A Hobbit's Tale

It was a cold, snowy winter day. We had traveled far and were hungry for something cozy and warming.  When we thought we could go no further, a hobbit hole appeared. It was warm and inviting and smelled of delicious vittles. The name of this establishment...Bilbo Baggins.

In downtown Alexandria, Bilbo Baggins is a little pub that looks like its straight out of a J.R.R. Tolkien novel.  Creaky hardwood floors, small and cozy, wood and stone walls, and good hearty food. Perfect for a cold winter's day.  Superking and I, along with our friend Tierney, were ready for a hobbit's adventure of a meal.

We started with some small plates.  A portobello mushroom cap marinated in pesto, topped with a round of breaded brie cheese and a tomato tapenade and drizzled with a balsamic glaze. Looks pretty elegant for pub food. It was pretty tasty too. Though whats not to like about fried, breaded cheese.

We also had Calamari Fritti...fried calamari served with Thai chili aioli and a papaya relish. The calamari was perfectly cooked, which is quite a feat. It can be tricky to not overcook calamari and not turn it into rubber bands. Who wants to eat rubber bands? Well, Bilbo Baggins did it just right.  The aioli was creamy and spicy. I was not particularly a fan of the papaya relish but it was bright and fresh.

Or how about some buttermilk fried oysters? I used to not really like any oysters, that is until I went to Charleston and some proper ones. I still won't eat the raw ones (its a texture thing...too slimy) but a good fried one or baked one with the right toppings, sure does hit the spot when you're looking for a hearty meal. These at Bilbo's were crispy and briny and served with a nice basil lime aioli.

We also had a taste of a Carolina pulled pork BBQ sandwich, and two kinds of fries. I forgot to take pictures of those, unfortunately. Yucca fries with a  mustard aioli sauce and spicy cilantro fries with a chipotle chili sauce. I'd never had yucca fries but they were thick and salty, and more starchy than regular fries.

After a brisk walk through the old town street shops, we hustled in to one of the old time ice cream parlors...Pops Old Fashioned Ice Cream to be exact.  Even on a cold wintery day, nothing beats a good chocolate peanut butter ice cream!

An Anteater, Pearlz, and The Ordinary

We just got back from a wonderful fun-filled vacation...3 days in Charleston, SC, and a week in Myrtle Beach.  We packed a lot in those 10 days too! And I'm excited to be able to share them with you!

The first thing you should know is that we've added a member to the "Me and My Cohorts" page.  His name is Pablo and he's an anteater, originally born at our Washington National Zoo. He's a special buddy of ours that goes along on all our adventures and you'll see him in many of our pictures.  He also will be weighing in his opinion on a lot of the restaurants we review, giving it a rating of 1 to 5 ants (5 being the best). So let's see how many of our Charleston/Myrtle meals were "Pablo approved"!!

Pablo is ready for his adventure!!

We arrived in Charleston after a very long drive, hot, tired, and hungry.  We decided to make dinner reservations at a place called The Ordinary but couldn't get in until 9pm. No problem, this gave us an opportunity to get a pre-dinner snack at another little place that was recommended to us by a friend. Pearlz Oyster Bar.

Our hotel, the Francis Marion, located right in downtown historic Charleston.

This was the view of the city from our hotel room on the top floor!

Pearlz has a cool beach-bar vibe to it. We bellied up to the bar just in time for Happy Hour, which means cool drinks and low prices! We began with Southern Fried Oysters served with buffalo sauce and blue cheese. Now let me preface this meal by saying that I am not a fan of oysters...usually. But Charleston has a way of making you fall in love with all kinds of food you might not normally like. Its all about the preparation.

These were delicious!! Crispy fried and spicy, they just melted in our mouths! And not a hint of sliminess (which is the main reason I don't like oysters). And the buffalo sauce they served was a little different than most buffalo sauces I've had before. It had just the right balance of tanginess and spiciness without completely taking over the flavor of the mild oyster. And of course, whats not to like about blue cheese? It even makes celery taste good (which I also am not a fan of yet I ate all 3 pieces).

We also ordered Grilled Mahi Tacos.  The soft tortillas were filled with crispy cabbage, pico de gallo, and a fresh crema sauce.  The fish was mild but very flavorful and seasoned perfectly. Very light and refreshing, tasted like the beach!

