Also because I’m lazy, I’ve become a bit addicted to the frozen, individually-wrapped fish fillets from the grocery store. It’s not the best quality fish, but bit’s relatively cheap and easy to deal with. Last night, I was pretty totally uninterested in going to the grocery store to pick up any items that might help make a meal out of my individually-wrapped mahi-mahi fillet, which I’d set out to defrost on a whim that morning.

So, I decided to see what I could do with what I already had lying about. (Luckily, I am aware of my own laziness, so I keep a pretty good stock of non-perishable basics lying about the pantry.) Here’s what I had:

4 oz. mahi-mahi fillet, thawed;
Lemon juice;
(Vietnamese) Fish sauce;
Garbanzo beans;
Leftover brown jasmine rice;
A mango;
Coconut milk;
Sugar;
Spices;
Olive oil;
Hot sesame oil.

I cut the fish in four, placed it in a bowl, and covered with lemon juice, adding about a teaspoon of fish sauce. I stirred it around, and then left it there, to consider next steps. While the fish marinated, I drained a can of garbanzos, adding about 1/3 of the can to a bowl and putting the rest away, and added about the same volume of rice to the bowl.

In a small glass, I mixed olive oil (about 3 tbs), a splash of sesame oil, and two splashed (maybe a teaspoon?) of lemon juice. I sprinkled in a couple shakes of dried basil, a couple of thyme, and a pinch of pepper.

I also put my pan on the stove, added some salt to it, and got it really, really hot.

By this time, the fish had been in the lemon juice about 15 minutes (I’d stirred and turned it every now and again too), so I removed it, patted it dry with a paper towel, and rubbed all sides with a little bit of basil.

I put the rice-and-garbanzo bowl in the microwave and set the timer for a minute, but didn’t start it, and then added some oil to my pan, followed by the fish. After a minute, I flipped the fish over, and hit start on the microwave. When it finished, I took out the bowl, tossed with my glass of dressing, and removed the fish on top of all that. Then, less than half an hour after I started, I ate, and it was really tasty.

Tasty, but I also wanted dessert. Hey, it’s finals week, I get dessert if I want it! After such a meal, the only dessert that I could think of wanting was mango sticky rice. But that takes time (and other ingredients)! Again, I improvised:

Cube half a medium-sized mango, and add to a bowl of pre-cooked rice. Add coconut milk to cover halfway, about a teaspoon-and-a-half sugar, and a pinch (a SMALL pinch) of ginger. Stir. Microwave one minute. Stir. Microwave one minute. Stir. Microwave 30 seconds. Stir. Eat!

See mom? Cutting corners really can get you places!