Restaurant Week Fun: Johnny's Half Shell

It's the most wonderful cheap eats time of the year!

That's right, folks! Restaurant week! For the low low price of $20.12 for three courses.

My friend DK wanted to meet up for lunch at the Senate staple, Johnny's Half Shell. I'd never been, so it was on like Kwan.

DK ordered the grilled squid. It was tender and charred and delicious. (Hi DK!)

I ordered the watermelon gazpacho to start. It was foamy and refreshing and salty-sweet. It also had a small scoop of creme fraiche underneath the mint sprig. 

Then I got skirt steak with fries and "squash casserole" which was zucchini and yellow squash with some breading on it. Not too great. My steak was charred and tasty although definitely not medium ... it was cooked through (but not to the point of dry). Pico de gallo had some zing to it as someone in the kitchen was feeling generous on the jalapeno.

DK got a crab cake. I'm allergic so I didn't try.

Plum cake. Good sauce and slightly caramelized on the bottom.

Peach chiffon pie. Honestly didn't taste like much. It was just peach colored. Plus the graham cracker crust was a tad burnt.

The menu.

Overall, it was a yummy meal for $20 and change. Good thing it's August recess and I'm not in a hurry, because I walked in at 11:30 a.m. and we didn't get our check until 1:15 p.m. Yeah. And they have like a million staff running around. Not sure if it's because we were seated outside or what. 

Overall, a nice day on the patio!

Ramen Wars: Toki Underground on H St. NE

First of all, Toki Underground is NOT UNDERGROUND. It is upstairs. This is extremely confusing to those of us who dwell in NW. But, if you see a small round logo that at first glance looks like Korean characters but really says T-O-K-I, you're in the right place.

We met up with our friends A & M who recently acquired a Mini Cooper and are now taking advantage of all the nomz far and wide throughout the DC metro area! A long continuous bar goes around the perimeter of the (extremely tiny) restaurant, so the four of us sat like ducks in a row to slurp our noodles contentedly.

Started out with steamed dumplings ($5 for a half dozen) -- one set of chicken and one set of veggie. (Can't remember which one this is, not that you could tell anyway from the outside.) The filling was flavorful, the veggie especially, but the steaming process shrank the filling quite a bit so you were left with an excess of floppy jiaozi skin, which combined with the ample teriyaki sauce splashed on top, resulted in the little morsels slipping and sliding off your chopsticks. And I ain't no chopstix n00b, let me tell you. Maybe better to try pan fried or deep fried next time.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh! The heavens opened, a stream of the purest light filtered down from the ramen heavens, and my ramen facial commenced. Curry chicken hakata ramen ($10), you make me so happy. First off, it's not real chicken ramen. It's actually tiny pieces of deep fried kara-age floating around in your soup, so eat it quick before it gets too soggy. The soft-boiled egg was so lightly cooked it dissolved immediately in your mouth like a creamy, light vision of pillowy ramen cloud happiness. A rolled and sliced bundle of mustard greens gave a little bitter kick, and the curry broth was flavorful but not too spicy. This one is a winner, folks.

I won't lie to you, Toki Underground is a certifiable Taiwanese ramen hipster joint. The place is covered in little anime-like figurines, including Mr. Curry Metal above, and the footrests under the bar are made out of skateboard decks. Although it's pretty much dinner hour for blue-hairs, show up at 5:00 p.m. or earlier for dinner, otherwise the place is slammed until 9:00 p.m.

Check it out: 1234 H St. NE www.tokiunderground.com

Ramen Wars: Sakuramen in Adams Morgan

Good food is a rarity in Washington. Want Mexican? Here, have some Salvadorean. Want Japanese? Here, have some terrible food court sushi. So imagine my surprise when I get an email from Thrillist saying there is going to be a subterranean ramen joint...IN MY HOOD.

I harrassed my neighbor into coming with me. One of the waiters was from his small hometown in California. How strange.

On to the noms.

"Chosun" Ramen, $13

From Sakuramen.net: A distinctly Korean inspiration with sliced Angus ribeye bulgogi, roasted kimchi, seasoned egg, and nori in shoyu broth Broth: Chicken Stock with Shoyu / Noodles: Thin & Wavy 

Portion size was good, bulgogi was well seasoned and plenty of it. Average amount of noodles, and they seemed homemade. The broth tasted entirely of kimchi (as I expected) so can't really discuss the flavor there. Egg yolk was runny and there was a TON OF GREEN ONION SPRINKLED ON TOP. Every bite was green and oniony. But, it did taste good with the Korean BBQ beef shreds.

