gougeres; frogs’ legs with slaw; pork belly with bbq sauce and cabbage; fried chicken with honey mustard, mashed potatoes, and salad; michel’s chocolate bar (aka a phenomenal crunchy-hazelnutty-take on a kit kat bar); ice cream sandwich
R.’s graduation celebration at Central Michel Richard, Washington D.C.
one of the best quick, cheap dinners in DC: chicken wrap with pepper jam and yogurt sauce, macho peas with mint, red pepper, and parsley, and mashed potatoes with spicy garlic peri-peri sauce
Nando’s Peri-Peri, Washington, DC
yum watercress, Ruan Thai
let’s talk about this dish specifically.
everyone* has a unanimous favorite dish in the greater DC area: the palak chaat at Rasika. it comes to your table looking like a totally unassuming vessel of spinach, tomatoes & onions, but the minute you taste it a universe of textures & flavors attacks you (in the best way). fried tempura-battered baby spinach? a couple of chutneys? who knew.
enter Yum Watercress, the critic- and customer-favored appetizer at Ruan Thai, one of many hole in the wall Thai joints in Wheaton. this is palak chaat with seafood and it. is. amazing. tempura-battered watercress topped with lightly and delicately fried squid and shrimp, roasted cashews, thinly sliced red onion and garlicky shallots, all topped with a sweet, sour, fishy, complex vinaigrette.
might this be a new contender for favorite-surprising-fried-greens-with-sauce-appetizer? it’s only fair for me to revisit Rasika asap to conduct a proper trial (why haven’t i been there in almost a year?), but let’s just say it’s a very close race.
*this is an exaggerated estimate
yum watercress (crispy watercress topped with fried shrimp, squid, onion, shallot, cashews in a lime dressing); yum pla duk fu (fried minced catfish filet with onion and peanut served with a sour cucumber-apple salad); gang som (sweet and sour red curry with string beans, cabbage, cauliflower, tamarind sauce, and shrimp)
Ruan Thai, Wheaton, MD
Assorted tacos
Taqueria Distrito Federal, Washington, DC
woodlands’ weekend buffet. dosas, pay bhaji, chana masala, palak paneer, malai kofta, parathas, and who knows what else. so glad to finally reinstate this amazing, nap-inducing, curryhigh-creating, weekend activity/ritual.
Woodlands, Langley Park, MD
EDIT: and thank you to my really fabulous friends who went here with me knowing that i would be really pissed if we didn’t go, even though they probably had other places to go/sleeping to do.
calamari; fettucine with spicy tomato, chili, and crab; chocolate pot du creme with hazelnut cream and biscotti
Restaurant week at Urbana, Washington, D.C.
spinach curry, brown rice, raita, naan, and mango chutney
Teaism, Washington, D.C.
Grilled quail with polenta, corn, mushrooms, and pickled cherries
Ris, Washington, DC
Croque mademoiselle
Ris, Washington, DC
