Visit to DC, Part 2
Alas, I did not keep a travelogue wherein I listed every single restaurant depending on which day we visited - so here's a review list in roughly alphabetical order.
Agora: Turkish, small plate style. This place was fabulous! I love eating lots of little tastes of lots of different things, and this was perfect. BC and I each ordered a ton of little things - ended up being quite reasonable pricewise, btw - and tasting everything on the table. I won't review each item individually - I did not find one thing that I did not enjoy thoroughly! I will bold the items we tried - I'm attempting to make you want to eat dinner there.
Starters:
Kasar, from Kars, Turkey
Aged medium-hard pale yellow, sheep milk cheese, served with orange marmalade
Tulum, from Erzincan, Turkey
Full flavor, fatty with a butter aroma sheep’s milk cheese, served with honey
Hellim, from Famagusta, Cyprus
Full fat soft whole goat’s milk cheese, pan seared, served with fresh thyme and fig jam
Feta ,from Izmir, Turkey
Creamy, mild sheep’s milk cheese served with olives
Karisik Zeytin
Marinated Olives with banana peppers
Turkish Pastirma
Imported cured loin of beef with olive oil
Lakerda
Foca style; pickled raw sword fish
Then: I had an arugula salad, BC had a beet salad
Hot Vegetables:
Ispanak
Sautéed spinach, onions, garlic, pine nuts, red crushed peppers
Ottoman Rice
Rice, almond, saffron, black currant, pine nuts, dry apricots, top with fried shallots and dates
Mucver
Zucchini pancakes
Asparagus
Steamed large asparagus, orange aioli
Chef’s Borek
Crispy phyllo roll, goat cheese with savory herb and crushed peppers
Patlican Iskender
Grilled eggplant, zucchini, served over diced pita breads, topped with yoghurt sauce
The Meats:
Lamb Chops
Charcoal grill lamb chops with grilled tomatoes
Hunkar begendi
Braised lamb shank with Eggplant-Gruyere Puree
Manti
Mini Turkish beef stuffed ravioli, garlic yogurt and red pepper sauce
Adana Kebap
Skewered ground lamb and beef, grilled tomatoes, onions
Kofte
Small sautéed ground lamb & beef meatballs on sour cherry sauce
Yaprak Dolma
Grape Leaves stuffed with rice, lamb, and beef topped with yogurt sauce.
Shish Tavuk
Marinated grilled chicken breast and grilled tomatoes
Bonfile Sarma
Filet Mignon with Kasar Cheese, sour cherry sauce, and glazed shallots
Cop Shish
charcoal grill lamb loin, Raki marinated grilled tomatoes
Veal Sweet Bread
Pan seared veal sweet bread, white wine, shallots
Spicy Chicken Wings
Charcoal grill, Foca style marinated, spicy chicken wings
Kibbeh
Ground beef and bulgur dumpling, stuffed with ground beef, lamb and pine nuts
OMG I can't even remember if we had desserts, I am salivating just thinking about dinner again.
Alero: Mexican. I had "nachos" and BC had quesedillas. My one complaint about eating Mexican in DC is that the Washingtonians evidently have no tolerance for actual Tex-Mex cooking. I took a bite of the "salsa" on the table ... looked at BC ... and he nodded without a word. We proceeded to ignore the tomato sauce and wait for our meals. There was not one actual chile - though the nachos did have jalapenos when they arrived. Point: the food was good, but DC cannot do real Mexican.
Annie's Paramount Steak House: an unapologetic steak house - plain food, lots of it, in a homey but unsophisticated atmosphere. Loved it. Plus, the waiters were hot and they all knew BC and flirted madly.
Au Bon Pain: French. We had breakfast. Croissants, coffee, yummy.
BGR Burger Joint: mentioned in previous post. Just burgers. Well made, diner-style service. Reminded us of "teh olden days" when we were young and dinosaurs roamed the earth.
Dupont Italian Kitchen: who could go wrong with Italian?
Kramerbooks and Afterwards Cafe: we bought books a couple of times! Plus, one night we stopped in for desserts and coffees, yum. Salted caramel cake, pear tarts, red velvet cake ... and we won't mention the ice cream choices.
Mr. Yogato: we ate frozen yogurt walking back to BC's place in a snowstorm. Yum-Brrr-Yum-Brrr-Yum!
Thunder Grill: at Union Station. Last meal before I caught the train home. Rather typical burgers n stuff. They did have bison meat and fresh seafood.