**Okay, I'm just going to get this out of the way and apologize right now for the poor quality of some of my photos.  When you go to a restaurant at night, all you have to work with is this dim mood lighting which is not very good for taking food pictures and in most of these places I don't feel its appropriate to use the flash as it can be annoying to our surrounding diners. Hopefully, in the near future I can find a way to remedy this. In the meantime, I did what I could with the amatuer photo editor I have.**

Our next stop later that evening was The Ordinary, located just a few blocks from our hotel. They call themselves a seafood hall and oyster bar and its located inside a historic building that used to be a bank. Beautiful historic charm shows up in every inch of the decor with the dining room extending up to a balcony seating area that overlooks the bar.

view of the lower dining area and bar from the balcony seating. loved the big arching windows!

We began with a wahoo crudo, which is similar to ceviche, that had grapefruit and pine nuts mixed in with the fish. Very unusual combination of flavors but the grapefruit brought a citrusy brightness to the other flavors while the pine nuts provided a nice crunch.

Sorry I couldn't edit this one better but the crudo is on the left with the fried oysters & beef tartare on the right. Trust me it looked better than this and tasted amazing!

We also had crispy oysters with beef tartare.  My 2nd plate of oysters in the same day! And these were just as delicious! Having the two proteins paired together like that, I also thought was unusual but it worked well. The crispy briny oysters mixed with the coolness of the raw beef was a textural delight.

Next I ordered the lump blue crab toast which was very rich and creamy, yet had a slight crunch of onion and cabbage. It reminded me of eating an uncooked crab cake but in a good way!

Hubby (aka Superking) ordered a sampling of raw oysters. This is where I draw the line when it comes to oysters. I can't get past the cold slimy texture. Blech! But Hubby loves them! "They are all yours, sweetheart," I told him. There was a variety of 7 different oysters on the plate, one of which was called the Oyster Moscow.  It was served in vodka and topped with a small dollop of sour cream and caviar. How very decadent!

The oyster on the far left with the black dot on top is the Oyster Moscow. The others, I don't remember what they were all called but we were told they were from various places which gave each oyster its own unique subtle flavor.

We finished off with a chocolate mousse terrine for dessert. A dense smooth chocolate cake topped with hazelnuts & mint leaves, and drizzled with a coffee sauce. All I can say is yumma yumma!!

And then we arrived back to our hotel room to see that the staff had left some beautiful chocolates on our pillows!! A delicious end to our first day in Charleston!

Pablo gives Pearlz 4 ants and The Ordinary 4.5 ants, which makes them both Pablo Approved!!

Cajun Experience

Superking has been craving crawfish.  But where can we go to find them?  Cajun Experience in downtown Leesburg VA. Downtown Leesburg is a quaint little area with lots of antiques, boutiques, and unique eats. Theres even an old-timey movie theater called the Tally-Ho.  If you're looking for parking, it may be difficult to find it on the streets but there are a couple garages which are free on the weekends. Even on the weekdays its not expensive. I once parked there for over 2 hours and had to pay a whole $1!!

Cajun Experience: Loudoun St Leesburg

Anyway, I digress.  Cajun food is not something you see a lot of here in the suburbs of Northern Virginia.  But if you get the craving and don't want to go all the way to New Orleans, the Cajun Experience is the place to go.  A quaint, cozy atmosphere with delicious authentic food with offerings such as a fried oyster bowl, crawfish mac'n cheese, and seafood gumbo...cuisine that sticks to your belly and makes you feel at home.

Their specialty of course is their Po'Boys.  I had the shrimp po'boy and Superking had the oyster po'boy.  Fried juicy seafood piled high on top of a special bread called the Leidenheimer roll, apparently a tradition in New Orleans.  Leidenheimer bread was originally baked by a German guy who migrated to New Orleans and began baking it in a French bread style.  Its crispy on the outside but soft on the inside similar to a French baguette.

shrimp po'boy

oyster po'boy...doesn't look much different than the shrimp one

The po'boys also come topped with a spicy chipotle sauce, ketchup, lettuce, and tomato. The ketchup seemed an odd addition to me at first but the acidity and sweetness of it worked well to balance out the spicy creaminess of the chipotle sauce.  Then with the crisp lettuce and fresh tomato, it all came together for the perfect Cajun po'boy. And it was also served with some crispy salty potato chips that seemed freshly home-made.

We did get an appetizer before our po'boys which I would be completely remiss to forget.  The hush puppies.  Oh the hush puppies.  Normally I'm not a huge fan of hush puppies because in most other restaurants they are dry and kind of bland and very uninteresting.  But these at the Cajun Experience were nothing like that at all.  Quite the contrary.  Very crisp on the outside (almost too crisp at first) but the inside was so soft and buttery like a home-made corn bread! I've never tasted hush puppies that good.

