Cowboy Cafe, Arlington, VA

Posted on May 10, 2011 by Don

“What are ya drinkin’, honey?”

That’s the greeting I got when I took a seat at the bar at Cowboy Cafe on a Tuesday evening, with country rock playing in the background.

A lot of people might remember Cowboy Cafe as a semi-decrepit place with pretty good food, but that was before they changed owners; now, it’s a clean place with food a notch up from what it used to be.

I noticed when I walked in that they had crawfish as a daily special, both boiled, and also in a Po Boy. “Are the crawfish fresh?” I asked my bartender.

“I go to National Airport every Friday and pick them up myself,” she said, adding that they’re shipped live, on ice, and are still crawling around when she takes delivery.

I ordered an Abita Restoration Pale Ale and a plate of Boiled Crawfish ($13, they also offer all-you-can-eat for $30). Ordering all you can eat would be insanity given how large the plate was – it was an inch-high platter, filled with about three dozen crawfish – you’d have to eat close to 100 of these things to justify the $30 price tag. I was eating my plate pretty much non-stop for about 30 minutes.

And even though it was half-price burger night, I decided to stick with the crawfish theme, ordering a Crawfish Po Boy ($8.95) which came with a bag of Dirty Potato Chips with sea salt. Coincidentally, this is the first day in many years that I happened to get a bag of potato chips with both lunch (at The Bagelry) and dinner (here). If it sounds glutton-ish to have ordered more food after my boiled crawfish … well, it was. But there really isn’t much meat in a boiled crawfish, I didn’t feel like going home, and I really wanted to try the Po Boy for scientific purposes.

If you don’t mind getting your hands dirty, and really want to cozy up to some crawfish, getting the boiled plate is the way to go, but the Po Boy was a great sandwich, and came stuffed with crawfish meat – it saves you a lot of work, not unlike ordering a crab cake instead of fiddling (pun intended) with steamed crabs.

Bayou Bakery is getting a lot of press for its crawfish boils, but it’s well worth remembering the ones at Cowboy Cafe – they have them each weekend, starting on Friday night, and usually run out of crawfish by Monday or Tuesday.

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The Bagelry, Silver Spring, MD

Posted on May 10, 2011 by Don

Tucked away in a tiny strip shopping center on Vital Way in Colesville, The Bagelry has been quietly serving some decent bagels for over 25 years now, and has gone through several ownership changes.

Although I now prefer Goldberg’s, you can’t do any better than The Bagelry if you’re in the Colesville area.

A Bubbe ($7.99) made for a good dining-while-driving lunch, a sesame bagel (with light butter) sandwiching roast beef, turkey, and munster, accompanied by a bag of Kettle Sea Salt and Vinegar chips and a root beer.

But what I’ll remember about this visit isn’t the food (which was perfectly adequate), but the nice gesture by the owner. I meant to get a Dr. Brown’s root beer from the cooler, but when my order came up, they’d poured me a fountain soda instead.

“Ah, just grab a can and take both,” he said, with elegant nonchalance.

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Kenny’s, Silver Spring, MD

Posted on May 9, 2011 by Don

Kenny’s is a tiny Peruvian roast chicken joint in Four Corners, located right next to the bigger, more obvious Fajita Coast.

It was 9:25 PM, and they were closing at 9:30, but they still happily packed up a Whole Chicken ($15.31) which comes with two sides (in this case, yucca and plantains ($1 surcharge)).

The gentleman behind the counter apologized for the styrofoam container not being able to close – ‘the chickens we’re getting in right now have gotten huge,’ he said – and sure enough, this was easily the largest Peruvian roast chicken I’ve ever seen, closer in size to what I used to see at Chicken Out (I haven’t been to Chicken Out in probably ten years). This chicken was so large that two hungry adults couldn’t finish it.

