Devouring the District

I've always heard that Washington D.C. was one of the coolest, most interesting, and culturally exceptional places in all of the United States. Of course, being the Nation's capitol and all, I held D.C. to high standards as I readied myself to be immediately wowed by everything and anything from the second I stepped off of the airplane. The District didn't disappoint as the Reagan National Airport - legitimately the first thing I saw after stepping off of the airplane - forced me to stop and witness the amazing architecture of arches, pillars, and fine detail. Along with a beautifully original airport design that I had never before seen, something else on my way out to the Metro station caught my eye (and nose). Of course, it was a delicious smelling restaurant with an upscale aura about it, complimented with white table clothes and waiters with ties. IN THE AIRPORT. This was the moment, only minutes after getting off of the plane, that I knew was in for a deliciously enjoyable vacation that I would eat through with no mercy.

Reagan National Airport. Lined with restaurants, boutiques, stores, and awesome architecture.

And "devour the district" was exactly what I proceeded to do. Accompanied by my tour guide, partner foodie, and D.C. local Lily Rau, I memorably ate through my week in Washington D.C., buying all the food I wanted to have while spending all money that I shouldn't have. Here's a short list of the highlights, from French food to burgers, and home cooked meals to restaurant dining: 

Busboys and Poets Restaurant and Bookstore

http://www.busboysandpoets.com

Described as a haven for writers, thinkers, poets, and foodies, Busboys and Poets is a restaurant and lounge founded on ideas surrounding social justice and progressive thought influenced by Langston Hughes.  However, accompanying the restaurant itself is a fairly sized bookstore containing thousands of books all surrounding social and political justice - from the environment to civil liberties. It's lounge style atmosphere complimented by full sized couches, utterly awesomely displayed art, and wifi attracts an indiscriminately dependable crowd. Along with an emphasis on social justice, amazing art, delicious food, and unique books, the restaurant also embraces music as it hosts weekly open mic nights which magnetize poets, writers, musicians, speakers, and more. Clearly, Busboys and Poets is one of the most originally attractive and "Derrick-esque" restaurant as they come. I (obviously) loved it here - you're paying for much more than just a meal. 

Mushroom and Gorgonzola Cheeseburger. Who says it has to be complicated?

Blackened Mahi Mahi with Lemon Pepper Aioli + Fresh Fruit

The Bookstore. Social, political, environmental, ethical justice - its all there.

The Menu and Kitchen. Of course it's artsy, what did you expect?

Mural above the bar. Interpret it for yourself, cause I'm surely struggling myself. 

Cafe Du Parc French Bistro

http://cafeduparc.com

When someone gives you a graduation present, you thank them profusely, showing how genuinely grateful that you are. Most likely you cannot express enough in words how thankful you are. In most instances you didn't even expect a gift from most patrons, making your gratitude even that much overwhelming. These are the best gifts, those that you'll never ever forget - especially if that gift is dinner on the Spilka family at Cafe Du Parc, the essential definition of a "swanky" restaurant. 

After finding out that I would be visiting Lily in Washington D.C. some time back in June, one of our closest, craziest, and most awesome mutual friends, Simone, told us that her family wanted to take us to dinner during my visit (a.k.a. pay for us to eat like a king and queen). Being quite the foodie herself, she picked an awing restaurant less than a mile from the White House that served us what you could call, "the perfect dinner."

Cafe Du Parc (below the blue banners on the right).

We each started with a glass of wine, of course. Wine was followed by fresh bread and butter while we decided what we wanted for appetizers and dinner. I swear, everything looked and sounded so good that I could have closed my eyes, blindly pointed at something on the menu and said "yes, please," and have been completely satisfied. Not satisfied, elated. We decided, with the help of our waiter, to split a half order of butter and garlic mussels for our appetizer. Our main course was an easy decision though. Cuts of prime rib topped with foie gras, all over creamed potatoes and splashed with au jus. I can't explain to you (and neither can my pictures) how delicious every single bite of each part of our meal was. We left stuffed, satisfied, and shocked that we had not only eaten such an amazing meal, but had been treated to it. Thanks again, Spilka family! 

