It's been awhile since I posted about food - probably because, for only the second time in my pregnancy, I've actually wanted to eat food, which means I've spent more time cooking and eating than blogging about it.
We've managed to find enough time and money to venture out to a few venerable eating establishments in The Frontier, with mostly pleasant (and definitely surprising) results.
One of my reasons in dragging my feet in the move to The Frontier was the extreme lack of culinary offerings to be found the last time I inhabited the state. I, thus far, have been pleasantly surprised that there have apparently been some drastic changes on the food landscape.
Our first foray together into The Frontier's exotic food offering was E Jo, a Korean restaurant not far from our house that announced $6.99 lunch specials. Since Korean food is one of Son's favorites (okay, the meat is - he doesn't actually eat any of the rest of it), we treated him when he was out here. I am happy to report that it was not only good, but the bean paste and bulgogi (thinly sliced, grilled beef) are the best I've had. And there are a lot of Korean places in DC. Though they haven't yet served the slightly sweet Korean-style mashed potatoes I love to eat with the bulgogi, their kimchi is fantastic. I think we schocked the apparently all-Asian waitstaff in the amount of kimchi Himself and I can consume in one sitting. Strangely enough, Baby Girl LIKES kimchi - it is the one slightly-spicy food that doesn't give me heartburn, for reasons yet undiscovered. And, at this point, what she will let me tolerate is what I eat - so on our second trip there I had multiple helpings.
We want to go back and try their sushi menu, as they have Spicy Scallop rolls, a favorite among both Himself and I at our favorite sushi haunt in McLean. Unfortunately, they are stricken from the "approved pregnancy foods list," so we'll have to patiently wait for that. We did try the eel however, and it was excellent, as well as being well-sized for the price.
The second experience, at Lemongrass Thai downtown, was a lesson in extraordinary patience or complete stupidity - not sure which. They are, apparently, ill-equiped to manage large crowds. We dined with friends (from Virginia - are there any other kinds?), failing to realize that The Frontier's largest convention was going on that evening. The host seemed only to be able to deal with one person at time, meaning there was no list to put our names on. We simply stood in line for a very long time, waiting to be seated at one of the many empty tables.
The tables were filled eventually, which meant that the waitstaff was overtaxed. They ran out of glasses, so they served Himself's drink in a paper cup - a common practice among New England seafood shacks, but not one I've run into elsewhere. We waited for ages for our order, our bill, refills, etc., turning the whole escapade into a 2 1/2-hour affair that involved only about 30 minutes where food was on a plate in front of us.
Fortunately, all that was not completely wasted. The food, in large part, was excellent. Himself's duck curry was amazing - the best either of us have had. My sweet and sour (a deviation from my standard Pad Thai) was excellent as well, though it's remarkably hard to kill Thai sweet and sour, as it's a pretty basic dish. The calamari itself was melt-in-your-mouth-good, but the breading wasn't so great - it definitely merited more of a tempura batter. Something lighter that didn't clash with the squid itself. The soup ordered by friends was good, though not the best (I secretly thought my Tom Yum was better). The major problem were the portion sizes - they were outrageously large. Not sure if it's common in The Frontier or what, but we've noticed that - the portion sizes wherever we go seem to say, "We've supsersized for you!" which is not the most endearing thing to me.
Still, we'd go back. We would only order one entree, possibly with an appetizer, and split it all, we definitely won't go on a night that it's busy, and we'll make reservations, but the food was good, and since Thai food is one of my favorites, it's high on the list of "Must visits" for that reason alone.
This past Friday, we joined Heidi and family at Harvest, one of the restaurants at Thanksgiving Point. She promised a good meal, so we went with high hopes. We were not disappointed. In fact, we were surprised at how good everything was - the pepper steak Heidi & company so graciously shared bites of, the rock shrimp quesadilla and Himself's lamb. In fact, Himself raved about the lamb all weekend, which is good because he is extraordinarily picky when it comes to lamb. The bread tasted like my mom's homemade bread. The basil and tomato soup was divine as well (Himself will tell you that when tomato soup of any sort is on the menu it is incredibly hard for me to resist it - and I'm just as picky about it as Himself is about his lamb).
The atmosphere was wonderful as well, though again the portion sizes were beyond ridiculous. We were glad for the heads-up that we might want to share, or just get an appetizer ( I still ended up taking half of if home).
All-in-all, not a bad start to our food discoveries in The Frontier. To make it even better, I found an Asian market that, while not terribly convenient, seems to stock everything I need to continue to make Thai curries, Udon noodle salad, Chinese chicken noodle soup, Pad Thai, etc.
I still miss my beloved Wegmans, but I'm forced to admit The Frontier might not be the end of the culinary world after all.
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