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

Honeysuckle Sorbet

Summer is officially here!! Aside from the horrid humidity and suppressing heat we get here in Northern Virginia, I love the summer.  Cute skirts, flip flops, the beach, and ice cream.  I mean, I eat ice cream all year round. I'd eat it every day and at every meal if I could. (Yes, I know I'm a little obsessed with the stuff.) But there's something special about eating frozen treats like ice cream and sorbet and Popsicles in the summer. They taste better and they remind me of childhood and vacation. *Sigh*

my honeysuckle bush

it was hard work picking all those little flowers

Late in spring every year, my front yard is enveloped by a sweet aroma.  I walk outside my front door and down my sidewalk. Next to my sidewalk is a nice big tree engulfed by a huge honeysuckle bush. This year when it bloomed, the sweet honey smell was just so intoxicating. I knew there must be some way I can harness the power of this beautiful flower. So I began searching for recipes.  The first one that popped up was this one for Honeysuckle Sorbet.

Yumm!! Seemed easy enough too.  Let's go for it!

honeysuckle blossoms

soaking in water overnight

mmm...sweet honeysuckle water...

Ingredients:
5 2/3 cups cool water
4 cups honeysuckle blossoms, tightly packed but not smashed*
2 cups sugar
1 2/3 cups water
Few drops lemon juice
Dusting of cinnamon
Directions:
Add cool tap water to flowers. Place in a nonreactive container (glass or stainless steel) and let stand on the counter overnight.
The next day, make a simple syrup by heating sugar and 1 2/3 cups water in a saucepan over low heat until the mixture is clear, then boiling it for a minute or so, until the syrup begins to appear lustrous and slightly thick.

sugar + water

= syrup

Remove from heat and add a few drops of lemon juice to prevent the sugar from recrystallizing. Cool the syrup.
Strain the honeysuckles, gently pressing the blossoms so as not to waste any of your efforts.
Combine the honeysuckle and the simple syrup and add just the merest dusting of ground cinnamon — a hint will enhance the honeysuckle flavor; even a bit more will overpower it. [I've been told that the secret to a really good sorbet is alcohol. Particularly vodka. It helps keep the sorbet from becoming too hard. I actually used about 2 tbsp of peach flavored vodka.]

peach vodka

straining blossoms

Put the mix in a glass baking dish, let it freeze a little, stir and smash with a fork. Wait another couple of hours and do the same thing until it's almost frozen through, then put it all in a blender so its gets nice and snow-like. It need to be taken out of the freezer a few minutes before you serve it. [Or instead of doing this step, pour the mixture right into your ice cream maker (it will be warm and very liquidy) and let it churn about 40 minutes. It will still need to go in the freezer for a bit before its the right consistency.]

churning in...

the best little ice cream maker

Makes 1 generous quart. [My ice cream maker is 2 qt and not all the mixture fit in.]
* Note: Four cups of flowers is the least you will need to make this worthwhile. If you're using more, adapt the ingredients as follows: Use 1 2/3 cups water for each cup of flowers for the initial infusion. For the syrup, use 2/3 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar for every cup of flowers.

almost frozen

This sorbet had a sweet honey flavor with a slight hint of peach. A perfect flowery perfumey sweetness to welcome in the summer!

served with fresh blackberries

Founding Farmers

Happy Memorial Day everyone! What better way to celebrate the fallen men and women who have given their lives for our country and freedoms, than to have a great meal with family at the Founding Farmers Restaurant.  Located in the heart of our nation's capital, just a few blocks from the White House in the Foggy Bottom area of DC, this restaurant makes everything from scratch. Yes everything, even their ketchup and butter and sodas.  And all their food is obtained from local sustainable sources. Even their tables and decor are environmentally friendly, using re-purposed woods for the tables, recycled paper for the menus, and "green" paints on the walls.

cool lobby decor made from natural products, even a little reading nook filled with foodie books to peruse while you wait for your table

little pig statue over-looking the lobby

The first thing we had to order were the Bacon Lollis.  Yes bacon lollipops, essentially. Smoked thick-cut bacon on a stick that has been candied with a cinnamon brown sugar glaze.  OMG! These were unbelievable!! I could've eaten just that and been completely happy for the rest of my life.  As a matter of fact our waiter, Branden (who was a really good waiter) said sometimes his favorite meal from there were the bacon lollis and a glass of a bourbon.  Awesome.  What else can you say to that?