Mussels with butter, white wine, and garlic. They didn't stand a chance - we ate every. single. one of them. 

Prime Rib topped with Foie Gras over baby mushrooms and mashed potatoes. Served with au jus. 

Cheers, Spilkas.

Montmartre French Restaurant

http://www.montmartredc.com

We have a thing for French food. Obviously. Before exploring the Eastern Market area and the oldest flea market in all of DC, we stopped at the Montmartre restaurant for lunch one day. We actually had never heard of the restaurant before and just thought the menu looked good, which is why we decided to sit down. We were right. Sitting outside on a warm summer day in the District, salads were almost a no brainer - especially after gorging ourselves in foie gras and steak just earlier in the week. Lily decided to go with a Nicoise salad while I had the seafood salad. It was a great start to our day, although the start of our day began sometime between 1 and 2 pm. 

Seafood Salad. With mussels, scallops, halibut, salmon, seaweed, tomatoes, and grapefruit. 

Nicoise Salad. Seared tuna, string beams, tomatoes, kalamata olives, eggs, fava beans, bell peppers,  potatoes.

 Del Frisco's Grille

http://delfriscosgrille.com

On the day I was finally forced to leave Washington D.C., I had half a day before my flight out in the late afternoon. Lily and I worked up an appetite by paddle boating the Potomac in the morning, and it was a good thing because we went out with a bang at Del Frisco's Grille. At the quintessential business casual lunch spot just blocks from the EPA office building, we found ourselves surrounded by options of great food, yet again. Del Frisco's in terms of ambiance and decor was on the nicer end, with white table cloths, waiters in white shirts and ties, and a menu that wasn't exactly the place you'd look for if you were in search of a "cheap eat." However, scattered mounted televisions with sports and various news programs, coupled with a casual atmosphere of laid back business people at lunch just laughing and chatting with each other made Del Frisco's a comfortable and enjoyable place for lunch. 

Lily's Nicoise salad of seared tuna looked so good just days before that I decided to go with an Asian salad with seared Ahi tuna coated in a sesame seed crust. Also, I had to get buffalo wings, which were called buffalo lollipops since I hadn't eaten chicken wings the entire week I had been there (arguably my favorite food). Lily wen't with seared Ahi tuna in fried wonton-esque taco shells which a cheese puree. 

Buffalo Wing Lollipops. Celery for her, carrots for him.

Ahi tartar tacos. Served over guacamole and topped with cheese puree.

Asian salad with noodles, cabbage, mandarin oranges, nuts, tomatoes, and seared Ahi tuna.

Our lunch, in all of its glory.

Till the next time, D.C. I'm eagerly awaiting my next visit, and so is my appetite.

DC in DC - A Delicious Vacation

Airport food, 5 hour plane rides, and being forced to sleep with my seat un-reclined never seemed so appealing until my recent trip to Washington, D.C. Last week, after a long awaited 8 weeks following graduation, I was finally jumping on a plane to the East Coast to visit my girlfriend who was interning at the EPA only a few miles from the White House. No big deal. The trip was just what I needed - a vacation from myself coupled with some new scenery, great company, and of course AWESOME FOOD.

The EPA office building. If you think it looks pretty epic, you're damn right. 

First thing's first. Washington D.C. is HOT. But, after getting used to the humidity and sucking it up, the weather turned out to be very accommodating for all of the things, monuments, and activities that I got to do throughout both the day and evening. Also, watching business men walk around in full length pants and suit coats also made me realize I'd have to stop being such a spoiled Californian, at least for a week.

I made the best out of my week on the East Coast, doing more stuff and walking more miles than I have in the past 2 months combined, easily. Accompanied by my lovely tour guide Lily, I got to see all of the monuments along the National Mall, I checked out all kinds of museums from National Geographic to the Smithsonian Air and Space, and the Museum of Natural History. That barely touches the tip of the "things we did" iceberg. The White House, National Congress Building, and Washington Monument were all checked off the list as well. Here's just a few pictures:

The Capitol.

