Pat

Last night we had burritos made with Mexican chorizo, pinto beans, and white rice; served with sour cream. We also had more of the whipped feta dip with carrots and celery for dipping.

Sourdough bread and butter Chili (pork shoulder; pinto beans; cubanelle, poblano, and jalapeno peppers; dry spices: chili powder, cayenne, NM red chile powder, and ground cumin) Roast whole chicken (thyme and sage butter under the skin) Leftover roasted cauliflower with za'atar

Cheeseburgers on whole wheat buns; roasted Hatch chilies, sauteed portobello slices, sliced tomato; creamed spinach; deviled eggs.

The Barracks Row location is closing Sunday, September 11th, so I got an assortment of takeout from them last night for one last meal. Back in the 2014-2018 period I was going there semi-frequently, but I hadn't been in a long time. It seemed like not very much food for the price, but it was well-prepared. The wasabi was potent. I'll miss having this option around, even though I hadn't been partaking of it. The 19th and L location will remain open.

Things I've made lately: InstantPot pot roast; corn on the cob; borlotti bean soup with spinach and rice; whipped feta dip with vegetables and pita; roasted tomatoes; multiple salads; and, pizza with salami, bacon, Calabrian chilies; portobello mushrooms, and tomato. Pizza was last night. I just used one cut up chili and a little oil. The tomato was a few thin slices of a yellow one. I didn't want to overdo toppings, but the meats and mushrooms were a smaller amount than I thought starting out. Fresh mozzarella, a little Manchego, and Parmesan for cheeses.

Barbara Ehrenreich

Romaine, tomato, and peach salad; caramelized walnuts; bacon; chevre; homemade buttermilk ranch dressing Turkey burgers on whole wheat buns; white onion, roasted Hatch chilies Air fryer sweet potato fries

Having any local DC-area beers might have been a nice touch.

Baked cod with tomato peach salsa Corn on the cob Broccoli mac and cheese

Tomato and peach salad with caramelized walnuts; basil chiffonade; red & white balsamic with honey; cottage cheese Spaghetti carbonara with green peas

Doing a kind of apps/antipasto meal tonight. Air-fryer chicken nuggets with dips Manchego, habanero pepper, and truffle cheeses Salami, kalamata olives, and artichoke hearts Rye crackers Sourdough bread bruschetta Toasted olive bread Figs stuffed with ricotta and drizzled with honey Salsa with corn, green chilies, and tomatoes Tortilla chips Sour cream

Sourdough bread and butter Caprese salad AIr fryer chicken thighs Steamed broccoli Corn on the cob

I made roasted eggplant soup for dinner last night, based on this recipe. The times given in the recipe don't add up, which I realized after I'd started, so I had to adjust the planned dinnertime a bit. I used homemade chicken stock and two graffiti eggplants, which I didn't weigh. They weren't real big and one had a bad spot that had to be cut out, so it was probably more than the weight in the recipe but not by a huge amount. My measurements were kind of loose. After I blended the soup with an immersion blender, I thought it was way too thin, so I added some chunks of roasted potato I had leftover in the fridge and that made it a perfect consistency. Didn't add goat cheese because we also had warm figs stuffed with ricotta (drizzled with honey and topped with a mint garnish) and it seemed like a lot of cheese. We also had toasted olive bread with fig preserves and slices of buttered sourdough.

I haven't been to the Monocle in years. For a quick and very casual lunch right near there, Gina Chersevani's Buffalo & Bergen is at 3rd and D, NE, just north of Mass. There's a diner counter inside plus another small counter. Tables outside. Obviously a fairly quirky space, but the people who work there are great. Highly recommend.

My birthday dinner was carryout from here last night (now the husband has covid...what a summer this has been). I picked up a meal we ate separately, on different floors of the house. He really loved the Neapolitan ragu with bucatini and said the spiciness was perfect for neutralizing Paxlovid mouth. (OK, that's probably not an endorsement the chef was looking for, but you take what you can get, I guess.) He also enjoyed his Caesar salad and the portion of the tomato-braised meatballs I doled out for him. I had the rest. The meatballs were not my absolute favorite (that goes to another NRG product, the ones from Iron Gate), but I liked them. The sauce was good for dipping the Italian bread in that came with the order. I absolutely loved the calamari. The marinara that came with it was good for dipping. I thought there was supposed to be a lemon aioli as well, but the second sauce was very vinegar-heavy and looked nothing like the menu photo. Someone might have added the wrong little condiment cup to the order. It will be good with the leftover salad, since I didn't really eat much of the house salad I ordered for me because I filled up on calamari. Two biggest raves from the order: definitely the bucatini with ragu and the crispy calamari. While this was fairly expensive, it was the least expensive of our recent meals out, and I'm calling it a great value.

Glad to see this review. I walk past here a fair amount and was intrigued, so I made a reservation for dinner earlier in the summer. Then I got covid...so, I still haven't been. This gives me some incentive to re-book.

Saturday I found fresh cranberry beans at the H Street Fresh Farm market. Last night I used them in this , with kale for the greens and fusilli for the pasta. I dolloped some ricotta on the top at the end, making it no longer vegan. I had an open ricotta container that needs to be emptied and the cheese was a good addition. It was accompanied by toasted sourdough bread.