Unfortunately, it was so large that nothing had penetrated the breast meat which was dry and flavorless. It had been awhile since the bird had been roasted (it was in some sort of holding area), so the skin was floppy, and really not all that interesting. The plantains, however, were bountiful and well-fried in fresh oil; the yucca was standard-issue, and something of a skimpy portion considering how much chicken there was.

A handwritten sign on the wall read “Happy Hour Special” – a free canned soft drink with the purchase of a half or whole chicken, every day from 6 PM until closing time. When I asked if I could get a can, they happily obliged.

Kenny’s also has a surprisingly interesting selection of beers available for retail purchase.

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Bourbon, Glover Park

Posted on May 8, 2011 by Don

On what I suppose will be the saddest Mother’s Day ever, with neither mother nor grave to visit, I found myself alone at the bar at Bourbon late Sunday evening in search of liquid comfort.

And I made the best of what could have been a pathetic situation, ordering my own cross-taste of Rittenhouse Ryes: the BIB ($7 for 2 ounces, 100 proof), the Single Barrel 21-Year-Old ($5 for 1/2 ounce, 100 proof), and the Single Barrel 23-Year-Old ($6 for 1/2 ounce, 100 proof). The former has no relation to the latter two except the name Rittenhouse on the label; the single barrels were huge steps up in quality (and price), and I really preferred the rye-itude of the 23 to the 21 which had more of a caramel component.

(Wondering whether the law regulating these drinks is known as the Rye-it Act.)

It’s awesome having Jake Parrott in my speed dial. “What should I try here that’s not too expensive?” I texted. Within two minutes, he responded: “One of the ltd edition 4 roses.”

The Four Roses Barrel Strength 11 Year 2009 Bottling ($14 for 2 ounces, 116 proof) was a notch up in quality from both the single-barrel Rittenhouses, and less expensive to boot. A great drink that should be on the top of the list of anyone who wants to explore the glories of Bourbon.

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Cuba de Ayer, Burtonsville, MD

Posted on May 7, 2011 by Don

At some point, I’d love to do a back-to-back comparison of Rockville’s Cuban Corner with Burtonsville’s Cuba de Ayer, both of which I’d only been to once (before tonight).

It had been a few years since I’ve been here, but for the second straight time, Cuba de Ayer didn’t disappoint. We were very lucky to snare a table for six here on short notice during a busy Saturday night.

Not deterred by being the only non-teetotaler in the bunch, I nursed an El Presidente ($3.95) while waiting for the appetizers, Croquetas de Jamón ($4 for 4), two Beef Empanadas ($2.25 each), and two Cheese Empanadas ($2.25 each).

The beef empanadas were clearly better than the cheese which, to both of the seasoned palates at the table (Matt and me), seemed to contain Swiss – this might make sense because Cuba de Ayer serves a Cuban sandwich, but it just doesn’t work in an empanada. The croquetas were potato-driven and worth ordering.

For my entree, I ordered a daily special of Arroz con Pescado ($16.99), and it was plentiful and wonderful – saffron-flavored yellow rice cooked with bite-sized cubes of firm whitefish (not sure what type, but it worked). For my choice of plantains, I got the Tostones, and I’m glad I did although others at the table were raving about their Platanos Maduros.

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Comet Ping Pong, Chevy Chase

Posted on May 6, 2011 by Don

(I feel funny pigeonholing Comet Ping Pong and Buck’s Fishing and Camping into a neighborhood.)

A few years back, Jamie Liu and I partook in The Fab Forno, and it really became clear that Comet Ping Pong was putting out the very best pizza in the area. After Carole Greenwood’s departure, however, things started to slump, and the pizza at Comet really took a hit in my mind.

But on this visit, everything was better than it’s recently been, and while Comet is not yet back to its glory days, it seems to have rebounded off its lows. Something has changed with the pizzas – perhaps a new pizzaiolo, or a tweaking of the recipe – and on this evening, it was for the better.

While we waited for a table to open up on a packed Friday evening, I started with a bottle of The Raven Special Lager ($6), then on to a wonderful 2007 Domaine de Berane Rosé ($33 for a one-liter carafe), imported by perhaps my favorite local importer, Ed Addiss of Wine Traditions, Ltd., based in Falls Church.

