Dining in DC

(June 23rd-24th, 2012) Stop three of my whirl wind tour of the East coast (stop 2 was back in my home town of Culpeper, VA! to visit the God parents) is in our nation's capitol, Washington DC.  Why do I always find myself describing life as whirl wind-esque?  Now, Kafka-esque...that'd be pretty surreal, but whirl wind-esque?  I do enjoy taking a moment in life to catch my breath and watch the clouds pass over the mountains...but it just seems that the opportunities for that are growing fewer and farther between as the years pass.  It's not been active decision on my part either...just the way life develops, or so I'd like to think.  Who knows, maybe if I were to sit down and apply the standard psychobabble to my condition, I'd see a deep seated pattern of restlessness within the physical confines of work that I felt a strong an intense desire to abandon.  Maybe I really did miss my calling to be a chef?  Well, I'd like to think that it's not too late to become a gastroengineer.  I think I'd want to do an internship with one of the chefs like Ferran Adria (Matt, what do you mean one of?  There is only one Ferran Adria! But, for your edification, there are two links...) before I could go down that road completely, and the chances of that happening are pretty low...would need to probably learn Spanish, move to Catalonia, somehow convince him to take me on (probably as a dish washer at first, then slowly work my way up), and, well, yeah...

Anyways, where was I?  Oh yes, DC.  Isn't that the whole purpose of this blog, to answer that simple question: where was/am I?  I don't even know half the time.

Contrary to what y'all might think, not every restaurant that I give my patronage to owns a Michelin star or James Beard award.  Just most of them. ;-)  Friday night was focused on getting me some good ol' soul food.  So, right after coming into town, I found myself sitting down at King Street Blues.  For all of you in Albuquerque, imagine the Range if it did ribs.  That's right, include the paper machee and all.  Nothing spectacular, but good, soul food, complete with hushpuppies and other fried goodness.

King Street Blues.  Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Saturday was a bit more culinary-centric...I started off by going to the farmer's market in Olde Towne Alexandria.  A few tempting morsels, but since I'm traveling the temptation was never too great (save for the seasoned and cured pork side meat that didn't need to be refrigerated).

Farmer's market in Olde Towne Alexandria.

Following that, I met up with Jeb Bernabucci, whom I've known since second grade.  Our original plan was Ethiopian food, but we felt inspired by a German beer garden by the name of the Standard, so we happily diverted ourselves to enjoying landjager (German jerky), brats, beer, and corn on the cob.  Good, simple food.  Oh what I have to look forward to in just a few months!

Hofbrau, Mexican-style corn on the cob, Bratwurst with kraut, and stone ground mustard.

From there, to continue cooling off from the hot and humid day that seems to be so prevalent on the East coast right now, we continued down 14th St. to Pitango Gelato Company.  I think that my visits into DC are either harried (by the nature of my company), or constricted (by the nature of the function, e.g. a conference), so I never have an opportunity to just *be* in DC.  Well, this time was different...we were just walking around DC and having a chance to enjoy city living.  It seemed a heck of a lot better than I remembered it being from yesteryears, but not enough to pull me back...

Mmmm, gelato.

As Saturday night rolled around, I found myself headed to Cheesetique, over in Del Ray.  Just picture what you think a restaurant/specialty grocery store called Cheesetique would be like, then double the amount of cheese.  And yes, it *is* that good too.

Some of Cheesetique's selection...

As you can imagine, we had to start with a cheese plate...a smokey/ashy soft cheese called Humbolt Fog, a pair of harder, milder cheeses called Montasio and Ossau Iraty, then a stinky blue cheese (the best!) called Valdeon, followed by a stinky brie-like cheese called the Stinking Bishop.  Scrumpdiddlyumptious!

Cheese plate:  top row: quince, olives, cherries.  2nd row: Valdeon, Humbolt Fog, black olive tapenade.  3rd row: Montasio and cornichons. 4th row: Stinking Bishop, Ossau Iraty, and bruschetta. Last row: grapes.

For the actual meal, I ended up with a grilled caprese sandwich, topped with pancetta and accompanied by a Duchesse Sour Ale.  Have I mentioned before that I love pancetta?  Especially when it's fried in duck fat and truffle oil?  I think that I have.  This pancetta was not prepared that way, but it was pancetta, served on tomatoes with fresh mozzarella and basil.  So pure and delicious.  And the sour ale...wow...that had quite a bit of a sour kick at the end.

Duchesse Sour Ale

Caprese Sandwich with pancetta added and potato salad.

Sunday saw a trip to Virtue Feed and Grain for brunch.  The previous time that I had been there was for their normal menu...think pates, plowman's meals, shepherd's pie, etc.  Terrific, though whole-hog type food.  The brunch menu, sadly, was not as adventurous, but still good.  I ended up with Eggs Benedict, Chesapeake style, which meant crab instead of ham.  Mmmm, how I enjoy being on the East coast again to enjoy sea food regularly.

Eggs Benedict, Chesapeake style.

Previous visit: Shepherd's Pie, with Engine Oil to drink.

Last stop for the DC dining experience was somewhat unexpected (at least from the stand point of including it in this blog).  Sunday afternoon I went into the city for Fr. Steggert's (my old biology teacher from high school), going away celebration.  After the mass, we moved into the school for a couple hours of finger food.  Well, the finger food selection was amazing as you can see below:

From left: lemon meringue in a lime, cake pop, cheesecake in a strawberry, caprese (yes, those are balsamic filled pipettes!), and pulled beef slider.

In case I didn't emphasize it enough in the caption, that is a tomato stuffed with mozzarella, basil, and *A BALSAMIC VINEGAR FILLED PIPETTE!*  Not shown were the bite sized crab cakes, vegetable shots, chicken kabobs, shrimp skewers, beef tenderloin sliced ontop of croutons with blue cheese and tomatoes, a soup spoon filled with water mellon and balsamic vinegar, amongst many other delectable treats.  I think these dishes are going to revolutionize how I do caprese salad from now on!