Sushi-Ko, Glover Park

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Don

Sunday evening I stopped in for a late dinner at Sushi-Ko, so late that I was to be the last customer who walked in that night. I asked if it was okay just to get a few maki, and they said “sure.” I took a seat, purposely not in front of Koji Terano, because I didn’t want this dinner to be any big deal for them.

I should have known better than to order four rolls since an extra course or two was inevitable. But I love the rolls at Sushi-Ko because they’re relatively inexpensive, the rice is always well-made, and the combination of flavors and textures is right up my alley (Koji often mixes the crunchy and the smooth).

I really enjoy the Salmon Avocado Roll ($5.25) which has salmon, avocado, and nothing else – it’s a smooth mush of joy, and stood in textural contrast with the Crunchy Eel Roll ($6.00) with cooked eel and pickled radish, California Roll with Blue Crab ($6.00, $5.00 with surimi) with avocado, cucumber, and smelt roe, and perhaps my favorite roll here, the Spicy Rock Shrimp and Cilantro Roll ($6.00).

After I ordered, I looked at the daily special menu, and noticed varieties of fish I’d never before. I asked Koji about them, and he said they all came from (the south of!) Japan. What was I to do now that I had already ordered? There was only one possible answer.

—

The next night, I had dinner again at Sushi-Ko, this time heading straight for the Japanese fish. I had Koji put me together a Chef Sashimi Plate ($34) which consists of seven of the “best selections of the day,” and fortunately, on this evening, there were precisely seven varieties of Japanese fish on the menu:

Me-Dai (Butter Fish), Kintoki-Dai (Red Big Eye Snapper), Fuefuki-Dai (Emperor Fish), Renko-Dai (Pink Snapper), Mejina (Large Scale), Tobiuo (Flying Fish), and Aji (Horse Mackerel).

Other than Aji, I’d never seen any of these fish before (note that Me-Dai is not the same as Madai). Koji had arranged them in the order listed above, and told me in which order to try them (I think it went 3-1-2-4-5-6-7, but I can’t remember exactly), with the flavors and textures getting ever-so-subtlely stronger with each fish. “Dai” means “snapper” in Japanese, so most of these fish were cousins of each another.

This was my kind of intellectual exercise – one that was as enjoyable as it was enlightening, not unlike doing a horizontal or vertical tasting of similar wines.

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2 Amys, Cathedral Heights

Posted on March 27, 2011 by Don

As many dozens of times as I’ve been to 2 Amys, I don’t ever remember having gone for Sunday brunch. Nothing’s really different because their special brunch items are limited to a donut, a bagel, and a croissant.

The place was packed shortly after 1:30, and there was a wait for a table anywhere – after about fifteen minutes, a two-top in the bar area cleared. Service was s-l-o-w.

It wasn’t a good day for the pizzas (I didn’t order any because I saw about twenty of them, and didn’t like the way the crust was looking), so small plates it was.

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is for the diner to control the flow of things here; otherwise, you’ll get everything brought whenever it’s ready, and I wish I’d requested that the Oven-Roasted Olives ($4.95) be brought out early because towards the end of the meal, they have limited utility. This is the first time I remember seeing this dish being served in a white bowl, as opposed to the ceramic vessel in which it’s baked – this is much to its detriment, I’m afraid, but they’re still great olives (try some on your pizza next time, and watch out for the pits!)

The first to arrive were two cheese courses and some anchovies. 2 Amys is offering both Sicilian and Cantabrian Anchovies with Bread and Butter ($6 for the latter, $5 for the former). This is a lot of money for just a few anchovies, but it’s important to remember that 2 Amys has, and has always had, some of the very best bread in town, and that’s a vital part of the dish.

They went well with the always, always magnificent Burrata di Bufala (a bargain at $8 as long as you have some bread), and the Goat Bocconcino with Fig Jam (another bargain at $6), an entire medium-sized disk of goat cheese.

And the olives were useful with the Squid Soup ($7.95), a very bland tomato-based broth chock full of little rings and tentacles of squid, served atop a lone piece of bread to soak it all up (as it turns out, there was more than enough bread that came with the various plates – think twice before ordering it separately).

This was a very good lunch at 2 Amys, but one that I’d tweak if I did it again because the dishes were either extraordinarily salty (the anchovies and olives) or extremely mild (the cheeses and the soup). The only flawed dish (if you cast aside the olive serving vessel) was the soup which just lacked seasoning – I ended up dumping about half the bowl of olives into it. Still, any intra-dish incompatibility can be chalked up to diner error, rather than anything the restaurant did poorly. And to top it all off, the entire meal for two, including tax and tip, was in the $40s (this is what happens when you avoid the drinks).

