I decided to try to grow my own herbs and peppers this year. In doing so I am going to use a self watering indoor plant starter that I purchased from Lowes.
The list includes:
405 8th Street NW
Washington, DC 20004
(202) 393-0812
http://www.cafeatlantico.com/miniBar/miniBar.htm
I said it in the Cafe Atlantico post, I would return. I did and it was a whole lot better than the first time.
Ahh minibar. When visiting cafe atlantico on the second floor sits a small counter with just six stools. Many without knowing think it is just a small bar sitting area for the one tops, but no, the lucky few that get to sit at those six seats each night are the luckiest people in the restaurant.
With just six seats and two servings each night it is hard to get just one of those hallowed seats. But how do you get a seat at minibar? My only answer is to call, call a lot. Reservations for minibar open up every day when the restaurant opens. But remember when you call you are calling for a reservation exactly one month from the day that you call. So if I call today March 30th, it would be for a reservation on April 30th. Sounds easy right? Nope. One more caviat. They start taking reservations at 10 am and are regularly booked by 10:01 am.
So what are a few tips for snagging a reservation.
1713 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22209
(703) 841-0001
Butcher Burger, or Hellburger as it’s known locally, makes some damn good burgers. Which is not totally unexpected, since it is owned by the same man who runs Rays the Steaks, located just a few storefronts away. Whether it is worth the money and the time, that’s for you to decide. Having just opened on July 1st, a few kinks are expected, but the ambience is decidedly chaotic. The outside of the restaurant is unassuming, no sign as of yet, just a small piece of paper posted up on the storefront window and the long line of waiting customers hinting at what’s inside. There are only a few sit down tables and a couple more stand up tables scattered around a movie poster dotted, cafeteria-esque room, and they are all packed. If you have any sense, go with a friend, if not only to have them be the designated table nabber. Use your time in line wisely, deciding what you want before you get to the ordering counter is essential since the staff still seems somewhat unorganized and frantic. They only take cash, but the good thing is they have an in-house ATM just past the meat station. There is a variety of different styles of burger and toppings and every burger comes topped with lettuce and a fat slice of ruby red tomato.
A must if you go by and there is no line, otherwise expect to wait a little.
Reviewed 9/2/08
815 King St
Alexandria, VA 22314
www.flyingfishdc.com
The yellow and purple Chi-chi-esque decor, out of place with the younger, hipster patrons who frequent this otherwise stylishly furnished sushi bar/restaurant, is only a foreshadowing of the gastronomical delights in store for those who eat here. Our server was a bubbly, personality-laden red-head who swore, wrongly, that she’d waited on us before. Lots of people say that about us, for some reason. She was fun and knowledgeable about the menu, giving us certain inside pointers about what was good and what was not. She leaned us towards two entrees: a broiled (psst! actually grilled, our waitress whispered confidentially) seafood platter for him, and toasted-rice crusted escolar (a Chef’s Thunder special) for her.
Escolar, aka “white tuna”, we were familiar with from numerous ecstastic visits to Bonsai Grill (the great local sushi bar near my old apartment in crystal city). As sashimi it is a tender, buttery, luxurious melt-in-your-mouth-good white fish. We were so excited to see it on the menu that we didn’t think twice about ordering it. In fact, we also ordered two pieces of escolar nigiri to whet our white tuna loving appetites. The bread basket was delightful: doughy, pleasantly chewy breadsticks, glazed with butter and garlic, with a flavorful wasabi-white-bean hummus dip. The nigiri was delicious, as was expected, but left us feening for more.
The seafood platter consisted of three large shrimp, two scallops, three calamari and a large hunk of a white fish of undetermined species. Everything had beautiful appealing criss-cross grill marks, but unfortunately much of the platter was over-cooked and stringy. The toasted-rice crusted escolar came in a huge, forearm sized slab that was agreeably seasoned and had just enough of that rich, buttery flavor to recognize it as white tuna. For sides, we both chose the vegetable du jour (buttered broccoli and carrots) and bleu potato dumplings. The vegetables were average, but the bleu potato dumplings blew us away. Crisp, lightly fried balls of savory whipped potato in a golden brown coating of bread crumbs with a bold, tangy blue cheese nugget tucked in the center. Unfortunately, you only get three.
Our waitress was very attentive, keeping our diet colas filled and checking on us every few minutes to chat and ensure we were happy. She was dryly sarcastic too, quipping “Wow, it looked like you didn’t like it,” in reference to our empty, crumb-licked plates. For dessert, we decided on the key lime tart, which came out in a crumbly, sweet graham crackery crust with the hint of coconut and topped with a gooey drippy meringue that made us think the pastry chef should start lifting weights because they needed to be whipped a few minutes more. The lime filling was refreshingly tart and paired well with the sweet crust and sweet sweet topping. It was a good deal for being five bucks and generously portioned. And it was fat free!
