KeithA

Baked by Yael across from the zoo also has more reasonably sized and delicious bagels. I like Breadfurst but actually prefer Yael's as I find Breadfurst often cooks their bagels and bread to get a super hard crust that is almost overdone/burnt - good for a baguette less enjoyable for a bagel.

First time last night trying Naanwise in Woodley Park. Got a really delicious and large chicken biryani with lots of saffron flavor which comes with a side of yogurt sauce. Pretty mild in spice but very flavorful with some nuts and raisins mixed in too. Also ordered the very good Palak chaat of chickpea flour coated fried spinach - this was a great deal at $8 for a very large portion - it was enough for 4 sides/apps. Definitely have to try more from this place.

Chiko continues to hit home runs with their food and deliveries. We got the RW menu for 2 on Saturday and it was so much yummy food and gave me a chance to try to few new to me items on the menu: -impossible meat/vegetarian dumplings and beef dumplings- fried dumplings aren't usually my thing as I prefer steamed but these were pretty good with a nice sauce. The difference in taste between the veg and beef was hard to detect with the veg being a bit more soft/tender. I think I would definitely skip the meat and stick to the veg next time. -brussel sprouts - charred sprouts with lots of fried onion crispies and a bit of spice. Less heat than other dishes. Very much enjoyed. Would get again. - turmeric daikon pickles - I can't recall if I had these before, but they were great - sweet and sour perfect to cut the richness of the other food. - Coconut custard - this has been on their menu a long time as a dessert option but my first time trying. How stupid of me?! - save room for dessert. This is wonderful - not too heavy and delicious. It is a semi-stiff custard (kind of between panna cotta and pudding) with lots of strong coconut flavor and crunch from the coconut shavings and almond slivers. Really really good. - Also Brisket with rice (a bit spicier than usual but still good), Half - A -Cado - Salad, Cumin Lamb noodles - always great as before

Friday - chicken terriyaki uses Morimoto's Japanese at Home recipe. Turned out great again. With the right ingredients and 15 minutes you can have wonderful, flavorful teriyaki sauce. Also, the leftover teriyaki sauce is great to turn into spicy suteki-don (add butter and Japanese thick chili sauce with steak). Saturday - Chiko RW delivery - will review in the Chiko threat. really good. Sunday - lentil vegetable soup with parmesan cheese.

Homemade turkey meatballs and De Cecco brand buccatini with Rao's marinara sauce. Great blend of homemade and store bought.

I have a glut of CSA veggies and odd pantry items so I'm trying to use up stuff I have: 1. Farro with afghan-spiced butternut squash with garlic yogurt sauce 2. Fried cabbage with onions and apples (no bacon - apparently this is a southern thing, but found a vegetarian recipe) Still have lots of winter squashes, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, beets, turnips, kohlrabi to work through. Recipes suggestions welcome (except for pickle recipes I have those as backups.). Now if only my kids would eat any of these (and yes I also mean the potatoes, I must have the only kids who will not eat potatoes even french fries). Earlier this week had a fun surprise with the purple carrots. Unlike red carrots that you peel and cook and they are basically normal orange carrots, these purple carrots are like beets. They are dark purple all the way through and will stain everything. So fried rice became purple/dark fried rice.

Started Thanksgiving meals early this year. My in-laws don't make stuffing or real cranberry sauce - my two holiday favorites - so I made a small amount myself over the weekend and for the last 2 days I've been enjoying stuffing, cranberry sauce, and left over chicken (I'll have to wait for the turkey). So yummy.

Revised with the eater reviews: Last night we had an eclectic mix of vegetarian dishes I riffed on based on the ingredients I had on hand: 1. Rasika-recipe inspired cumin and warm spiced Jasmine rice - well-liked as evidenced by wife absconding with leftovers for her lunch 2. Collard greens sauteed with pine nuts and habanada peppers and finished with lemon juice - probably too much lemon juice, not much eaten 3. Ethiopian-inspired lentil veggie stock stew with lots of berbere and other spices with sauteed onions - very good. Also taken for lunch leftover. 4. Indian-masala inspired kohlrabi and sweet potatoes with lots of cumin seeds and other spices. - ok but weird mix. The cabbage flavor of kohlrabi is a bit of a tough nut for me to crack. I also made some lemony pickles with kohlrabi, hopefully they turn out better. 5. Roasted sweet potatoes with Montreal steak seasoning - this is in our regular rotation and always a crowd pleaser. I doubled up on the sweet potatoes because we got the huge-est ones from our CSA the past few weeks. One of them was like 4 normal good-sized sweet potatoes.

