the arugula files

Uncle Liu's Hot Pot (Plus, My Secret Plans)

In the middle of a congested strip mall, anchored by a Gold’s Gym, the Great Wall supermarket, and Unique Thrift store, sits Uncle Liu's Hot Pot, a blandly decorated restaurant where hungry diners cook their dinner tableside.  Hot pot—or Chinese fondue, as some call it—has been around for centuries.  Yet, I’m unaware of any other restaurants in the Washington region that specialize in the experience—and it is an experience.

I had my first hot pot with Uncle Liu.  It was not complicated or intimidating. Actually, it reminded me of college, when I had my first go at dim sum.  There were lots of oohs and ahhs and umms.  Hot pot goes like this: you order a big pot of broth, choosing a handful of flavors (spicy, mild, fish, and mushroom, among others); the broth heats up quickly on your tabletop propane burner.  Then you order raw servings of your favorite veggies, meats, and seafood ingredients, to cook in the hot pot.  Cooking time for each ingredient varies, but most are ready within two minutes.  When each piece is done, you remove it, plop it in dipping sauce, and then pop it in your mouth.  White or fried rice comes on the side.  On a recent trip, Marcus and I ordered beef, shrimp, broccoli, cabbage, veggie dumplings, enoki mushrooms, and lotus root. 

New Favorite Lunch Place: Mixt Greens

My new favorite salad place is Mixt Greens, located just south of Dupont Circle at 19th and M Streets.  Cucumber water is the first thing that greets you when you enter.  Grab a compostable cup, fill it up, and get in the zen line. 

Panas (Plus, Make Your Own Empanada Contest: the "Duponada")

Fourteen.  That is the number of savory empanadas available at Panas, the recently opened healthy "fast-food" Dupont Circle eatery.  I want to try them all.  And I will – eventually.

Each crescent shaped empanada is about 3 to 4 bites of a light flaky shell, stuffed with fresh ingredients and served with one of four dipping sauces: salsa verde, a spicy mayo "aji," cilantro and tomato sauce, or roasted red pepper sauce.  They are served with addictive "thank goodness they're baked" plantain chips. 

I had lunch there recently with two friends.  Between the three of us, we ate 10 empanadas, ordering six different types. 

Elephant Jumps

The first time Marcus and I dined at Elephant Jumps we had the entire restaurant to ourselves, and the ear of the owner, who proudly made suggestions from the menu.  The tiny 32-seat Thai restaurant had recently opened in a strip mall off 495.  At the time, we were on a Vietnamese and Korean food overload and finding a reliably tasty Thai place near our house in Falls Church was a must.  After a few bites of the scallop with crispy summer basil, I said to Marcus, "I hope this place lasts.  It's good."  The Washington Post's Tom Sietsema agreed, giving Elephant Jumps a positive review.  Now instead of worrying about the restaurant staying in business, we have to worry about a 30-minute wait.  Curse you Tom Sietsema.

We, The Pizza: Solid Pizza, Tasty Meatball Subs

Every time Spike Mendelsohn, the former reality star chef and owner of We the Pizza, says something about why he came to DC to open a restaurant, I roll my eyes and make finger gagging motions.  This has nothing to do with the food at his restaurants.

Mendelsohn once told the Washington Post, "I would like to be an ambassador of bringing young, hip restaurants here. I'm looking at D.C. as a blank canvas where I hope to practice my art form." And on NPR he told Kojo Nnamdi he came because "big fish in a small pond...you know."  Listen up, people, DC is not the next great food city.  It is a great food city now.  Please stop.

Good news for Good Stuff Eatery:  good food trumps asinine comments.

If I were to go on a burger date with, say... President Obama, and the options were a) Good Stuff Eatery or b) Ray's Hellburger I would try to convince Barak, an obvious fan of Ray's, to go to a. That's how much I like Good Stuff Eatery. 

This is a long way to say that I was totally stoked for We, the Pizza.  Totally.  Stoked.  My current food scene mantra is: less Neapolitan pizza and more up scale  New York or New Haven-style pizza.

Breakfast at Ted's Bulletin (Plus the Comeback of the Poptart)

Let me get right to the point: thick-cut applewood smoked bacon–perfectly cooked.  Crisp, but pliable, fatty, but not greasy, salty and delicious. The bacon at Ted's Bulletin was the best I've tasted in recent memory. And, ooohh, the hash browns: crispy and light.  My omelet was tasty, but the egg-to-filling ratio was off. Less eggs and more spinach and mushrooms, please.   I enjoyed my meal, but not everything was a hit.  A bite of my friend's breakfast burrito, highly recommended by the waitress, was a little bland (though my friend seemed pleased with it).

Pizzaria Orso: Well Earned Praise

 
The buzz floating around Pizzaria Orso in Falls Church is well earned.  Why all the fuss?  Fresh salads, reasonably priced wine, and tasty pizzas that put Pizza Orso in the same class as 2 Amy's.  

On my first visit, I started with light, but flavorful salad of shaved fennel, olives, and oranges.  I enjoyed this dish immensely and would like to see more green options on Orso's menu---an antipasto perhaps? For dinner I had the Pizza Orso.  The eponymous pie came topped with ricotta, mozzarella, grana, fontina, pecorino, garlic, prosciutto.  You had me at five cheeses.  Add garlic and prosciutto and Pizza Orso has created an addictive pie.    Sharing is difficult.  Leftovers are unthinkable.

I washed it all down with a $5 glass of dry white wine (Grotta del Sole / Coda di Volpe 2009), a bargain by anyone's standards.

My dining companions, my husband Marcus and his brother Andre, enthusiastically reported that their calzones were among the best they've had in their LIFETIME. (Though they did note the minor flaw of doughy ends typical among even the best calzones).

No room for dessert, but I did spy a cannoli on the list, which means I'll have to set aside some space the next time I visit.

Honey Pig (Gooldaegee Korean Grill)

Honey Pig, a Korean BBQ located in Annandale, has been on my "must-try list" for a long time.  Too long really.  It is for this reason that a ten minute wait standing in the hot parking lot didn't seem that bad. Marcus and I found a ledge to lean on by the entry way, where, each time the door opened, Korean pop music would spill outside.  The music was loud, up tempo--the perfect prelude to what awaited us inside.