WhereInDC

If you’re looking for a quick meal to prepare that will surely please even the pickiest eaters, I think this Asian Pepper Beef would fit the bill.   It’s simple to cook and makes great leftovers!

What takes the longest is thinly slicing the beef, but I used my filet knife and cut the beef on the top (so it’d be long pieces).  If you cut the beef in thin enough pieces, it’ll take only a few minutes to cook. 

Serving size: 2-3

• .5-.75 lb skirt steak, very thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tsp ginger
• 2 TBSP rice wine
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 TBSP soy sauce
• 1 TBSP oyster sauce
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 dried red chilies
• 1 green onion bunch
• 1 tsp peanut oil
• 1 cup of cooked rice

Mix all the ingredients except the green onions, peanut oil, and rice in a bowl or sealable bag to marinate for at least 3 hours. 

Heat the wok with the peanut oil and cook your very thinly sliced beef. 

Serve over rice.  I ate it for lunch the next day and it was perfect — sweet, spicy, and filling.

I thought this recipe for Bon Apetit Spicy Thai Tofu sounded delicious, but then I saw their fat and calorie count.  That’s ridiculous! 

So here’s my healthier version of their recipe:

• 2 tsp peanut oil
• 2 large bell peppers (red, yellow, orange, or green) finely sliced
• 1 package of extra firm tofu, drained and cubed
• 3 TBSP minced ginger (I use the one in the brine)
• 3 minced garlic cloves
• 3 TBSP soy sauce
• 2 TBSP lime juice
• 1/2-1 tsp dried red peppers, chopped
• 3 TBSP green onion
• 1 bag of spinach (I used a 12 oz bag)
• 4 TBSP cilantro
• 4 TBSP bean sprouts

Take your cubed tofu and put into a bowl.  Add the ginger, garlic, soy sauce, lime juice, and dried red chilies.  Make sure to mix and let marinade for 10-20 minutes.

Then heat your wok.  Once it’s hot, add peanut oil.  Add the sliced bell peppers and cook for a minute or two.  Then add your marinaded tofu mixture for a minute or two.  Then in bunches, add spinach until wilted. 

Serve over rice with chopped cilantro and bean sprouts.  Heads up though — if you don’t like the texture of tofu, then definitely fry it before you use it in this recipe.

Yum, when I was reading the ingredients for this black pepper onion bread, I knew I would love it.  I only made a 1 lb loaf (in case it didn’t turn out), so it’s definitely ugly. 

There’s not a heavy garlic flavor, but it does have a nice sutle onion taste.  There’s also a hint of the black pepper.

It’d be perfect for sandwich bread or for dinner.

It’s not bread in the sense of throwing this into the bread machine, but this cinnamon cream cheese bread is pretty good.  I didn’t pay attention though and mixed the cream cheese with the rest of the mixture instead of putting it in between.

The bread was really good and you couldn’t tell it was “healthy” at all.  I can imagine if I would have paid attention and followed the directions, the cream cheese would have made it even better!

It’s a good one to make and recommend trying the recipe!

I love the smell of peanut butter when it’s baking.  So I thought I’d make this peanut butter bread.  Easy to make and also used up almost all of my milk!  Yay!

It was perfectly moist with a great peanut butter flavor.  I used smooth peanut butter, but chunky would be good to use for a little crunch. 

Yes, the top was a little dark — I used my convection oven.  But there was no burnt flavor!

Definitely recommend trying this one!

I didn’t want to turn on my oven to 500+ so I thought I’d try to make this recipe for naan using my cast iron skillet.  By getting it on super hot, I figured it’d be somewhat like the oven.

Unfortunately, when the dough had doubled, I could tell the dough was too thick to make naan.  It wasn’t as elastic as the other recipe. 

So instead of throwing it away, I heated my skillet with a little oil and cooked the bread.  It actually turned out pretty good.  The inside was soft and chewy while the outside had a nice crust. 