My neighbor went with his hometown homie's suggestion:

"Shoki Bowl," $15

From Sakuramen.net: For our meat loving customers, Shoki’s favorite ramen dish, filled with extra chashu, bulgogi, seasoned egg, green onion, sprouts, nori, and ninniku dare Broth: Chicken Stock with Shoyu / Noodles: Thin & Wavy 

I snagged a bit of pork belly and a sip of broth. It was delish and meaty. The broth itself didn't have that six-hour simmered "thickness" to it, but it still tasted good. I'm not a huge fan of pork belly but I did like it in this iteration.

Overall, it is a hip joint, convenient to get to with pretty solid food. The people are nice and it's not too terribly crowded on a weeknight (so far). It's a little pricey compared to what you'd get for a similar price back home, but one cannot be too picky nor choosy on the East Coast. 

Check it out: 2441 18th Street NW in Adams Morgan. 

Lemon Ricotta Cookies and the Most Wongerful Time of the Year

So my sister is a bit of a baker. And by a bit, I mean she has flashes of domesticity about once per year.

Went to San Diego last weekend, and our Sunday activity was baking up a storm for friends and family.

This year's baking extravaganza included:

Lemon Ricotta Cookies

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip



and what do you know, good ol' zucchini bread

You know you are jealous and wish you were a Wong. You'd be even more jealous if I told you that the previous day was spent sitting on the beach eating turkey and avocado sandwiches. Ohhh yeahhh San Diego!

Happy Holidays, y'all!

DC Restaurant Week: Lyon Hall

So I know I have a TON of posting left to do from CA (still haven't even gotten to the wine subject yet!) but I couldn't resist sharing a positively delightful experience from Clarendon last night.

HH was cancelled due to the Continental's propensity for massive flooding during a rainstorm, and the fact that it is basically the only bar in Rosslyn. So, we decided to check out a new place for Restaurant Week which I have been neglecting thus far this year. I had been hearing little snippets, all positive, about this new place in Clarendon called Lyon Hall, at the corner of Washington and Highland literally a block from the metro. (Also made the sad side-discovery that Clarendon Grill is closed? Or at least the windows are all covered in butcher paper.) Regardless. It was a GOOD IDEA.

Restaurant week this year is $35.10 for the set menu dinner, including app, entree and dessert (as always). However, THE R-WEEK MENU AT LYON HALL IS NOT SET. YOU GET TO PICK FROM THE ENTIRE MENU. (minus charcuterie). You pick one item from the left column (apps and salads), one item from the center column (entree, steaks or sausages) and one item from the right hand column (desserts!). Instead of 3 X 3 X 3 possibilities...I get 10 X 20 X 5??? The math is overwhelming!

G picked a Stella (classic but boring) but I picked the "Summer Set" flight of beers ($13) which included a seasonal (some kind of kolsch which the server described as "grassy" but didn't overwhelmingly taste like mowing the lawn), Früli Strawberry (a strange but true favorite of mine from my days sampling everything at the Dovetail), Allagash curieux (kind of a kick in the mouth, in a good way) and our fave of the bunch, the Yards IPA. Delicious!

"Summer Set" (L-R): Seasonal (kolsch), Strawberry, Allagash, IPA

On to the good stuff! Starters: Shrimp Cocktail (which unfortunately I can't eat), which came on a bed of ice with some kind of kelp-like substance and the world's tiniest bottle of Tabasco. We asked the waitress and she said the shrimp were from the Gulf. G said they didn't taste oily.

Please excuse the iPhone crap picture quality.

Plum Salad with little plum wedges, radish and duck prosciutto and lemon dressing. Yum!


Entrees: G got the Halibut which was crispy on the outside and perfectly cooked on the inside, and the menu said with "grilled peaches/snap peas/lemon balm sabayon."


I went out on a limb and got the Bockwurst with "lemon mustard-Bock Beer jus/spaetzle/carrot salad." Was not disappointed! Apparently all their sausages, charcuterie, chocolate and bread are made in-house. The sauce was fantastic, and mixed with the spaetzle was almost, ALMOST as good as my fave spaetzle at Leopold's in Georgetown. Carrot salad looked kind of like weird red-and-white ribbons and lent some crunch but not much else. Overall: DELISH!



Desserts were pretty good, but I was already pretty stuffed! G got the Chocolate Praline Cake (which had peanuts and I couldn't eat) that came with a nutella shooter (acc. to the waitress, nutella, heavy cream and ice) and I got the chocolate profiteroles. He said his was good, and mine wasn't too chocolatey - just how I like!

Profiteroles (AKA [ice] cream puffs)

Grown-up chocolate cake and chocolate milk?

Overall, a wonderfully pleasant experience and a great deal for Restaurant Week!

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!