Review: Eventide

I went out to Eventide last night, and they are fantastic! The menu is pricier ($25-30 average for entrees) but of course you pay for quality and the atmosphere is great for an intimate dinner (romantic or with friends). Not as great for groups just because it's darkly lit and more personal, although they do cater to larger crowds.

The Service
The service was excellent, and they have a separate wine manager, which is always a plus. We arrived 15 minutes early, but they already had our table ready so we were seated right away in the upstairs dining room. With the exception of the entrees, which were delayed by 10 minutes, the food came quickly and the wait staff passed by often, unobtrusively refilling our wine and water glasses.

The Food
The chef was sending around a pre-appetizer concoction, which was a fried quinoa ball on some sort of cream, served individually on Japanese soup spoons. Then we got seared diver scallops for appetizer, beef tenderloin and risotto-style Farrotto (a hearty brown grain) for entree and a Sauvignon Blanc from Sonoma. Everything was fantastic! Despite not being a fan of risotto, I ordered the vegetarian Farrotto dish because I wasn't sure if any of the meats were environmentally-sustainable and it was unbelievably delicious.

I emailed the manager later, to ask about the meats on the menu and he answered immediately with this:

We pride ourselves in using the highest quality proteins and we make every effort to ensure that every animal we serve is sutainably raised, all natural, free range and local (whenever possible--there are just some animals that are local but don't meet our standards for quality.)

The goat, chicken and bison are the proteins that are assuredly local.

I thought that was an acceptable response, and I look forward to trying one of those dishes next time I go.

Rating: 10/10
Overall, an excellent experience and definitely a great location for a special occasion. I highly recommend them.

Contact Information
Eventide Restaurant
Eventiderestaurant.com
3165 North Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22201-4420
(703) 276-3165

Notes:
Their website says "smart casual, jeans are ok" but if you dine in the dining room and wear jeans, you will assuredly be the only one. Like me.

The roof is currently only open for drinks, but I've heard from others that you should not eat dinner up there once it opens for the summer because the roof menu is all small hor d'ouevres and not very filling.

A couple who had arrived earlier was apparently having difficulties with their reservation, which the woman was saying she had made online and received a confirmation for. So be sure to call ahead and confirm that they have your reservation

Review: Miss Saigon

This is a Vietnamese restaurant in Georgetown and I was sorely disappointed.

The Food
I ordered the lunch special with fried rice, crispy spring roll and salad. When I went to choose the entree, I asked about the best option and he recommended the caramel ginger sauce, so I got that with tofu. The fried rice was bland, bland, bland! The rice was brown so there should have been some sort of sauce, but it tasted like nothing. The spring roll and salad were good but nothing outstanding. The entree was sorely disappointing. It was excessively sweet and the sweetness did not go with the sharpness of the ginger, which was just grated on top of the dish. To top it off, my $2.75 coke was mostly ice and they charged extra to substitute tofu for the chicken.

The Service
The service was great. The waiter was very attentive, and felt horrible about me not liking the ginger caramel sauce he recommended, so he actually comped my coke, which was very nice.

Overall: 3/10
The food was simply mediocre, and the 3 points are only for the waiter. There were a few other groups in there and their food looked like it might be better, but frankly, if you can't make a fried rice that tastes like something, I'm not really willing to try anything else.

Miss Saigon
3057 M Street, DC 20007
http://www.ms-saigonus.com/

Birthday Cake - Vanilla with Strawberries and Buttercream

The cake is really good!

 I am myself not a fan of buttercream, I find it too sweet, but this is really perfect if you want a no-fail recipe. That's why I made that second cake without the frosting, the cake is really great with any berries.

Ingredients
Cake Batter

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups self rising flour
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Frosting

• 1 cup unsalted butter, very soft
• 3  cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions
Cake
1. Preheat oven to 350F
2.Grease and flour two 9-inch rounds. (the recipe calls for three, but then the layers would be very thin)
3. In a large bowl cream the butter until smooth
4. Gradually add sugar and beat until smooth and fluffy
5. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each egg
6. Combine the flours together
7. This is the most confusing direction: Beat in the flour and the milk/vanilla in an alternating fashion, in four sections. What this means is that you put in 1/4 of the flour, beat, then 1/4 of the milk/vanilla mixture, beat, then 1/4 flour, etc.
8. Divide batter among the pans and put them in the oven
9. Cook for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean
10. Let them cool completely before frosting
Frosting
1. Beat everything together.
2. You can add more sugar if you want a thicker consistency, but keep in mind that it is already really sweet.

