Capital Spice

Living in DC, we have a wide variety of bars and restaurants to get our drink on. We can go upscale creative at Gibson or Rasika, kick back at a favorite neighborhood joint like The Red and the Black or enjoy the simple pleasures of good wine and good company in a friend’s home. But sometimes we enjoy ourselves a little too much and the next morning needs a special kind of medicine.  Here are three of our top spots to get us past the previous night’s sins.

Pho 75
There is something magical about the combination of hot beef broth, slices of meat, noodles, sriracha sauce and soy sauce.  A traditional Vietnamese soup, pho (prounounced “phuh”) features thinly-sliced meats, rice noodles, and cilantro in a beef broth served with garnishes. Pho 75 is a downscale, cafeteria style eatery where patrons sit elbow-to-elbow with strangers at long tables slurping wet noodles and broth with chopsticks. Their menu offers a pho soup base (broth, noodles) with a mix and match selection of meat preferences. Bowls come in regular and large, which in reality means large and gargantuan. My favorite drink to pair with pho is young coconut: a light beverage made of coconut water and tender, thinly sliced coconut meat. It’s a perfect sweet compliment to the spicy, salty soup. If you’re heading over, be prepared for a wait. The line is almost always out the door but it tends to move quickly.

Pho 75 (cash only)
1721 Wilson Blvd
Arlington, VA  22209
 

Two more hangover cures after the jump. (more…)

If you haven’t already, hop over to the Washington City Paper’s Best Of DC poll.  You can give a shout out to your favorites across the city – from best bagel to best barber to best adult novelty shop.

While you’re there, do us a solid and vote for Capital Spice for best local blog.

Toward the end of last year, Elizabeth and I were walking through Eastern Market when we noticed a new vendor.

Okay, ‘noticed’ is kind of an understatement.  I believe my exact words were, “Ooooh!  Pickles!”

I’m starting to realize that I say “Oooh” a lot more than I would have thought…

Be that as it may, what stopped me in my tracks was something that Washington had been sorely lacking for quite some time – a source for good, old-fashioned, deli-style pickles.  Don’t believe me?  Check out the number of pickle-related threads on Chowhound that read like dill-soaked cries for help.

When I stopped bouncing up and down like a six-year old, we I decided we would check out what the stand had to offer.  Sure, they might say they had old-world, handcrafted pickles…but were they worth buying?  If you remember my attempts at homemade half-sour pickles last summer, you know how eager I was to find out.

Relishing the results of our visit after the jump. (more…)

Let’s face facts: DC is a bakery wasteland. Yes, there are some cake specialty shops. There are some phenomenal pastry chefs whipping up amazing desserts in restaurants like Hook and Tabard Inn. And you can’t walk a block in a trendy neighborhood these days without running into a cupcake shop. But what about a tried and true bakery? Someplace you can run into and grab a scone and strong coffee to go? Where the croissants aren’t a day old and delivered from a factory – or worse – Costco?

DC’s dearth of bakery options is what had Mike and me walking down a wet, barren, early morning sidewalk in the Mission district of San Francisco during our visit. We were heading to Tartine. Tartine is an honest to God, no screwing around bakery. City dwellers line up for Tartine on weekend mornings, engaging sharp elbows for a seat – any seat please! – but especially a seat at the family table in front. We had the advantage (ahem) of being tourists so a leisurely 9 am  weekday breakfast was perfectly acceptable for our schedules.

I’d been told that Tartine is near several Mission district foodie destinations but damned if I could see any under the cover of my umbrella. When I did occassionally look up, it was to see boarded up taquerias and closed bars that I kind of remember visiting in college. (Mike: “Ha! Blondie’s bar and NO grill.” Me: “Oh yeah…  I think I got kicked out of there once.”)  Finally, after walking a few blocks that felt like miles, we made it to Tartine. Okay, hold up. This place doesn’t even have a sign out front. Seriously?

What we ordered, pictures and our experience after the jump! (more…)

This Thursday, March 5th, you can do more than just stimulate the economy by going out to eat lunch or dinner (technically you can help at breakfast, too – but only if you’re willing to hit up the Chick-fil-A in Silver Spring or Dos Gringos Cafe).  During the annual Dining Out for Life event, participating restaurants will donate anywhere from 25% to 100% of their proceeds to Food & Friends, a local nonprofit that provides nutrition counseling and prepares and delivers specialized meals and groceries to people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other life-threatening illnesses.

How does it work?  Simple.  Visit the Dining Out for Life website and check out the list of participating restaurants.  Pick one.  Make a reservation (many of the participants are on OpenTable, making this step even easier).  Then just show up and enjoy your dinner.

Seriously.  That’s all there is to it.  The restaurant will automatically donate their pre-arranged portion of your meal.  At many participating restaurants, a Dining Out for Life Ambassador will be on hand to talk up Food & Friends and to thank you for your support of the event.  And of course, if you’re inclined to make an additional contribution once your meal is done, you’ll certainly be able to do so (you’ll also be able to enter to win a pair of roundtrip tickets on American Airlines – no additional contribution necessary – in the process).  This really is a no-brainer of a way to help out just by going out to dinner.

Although 150 restaurants are participating throughout the DC metro area, there are thirty participants who are going above and beyond the basic 25% contribution by offering 35%, 50% or even 100% of their proceeds for the evening.  To maximize your support for Food & Friends, you may want to think about booking a reservation with one of these first and foremost:

100% participants:
Freddie’s Beach Bar & Restaurant (dinner only)
Posto (dinner only)
Ristorante Tosca (dinner only)

50% participants:
Annie’s Paramount Steakhouse (lunch and dinner)
Bistrot du Coin (dinner only)
Cafe Luna (dinner only)
Little Fountain Cafe (dinner only)
Mehak Indian Restaurant (dinner only)
Santa Fe Cafe (dinner only)
Skewers (dinner only)
Hank’s Tavern & Eats (dinner only)
Jack’s Restaurant and Bar (dinner only)
Stars Bistro & Bar (dinner only)
Zed’s Bistro / Wine Bar, Gainesville (dinner only)
Zed’s Ethiopian Cuisine, Georgetown (dinner only)

35% participants:
American Grill (dinner only)
Argia’s (dinner only)
Arucola Osteria (lunch and dinner)
Black Market Bistro (dinner only)
Bombay Curry Company (lunch and dinner)
Busboys & Poets – U Street and Shirlington locations (dinner only)
Cubano’s (dinner only)
Darlington House (lunch and dinner)
Delhi Club (lunch and dinner)
Il Pizzico (dinner only)
Le Chat Noir (dinner only)
Luna Grill (dinner only)
Mr. Henry’s (lunch and dinner)

After a period of indulgent eating (like on our recent trip to San Francisco), we often like to get ourselves back on track with a week of ‘whole foods.’  We cut out pasta, breads, and processed foods in favor of meats, fish and produce that we prepare ourselves.  It never ceases to amaze me how often we end up enjoying some of the most delicious recipes while we’re supposedly depriving ourselves.

Last Friday, we sat down to just such a dinner.  By coating salmon fillets in a delicious blend of crushed spices and serving it over a salad dressed with a homemade blood orange vinaigrette, we had control over everything that went into our entree.  Served with a puree of white beans, rosemary, and sun-dried tomatoes (the serendipitous result of my grossly overestimating how many beans we would for a chili we made earlier in the week), the salmon made for a satisfying and deeply flavorful dinner.

Recipes and results after the jump. (more…)