Reviving this thread as my wife loves American Chinese food (think lo mein, chicken and broccoli, sesame chicken, egg drop soup, etc.) but most of the delivery places for NW DC have sucked in the past (looking at you Mr. Chen's and City Lights but maybe they've gotten better in the past year or so since we tried them). We recently had Dumplings and Beyond from Glover Park which was pretty good (unless others are better we may stick with them). We were disappointed by Lucky Danger (small portions and weird sweet sauce on the lo mein). Anyone have a good suggestions?

Yesterday on Sunday when I had more time, I made Smitten Kitchen's winter squash onion sautee on goat cheese toasts - adatped from this recipe It is a bit of work but turned out great. I used goat cheese and not ricotta which was a nice contrast to the sweet sour of the onion/squash mash. The onions cooked down in maple syrup and apple cider vinegar was great. I would probably make those alone again to add to anything. I used acorn squash because i had it on hand and probably would season it a bit more as it was a bit bland and really needed the onion for flavor. I also didn't have fresh mint so sprinkled some dried mint on top but fresh would have been much better.

Cleveland Park and nearby has several good Indian restaurants (and some so so ones too) so it has been a very long time since I've been to Heritage India on WI Ave. However most of the better ones like Indique and Bindaas are not open for weekday lunch. When we Heritage India entered for lunch today around 1pm, it was completely empty. We actually thought it may be closed despite its website and hours on the door saying it is open for lunch. Apparently, we weren't the only ones who thought this as I think our table of 2 may have been their only or one of their only lunches served today. This is in contrast to a bunch of nearby places who had packed patios at the same time. Let me say this was everyone else's loss. We had a great meal today and enjoyed the nice patio in the warm weather. The service was friendly, helpful, and brisk. The food was very good. They have good lunch combos but we decided to order off the regular menu to take advantage of some of the more less-standard DC indian options. We started with golgappa - small thin hollow dough sphere/cup where the top is broken and filled with a bit of spiced potato and veg topped with yogurt and tamarind chuntey. Served individually on spoons you then pour a bit of spiced lemon-tinged liquid in the opening and eat it in one bite. I'd seen these before but never eaten them. The hostess asked us if we'd tried before and when we said no, she kindly explained the way to prepare and eat them. Really delicious - crunchy, sweet, tangy. a bit spicy and overall different than anything you'd normally eat. An order comes with 4 large bites. I would get this again. FWIW I have several times had Bindaas's non-traditional golgappa which has creamy mashed avocado instead of spiced liquid and while those are ok, these traditional ones were much better. Then we shared bhindi/oka masala and aloo gobi masala (potato cauliflower) which came with white basmati rice. Both were good but the okra was the standout with a bit of heat and lots of flavor. They have a very large fresh bread section of the menu and we decided to try the non-traditional date-walnut filled naan. It was very good - sweet and filling and a nice contrast to the savory, spicy entrees. The hostess explained this is their americanized take on a coconut-jaggery sweet naan. I also enjoyed my mango lassi which came out very quick. Definitely worth a visit for very solid Indian, and with more lunch options, I'll need to add it to my lunch rotation.

Sunday we tried Maman Joon in Tenleytown for the first time. It is in the former Beefsteak location near the Whole Foods. They kept the very modern pleasant decor and retrofitted the kitchen with a rotating broiler they use to constantly make fresh flatbread. I had been meaning to try for a while but they do not offer delivery yet. The guy who took our order said they are still getting setup after opening a few months ago. The food was a mixed bag of ok to great. The chicken kabob and ground chicken kabob were both a bit bland and slightly dry but still tasty - better with the great herb yogurt sauce they give you on the side. The rice that came with the kabobs was nicely cooked but also a bit bland. The fresh bread was liked by some and thought meh by others - it lacked salt and got a bit overcooked in the center. I saw someone else had the salmon kabob and the beef/lamb kabobs so I think we'd try those next time. The falafel app was also good but a bit crunchy. However the tahini sauce was really raw ground sesame paste without the water/lemon juice of usual tahini sauce. The really good were some of the less common in the area Persian dishes like the vegetarian lemony herb noodle and lentil stew (Ash E'Reshteh). Strong flavors a really good. The sabzi polo herb rice was also very good and studded with some fava beans. I really look forward to trying more of these dishes. I actually tried to order one of the other polo rice dishes but despite the 5-6 different menu options they only had too available. Also the portions of everything are large.