Variations:
So, the birthday cake has cocoa butter cream frosting per request of the birthday boy, but the original recipe is actually for vanilla. If you want cocoa, mix in 1/4 cup cocoa, taste it, and then add more if you want a stronger flavor.

I also mixed in chopped strawberries with the frosting I used to fill the birthday cake, because who doesn't love strawberries with vanilla and cream??

Review: Faccia Luna, Arlington

The Service
The place was a disaster. Yesterday was my friend's birthday and he decided he wanted Italian. Since we had a group of 7 people, we called ahead of time to let them know we were planning on coming in around 7pm. They do not take reservations, but the guy on the phone told us to come at 6:45 to put our names on the list so we can get a table by 7pm. Fine.

So my roommate and I head over there to put our names on the list, and the place is completely crowded and it's a 45 minute wait! When I say, "why were we told it wouldn't fill up until 7:30?" I'm told "whoever answered the phone doesn't know what he's talking about".

Then we wait for not 45 minutes, but for well over an hour. In the meantime, there are other customers getting angry, too. At one point when I went to ask what was up, I heard the following conversation:
"How much longer?"
"Fifteen minutes"
"Did you just make that number up? You said 20 minutes half an hour ago"
"I didn't tell you that. Someone else did."
Excuse me? Blame games do not work when you represent the entire restaurant. You apologize and thank them for their patience.

Service continued to be ridiculous, and at one point I was told that a beer was a "white beer" ("like blue moon" - a wheat beer) and then they brought me an IPA instead. We also ordered a lemon drop martini, and got vodka with lemon in a martini glass. NOT the same thing.

The table was short a service, the waiter was slow and we were seated by the register and silverware/napkin area, so the restaurant employees were constantly pushing past our chairs. All in all, very disappointing.

The Food
 The quality of the food was good. We ordered a pizza with goat cheese, spinach and chicken, and a pizza with goat cheese, mushrooms, eggplant and pine nuts. The quality of all the ingredients was good, and the toppings and cheese were delicious. Some of the crust was burned on the side, but not too badly to ruin the whole dish.

The pizza dough, however, tasted like Domino's. It was not special in anyway, and really detracted from the quality of the toppings.

I ended up having to leave early (because it took so long to get seated!!) but from what I heard the Tiramisu was acceptable but not phenomenal.


Score: 4/10
The continued horrible service, combined with acceptable rather than amazing food, resulted in their low score. I've always complained about service in DC, but it has NEVER been this bad. I was very disappointed, particularly considering that this is Arlington, VA, where people in the service industry generally tend to be better than those within DC proper. I would NOT recommend anyone going there, ever.

http://www.faccialuna.com/

2909 Wilson Boulevard

Arlington, VA

(703) 276-3099

Review: La Tomate

This is an Italian Restaurant in Dupont Circle in Washington DC that I've always walked by and wanted to go in, and I finally did yesterday. They have a limited menu, so I actually had a hard time choosing what I wanted since nothing popped out at me. I finally settled on clams and linguini.

The Service
The service was haphazard. Someone brought out my silverware and napkin, another person my water, and a third person my bread and butter. It was strange, and I saw the same thing happening across the patio (I was outside). The outside area is nice, but not a single table is stable. Maybe they want it to be more authentically Italian.

The Food
My food came relatively quickly and the pasta and clams were high quality. However, and I know this is going to sound strange because it's seafood, but it was too salty. I know seafood is salty anyway, but this had too much. Like they made the sauce with the clam juice, steamed the clams with clam juice and then just for good measure, cooked the pasta in seawater. That being said, the other seasonings were quite good and the plate as a whole was flavorful. Just need to cut down on the salt.

The bread is really good, but the butter was hard and tasted like cream. Not normally bad, but it didn't go with the plain bread. It needed salt, and I actually would have preferred having the option of olive oil.


The Score: 6/10
I can't say I DO or DON'T recommend the place, I'd need to try some more of their dishes. And I'm actually willing to, because I am able to overlook inconsistent service if the food is good. Since the food was high quality and just a little too salty, I'm willing to go again and try a few other dishes.

http://www.latomatebistro.com/
1701 Connecticut Ave NW – Washington, DC 20009
202.667.5505 – telephone

Bean Soup

This is excellently easy and delicious, which makes it perfect for people with concussions and homework! It also has a thick chili consistency, so it's great for eating with a thick hunk of bread or shredded cheese and sour cream.