Since Greenwood’s departure, the once incredible Comet’s Hot Wings ($6) have been merely very, very good, and have gone through several iterations – at one point, there was a jerk-type seasoning; now, they seem like they’re going for a more Buffalo-style presentation. They’ve always been worth ordering.

Likewise the Italian Chopped Salad ($8) which always comes across as refreshing, mainly due to the freshness of its ingredients – chopped romaine, chopped savoy cabbage, chopped radicchio, chopped salami (sensing a theme here?), provolone, and chickpeas tossed with oregano dressing.

My pizza must surely be the best one on the menu: The Drive ($14) is listed on their online menu as being made with broccoli rabe, but since asparagus has come into season, Comet is using that instead. The asparagus is grilled, and served along with garlic, a runny Whitmore Farm Egg (that you have to break and mix in with the rest of the toppings, just like you’d do with their soft shell crab pizza), melted onion, pecorino romano, and the best $4 supplement you can spend, crispy prosciutto which takes this pie over the top. The toppings are impeccable; the crust merely good – if you stroll around the restaurant (which I’ve done twice recently), you’ll see many tables with the crust at the end of the pizza uneaten.

For this pizza to regain its unearthly form, the crust is going to have to get better, but for now, Comet Ping Pong seems to have made a comeback of sorts – not all the way to the top, but working on it.

Note also that Comet sells its own pizza sauce (which is made with Toigo Orchard tomatoes) in jars.

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Pupuseria y Taqueria La Miguelena, Langley Park, MD

Posted on May 6, 2011 by Don

There are several Salvadoran-owned food trucks scattered about Langley Park (I saw one hidden behind the place that used to be Fontana Bowl-o-rama).

The Pupuseria y Taqueria La Miguelena truck is nominally from Hyattsville, but was parked in the driveway of Crystal’s [Hair] Salon at the intersection of University Blvd. E and Merrimac Dr., just a couple blocks west of New Hampshire Ave. If you’re driving up University, there will be six flags flying in front of Crystal’s – that’s your landmark.

This truck sells 13 different items (yuca con chicharron, sopa de res, carne asada, pupusas revueltas, etc.), and I ordered two Tacos de Lengua ($3 each, if I recall).  The lady making the tacos only spoke broken English, but was very friendly, and seemed to genuinely appreciate the business.

The tacos were double-wrapped in lightly grilled tortillas, with really good cubes (not slices) of lengua, and each one had a refreshing slice of avocado, a lime (which I recommend squeezing), cilantro, pale pink tomato, and a motherlode of raw red onion.

So prominent was the red onion that it if you have these tacos for lunch on date night, it will become Fright Night.

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Negril, Howard University

Posted on May 5, 2011 by Don

There was a time when the Negril at (the now-demolished) Waterside Mall was the restaurant I’d frequent more than any other. I got to know the menu extremely well, and spent lots of time and energy convincing my friends to go out of their way for their “meat loaf” (a sloppy Joe-filled piece of coco bread) and “side order” (the curried chicken without the chicken).

Negril has become a small franchise, but the company is still owned by its founder, Earl Chinn. The meat loaf is off the menu (which is a crying shame), and the side order may be, too.

You just can’t go wrong here with the Beef Pattie ($1.85) or Vegetable Pattie ($1.75). In particular, the beef pattie’s deep golden-brown flaky pastry crust reminds me exactly of the way it was twenty years ago. The ingredients and style of these have changed a little bit, but they’re still pretty close to what I’d get at the old Negril. The vegetable pattie has always been very mild, and benefits from a dunking into a little tub of Matouk’s hot sauce. All pastries are baked in Negril’s central location in Laurel, MD, frozen, and then shipped off to the individual stores where they’re reheated in an oven (not a microwave).