I've never had anything from the Pretzel Bakery, but several times I've made really good soft pretzels at home (only medium effort and a bit of rise time) using this recipe from Alton Brown: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/homemade-soft-pretzels-recipe-1948242 My family likes them plain, but I also prefer mine with mustard - usually Ba-Tampte but Gulden is good too.

Still not eating out much, but did have a very nice dinner on Saturday night at Bindaas in CP taking advantage of their outdoor streetery. I thought it was plenty warm with the heaters but some of our friends were still a bit chilled. The 5 of us started with great cocktails - 4 Instant Dharmas (tamarind tequila) and 1 Fool's Gold (citrus rum for me). Then the parade of dishes, nicely spaced in serving so the table was not overflowing: Bhel Puri - very good, we all liked the added mango pieces Punjabi Samosa - very good but less exciting than the other dishes. It comes with 3 pieces but they nicely let you buy extra pieces for a few more dollars - this way each of us could have one and we didn't need to share. Cauliflower Chili Pakora - nicely fried and not too heavy but only so so flavor. Not very spicy and the pink onion chutney didn't add that much. I'd probably skip this one next time. Dahi Papdi Chaat - they said there was a kitchen mix up and so they brought up this complimentary even though we didn't order it. That was our luck because it was really good. Thin crack with a small ball of potato on top covered in sweet yogurt and a few counterbalancing spices for a really flavorful bite. Adding to the rotation for next time. Pao Bhaji - still one of my faves. The rolls are so buttery and the vegetable filling is really good. This is a must order. Trio of Uttapams - our Indian friend pointed out these are not really street food but rather what you would get in someone's house and they use the same batter as dosas just thicker for a pancake. No wonder we love them. The Corn-sweet bell peppers continues to be my wife's favorite. The Chili tomato one continues to be good too. I also liked the newer zucchini - peanut one for its different nutty flavor. All come with very smooth coconut chutney which is a nice balance with the uttapam. Vegetable Kofta - like other dishes in kebabs section it comes on a nice bed of yellow rice but I was not a fan of the kofta. Its texture was odd to me (after biting into the small ball, it was like unpleasant mush) and the sauce wasn't to my liking. Next time pass and I'll get a different kebab. Banana leaf steamed bass - fish was cooked over but it was slathered in the same coconut curry that made for a bit of an odd texture. It probably would be better if the chutney was served on the side. It was with some chopped raw veg and really good fried potato cubes. Onion naan - Bindaas redeemed itself after many past lackluster naan breads. This was very tasty and studded with diced onions. Much better than past experiences. I would order this one again (although the onion kulcha I had at Indique a block a way in past years was still better). Overall service was a bit slow but very friendly and nice. We weren't in a hurry so we enjoyed the rare event of actually eating in a restaurant.

Saturday night we had guests so we made turkey meatballs with bucatini and Rao marinara sauce, eggplant caponata, green beans with cherry tomatoes with shallot basil vinaigrette from Alice Waters simple cookbook, homemade potato knishes with caramelized onions, chocolate ice cream sundaes (I used chocolate milk in the ice cream so it was a very mild creamy chocolate flavor), and cardamon/nutmeg/cinnamon chai-spiced asian pear pie with vanilla ice cream a la mode. Sunday chicken soup with egg noodles and leftover ice cream and pie.

