Foodshed - Eat Where You Live Benefit

Shaw's Tavern on Florida Ave.

Beet, pistachio, arugula salad with a side of truffled grits. Yum!

This was my first time visiting and I rather liked it. We were scoping it out for lunchtime eats. The staff was friendly and attentive; while the food was delivered quickly. It was happy hour, but I am holding off the alcohol for a few months (gotta lose that pesky 25 extra); however my husband ordered an IPA and the burger of the day. 


I ate his arugula because there just didn't seem to be enough of it in my beet salad. However, I still loved the salad. The woman at the next table asked me about the grits because she said she could smell the truffle oil. I was amazed because I couldn't smell a thing (olfactory shut down or something). The large, stone ground grits were great when piping hot. I will definitely order again. 

We did note that there were no fish dishes on the lunchtime menu, so we couldn't invite a friend who eats mostly fish. There was catfish on the dinner menu and a chicken dish he might eat, but we will check it out again in a few weeks. All in all, a pleasant experience (and I loved all the 80's music).

-- Sent from my Palm Pre 2

520 Florida Avenue NW, Washington, DC.

A block down from the Howard Theatre in Northwest Washington, D.C.; 3 blocks from Howard University and Hospital.

It's Gazpacho Time

Today's share: corn, tomatoes, eggplant, okra, zucchini, peppers

We had a lot of cull heirloom tomatoes today at the farm (Clagett CSA). When they split or are really tender, they need to be used immediately.

No problem! I hobbled together a quick recipe from several favorites. Remember, all measurements are approximate since I'm an add & taste kinda gal.

 
What's On Hand Gazpacho

One pound tomatoes
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 cucumber
2 cloves garlic
Juice from 1 lemon
1 jalepeno
1 onion
1 shallot
1 T. Chipotle Tabasco sauce
2 tsp. Tabasco
2 tsp. Balsamic vinegar
2 tsp. Olive oil
2 tsp. Worcester sauce

You are supposed to blanch and seed the tomatoes, but being Ms. Impatient I just threw the whole bunch of roughly chopped veggies into my Vitamix and was done with it.

I'm amazed at how tasty it is- I barely could get it into the frig to chill because I kept, um 'tasting' it until a third of it was gone. I did not add additional salt and pepper. I can't wait to have this for lunch tomorrow.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre 2

Are You Missing Asian Festival DC 2010 in Reston, VA this Weekend?

It's free and this years focus is on the Phillipines. You are bound to cop some good filipino bites this year. Check it out: http://www.asianfestivaldc.com

Hmmm . . . another D.C. festival in VA.
Go figure.

5 Buck Food Find From the Baltimore Sun

Always on the lookout for a bargain eat fest, I found this page from the Baltimore Sun Online Metromix.

The photo above shows Bananas Tempura at XS. Here's the rundown:

Banana tempura at XS
The bill: $4.75

The dish: Bananas dipped in batter, then fried tempura-style, served with whipped cream and berries

The scoop: XS's fried bananas have a great flavor if you like your bananas hot and with a strange consistency. And, we do. Being the sugar junkies that we are, however, we'd have liked to see a little bit more of a dessert treatment on these. Maybe a chocolate syrup accent here, a cinnamon dusting there, a honey dip on the side. Just a suggestion.

Get your money's worth? Aww, hell yes!—Amanda Krotki
Credit:Amanda Krotki

You can submit your own $5 food finds using this submission form.

Safeway's 17th Annual National Capital BBQ Battle

America's Food & Music Festival - Historic Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C.
June 27th & Sunday, June 28th, 2009 - www.bbqdc.com
WASHINGTON'S BIGGEST TASTE EVENT -
A SMOKIN' GOOD TIME FOR A GREAT CAUSE
Celebrate the first weekend of summer at the Safeway Barbecue Battle, with great food, fun, music, and entertainment for all ages. America's best BBQ tastes even better along with great music and there will be plenty of both including tasty barbecue of all kinds from top vendors, great bands like Chuck Brown, Marcus Johnson, Phaze II, Art Sherrod Jr. and many more. Don't miss the free food samples in the Safeway Sampling Pavilion, cooking demonstrations, sports entertainment, high-stakes BBQ contests and much more action throughout the weekend. While tens of thousands of Washington area residents and visitors to the Nation's Capital enjoy the festivities, the Barbecue Battle event is the largest annual fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Clubs in Washington and has donated over one million dollars to this worthwhile organization in past years.
With so much to eat, see and do, the Safeway Barbecue Battle has garnered many awards over the years including being voted a "Top 10 BBQ Event" by The Travel Channel and Discovery.com.
For more information please visit www.bbqdc.com
or call (202) 828-3099.
We'll see you at the BBQ!

Graduations mean . . . cake?