Next time I want naan, I think I’ll stick to this recipe.

I love The Diner.  It’s like those old jeans that are perfectly broken in.  It might not be fancy, but it’s just good and you know what you’re going to get at all times.  So imagine my joy when they opened Open City.  Oddly enough though, I hadn’t gone until just recently.

• Food:I ordered the chorizo scramble which was pretty good.  There was lots of chorizo in the eggs.  The hash browns were shredded and I was bummed because they weren’t crispy.  But they did have good flavor.  And the coffee they served was in the big cappuccino mugs, like what they serve at Tryst.  I wonder why they don’t do that at The Diner.
• Service: Our server was fine, but like The Diner, they’re a bit scattered.  Sometimes you get a refill on coffee, sometimes you don’t. 
• Atmosphere:They have horrible acoustics so don’t go with a low talker!  It’s really loud and I kept having to ask, “What” when I was trying to talk with my friend. 
• Attire: Casual
• Price: $
• Overall: Unlike The Diner, Open City has outdoor seating which is really nice.  But Open City has more options than the standard breakfast and that makes me a fan.  Plus, I love the big mugs of coffee.  Like The Diner, expect a line on the weekends!  But here’s a tip — if you get there before 10 AM, your wait won’t be too long.

Details:

• Reservations not accepted.
• Hours: Mon-Fri 6 am – midnight Sat-Sun 6 am – 1 am
• Address: 2331 Calvert Street NW; Washington, DC 20008
• Ph: 202-332-2331

My favorite ice cream ever is coffee.  I love Haagen Dazs Coffee to be exact.  It’s so creamy and rich.

But when I was trying to track down a coffee ice cream recipe, I noticed a lot of them required eggs.  I didn’t really want to use eggs so it took me a bit, but here’s a coffee ice cream recipe I found that requires only milk, coffee, heavy cream, vanilla, and sugar.

It’s equally as creamy and rich — but also a lot more fat!  I didn’t use whole milk (instead used 1%), but I think I can cut down the fat in the coffee ice cream without losing too much of the flavor.  Stay tuned as I try to make this a healthier recipe!  Oh — and I used only a few TBSP of sugar.

After making a variety of flavored yogurts and ice cream, I just made some vanilla ice cream.

• 1 cup half and half
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 TBSP of sugar (I don’t like super sweet, but you can always add more)

Throw these into your ice cream maker for about 20 minutes.  You’ll see it thickens, transfer into a freezable container, and leave in your freezer.

The first photo is what it looks like when it comes out of the ice cream maker.  The second was after I put it in the freezer for 10 hours. 

It’s seriously delicious and creamy.  This makes only 1 cup (or so) of ice cream.

Do you know how when you’re making something, you can just tell it’s going to be good?  Yes, that’s how I felt about this recipe for bread machine monkey bread. 

I wanted my monkey bread to have cinnamon sugar, so I mixed about 1/2 cup of sugar and 4 TBSP of cinnamon.  I also melted 4 TBSP of butter. 

Then I rolled the dough into balls, dunked into the melted butter, and covered with the cinnamon sugar.

Ridiculously good.  Full of cinnamon sugar goodness, crunchy top, and soft and chewy inside.  Addictive too!

You have to try this recipe!

Yeah, this was a really easy recipe and helped me use this ridiculous amount of cream cheese I had in my fridge (no idea why I had so much!) but on my first attempt, it fell.  I’ve made tons of loafs of bread and have only had a handful that has had this happen. 

I made it again and it turned out much better. 

But overall, I don’t think I’ll ever make this recipe again.  It was weak on the flavor.  I’d rather eat even a plain wheat bread and put cream cheese and strawberry jam on.

I love fruit, even when I was a kid.  You couldn’t keep fruit in the house.  In fact, I still can’t. 

I was at the grocery store to pick up a few items when I saw a perfect bag of bing cherries.  So I threw them in my basket and proceeded to the checkout counter. 