I've been eating at the two different Bandit Taco locations for a few years. Both have good fresh food with lots of options. They serve their tacos Mexican style topped with diced radish and scallions and do a small double corn tortilla for most. A few vary like the baja fish that has shredded cabbage and flour tortillas. They have a long list of protein/veggies to add to tacos, burritos, rice bowls, plus now quesadilla and some tortas plus a bunch of options for sides. I've mostly had the tacos. Today we had 5 different types of tacos and chips and salsa: 1. Adobo chicken which is chopped grilled chicken was a winner 2. Barbacoa was very tender and flavorful 3. Baja Fish were ok - the fried fish strip was pretty tiny and not a big flavor booster 4. Chicken Tinga - tender but bland. Better with some salsa added 5. Mushrooms (with some corn mixed in) - really bland, didn't seem like they seasoned the mushrooms at all and definitely not braised in anything flavorful. I would skip this one next time. Chips were fresh and good and rather salty (which is good/bad depending on your preference). They came with a good size amount of very fresh pico de gallo. They were even better with the complimentary salsas they give you with the tacos. 1 is a green tomatillo with mild spice and bit chunky - good flavor. 2 is a roasted tomato medium spice which I was really feelin' today. It was great with the chips and good too added to the chicken tinga. Not worth a special trip but definitely good eats if you are nearby either location.

Try this recipe instead for Persian Rice. https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/jeweled-rice-with-dried-fruit-230991 The spiced butter tahdig and lots of dried fruit make it very flavorful. I usually make this early and then let it sits for a few hours before I flip it for a perfect tahdig, but they have a method for quick release. Of course getting the tahdig perfect matters less with all of the jewels of dried fruit inside too. You can also add whatever spices you like to the butter for more/less or different flavors. It is very customizable - I do love cardamon though and so usually use that per the recipe.

I agree. Often in mornings or weekends there is a bit of a wait, but it is solely to their one person storefront. The pastries I've had are mostly very good -especially the filled croissants. The cinnamon rolls have been less impressive. They also regularly switch up their baked goods. I recently saw brownie cookies and tried one of their tahini sesame cookies (an interesting swirl of black and white tahini for a buttery, sesame soft treat).

Grabbed lunch there today. Enjoyed the Rancheros Cucamunga bowl with fried egg (now more over easy - I wonder if last time I neglected to burst the yolk till too late and it hardened, this time I took a bite right away and it ran nicely), mashed black beans, avocado, lime crema, lime wedge, and slightly spicy ranchero sauce on top of a bed of fresh coin-shaped tater tots. I also got a side of tots to go. Went with standard salted for others who like it simple but I was originally inclined to get the garlic parmesan truffle or one of the other creative options. 2 small gripes though - they still have a bit of food truck mentality even though they are now a brick and mortar store: 1) I planned to eat outside at their sidewalk tables, so asked for a cup of water with my bowl. I was told no they don't do tap water but they sell drinks instead. The least expensive drink is a $2.50 kids drink or $3 for bottle water or sodas, etc. Just give people water if they ask. I don't know if they don't stock cups or what but seemed silly overall. So instead of staying I got my order to go and drank my delicious DC water at home. 2) I didn't experience this myself, but I have heard they are card only and do not accept cash. This is not good for those people who don't have cards which a lot of people in DC do not. Especially for a less expensive carryout-common place, they should be taking cash. I understand the restaurant pros for not handling cash, but it is an equity issue and illegal. It may be they are changing their practices after complaints.

Still making lots of pickles pretty regularly. Over the summer we grew persian cucumbers which were very bountiful. Led to lots of my usual fermented cukes with peppercorns, garlic, coriander seed and yellow mustard seed - sometimes with dill if I have it or even dill seed and also sometimes with a few chile de arbol for spicy pickles. Also made a bunch of vinegar cukes when I didn't have time to ferment - spiced them with all types of combos. Best was probably the italian mix with fresh oregano, basil, and thyme plus peppercorns. For a few others, I added cumin or fennel seeds. You really can't go wrong with whatever flavor combo you like. Homemade pickles are much tastier than mass-produced store bought. I also have continued to make lots of the pickled radishes mentioned above - sometimes with chile and sometimes without - they are always a big hit. Something new was making more pickled chili recipes as I've gotten big bunches in my CSA. Simple pickled jalapenos are easy and delicious. Also made a few fresno chiles recipes from the Joy of Pickling - chile garlic relish which is super simple you mixed brine add to food processor along with stemmed chiles and you are done. No cooking involved. You can take it a next step further and use some of the chile garlic relish along with cooking a sugar blend to make your own sweet chile garlic sauce.

