Johnny Garlic's: Kinda Meh

Urbanspoon failed me yet again (why do I even keep that app?) and by ACCIDENT we happened upon nor cal TV personality Guy Fieri's restaurant, Johnny Garlic's, in Santa Rosa, CA. (We had gotten a hotel nearby.)

Fairly nondescript exterior. Plenty of parking though!

And a rockstar interior! (no overpowering garlicky smell, unfort.)

We were pretty hungry for lunch but the interesting rotating wild game of the day was just bison (boring) -- and when you are tantalized with the possibility of rattlesnake or wild boar, not sure how you could settle for bison, which you can get just fine at Ted Turner's restaurants all over DC. Not wanting to totally ruin our palates before drinking copious amounts of wine, we opted for the lunch menu.

G got:

Tequila Lime Chicken Sandwich ($9.50) and garlic fries (+$1)

I got:

Bourbon Buffalo Meatloaf Sandwich ($11.50) and garlic fries (+$1)

Sandwiches were pretty good, ciabatta was soft and chewy, and who doesn't like fried onion things? Mine was nice and barbecue-y. The only thing that was disappointing was the garlic fries. Like, aren't those supposed to be a signature item at Johnny GARLIC's? They were drowning in olive oil which mixed with the powdered parmesan to form an unpleasant paste and made the fries soggy. Where were my little pieces of diced fresh garlic and parsley mixed in with extra crispy fries? The kind of garlic fries at Pluto's were the kind I grew up eating -- those are true nor cal garlic fries!

Overall, it was a decent meal, just kind of mass processed (kind of a bad thing) and full of Guy Fieri memorabilia (not a bad thing). There are just so many places to get amazing garlic fries (including the ones we got at AT&T Park in San Francisco for the Giants-Cubs game) in Nor Cal that it makes me sad that these particular ones are the ones representing us to the world on national television.

Guy, I love you and your nor cal pride, but you gotta step these things up a little!

This Week in California

Apologies for the radio silence, but we've been on vacation this week in California. Tons of pictures of delicious things to come! Below, a fruit tart from the Davis Farmers Market. YUM!

Ice Cream Club

Saw on a DC blog recently that a local chef was starting an ice cream club with new delicious flavors every week, for the month of August. If you know me at all, you would know that ice cream is my favorite food. I totally jumped at the opportunity.

Through yesterday's rain-and-windstorm, I made my way to the corner of 13th & Corcoran to pick up my quarry. My delicious, delicious quarry.



Haven't had a chance to try anything but the banana bread crunch, which was totally awesome. Real banana ice cream - none of that bright yellow Laffy Taffy fake stuff here - with crunchy chocolate covered things inside (banana bread?). Can't wait to try the rest when I return from vacation!

WongFirst: Rogue States

Forced the DC Trojans Social Committee to come to this burger place on Connecticut for our meeting, and I wasn't disappointed! I roll past this place on the bus every day on my way to work and I was sure curious.

I looked at the menu beforehand and it seemed like just another fancy burger joint - but everything was $7! (Fries not included.) Anything that looks that good for $7 is prob worth the trek up the hill into the wilds of Dupont. Check out the menu here.

I got the Rogue States burger ("house spice blend, chipotle, cilantro") recommended to me by the cashier ($7), sweet potato fries ($3.50) and a coke ($2). Cooked perfectly medium, the correct amount of spice (interesting but not mouth-burning), and the sweet potato fries were DELISH. I mixed up a little bit of their chipotle mayo, which tasted like smoky bacon, with ketchup and I had the best french fry sauce ever.

A bold interior design scheme.

Oooh pretty.

So you can get an idea of the sheer size of this thing.

To be fair, my dining companion's burger (ordered "pink") came totally, completely well done. She sent it back, and her second burger was, as she said, "mooing on the plate." I think it may have something to do with the fact that when I arrived first and ordered, there were only two other people in the restaurant, and it had gotten slightly busier once my friend arrived. Overall, worth a shot if you've never been, but I'm not sure I'd go out of my way for it. Except for the sweet potato fries if I had a hankering!

Latest Find: Whole Foods cupcakes

Over Easter weekend, we needed something quick and easy to bring over to a family friend's place. Surprisingly, the Whole Foods in Clarendon has a ridonkulous bakery. I was hoping for a cake shaped like a bunny that G had spied a few days before, but unfortunately it had been sold. Instead I bought a dozen gorgeous, huge cupcakes that were $1.99/each! Definitely delicious, and definitely beats a $5 designer cupcake that's half the size and for which I waited in line for 45 minutes.

Chocolate Caramel with Hazelnuts, and a Caramel center!