Do you know how much this almost 3 lb bag cost?  It shocked me.  Wait for it…

This almost 3 lb bag cost me $18.  SERIOUSLY?  You better believe I ate every single one of them in this bag.  Is there a bing cherry shortage?

UPDATE 12/08 — Cho Saigon is my new favorite grocery store.  Plus, when I was just there, I found they actually sell super thinly sliced frozen beef in their freezer section!  It’s lean cuts for $3.99/lb.

I know it’s not a restaurant, but it’s a grocery store so close enough!  When I went to Pho Xe Lua, I also stopped into Cho Saigon Supermarket, located a couple of doors down.

I was like a kid in a candy store!  I bought a lot of food including lots of rice noodles (package is <$1.50), dried chilis (8 oz for $4), Pho stock (can’t wait until I make my own Pho!), palm sugar (16 oz for $1.80), fish sauce, soy sauce, etc. 

While I don’t know if they’re the cheapest, I know they had ingredients I can’t find at my local grocery store and usually cheaper.  Their cookie/dessert aisle was so fun — I almost took a photo!  I can’t wait to go back! 

• Address: 6763 Wilson Blvd Unit A; Fall Church, VA 22044
• Ph: 703-533-0863

Yum, oven fried chicken.  Here’s my recipe:

• 3 chicken breasts (you can use thighs, legs, etc)
• 1 cup of milk
• 2 TBSP of hot sauce
• 1 TBSP garlic powder
• 1 TBSP minced onion
• 1 TBSP paprika
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 TBSP corn starch
• 1/2 cup Panko crumbs
• Salt & pepper (to taste)
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Cover the chicken in a mixture of the milk and hot sauce together in a bowl.  Let marinade for 30-60 minutes.

Turn your oven to 350.  Then mix the remaining ingredients (except Olive Oil).  Press the chicken into the mixture and make sure both sides are well covered.  Then put a little salt and pepper.  Put the chicken on a piece of aluminum foil on a baking pan.  Sprinkle the Extra Virgin Olive Oil on both sides. 

Bake for 30-60 minutes (depending on how thick your chicken is) until the chicken is cooked (165 degrees).  I had thin chicken breasts and cooked in my convection oven so it only took 35 minutes.

It was delicious, crispy, and healthy!  Make sure to flip it half way through the baking time to ensure it’s crispy on both sides.

What do you think?  I wanted to have a time stamp on my posts and could only get it if I changed my look.  Yes, I need to change the header…photo to change soon.  Header photo changed!

If you’ve been checking out the blog today, you’ve noticed there’s been a lot of changes.  I believe 3 different “looks” have been tested.  I really want to have a time stamp on my post, but there doesn’t seem to be a backgrounder that you like that offers this.  Bummer. 

I like the clean look this one provides too — I did decide to do a new background and picked this one because you can see the links much easier.  Plus, individual postings do show the time stamp so it works for now.

To help with my need for change, I will be changing the header photo periodically. 

Also, the formatting issues have been fixed.

Oh, and if I may — a moment to say how cool the last couple of weeks have been for this blog?  I’ve broken through the 1,000+ in one day mark.  Thanks to the readers!  If you have any ideas for postings, let me know [whereindc AT gmail DOT com]

It was raining and crappy and so my friend and I decided to order in.  Plus, I had a bottle of Rose that I wanted to try. 

I don’t like Rose.  I never have.  But for some reason, when I was in the liquor store to buy some sparking wine (loved this one he recommended — Segura Viudas Reserva Heredad Cava from Spain), the liquor store guy told me that even though I don’t like Rose, I’d like Juno Rose from South Africa. Now why is it that even though I know I don’t like Rose, I still ended up buying the wine?  Regardless, my friend was a super trooper and joined me in trying this bottle.  It was fine, but I didn’t love it and won’t buy it again.  The Cava was dry (but not too dry) and was a great sparkling wine to cool down from the humidity!