Ingredients
1 lb. bag mixed beans (your choice, I got a 15-bean mix from Harris Teeter's)
1 large can chopped tomatoes
1 1/2 teaspoons homemade cajun seasoning (see below for recipe)
1/2 onion, chopped
5 + 3 garlic cloves

Directions
1. Soak beans in water overnight. Drain and rinse
2. Put beans in a pot with water, there should be 1-2 inches of water above the beans. Add 5 whole garlic cloves. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 2.5 hours.
3. Saute onion and 3 garlic cloves (minced) in olive or vegetable oil. Drain excess oil.
4. After 2.5 hours add cooked onions and garlic, canned tomatoes, salt and cajun seasoning. Simmer for another 30 minutes.

Serve!

Notes:
-Do not add salt at the beginning because it will prevent the beans from getting soft.
-Do not soak beans for more than 8 hours, it affects their quality and consistency.
-Do not be deceived when you try the soup and it does not seem spicy! Cayenne pepper builds on spice as you eat, so you won't feel the spice until you're halfway through a bowl of soup.

Cajun Seasoning
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp white pepper (or substitute another tsp black pepper)
2-3 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp paprika

Notes:
-If you use onion salt or garlic salt (I do not recommend using both) then do not put salt in the soup later. The mix itself will be very salty

Snow Signs

That one bad day

I seem to experience one really awful day near the beginning of every year. When I was eighteen, my car got totaled and I was on a train that hit a person. When I was twenty, I had a day of total insanity in the building where I was a resident assistant with people breaking into the womens bathroom and students throwing plants out windows. There are many more that will not be shared, but they happen nearly every year and they have always happened in January or February.

This year I believe it may have been today.

I should have known the day was off to a bad start when Georgetown announced that we would be having class on a national holiday to make up for the snow days. After not being productive until 1pm, I decided to head to school and work there. I got to the bus stop at 1:30, having dragged a bag of clothes I was going to drop off at the donation center at Georgetown. After 45 minutes, the bus still had not come. Suddenly a student walked up and announced that the Key Bridge was closed because they were bull-dozing snow off and therefore the bus was unable to get to us from Georgetown. Deciding against paying the cab fare, I start to walk, trudging through layers of slushy and icy snow to get campus. To add insult to injury, halfway through my 30 minute trek, it starts snowing. AGAIN.

When I finally get to campus, the donation bin is snowed out, so I dragged a bag full of clothes over for no reason and I have no where to put it. Then on my way to class I slam my hand against a door and burn my throat with coffee.

Exhausted after class, I decide that I am going to a Mexican restaurant to have a burrito and study. HOWEVER, on the walk over there, a chunk of ice falls off a building and onto my head. That's right. I experience an aerial ice attack. I was along a flat building with no eaves, but apparently some of the snow-turned-ice on the roof decided to fall down and land on my head. After an hour at home deliberating as to whether I should go to the ER or not, we finally decide to go.

At the ER, I wait nearly 30 minutes to get my room, and another 15 or so until the doctor comes. He is tall, thin, with long, black, curly, floppy hair. Total stoner-skater vibe. He starts talking to me about what happened and then asks me if I feel tired or have trouble seeing.

"Well, I haven't been sleeping a lot these past few days because I'm catching up on a lot of work so I don't know if that's a result of sleeplessness or getting hit on the head." He gets really concerned all of a sudden and says, "Well, you really need to get more sleep. That's a huge problem." Excuse me? I know it's a problem! I want to sleep, too! But I just had a chunk of ice fall on my head!!!!

Well, it all checks out and then he goes, "I need to get the supervising doctor to sign off on this and then you can go." This is usual in a teaching hospital, they do it at UCLA as well. The resident/student will check you out, and then a supervising doctor will come and check on you and compare their diagnosis with that of the student's. Well, when my supervisor comes in (40 minutes later), she says "Sorry you had to wait so long. My intern only recently told me you were in here."

I'm sorry, what?! He's an intern AND he forgot me? WTF mate. And then she looks me over again and says, "Well, you have a concussion (which was not mentioned by the intern), but it's not serious (which was noted by the intern). You can go home, just make sure your roommate checks in on you every six hours (not mentioned by the intern)."

All this is just lovely, and then the hospital that took three hours to give me two 10 minutes exams charged us $6 for parking! On top of which, we ended up driving around for 20 minutes when we got home because all the spots were taken or blocked by mounds of snow.

So all in all, I got today:
1. School on a holiday
2. A long walk with heavy bags and snowfall
3. A bag of clothing with nowhere to go
4. A hurt hand
5. A burned throat

AND

6. A concussion

This day has all the signs of "The Worst Day of 2010" but I can't officially name it that until January 1, 2011. Until then Karma, please, gimme a break!

Potomoc At Sunset (Pre-Snowmania)

Blizzard-y Season!

Post February Storm #1

Middle of February Storm #2