Yum yum, delish! And they looked very nice on a cake stand outside while all the neighborhood kids were hunting Easter eggs in the yard!

The Shawarma Wars: Shawarma Spot

As an embedded journalist in the Shawarma Wars (aka Adams Morgan, DC) I figured I'd try my hand at reporting what I know and love best, and that is eating. With the proliferation of shawarma/falafel places within a 1/2 mile radius of my apartment -- I can think of at least 5 off the top of my head -- I think someone needs to help cut through the fray. I cannot by any means claim to be an expert on shawarma in terms of authenticity, but I can definitely say with confidence that I am pretty much an expert on deliciousness.

Before my walk to class yesterday I decided to stop and get some sustenance at Shawarma Spot on the AdMo 18th St. strip. At first glance the place seems like a hip, modern Middle Eastern joint, with black tables and their logo prominently displayed Andy Warhol style on the walls. I ordered a chicken shawarma ($6.95), fries ($2.45) and a can of Coke ($1.45).


Like all the other places, they offer you a selection of toppings to put on your shawarma. Rather, THEY put on your shawarma. I opted for hummus, cucumber and tomato salad, pickled red onions and tzatziki sauce. The chicken itself was soaked in some kind of liquid, and had the texture of chicken fajitas, and was not spicy at all. The hummus had a perfectly smooth consistency, like the kind you might find at the grocery store. I kind of like to be able to crunch a bit of garbanzo once in awhile, but to each her own. They definitely don't skimp on the toppings! Shoestring fries were hot and crispy, and tossed in some kind of spice that you could see on the fry but not taste. I'm usually a voracious ketchup eater, but the small thing they provided was plenty.

The oddest part about the whole scenario was the bread. It was almost like a ciabatta roll, but with a much lighter texture. So much lighter in fact that the bread couldn't really hold up to the dense toppings and began to sprout fault lines on the bottom half of the bun. It was also not toasted, which I have come to expect from eating shawarma at other places in town.

Also, not that this would be a common experience for a potential diner, but apparently a contractor from the gas company came in and was making a huge fuss about finding parking for his enormous truck in Adams Morgan. Read: probably impossible. There was much shouting on the phone and storming in and out. ("Dude, what is your PROBLEM?" "DC Police use alleys as emergency access, and my truck WILL be ticketed and it WILL be towed!") Eventually, thanks to your eagle-eyed reporter, I spotted a car pulling out on the street and directed the proprietor's attention to it so that they could continue getting their gas problems fixed. The dude came back and was still shouting on the phone while using some kind of hand-held meter with a wand, crouching down outside the front door, I assume to check for a gas leak.

Quite strange. I finished my food and high-tailed it out of there before any more unpleasantness could occur. Overall, I think I give this place 2.5 stars. The meal was filling, but the gas company drama was more memorable than the food. The flavors were pretty bland and I'm pretty sure I'll be heading somewhere closer and tastier in the future.

DC weather = cruel temptress

Despite the now three "real" winters I've experienced in my life, I have yet to learn how to navigate spring. The effing weather has now tricked me thrice, and each time I yearn more and more for the predictable (read: seasonal change-free) weather of LA. I thought it was really real this time, I even saw those adorable little early yellow spring flowers poking out of a flowerbed a couple days ago. People were out in skirts and shorts, wearing colors other than black and in a generally springy mood. But today, the flowers r ded, I had to shut my windows because the balmy Sunday breeze had turned into 23 degree windchill that woke me up overnight. Bastards.

Despite having the world's easiest schedule, graduate school is still somewhat kicking my ass. I forgot how to read things other than blogs and papers for work, I forgot how to write papers for school that aren't in newspaper article form, and I forgot all of my post-Tudor era British budgetary history which is apparently required to fully understand American public policy. Who knew. That said, I'm having a generally awesome time. I love the heavyacademic feeling of walking onto campus, at least 50% of my professors and the fact that this is probably bumping me up into a higher median salary range. And hopefully I'll learn something practical and interesting as well.

Recently rounded the corner on 10 mos. w/G which puts it over the top as the longest relationship I've ever had...twice as long as the next one down the list. I must say this entire thing has been characterized by the most intense normalcy I've ever experienced. In situations long past, I think I took a page from my social worker parents and got close to people I thought I could fix. Which of course, is simultaneously self-serving and self-destructive, and a terrible idea for anyone who wishes to sleep at night. It's a beautiful thing to not have to talk on the phone for hours and listen to circular logic and assorted pointlessness, to be able to have my own life and my own friends and my own thoughts. To be left alone when I need to be, to go on random adventures for "culture" and to just generally feel comfortable in one's own skin. Cheers to normal!