Library of Congress: Jefferson Building. Amazing architecture, bright lights, marble floors. Sort of Parisian, no?

Same guy different state. At the World War II Memorial with the Washington Monument in the background.

Smithsonian National Gallery of Art. Shot taken from the Smithsonian Architecture Garden at dusk.

The Washington Monument. Extremely large, extremely humbling, extremely epic. Although I learned the Titanic was actually bigger (longer) than this; thats nuts. 

Flying into the Reagan National Airport, I was able to see all of these monuments from the sky as well. Truly an amazing experience. Looking down onto the D.C. expanse in the evening rivaled the extraordinary view of seeing the San Francisco Bay Area at night time (although nothing beats that). Throughout my trip I was able to see Washington D.C. from the air, land, and water. Before getting to the airport for my flight out at 5:40PM on Monday, Lily and I got to do the two things we enjoy most. We spent carefree time together while seeing the National Mall from the water as we paddle boated the Potomac River, and ate great food at Del Frisco's Grille. Those were undoubtedly the themes of my trip.

Paddle Boating the Potomac. Jefferson Memorial in the background.Tired legs right in front of you.

We ate such great food that all of the grub deserves its own blog post. I will do it all justice in my next post!

Feeling Really Tipsy

This is awesome: 

A young man's dying wish was for his brother to become an inspiration that represented his whole family by leaving enormous tips of $500 on relatively casual eats such like at pizza parlors or delis. By making a waiter or waitress's day with a tip that surely dwarfs the total check amount, sponsors and donors have contributed thousands of dollars collectively to continue Aaron's dream of catering to very deserving servers. #payitforward

Here's a link to the article, and below is a link to a video news clip (for those of you who would rather watch than read). 

http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2012/07/mans_dying_wish_to_leave_500_t.html

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/man-last-wish-big-tips-inspires-big-donations-195754349.html

Walking the Walk, While Talking the Talk

Sitting down at a restaurant, impatiently waiting for your food, complaining about the service, and racing home to write a review on Yelp to critique your dining experience is easy to do. However, being on the other end of the dining experience - cooking to please - is quite obviously a completely polar endeavor in itself. Great cooking, eating, and drinking are things that are all too often taken for granted. If your steak comes out a little overdone, you find a small bone in your cod fillet, or your Sex on the Beach has a splash too much of vodka in it, don't be too quick to cap your top and let steam whistle from your ears like a stovetop kettle (Well, for most people the Sex on the Beach analogy may not be too much of a problem). You're most assuredly not the only guest that the business is trying to please.

Too often I have seen diners excessively upset in a restaurant setting because their perfect evening was ruined by something as small as receiving steamed carrots instead of grilled asparagus with their entree. Cooking is an extremely difficult task. Catering to the different desires of 50+ guests at any given time is also very hard to do. Combining the two does not make either of those tasks any easier. So, the next time you run into a dining experience gaffe and blow your top, grab that Chef's hat and throw on that apron and let's see you go to work, wannabe Bobby Flay.

Cooking for yourself (or your own audience) is the best way to appreciate the outstanding service and food you can get at a restaurant. If it's not difficult, it's time consuming. For instance, last week I took the time out to make homemade fried chicken one night for my brother and I, as well as homemade pasta sauce with fresh grilled chicken on another [night]. After cooking for an hour or so, dinner was devoured in less than 15 minutes. Here's some pictures:

All in all, try to be as dissimilar to this guy as possible when the little things aren't going your way at a dining establishment (or anywhere really). [http://overheadbin.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/07/30/13033784-man-throws-tantrum-over-reading-light-on-alaska-airlines-flight?lite]
 Otherwise, people will blog about how ridiculous you are, like me.


Happy eats!