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Medium Rare, Cleveland Park

Posted on March 27, 2011 by Don

I went to the soft opening of Medium Rare on Saturday evening, and enjoyed my meal very much. It’s generally accepted that it’s not good form to comment publicly on restaurants during mock service or soft openings, so I’ll semi-recuse myself.

However, there is a post on donrockwell.com by member darkstar965 here which I think captures the essence of the restaurant (at least in its nascent stages) beautifully – when I read it, I was saying to myself, “Wow, I feel like I’m reading about my own experience.”

Let me offer three things: a disagreement, a suggestion, and a concern:

1) I don’t think the initial serving comes off as “super generous” (even though the entire meal is surely good value for the dollar). The concept of “seconds” is an interesting one, and can be offered only because the kitchen is so narrowly focused on steak frites – this is a business model that I’d expect to see in New York City, but one that surprises me to see in DC (and it’s a nice surprise, too).

2) I suggest relying less on Robert Kacher for the tiny wine list, and looking at other local importers instead.

3) I’m concerned about future consistency. Opening chef Cedric Maupillier is more than capable of running a small kitchen churning out primarily one product, but when he leaves, it’s going to be critical that quality is maintained – on a plate-by-plate basis – and it’s going to be easier said than done.

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Thai Noy, Arlington, VA

Posted on March 25, 2011 by Don

I remember about six years ago I did a radio show with WETA. Anthony Bourdain was on for the first half hour, and I was on the second half hour (well, at least ONE of us became a household name … sorry Tony).  The host, Rebecca Roberts, asked me to name, off the top of my head, a “good neighborhood restaurant.” My answer? Thai Noy.

I hadn’t been to Thai Noy in a few years because it isn’t a destination by any means, but if you live around the Westover neighborhood of Arlington? Once a week, or at least once a month, for carryout.

Emerald Curry ($12.95) reminded me of why I like (not love, but like) this little mom-n-pop Thai restaurant so much. It’s made with sauteed slices of chicken (I advise getting this particular dish with chicken instead of beef) in spicy (but not that spicy) green curry sauce with green veggies, Thai eggplant, and fresh basil. There’s something about the chicken that sets off this clean, snappy, verdant combination of vegetables and sauce, and as always, I’m a sucker for basil, even when it isn’t summer.

—

I liked that dish so much that a few nights later, I found myself at Thai Noy again, this time ordering with a bit more trepidation because I ordered a benchmark Thai dish that isn’t quite as easy to execute. Keng Ped Yang ($15.95) is boneless roasted duck in red curry sauce (almost always served with skin on – therein lies the challenge). Thai Noy serves theirs with coconut milk, pineapple, tomatoes, basil, and green and red peppers which is a recipe for potential disaster. But not here. All the elements were in harmony, and the dish was every bit as good as the Emerald Curry. By the time I’d gotten home, waited a while, and reheated it, there was no crispiness in the duck skin, and it still didn’t matter.

The atmosphere at Thai Noy is charming (in a comfortable sort of way), service is always friendly, portions are large, and the cooking is reliable. And I reiterate: Thai Noy takes great pride in using no MSG, and says so on its menu. After all these years, it remains a fine example of what a good neighborhood restaurant should be.

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District Taco, Arlington, VA

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Don

(See the January 30th, 2011 Review here.)

I fared less than well for a simple breakfast at District Taco in December, so decided to give it another try.

This time around, I got two Basic Tacos ($2.25), but got them wrapped in corn tortillas which made an improvement in texture. As before, I got them with the basic fillings: eggs, cheese, and potatoes, and then added my own sauces. And as before, they were terribly bland without sauce, not having much flavor at all, not even enough salt. Unless they change the seasoning, I would advise maxing out on toppings with their breakfast tacos.

Better, however, was the Huevos Rancheros ($7), which is two eggs over hard (!), rice beans, cheese, sour cream, and Mayan (?) salsa, served atop a flour tortilla. This dish (ordered as carryout) was extremely large and had flavor (perhaps from the Mayan salsa), but was still vastly improved upon when I dumped a bunch of hot sauce on top and mixed it all together. Unless you have a huge appetite, this dish alone is more than you’ll need for breakfast. It’s not a great version of huevos rancheros by any means, but it’s filling, it’s the best breakfast item I’ve had here, and it’s a good value for the money.