As I was paying my bill, the Carrot Cake ($2.20) caught my eye. They cut me off a huge wedge from this bundt-styled version, topped with a cream cheese-based frosting. It didn’t have a ton of carrot strips, raisins, or nuts, but was a great cake – almost like a good, mild, super-moist spice cake. Negril has always has wonderful cookies and cakes – get this.

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Matamoros, Wheaton, MD

Posted on May 4, 2011 by Don

It was the end of a really bad, really long day. It was about 9:15 PM, and I hadn’t had a bite of food – I needed sustenance, and found myself driving through Wheaton.

I wasn’t in the mood for Full Key or Pho Hiep Hoa which were both open, but across the street was Matamoros, a Salvadoran-Tex Mex restaurant which I’d never before tried.

The restaurant was empty, save for about five people, one of whom was watching a Spanish-language soccer match on TV. Needing comfort food in the worst possible way, I ordered a Beef Burrito ($11.95) to go, and had a Dos XX ($3.00) while I waited (Matamoros listed several other, more interesting, South American beers, but was out of them). The two ladies working the bar area (really, just hanging out and waiting to close) were as nice as can be.

Not surprisingly, the burrito was huge, and stuffed with rice, beans, and a meat resembling super-tough highly seasoned skirt steak. It was extremely salty, and the rice on the bottom had a “dirty rice” aspect to it (while the rice on top was more plain).

So this meal was quantity over quality, and bulk over comfort, but of course a beef burrito does not a Salvadoran restaurant make. Next time (and yes, I’d try it again because the service was friendly) I would eat in, and order a pupusa, or pescado frito, or maybe a sopa de mondongo.

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Brightwood Bistro, Brightwood

Posted on May 3, 2011 by Don

I would bet some pretty serious money that I’m the only person in the world to ever eat at both BBQ World (Burke, VA) and Brightwood Bistro – not just on the same day, but for the same meal (dinner)!

Things were pretty empty here on a Tuesday night, and I really wanted to sit at the bar and order off the main menu. Surprisingly, I was told that at the bar, only the bar menu is available, and if you want the main menu you have to sit in the dining room.

So I ended up sitting alone at a table, about ten feet to the left of where I’d been at the bar, and pretty much got ignored for the whole meal even though the relatively large dining room had about five people in it.

When I order a Corona ($5), you know something is wrong with the beverage program, but that’s about the best they had. And yes, I took my lime wedge and poked it into the bottle to kill the (lack of) taste.

The Crab Cake ($12) was a really nice surprise – jumbo lump meat, with minimal breading, and served with a “micro salad” and Old Bay mayo on the side. The micro in the salad refers to the size of the salad itself, and not that it contains micro greens. This crab cake was expensive because it was small, but it was really very good, and if you don’t mind the cost, I can recommend it.

For an entree, I ordered the Whole Bone Fish ($22) which lived up to its name. The menu lists it as red snapper, and it was heavily battered and deeply fried, resulting in the type of batter you break off like tree bark. It was presented vertically, curled around the plate, with some drab curried peppers and some outstanding fried plantains which made the dish. Despite its attractive presentation and gentle price, I wouldn’t order this again because it was truly ridden with bones, way overcooked, and close to being devoid of flavor.

This two-course meal took forever – it must have been close to ninety minutes – and I was thankful that I had my cell phone to tiddle with in this empty restaurant. This was one of those meals where you’re just happy to get out the door and go home, even though the food itself wasn’t so awful.

However, I had a Groupon, and used it. When the check arrived, my server had added a 20% tip on the pre-Groupon amount without saying a word. While I don’t have a problem with this, I suspect others might, so beware. Making matters worse, I put my credit card in the folder, and when it was brought back to me, the detailed receipt (the one that had the 20% added) was gone, and all that was left was a summary receipt for me to sign with the subtotal filled in, and both the tip line and the total line left blank. Again, I wouldn’t have a problem with this if something had been said, but nothing was – someone who mindlessly threw their credit card in without looking at the bill might not have known that the 20% had been added, and might leave 20% more.

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