We also ordered Farmers Chips, Cheddar Crisps, and Dips.  The cheddar crisps were like cheesy crackers and the chips were real potato slices, both served in a copper bowl.  The three dips, all super yummy, were onion dip, pimento cheese spread, and Green Goddess dip, which I believe was avocado based. 

Left to right dips: pimento cheese, green goddess, onion

As we scarfed those all up, I enjoyed one of their house-made seasonal sodas...grapefruit soda.  It was real grapefruit juice with sparkling bubbly soda water.  Simple, yet refreshing and delicious; the perfect drink on such a hot steamy 95 degree day.

neat staircase lined with cute bird lights overhead, leading to the upstairs dining room

jars of fruit and veggies, unique decor

For my entree I opted for one of their gourmet flatbreads.  Proscuitto, fig, and marscapone on toasted ciabatta bread, served on a wooden paddle made from some local guy in Maryland.  It was the perfect combination of salty, sweet, and creamy with a little tanginess from the balsamic vinegar drizzled on top.

lower bar area (there was a smaller one upstairs)

Superking enjoyed a good ol' country farm-boy meal of fried chicken and waffles. The chicken was pan-fried southern-style to perfection...juicy and peppery with just the right amount of crisp.  The combination of the chicken with the semi-sweet waffle topped with house-churned butter and white creamy pepper gravy was strange yet beautiful.  It was served with some really cheesy mac 'n cheese and asparagus which was supposed to be double-whipped red potatoes.  But the waiter fixed it and quickly brought us a side of the potatoes as well.  Still steaming, you could see the potato skins mixed in. Delish.

cute and tiny metal carton for the pepper gravy

My in-laws joined us on this food adventure.  We thought it only fitting to bring them along since they were the ones who told us about this place.  And my father-in-law is ex-military, plus yesterday was his birthday, so happy birthday and happy memorial day to him all in one meal!

this whole side of the menu was drinks, mostly alcoholic

Mom Superking ordered the fish and chips.  The chips were served in a brown paper bag as is traditional, I've heard, in Britain. They were also supposed to come with an 8oz draught beer! But she decided to skip that.  Dad Superking decided on the Chef salad, a nice large wedge of iceberg lettuce topped with fresh veggies, including tomatoes and golden beets and even soft corn bread croutons.

sorry the fish and chips are a little blurry (trying to take it fast!)

beautiful colorful salad

The restaurant offers a breakfast/brunch menu, and at least a few of the items are served all day, including their beignets. We so badly wanted to order those but we were so stuffed from everything else! Oh well, that just means we'll have to go back. And very soon!

Superking waiting for our table, dreaming of the yummy food we're about to have

For those of you looking for more animal-friendly choices, they also offer a separate vegan menu with items such as BBQ "chicken" (which I believe is actually tofu or some soy-based product) and chocolate stout waffles. Sounds worth a try even for a bacon-and-dairy-lovin' girl like me!

Left to right: Superking, me, Mom-in-law, Dad-in-law

The Founding Farmers motto, written right on their front door is "true food and drink". Here's a quote from them about what they stand for..."The Founding Farmers name represents a combination of ideas: it is a celebration of the land and the American family farmer; it is a nod to the founding fathers of our country, many of whom owned and farmed land that surrounds Washington, D.C.; and it is a place where true, sustainably-farmed, grown, and harvested American foods are brought to our guests...It’s about growing, buying and eating food that is good – for the people that eat it, the farmers that harvest it, the animals that produce it and the world that grows it." 

God bless America and those that have fought for our freedoms!

pretty church across the street