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Evening Star Cafe, Del Ray, Alexandria, VA

Posted on March 23, 2011 by Don

We walked into Evening Star Cafe on a Tuesday night, grateful to find a booth still open, and were fingered by chef Will Artley.

One unearthly luxury about this underrated restaurant is the wine list by the bottle, which contains over 1,000 selections! They come next door from the retail shop, Planet Wine, and cost a mere $10 over retail.

I ran over to Planet Wine and did a quick inventory check, then came back to the booth and made my selection, a 2009 Lauverjat Sancerre (only $30). The one drawback to ordering bottled wine here – and this has always been the case – is that it takes a long time to chill the whites down to temperature, and it was a good (actually not so good) fifteen minutes before we got our first sip.

During the wait, Will came over to the table, and we asked him if there were any must-haves. He offered to do a tasting menu, and we instantly closed the menus and said yes, adding that we weren’t all that hungry.

As we nursed the Sancerre, the courses started to arrive – a daily special roasted Carrot Salad with Carrot Dressing, beautiful roasted kaleidoscope carrots, plated with tiny bits of blue cheese, shards of marinated red onion, and arugula, all elegantly dressed with an emulsified carrot dressing. Then, a daily special Roasted Butternut Squash Soup which came out piping hot (I love this), and after that a small sampler from the regular menu, “BLT” Mac & Cheese which was terrific spinach gnocchi, tomato concassé, applewood smoked bacon, caramelized onion, all resting on a bed of triple truffle cream sauce. A heavy dish, to be sure (despite the gnocchi being extremely refined), and unapologetically so.

After these three courses (and a second bottle of the Lauverjat), the white flags came up. It might not sound like a lot of food, but it was, and it was also surprisingly rich, in a good way. Will came out, and said “I’d rather overfeed people than underfeed them,” and you should take him seriously when he says this.

The three-course tasting lasted as long as we let it, and cost only $30. Will was prepared to go on forever, and later told me that he’ll do this for anyone – three courses, five courses, or whatever you want. Just tell your server how many courses you’d like, and ideally, how much you want to spend (normally between $10-15 per course – the more expensive options will get you costlier ingredients). Or, you could do what we did and just have the kitchen start sending things, surrender when ready, and assume that your meal will cost in that range. Evening Star Cafe is a terrific, relatively unknown option in Northern Virginia that’s worth a cross-town drive.

—

Three days later, my evening was free, and I sneaked into the back bar area for a late dinner while the NCAA’s were on TV. It took a good thirty minutes for a barstool to open up, so I stood and sipped a pint of Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA ($5).

When I finally got seated, I was pretty hungry since it was after 8:30, so I decided to go heavy. My first course was a Crab & Pork Terrine ($11) with herb salad and mustard vinaigrette, topped with some fascinating little fried chickpeas, and I paired it with a glass of 2010 Ponga Sauvignon Blanc ($6.50) from New Zealand. This terrine was very good, but the crab wasn’t really discernible, and it came across more as a generously sized, finely packed, straight pork terrine. I liked this, but it may have been my least favorite dish of the week here, chickpeas aside.

For my main course, I threw caution to the wind and got a mammoth Braised Pork Shank ($22) that was just what I wanted. Perfectly braised, it was generously served atop roasted sweet potato polenta, cashew and parsnip salad, and its own braising jus. (Doesn’t this sound good?) I paired it with a glass of 2009 Hillinger Pinot Grigio ($7, note the gentle pricing) which, since it was from Austria, had enough stuffing to match the pork shank.

This was a really good one-two punch of meals, and between Will Artley and the wine list, it’s almost enough to make me want to move to Del Ray so I can walk to this neighborhood gem.

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Super Pollo, Arlington, VA

Posted on March 22, 2011 by Don

“Knock, knock.”

“Cumin.”

I’d walked past Super Pollo a couple weeks before, and the smoke bellowing from the building was enough to get my attention. This time was also mid-day, and it didn’t look quite so much like the building was on fire from the outside, but once I opened the door … whack! I was almost knocked over from the scent of cumin.

A Whole Chicken ($14.65) came with two sides, and of course I chose yucca and plantains ($1 extra) even though I’m wary of fried plantains being turbo-charged conduits for old frying oil.

The chicken was pulled out of a storage drawer, and had lost its crispy skin, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing to me as it has more time to sit there and think about how good it’s going to be.

The rub at Super Pollo is really tasty, and not surprisingly, pretty heavy on the cumin, but still well within the norms of balance. And this chicken was also better than average at what I consider a fundamental issue with roasting whole chickens: penetration into the breast meat which is often dry and bland.