The price at the end was a little steep, around $60 sans tip, but we felt we had a decent meal and good service. We were still raving about the escolar a few days later, when we started blowing it out our nether regions. His was yellow/orange, mine was yellow/green, but it was the same. Oily, floaty and insistent, our love for escolar came back with a vengeance. Scared that we had been food poisoned, we turned to our only reliable source: Wikipedia. There we found our beloved escolar was a fake. Frequently used as a cheap substitute for actual white tuna, aka albacore tuna, escolar contains indigestible oils that cause gastric distress in the form of crazy, unexpected diarrhea. Without going into details, over the course of two days, our love of white tuna was suddenly turned into loathing; cursing at that dumb, delectable irresistible fish while draped on the toilet at cursing at ourselves for being duped into making ourselves superby regular. But, during our frantic search for what the hell was wrong with us, we ran into some very amusing sites, namely Escolar Evil or Not, which if you look at the link title, pretty much says it all. We were not alone.
Knowing what we know now, would we go back? There’s a chance we might. As long as you don’t get the escolar, Flying Fish is a fun, friendly, hip place to spend your good money on some good seafood and service.
Visited: 3/31/07
405 8th Street NW
Washington, DC 20004
http://www.cafeatlantico.com/
The expectations for this restaurant were very high. With Jose Andres and Katsuya Fukushima one could expect nothing but perfection. After eating at Cafe Atlantico I have come to the harsh reality that my expectations were completely wrong. Everything started great. We sat at the bar and had a few excellent cocktails. After the cocktails we were seated and then everything came crashing down. The first thing that happened was that the hostess came to our table and asked us if we were the group that complained about the restaurant week menu. We were not, but it just shows the quality and strength of the menu. To begin with the restaurant week menu was cut down to two choices for the night. The website and front door menu listed six options for both the appetizer and the entree. This was not that bad except that they replaced one of the six appetizers with a green salad, and one of the six entrees with a lunch special.
Dinner menu
Appetizers
Entrees
Dessert
I had the soup, pork and the Choco-Banana. My Girlfriend had the salad, salmon and the sorbet. We also ordered the table side Guacamole.
Out first came the Guacamole, a mere 15 minutes after we ordered. For a course that they prepare tableside, it took a long time to get to us. The Guacamole is rather plain, but really shows of the flavor of the avacado. I would recommend it for the first timer to Cafe. Once made it was good, but it was not enough to tide us over until our appetizers came out 25 minutes later. The appetizers were rather boring. The only little bit of fun was the fried worms added to the top of the mixed green salad. The salad was way over seasoned and showed just how much the restaurant likes restaurant week.
I must digress, restaurant week is a time for restaurants to gain new patrons. You are supposed to show of the best of the restaurant to get patrons that would not normally enter your restaurant to become repeat customers. Cafe Atlantico and many other restaurants miss the point. If you want patrons don’t simplify your menu, don’t offer food that I can get at taco bell, offer me something that distinguishes your restaurant from any other restaurant. Make me want to come back, make me want to spend my hard earned dollars on your food. Take pride in your food and don’t offer me something that you are throwing out there just to turn a 100% profit.
Back to the gazpacho. Good body, good flavor, nice acidity. It was a well balanced dish. Probably the best of the night. Just shows how the night went. A cold soup beat out everything.
After the appetizers we had a good 30 minute breather before our entrees came out. It gave us enough time to finish our wine and to discuss how everything was going. Obviously not very well as it was 1:10 minutes into our dinner service and we had only our appetizers in our empty stomachs. It was like we were the unlucky guests on one of the first nights of Hell’s Kitchen.
Finally we received our entrees. My pork had the texture of country fried pork without the breading. After I cut out the bones, my portion was half its original size. It was seasoned alright, but the combination of olives, capers, tomatoes and guacamole just did not work for me. I just did not understand the guacamole. The salmon came out well done and on underdone couscous. This was a bit of a joke at the table as the waiter made sure that we were alright with medium-rare salmon, as that is how the chef liked to cook it. I guess that the chef was not in, as the salmon came out cooked well done.
Finally we were given the gift of dessert a mere 2 hours after we sat down at the table. This would not be bad if we were eating a six course meal, but for a three course meal that appeared to be pre-cooked this was horrendous. The dessert consisted of coconut sorbet (enough said), and a Warm Chocolate cake (actually cold) with Venezuelan chocolate flan, banana foam and fresh banana lime salad. The cake was cold, the foam was creamy and the flan was, well great.
Overall my experience was horrible. The staff was inconsiderate, the food was moderate at best and restaurant weekers are treated as third-class citizens. Would I go back? Maybe for minibar, but for restaurant week, probably not.
Reviewed 8/14/07