Of course we couldn't leave there without ordering a dessert to-go.  Hmm, what mysterious sweet delight could this brown paper bag hold?? 

Beignets of course!! Mmmm, beignets...sweet pillowy layers of fried dough smothered in mountains of powdered sugar.  Their warmth is radiating through the bag on the way home.  I'm still so full from lunch but I have to have a bite while its still fresh and hot.  My mouth is burning a little and there is sugar everywhere but it doesn't matter. Once you taste that beignet, its like the windows of heaven have opened up and the angels are singing the Hallelujah Chorus. 

Ok maybe thats a bit much but those beignets were darn good! We felt as though we truly had an authentic Cajun Experience there.  Can't wait to go back and try that crawfish mac'n cheese!!

Mokomandy's

Who would have ever thought Korean food and Cajun food could go so well together?? A while back a good friend of ours (thanks Jay) recommended this crazy little restaurant nearby that served just that...a combination (not a fusion so they say) of Korean and Cajun cuisine.  This place may be located in the middle of the Northern Virginia suburbs riddled with boring ol' chain restaurants but Mokomandy's is anything but boring or a chain. In fact, between the cool atmosphere, the amazing food, and friendly service, for a moment you might think you actually teleported to the city somehow.  This "casual fine-dining" restaurant hand-crafts every single dish bringing a modern twist to both cuisines creating a unique and delicious dining experience.

Their menu offers small plates, medium plates, and large plates.  Superking and I stuck to mostly small plates so we could try as many items as we could stuff in our mouths! Here's a look at what we ordered...

Fois Gras Dumplings...juicy braised duck wrapped in a beautiful little dumpling pouch and served with a house-made plum sauce and a tiny radish and sprout "salad".  The duck was perfectly moist and flavorful, the plum sauce had a lovely sweetness, and the radish provided a crisp fresh crunch.

we actually wanted to order their Gator Croquettes but they were all out

Oyster Po' Boy Sliders...3 juicy little oysters breaded in cornmeal topped with lettuce, tomato, and a remoulade sauce all on their own adorable little brioche buns.  I'm not a fan of oysters...I've tried them several times prepared several different ways...not a fan.  But these, honestly didn't even taste like oysters (I mean that in a good way!). They were actually quite tasty! And not slimy!

Wild Boar Bowl...this was one of their medium plates, or bowl rather.  Braised wild boar meat in a bowl with kimchi rice, kochujang (a red pepper bean paste), laver (a type of seaweed I think), a few carrots, a fried egg, and sweet potato chip for garnish.  The red pepper paste provides a little spicy kick and the boar meat was tender and juicy!

At one point during this course, the hostess walked by and noticed Superking liking a certain hot sauce on the table. She stopped and asked with a devilish grin, "would you like something hotter?" Tentatively Superking says yes. She returns a moment later with a non-descript, non-labeled bottle filled with a dark sludgy sauce and says, "this is our Ghost Chili sauce."  For those of you who may not know, ghost peppers are among the hottest in the world.  To put this in perspective...the scoville chart which measures hottness of peppers says that a simple little jalapeno is about 4,000 scoville units.  A habanero is roughly 200,000. A ghost pepper...over a million.  In other words, don't go near these things unless you have a death wish. Luckily there are other ingredients in their Ghost Chili sauce besides just the ghost peppers to help cut the heat a little but its still pretty daggone hot! Use very very sparingly!

Ssam...no thats not a misspelling, and its not short for Ssamuel.  Its basically like a Korean taco where you use a lettuce leaf as the shell and inside is pork (though there were also chicken and veggie options), purple rice, kochujang, sesame, radish, and scallions. The lettuce cups were crisp and fresh and the pork was tender and a little spicy.  Every flavor was perfectly balanced and delicious.

One last small plate we had to try before delving into dessert...Wagyu Carpaccio.  You just don't see a lot of Wagyu so its hard to pass up.  This carpaccio was served with a nice clump of greens on top drizzled with soy sauce, sprinkled with pine nuts, daikon radish, and believe it or nor a few slices of pear! It sounds odd but the pear added a bright sweetness to the savory salty wagyu carpaccio with the soy and nuts.

Finally we order dessert and as we're waiting the owner brings us a dessert we didn't order. "Oh I don't think thats ours," we said. The owner replies, "I know but we made an extra one so we thought you'd like to have it!".  Ok, an extra dessert can't hurt, right?