I made a whole chicken (from Red Apron) in the air fryer last night. It came out incredibly well, crispy on the outside and very moist throughout. I used this recipe, though I didn't measure the ingredients all that carefully. My chicken was a little more than a pound lighter, so I did 45 minutes breast side down and 10 minutes after flipping it. We also had Caprese salad and leftover corn, green beans, and mashed potatoes.

Last night was green beans, tater tots, and hamburgers in pita (pita from Yellow/Albi).

That's terrible news.

Salad of romaine, frisee, radishes, tomatoes, cucumber, and TJ's tuna; feta or blue cheese; vinaigrette Leftover pork tenderloin Braised kale with bacon, onion, and hot pepper flakes (And, I'd try that pizza too. Reminds me of artichoke pizza, which I made a long time ago.)

I hope all goes well. Happy birthday!

Last night was roasted vegetables with braised chicken thighs added in for serving. I had roasted a lot of vegetables a couple days ago (tomatoes, zucchini, white eggplant, portobello and white mushrooms). I browned and then braised the thighs in the liquid from that, plus some more tomatoes and liquid. Mixed everything together at the end. We had this with little toasts/crostini I made with the last of some fig walnut bread from Boulangerie Christophe.

My husband and I celebrated our anniversary here last night and had a wonderful meal with great service. I'd previously only been here for happy hours and snacks, and it seemed like a good spot to go for a low-key but nice meal. It exceeded my expectations. Highly recommend. For the second time in a few days, our plans to dine outside were derailed by rain. (We have two birthdays and an anniversary within a 2 week+ span in August, and except for 2020, we usually go out for meals on these days. Last year: 3 outside meals, zero rain. This year: 0-for-2.) We had two appetizers: the trio of salsas with tortilla chips and the queso fundito with poblanos, which comes with corn tortillas. Both of these I'd had before and they seem to be consistently well-prepared. We got extra chips (gratis) because we ran out of dipping implements. For the rest of the meal, I had the $18 Tuna Tostada (Ahi tuna marinated in soy serrano, guacamole, sesame, salsa macha). It's a small plate, but with the other food, I needed my husband to help me finish this. The raw tuna seemed to be very good quality and was perfectly chopped into small cubes. He had the entree of $28 Sweet potato enchiladas (Stuffed with sweet potato topped with mole, queso cotija, crema, red onions, cashews, cilantro). The bite of it I had was excellent, with warm spicing, cinnamon being the most forward note. On the Resy reservation form, I had clicked the anniversary option in the notes. Both the host and our server wished us a happy anniversary, and we got a gratis piece of cake with berries and raspberry coulis and a happy anniversary topper. This was very nice and appreciated. I included the information because of the prompt on the form and was impressed by the response. The last Resy reservation for a different restaurant, I clicked "birthday," and it was ignored. (Not to bash the other restaurant; it's more a comment on how carefully Paraiso paid attention.)

Years later, we finally got back to Shilling, this time for my husband's birthday. The horrible storms last Thursday meant we gave up on our dining outside plan, but they were happy to move us inside. The fries were the best part of the meal for me. They've definitely improved. THICK CUT TRUFFLE FRIES $18 Périgord black truffle,& garlic aioli They're now truffle fries (our server said that's via oil, though the menu description doesn't make that clear) with garlic aioli. They were perfectly wonderfully browned and crisp, served standing up in a cup. They were magnificent fries. For me, that's saying something, since I generally prefer thin cut to thick cut. The truffle flavor was just a hint. The other small plates we had were BLISTERED SHISHITO PEPPERS $12 butter milk dressing (for my husband but we shared); and, (for me) LANCASTER LETTUCES $14 shaved vegetables, fine herbs, St. Malachi Reserve, & house vinaigrette. The peppers were quite good, with the varying heat pepper to pepper providing some suspense, but the buttermilk dressing seemed a little thin. It may also have just suffered in comparison to the excellent garlic aioli. The salad seemed a riff on a Caesar salad. I picked up the flavor of anchovy. There were only two thin slices of bell pepper or carrot amidst what was a lettuce salad. It was fine and adequate. We had radically different experiences with our mains. My husband loved his chicken and kept raving about how good it was. ROASTED CHICKEN BALLOTINE $42 crispy potatoes, carrots, purplette onion, green beans, squash, purple cauliflower, & chicken jus I had pan seared scallops for $48 that were this preparation (but the menu protein has changed in the meantime) PAN SEARED FLUKE $42 Karma Farm summer squash, yellow wax beans, brown butter, lemon, & VA peanuts I wanted the scallops, which overrode my view that they were a weird match with peanuts. I figured I'd go with the chef's vision, but I think I should have gone for the lamb. The peanuts weren't the biggest issue, though; that was the lemon in the brown butter sauce. It made the whole dish too sour. Maybe it works better with fluke. Fortunately, the scallops were high quality and perfectly seared. We enjoyed the meal and somehow managed to dodge the rain both arriving and leaving. Overall, the experience was uneven--especially for a place at this level--but there's still a pandemic going on.