The yucca was very good (as it often is), but the plantains were hors classe, with the oil lending a completely neutral flavor. For both, the fry-job was just right, and the portions were everything I could hope for when ordering a single chicken.

Super Pollo is open until 1 AM seven days a week (the Alexandria location closes at 10 PM).

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Afghan Grill, Woodley Park

Posted on March 21, 2011 by Don

After reading largely positive comments about Afghan Grill, I decided to give it a try for carryout. As I was driving, a friend called in for the order which we cobbled together in the car via cell phone, then turned to me after placing it, and said “it’s seventy-six dollars.”

“That’s too much,” I said, and then a flurry of activity occurred (which included them calling back to offer a discount (it was, after all, a frigid Sunday evening)). Enough miscommunication was going on where I finally decided to walk in and order in person, then return for the order after running an errand.

Afghan Grill has a surprisingly charming dining room (it’s a very drab exterior and entryway to this second-floor restaurant), and the gentleman who took my order was very friendly – I could see a lady in the kitchen cooking, and an adorable little girl walked out from the kitchen.

I placed an order for Kachalou Chalow with Lamb ($16), Beef Teka Kabob ($16.75), and asked if it came with bread (yes) and yogurt (no), so added a Cucumber Salad ($5.95). I asked how large the portions were, and the gentleman told me they were “individual-sized.” I wanted to add a little something, but didn’t want to run up the tab with another entree, so he recommended a Side Order of Chicken ($4). The bill came, with tax, to a gentler $46.97, and I left a $3 tip (granted, not a king’s ransom, but this is tourist trap Woodley Park), then went to do my errand.

“This place is going to be good,” I said when I walked out.

When I got home, I started unraveling the large, thin plastic bag which had been overstuffed with styrofoam, and leaked (*) when one of the containers snapped. After I had opened up everything and plated, I said, “this can’t be right.”

There was very little food to show for what I had just paid. The Kachalou Chalow with Lamb was in one of those little containers that’s about the size of a piece of bread, and contained no more than half a potato, sliced, along with four bite-sized nuggets (not chunks, but nuggets) of lamb, all simmered in spices, garlic, and onion. There was also a large container of decent rice which I presume accompanied this dish. This was $16?! Aside from the rice (and some very good foil-wrapped baked bread (the highlight of the meal)), I can’t imagine the food cost was all that much more than a dollar.

And one of the reasons I think it might be a mistake was that my four-dollar side order of chicken was bigger, containing five chunks of chicken in a tomato-based sauce.

But then how do I explain the $16.75 beef kabob which had five or six bite-sized beef nuggets, grilled on a small skewer with green pepper and onion? Other than the rice which came with it (it was in a larger container, and packed up with its own rice), this wasn’t enough food for an ant.

Between the decent bread, relatively large amounts of rice, and good yogurt-based cucumber salad, this was enough food to satisfy hunger cravings, but it sure wasn’t because of the meat. Assuming the Kachalou Chalow wasn’t a mistake (and quite frankly, even if it was, because I wouldn’t have paid $30 for this meal), Afghan Grill must surely be the most overpriced, perhaps even the most expensive, Afghan restaurant in the area.

I’m willing to give this place another try, but only on someone else’s dime.

(*) the bag, not me.

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Buz and Ned’s Real Barbecue, Richmond, VA

Posted on March 20, 2011 by Don

(Sorry for the personal nature of this entry, but to frame it as a “Review” would be absurd.)

As many times as I’ve raved about the barbecue at Buz & Ned’s (it isn’t often that I laugh at my own writing, but I laughed at that link after not seeing it for awhile), I’d never actually been … until now. All my experiences involved carryout being shuttled up to the DC area by Buz’s brother, a close friend of mine for over ten years. The night before, I met Buz for the first time — we all met for dinner at Edo’s Squid. Buz is larger than life (but a lot smaller than he used to be as he looks fit and trim).

After a long, hard tournament (excuse me for a second … Congratulations, Matt, for finishing #3 in the state championships, and for knocking off the #1 and #2 ranked players in Virginia in the process!), I texted Buz, and we agreed to meet up in thirty minutes.

We got to an absolutely packed restaurant, and were ushered into the back area — although this restaurant is tiny without the screened-in porch, it’s an enormous operation behind the scenes. We stood there for a while, me nursing a Small Craft Warning, Matt a Boylan’s Creme Soda (they also have Cheerwine, and original recipe Nehi Grape Soda with cane sugar), and then crept into a corner and hid during Buz’s not-so-delicate tongue-lashing he administered to his pitmaster (harsh words fell upon tender ears).