Friday - grilled lemon thyme chicken, pesto pasta, steamed cauliflower Saturday - Dolan Uyghur carryout (beef korma chop, garlic green beans, kawa manta, and a samsa plus extra plain laghman noodles and rice) Sunday - hot dogs, green beans, plus chocolate chip banana bread for dessert. I made a bunch of chile garlic relish over the weekend so added some along with vinegar pickles to one dog along with some ketchup which was pretty good.

I crushed them up into almost crumbs and really tiny bits and swirled into the base so you get the graham taste but they are so small you don't really get any sogginess.

S'more ice cream turned out great. I think the issue was really not allowing the tub to freeze overnight. I didn't even chill the base much, just whipped up eggs and sugar then tossed in cream and milk cold from fridge. Immediately poured based into ice cream maker (I took tub out of freezer at last minute). I crushed the graham crackers to tiny bits or crumbs and swirled it all into the almost fully churned vanilla base and then added lots of mini-marshmallows and chocolate chips (regular sized). It has been enjoyed all weekend since making it Saturday and it is already almost gone despite getting almost 2 full quarts. For a 30-40 minute project where 25-30 minutes is simply letting the machine churn (albeit with 1 day advance planning to freeze tub) in the morning, having homemade ice cream ready for dessert that night is great. I'll have the check out the no churn method. Never tried that.

This recipe is very similar to Alice Waters. Thanks for sharing. The weekend was busy for cooking for a bunch of guests/family that we hosted in our sukkah (outdoor eating in the backyard as part of Jewish nomadic hut appreciation week). Friday: stuffed vegetables 2.5 ways. 1) Shuk cookbook's stuffed delicata squash with tahini dressing. So good. I had non-beef eaters so we subbed in ground turkey. This recipe has raisins and pine nuts but no rice in the meat mixture so it comes together pretty fast. 2) Persian-inspired stuffed peppers - more traditional rice and ground meat (again used turkey) with tomatoey sauce but this has great persian flavors too with a saffron tomato broth (my wife loves saffron). 2.5) same #2 filling but put in hollowed kabocha squash where I cooked the kabocha the same as the delicata. So this one was a bit of a combo of the other two and still great. We also had a great green salad brought by our friends who tossed in slices of toasted bagel as croutons. Dessert was almond plum cake and chocolate/pumpkin spiced brownies (need to get the recipe from our guest who made them). Saturday: cedar plank grilled salmon with everything bagel spice, pita bread, chopped/roasted veggies for make your own salad or sabich, garlic labne, tahini dressing, roasted sweet potatos and turnips tossed in garam masala and cumin. First time doing the cedar plank method on the grill and you really do need to soak that plank thoroughly. I was putting out fires left and right. Managed with a quick shot of the squirt bottle to save the salmon which turned out delicious. Dessert was homemade s'mores ice cream which turned out great - vanilla B&J base with lots of crushed graham crackers (more pulverized) swirled in along with lots of mini-marshmallows and chocolate chips. Sunday: mac and cheese for kids and potato, kale, parmesan frittata for adults. Along with more s'mores ice cream (it's almost gone now).

I didn't realize that September was my ice cream making month, but apparently it is based on my prior posts. Recently, made lemon verbena ice cream (Alice Water's custard recipe) which per Weezy's comment above on basil ice cream went great with peaches. Also made B&J's plum ice cream but pureed the macerated fruit and then drizzled in warm chocolate for stracciatella effect. However, I failed to freeze the ice cream tub for long enough (I did about 7 hours but I usually go overnight) and well the ice cream base never solidified in the tub. Nevertheless, I poured the liquid into a container and froze it. The end result was meh - it is ice cream but very icy and not so creamy. Next up tomorrow is smores at the kids' request - I made vanilla base and add in chocolate chips, crushed graham crackers and mini marshmallows. Already put the tub in the freezer - trying to learn my lesson. I also again for RH made caramelized apple honey ice cream using the online but apparently defunct Chozen ice cream recipe I mention last year. It turned out even better this time, when I used the B&J vanilla base with the caramel honey apple mixture per the recipe. It was really good and got eaten fast.