For my (late) birthday dinner, we ate at The Source (a Wolfgang Puck restaurant):
We had a "Chef's Choice" type of meal, with several courses, which included:
a plate of several little dumplings and a variety of sauces for dipping!
lemongrass soup
salmon
and my own li'l Happy Birthday Pie n Icecream
Agora: Turkish, small plate style. This place was fabulous! I love eating lots of little tastes of lots of different things, and this was perfect. BC and I each ordered a ton of little things - ended up being quite reasonable pricewise, btw - and tasting everything on the table. I won't review each item individually - I did not find one thing that I did not enjoy thoroughly! I will bold the items we tried - I'm attempting to make you want to eat dinner there.
Starters:
Kasar, from Kars, Turkey
Aged medium-hard pale yellow, sheep milk cheese, served with orange marmalade
Tulum, from Erzincan, Turkey
Full flavor, fatty with a butter aroma sheep’s milk cheese, served with honey
Hellim, from Famagusta, Cyprus
Full fat soft whole goat’s milk cheese, pan seared, served with fresh thyme and fig jam
Feta ,from Izmir, Turkey
Creamy, mild sheep’s milk cheese served with olives
Karisik Zeytin
Marinated Olives with banana peppers
Turkish Pastirma
Imported cured loin of beef with olive oil
Lakerda
Foca style; pickled raw sword fish
Then: I had an arugula salad, BC had a beet salad
Hot Vegetables:
Ispanak
Sautéed spinach, onions, garlic, pine nuts, red crushed peppers
Ottoman Rice
Rice, almond, saffron, black currant, pine nuts, dry apricots, top with fried shallots and dates
Mucver
Zucchini pancakes
Asparagus
Steamed large asparagus, orange aioli
Chef’s Borek
Crispy phyllo roll, goat cheese with savory herb and crushed peppers
Patlican Iskender
Grilled eggplant, zucchini, served over diced pita breads, topped with yoghurt sauce
The Meats:
Lamb Chops
Charcoal grill lamb chops with grilled tomatoes
Hunkar begendi
Braised lamb shank with Eggplant-Gruyere Puree
Manti
Mini Turkish beef stuffed ravioli, garlic yogurt and red pepper sauce
Adana Kebap
Skewered ground lamb and beef, grilled tomatoes, onions
Kofte
Small sautéed ground lamb & beef meatballs on sour cherry sauce
Yaprak Dolma
Grape Leaves stuffed with rice, lamb, and beef topped with yogurt sauce.
Shish Tavuk
Marinated grilled chicken breast and grilled tomatoes
Bonfile Sarma
Filet Mignon with Kasar Cheese, sour cherry sauce, and glazed shallots
Cop Shish
charcoal grill lamb loin, Raki marinated grilled tomatoes
Veal Sweet Bread
Pan seared veal sweet bread, white wine, shallots
Spicy Chicken Wings
Charcoal grill, Foca style marinated, spicy chicken wings
Kibbeh
Ground beef and bulgur dumpling, stuffed with ground beef, lamb and pine nuts
OMG I can't even remember if we had desserts, I am salivating just thinking about dinner again.
Alero: Mexican. I had "nachos" and BC had quesedillas. My one complaint about eating Mexican in DC is that the Washingtonians evidently have no tolerance for actual Tex-Mex cooking. I took a bite of the "salsa" on the table ... looked at BC ... and he nodded without a word. We proceeded to ignore the tomato sauce and wait for our meals. There was not one actual chile - though the nachos did have jalapenos when they arrived. Point: the food was good, but DC cannot do real Mexican.
Annie's Paramount Steak House: an unapologetic steak house - plain food, lots of it, in a homey but unsophisticated atmosphere. Loved it. Plus, the waiters were hot and they all knew BC and flirted madly.
Au Bon Pain: French. We had breakfast. Croissants, coffee, yummy.
BGR Burger Joint: mentioned in previous post. Just burgers. Well made, diner-style service. Reminded us of "teh olden days" when we were young and dinosaurs roamed the earth.
Dupont Italian Kitchen: who could go wrong with Italian?
Kramerbooks and Afterwards Cafe: we bought books a couple of times! Plus, one night we stopped in for desserts and coffees, yum. Salted caramel cake, pear tarts, red velvet cake ... and we won't mention the ice cream choices.
Mr. Yogato: we ate frozen yogurt walking back to BC's place in a snowstorm. Yum-Brrr-Yum-Brrr-Yum!
Thunder Grill: at Union Station. Last meal before I caught the train home. Rather typical burgers n stuff. They did have bison meat and fresh seafood.
For my (late) birthday dinner, we ate at The Source (a Wolfgang Puck restaurant):
We had a "Chef's Choice" type of meal, with several courses, which included:
a plate of several little dumplings and a variety of sauces for dipping!
lemongrass soup
salmon
and my own li'l Happy Birthday Pie n Icecream