After awhile, we went out and took a table, and trays packed with food appeared on the pass. We sat there for a time, wondering whether or not Buz would join us, and then hunger took over — we absolutely tore into beef ribs, pork ribs, baby backs, baked beans, cole slaw, cuke & onion salad, fries, hush puppies … it was enough food for an army. Buz found his way to the table, and regaled us with tales of barbecue and Bobby Flay, all the while with a televised loop of Buz’s throwdown with Flay playing in the background.

Dish of the night: baby backs.

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Edo’s Squid, The Fan, Richmond, VA

Posted on March 19, 2011 by Don

Driving down to Richmond for the weekend, we were finally going to meet Buz Grossberg (of Buz & Ned’s Real Barbecue) on Saturday for dinner at his famed barbecue hut. On Friday, however, I was clueless about where to eat – it’s really too bad we don’t have a Richmond version of dcdining.com. 🙂

Fretting on the drive, I was struck by the obvious: why not just pick up the phone and call Buz? Nobody knows more about good food in Richmond than he.

So I did, and he immediately recommended Edo’s Squid. “I’ll meet you there!” he said.

“We’re looking for something downscale, with good food.”

“Trust me, I’ll meet you there.” He got a 5:30 reservation.

So we met the Buz! I’ve been close friends with his brother Jim for about ten years, but I’d never met the FlaySlayer – it turns out he’s friends with Ed Vasaio, the owner of Edo’s Squid (hence the name “Ed”o), and here I thought it was going to be some Japanese thing.

Nope! And if the name “Vasaio” sounds familiar to you, it’s because Ed’s family owned the legendary A.V. restaurant on New York Avenue (A.V. stands for Augusto Vasaio, Ed’s father, who founded the restaurant in 1949).

Edo’s Squid is like no restaurant that we have in Washington, DC. It’s upstairs in a row house, not far from VCU. From the outside, it’s easy to walk right on by, and once you walk up the stairs, you’re immediately struck by how informal it is – there are people having dinner there in shorts.

Ed came over to the table and chatted with Buz while I perused the wine list which is extremely short – only about six whites and six reds – but bordering on outstanding given the prices, most of which are in the $20s (and yes, my fellow Washingtonians, that would be by the bottle, not the glass!)

We’ve reached the point where this can no longer be considered a “review,” because Ed offered to send some dishes out – there were a couple “must haves,” but other than that, we turned ourselves over to the kitchen.

The printed menu here is tiny, but the copious daily specials are written on a chalkboard (which is why you can’t find any reliable copies of their menu on the internet). Take note of how many offerings are from the sea, and use that as your guide to ordering here: an armada of plates started arriving, and the very best dishes were:

Squid (surprise) which is offered in several preparations, and is flat-out sensational (really now, when’s the last time you had sensational squid?)  On the way out I mentioned this to Ed, and he takes great pride in getting fresh squid. Get a squid dish here.

If you want to choose between the Oyster Stew and Cod Chowder, I’d go with the chowder which may have been my favorite dish of the night. It was an incredible chowder, really as good as any you’ll find, and it’s loaded with fish and potatoes so it’s an ample dish.

The Scungili Insalata (conch with olive oil, lemon, and garlic) was equal in quality to the squid, and now that I’m typing this, I’m remembering I liked it at least as much as the chowder.

There were many other things, all in enormous portions (they serve family style here) – a wonderful, refreshing salad with cubes of tuna and ample amounts of baby squid, a veal shank, pasta, cuttlefish, rockfish – although only three of us were eating, there was enough food brought out for ten people. Even after we were stuffed, plates kept arriving – we had to wave the white flag and surrender. (We were actually full after the squid, conch, and cuttlefish courses, so imagine a giant pasta dish and a massive veal shank arriving after that).

As we’d waited for Buz to arrive, we had a San Pelligrino Limonata, I had a Bombay Gin and Tonic, and during the meal, we had two bottles of 2009 Matteocorreggia Roero Arneis (get this wine if they have it – it’s inexpensive and good). When the check came, we were billed for drinks only, so I left a 100% tip, picked up the check, and told Buz he could treat us the next night. Again, take this “review” for what it’s worth – this was free food – but I would urge anyone going to Richmond to try this wonderful, surprisingly informal restaurant (and get the cod chowder, a salad with squid in it (you want the squid at room temperature), and the conch (and I can only hope yours is as good as ours was)).

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