Chicory pudding with chocolate sauce, pecans, cane syrup salted caramels, and fresh cream.  Omg! It was light and fluffy and creamy. Flavors of coffee and chocolate and caramel. And these lovely caramel wafers buried beneath all the chocolate sauce and cream; it was like finding buried treasure!

Then came our real dessert...Beignets. Ah, beignets! Even saying the word makes me happy.  Beautiful little donut holes, fried crispy on the outside, soft and doughy on the inside, sprinkled with powdered sugar and served with 4 sauces...chocolate, caramel, strawberry jam,  and cane syrup.  We even dipped a few bites of our beignets in the leftovers of the first dessert...yumm!

Left: caramel; Top: cane syrup; Right: strawberry; Bottom: chocolate

Needless to say, we were so stuffed when we left they practically had to call a crane to roll us out to the parking lot.  But every bite was so worth it.  A cool urban atmosphere, friendly attentive service, and awesomely delicious and unique food. Its very refreshing to find a hidden gem like this so close to home. Can't wait to go back!

the aftermath

DC restaurants are awesome!

On the heels of Restaurant Week, I thought I'd share a few more DC restaurant adventures that I've been wanting to blog about for a while.  DC has so many cool and unique restaurants that offer amazing food rivaling any other American culinary cities and one of my goals in life to experience as many of them as I can.

Last summer hubby and I decided to take a long weekend in DC.  We're so close to DC but we rarely get there and are able to hang out long enough to really enjoy the city and all it has to offer.  So why not get a hotel and stay the weekend?

M St Bar and Grill inside St. Gregory Hotel

Now I have to warn you...I wasn't a food blogger at the time so I didn't get as many pictures as I would've liked.  It just wasn't on my mind to take pictures of all my food back then! Anyway...We stayed at the St. Gregory Hotel and Suites, located at 2033 M Street just outside Georgetown.  It was very nice and looked way more expensive than it was.Complete with a statue of Marilyn Monroe in the lobby and the M Street Bar and Grill downstairs providing room service.

St. Gregory Hotel lobby with Marilyn Monroe

Our first night was a Thursday and we attended Brew at the Zoo, a charity/foodie event at the National Zoo where the proceeds benefit the animals and research there.  The next day, Friday we went to 3 different places: Urbana, Sushi Taro, and Hank's Oyster Bar.

Urbana (http://www.urbanadc.com/) is located in the bottom of  Hotel Palomar near Dupont Circle. Urbana is actually a hip urban wine bar but they happen to serve a great breakfast as well. Hubby had eggs, sunny-side-up, with rustic potatoes and applewood smoked bacon.  I had the challah french toast with fresh strawberry compote, which was huge! The bread was huge, the strawberries were huge and so sweet! It was an awesome way to spend our first morning in DC.

late night snack...brownie sundae at M St Grill

After a little shopping in Georgetown, we had lunch at a little place called Sushi Taro (http://www.sushitaro.com/).  This ended up being one of hubby's faves this weekend. If you like sushi, this is the place to go in DC. The inside has that very neat precise Asian minimalist flair.  The sushi was probably the best we've ever had.  We ordered some kind of sampler sashimi platter to share.  And then we ordered a couple pieces of toro a la carte. Toro is the fatty underbelly of a tuna...it is amazing! Especially when fresh and prepared correctly. This was my first time trying it and I couldn't believe how soft and savory it was. It just melted on my tongue!  The other sushi we had there was really good too. You could tell it was super fresh and top quality fish. Among the sushi platter was this humongous raw oyster! I've never seen an oyster that big! It was big enough we were able to cut it up into 3 or 4 pieces for us to share.

sushi platter at Sushi Taro (see the huge oyster on the left in its shiny shell?)

After that we needed a nap! A brief snooze geared us up for a dinner at Hank's Oyster Bar (which I just discovered there's one in Alexandria too). (http://www.hanksdc.com/menu.html) This place has a very casual and fun atmosphere.  Not very big so it can get crowded fast. When you are seated, instead of bringing you a bread basket like every other restaurant, they bring you a small bowl of goldfish crackers! I love that unique little touch!  Here we ordered some small plates...ceviche with lime and jalepeno, fried oysters, and old bay fries.  I discovered after this weekend that I'm not a fan of oysters, either raw or fried, and they're not a fan of me either. However, I gave them a good college try (hubby loved them!).  Everything was great though! All in all a fun food-filled day in DC!

late night snack...sushi tempura at M St Grill

More of our past DC weekend coming up!