April showers bring muddy May graduations. I shouldn't be so ungrateful - after four days of rain we were blessed with muggy heat and sun for the day's celebrations at Howard University. There were tents everywhere in the event a wayward shower came our way.

The College of Medicine had quite a crowd and spread under their canopy. The caterer served up more dishes than I could count (I was too busy schmoozing anyway). There were mini Jamaican beef patties and several other meat dishes which I missed. The salads included mozzerella and grape tomato along with a really good cucumber/cilantro combination. It was so good, it inspired me to duplicate it (more on that next week). This reception served as my initial grazing ground for the day. Later on there was my niece Leandra's luncheon at Utopia on U St.

The art-filled Utopia was a great choice because of its proximity to Howard after she received her Masters in Social Work. We enjoyed Blackened U-Street Shrimp (eh, so-so), Mozzarella de Pomodoro (my second of the day),Mussels marinated tomato white wine sauce (not bad) and mussels in a lemon caper cream sauce (fantastic! I wanted to sop the sauce with everyone elses' bread) and a boring hard Herbed Bruschetta.

I ordered the Spinach & Mozzarella sandwich which turned out to be dull and uneventful. Luckily we spent a lot of time toasting Leandra's achievement with Dom Perignon 2000 - not the best year but smooth enough for the non-drinkers in the party - to ignore the barely seasoned sandwich. My husband had a philly cheese steak that was long on roll and light on the steak. Other diners were pleased with their entrees blackened catfish and jambalaya.

The high point of the meal was the Strawberry Kiwi cake created by Desserts by Gerard. The whipped cream frosting with embedded strawberries surrounded a cake with a wonderful texture - not too fine and not too large and crumbly. The sweet and fresh creation was the perfect ending to five glasses of champagne (Well, I wasn't driving!).

Local Flavor - Carolina Kitchen Bar and Grill

Last night we stopped at the new Carolina Kitchen Bar and Grill in Hyattsville.

Sigh.

Kwiq revu: Average chain restaurant with typically disjointed design and cuisine. I felt like I was eating my entree from a relish tray (see photo). The waiter forgot our appetizer and in true chain fashion gave nothing but an apology and a promise to remove the item from our bill.

This Carolina Kitchen is a huge expansion over their Largo, MD and Silver Spring, MD origins as it is much larger and includes a bar. We missed the 5-7pm happy hour and ducked in for a quick meal on 'No-Cook Thursday' since my in-laws have been raving about the place.

The cuisine is typical 'soul' type food with a splash of seafood - a must-have in the DelMarVa area. The appetizer menu had "country favorites", "southern seafood", and "Rocky Mount Wings", but not many items that were not deep fried. We initially ordered calamari, but changed the order to cheese & bacon cajun fries because it just seemed so decadent. They never arrived.

Immediately after seating in what must be dubbed "the King Kong" room because of its decor (model planes, King Kong poster and black and white photographs - what does that have to do with country kitchen cooking?) we received a plate of extremely light cornbread. It was sweet cornbread - my yankee preference, and came drizzled with honey and butter. Mmmm good. Must be the first time I have eaten cornbread with a fork.

We received our drinks, iced tea and lemonade, very quickly. I was hoping for that down home, fresh squeezed taste, but had to settle for the mix. I must admit that when I emptied my glass, it was quickly refilled.

I ordered the vegetable plate that let you choose three sides and my husband ordered the Southern Fried Pork Chops, which come with rice pilaf and two sides. North Carolina transplant that he is, he thinks he can combat swine flu by eating more pork. No pig is safe.

If you are hungry, you will definitely leave here satiated. My spouse had two large chops smothered in gravy over rice with bowls of collard greens and macaroni & cheese. He was able to eat most of one chop, the rice and a bit of each of the sides. There seemed to be an entire meal left.

I had the greens and macaroni & cheese and black eye peas presented on a long plate. That felt really weird. It gave me the feeling that there were dozens of sides sitting under hot lamps waiting to be thrown onto waiting relish plates. I certainly hope not. Some work needs to be done on the veggie plate presentation.

Thankfully there was hot sauce on the table because the greens and peas were lighter on the seasoning side than I prefer. It was all steaming hot - the mac & cheese was creamy with an extra layer of cheddar melted over the bowl.

Meal and tip weighed in at $40 for two without alcoholic drinks or dessert, and of course minus the appetizer. This is average these days for this type of restaurant. Considering the type of food, it might be better served at home. This is not the place to visit if you are dieting or on food restrictions - the lure of fried foods is strong.

While this is not on my go-to list, we will probably re-visit because my in-laws love the place. For some reason, seniors love getting large amounts of food. However, I do think I will return on my own to check out the happy hour - $3.99 martinis & cocktails and $2.99 draught beers Monday through Friday. Maybe then I'll check out that old, traditional southern bar menu favorite - spicy thai chili wings.