   

Anyway, we decided to order from Jyoti.  Menu here.

• Food:I first need to tell you that I don’t like cardamom.  I never have.  So ordering Indian is a bit of a challenge, but I do like Indian food!  I just need to be careful.  My friend ordered paneer makani (the orange container) which had a strong cardamom flavor.  I ordered the lamb rogan josh which was really good.  Then we got a side of roti and raita.  I thought it was really good!  They also gave us a huge portion of rice — look at it! And yes, their naan was better than the one I make (but they have a tandoori!). 

• Service: Our delivery took over an hour.  And we were starving.  So it gets poor marks for taking more than an hour. 
• Atmosphere: No idea, they delivered!
• Attire: Casual
• Price: $$
• Overall:I was excited to hear that there’s Indian delivery ($15 min).  On their menu, they tell you it’ll take 45-60 minutes to deliver and if it’s bad weather or traffic, it’ll take longer.  My next order is going to be chicken tikka and samosa. 

Details:

• Hours: Sun-Thurs 12 PM-10:30 PM; Fri & Sat 12 PM-12 AM
• Address: 2433 18th St NW; Washington, DC 20009
• Ph: 202-518-5892

To see the full list, click here.  To make reservations on OpenTable, click here.  Like I did last year,  I’m only posting the menus of the restaurants that are in the three or four dollar range (based on OpenTable). 

The list is bleak because a lot of restaurants haven’t yet posted.  But keep checking back because I’ll be making the updates!  Most restaurants that are going to post their menus have so I’ve tried to compile them here.  If I’ve missed one, let me know. 

Don’t forget — lunch is $20.08 and dinner is $35.08.  It’s happening August 11-17th. 

$$$$

• Bobby Van’s Steakhouse — There are two locations, so click here and then on the location you’re interested in to see the menu. 
• Sam & Harry’s — Downtown — Lunch and dinner menu is here.
• Taberna del Alabardero — Downtown — Lunch and dinner menu is here.
• The Caucus Room — Downtown — Lunch and dinner menu is here.
• The Prime Rib — Downtown — Lunch and dinner menu is here.  Also celebrating until August 29th. 

$$$

• Ardeo— Cleveland Park — Menu can be found here, then click Menu and Restaurant Week.
• Bastille — Alexandria — Only celebrating Aug 12th-16th.  Lunch is regular menu.  Dinner menu here. 
• Bistro Bis— Capitol Hill — Lunch and dinner menus can be found here.
• Bombay Club— Downtown — Menus for lunch and dinner can be found here, then click Events and Restaurant Week.
• Cafe Atlantico — Penn Quarter — Extended to August 18th-24th.  Lunch menu here.  Dinner menu here.
• Ceiba— Penn Quarter — Lunch and dinner menu can be found here.  Also August 18-24, offering bottles of wine for $20.08 and $35.08. 
• Charlie Palmer— Capitol Hill — Pre-fixe lunch menu here for $20.08. Also doing dinner, but no available online menu.
• Chef Geoff— Downtown and Georgetown menus found here, then click on either location.
• DC Coast— Downtown — Lunch and dinner menu can be found here, then click on Upcoming Events.
• District ChopHouse — Penn Quarter — Dinner only and menu is here.
• FarrahOlivia — Alexandria — Extended to September 22nd.  Menu TBA.
• La Bergia — Alexandria — Extended to August 24th.  Menu TBA.
• Neyla — Georgetown — Dinner only menu here.
• Rasika— Penn Quarter — Menus for lunch and dinner can be found here, then click Events. 
• TenPenh — Penn Quarter — Menu TBA.  Also August 18-24, offering bottles of wine for $20.08 and $35.08. 
• Vidalia— Golden Triangle — Lunch and dinner menus can be found here.
• Willow Restaurant— Arlington — Lunch and dinner menus can be found here.
• Zengo — Penn Quarter — Menu TBA.  Celebrating until August 24th. 

Brownies are delicious.   I love this recipe for them, but I thought I’d branch out and try this one.  And while I would expect Hershey’s to provide their customer’s a great recipe, umm, this was fantastic.  There’s a few more ingredients in this recipe than this one, but it’s good.

I know I love something when I find myself pulling an Elaine and the cake move. 

For those who don’t know Seinfeld, Elaine keeps shaving pieces off a $29,000 cake her boss (J. Peterman) bought.  The cake was from 1937 and was from King Edward VIII to Wallis Simpson.  

It’s quite hilarious, but I kept walking by the brownie pan and shaving off a few pieces for me to eat.  It was a good move when I put them in a bag.

I thought this recipe for honey whole wheat bread sounded good and healthy.  It was super easy.  I put it on the 1.5 loaf, medium darkness, and whole wheat setting.

While you can taste the whole wheat, it wasn’t as bad as some of the recipes!  Next time, I think I’d add a couple more TBSP of honey for sweetness. 

It’ll make good sandwich bread! 

This is an open letter to John — who commented on my blog (thanks for reading) — wondering what is the restaurant he shouldn’t miss when he’s in DC next week.

John, I have been contemplating and working on drafting such an entry, so thanks for the prompt.

To sum it up, I don’t think there is just “one” restaurant that is DC.  But I do think, depending on your mood and how often you’ve visited, there are some outstanding options.  I am keeping the suggestions only to within DC-proper and metro accessible. 

With that in mind, here’s the quick personal list (with many more additions to come).  But readers, please chime in!  Before you chastise me for forgetting a “duh” restaurant, remember I typed this bad boy up in 15 minutes.  So it’s seriously a list off the top of my head!

• Cheap but real DC — Ben’s Chili Bowl.  Everyone goes here.  Anthony Bourdain to Bill Cosby to Bill Clinton.  If you go and you’ve never been, must get the half smoke and fries. 
• Organic and sustainable — if the environment is your #1 priority or you’re looking for a light but absolutely phenomenal meal, go to Hook.  Although Barton Seaver has left so not sure if it’s still as amazing. 
• Indian with a twist — Rasika.  I haven’t reviewed it because it’s been more than a year since I’ve gone.  I’ve been and here’s the review — still love it!  They offer this popcorn at the bar which is sweet and spicy and amazing.  I loved loved loved that popcorn. 
• Authentic Mexican — Mixtec.  Simple yet good. 
• Cart food — For lunch, I would honestly recommend the Bulgogi cart.  Unless you’re from NY, you don’t see a lot of carts with options other than hot dogs. 
• Mussels and frites (and beer) — My new favorite place is Brasserie Beck.  Seriously.  Drool.
• Thick crispy fries, delicious crab cakes, and beautiful atmosphere — Blue Duck Tavern.  Between Brasserie Beck and Blue Duck, I’m not sure who has the better fries.  It’s definitely a toss-up!
• Pizza — Hands down it’s 2Amys.  Not metro accessible (really) but so worth the cab fare. 
• Wine bars — I haven’t been to Cork so I don’t know if it’s cool, but I love Veritas. 
• Vodka bar — There’s only one (I think) – Russia House. 
• Real Greek food — Mourayo, then you can go to Russia House and Veritas after dinner!
• Bagels — I really like So’s Your Mom bagels.  Plus their Reuben is delicious.
• Breakfast — If you want to sit down for breakfast, I think The Diner is quintessential DC.  You’ll see everything from families to cops to hung over people eating here. 
• Sushi — Sushi Taro if you don’t mind the wait, Tono Sushi especially if you want it delivered or want to hit up a sushi happy hour, or Kaz Sushi. 
• Caribbean/Trinidadian — Islander Restaurant.
• Grocery store listing — Sometimes, you just want to buy a big gallon of water.  To find the closest grocery store to you, visit here.