Clarendon Culture

Lyon Hall brunch

If you’re staying in town this holiday weekend and trying to line up brunch plans, consider @LyonHall, one of our personal favorites.  We headed there with some good friends last weekend, and had a pretty amazing lineup of dishes.  I’ve blogged about Lyon Hall before (here, here, and here), and I’m certain you’ll see it again.  It’s always a solid choice.  

(Awesome coffee)

(Freshly baked bread)

(Housemade donuts!)

(Steak & Eggs)

(Pulled Pork Poached Eggs)

(Short Rib Hash & Eggs)

(Squash Poached Eggs)

(Sausage & Eggs)

South Block Smoothie & Burritos

I had my first @SouthBlockCo burrito for lunch today.  I’m not normally a burrito person, so I don’t have a lot to compare with, but here are my thoughts.

I ordered the ‘South Block Fiesta’, which includes multigrain brown rice blend, roasted sweet corn pepper relish, monterey cheddar jack, all natural sour cream & salsa all rolled into a whole wheat tortilla.  I also asked them to add guacamole and chicken.  

Got home and unwrapped my burrito…

1. Didn’t like the fact that the burrito wasn’t cut in half for me.  I just think it’s a lot easier to eat a burrito when it’s cut in half, so I pulled out one of my sharp knives and cut it in half myself.  Not sure what burrito connoisseurs think about whole vs. halves, but I personally prefer halves.  I also cut burgers in half, for that matter.
2. Even though cheese is listed as a main ingredient in every South Block Fiesta burrito, they somehow forgot to add it.  One of the reasons I ordered that particular burrito was because of the cheese.  I unwrapped and dissected my burrito in search of any sign of cheese, but found none.  They also forgot to add the guacamole.  Not happy.  Cheese and guac are 2 of my very favorite things.
3. I kind of didn’t like the fact that the burrito was made out of my sight.  I guess Chipotle has us all spoiled, because I want to watch my burrito being made.  I have a voyeuristic burrito streak, I guess.  You can see the smoothies being made behind the counter.  Why not the burritos?  Why are the burritos assembled in a hidden corner of the shop somewhere?  
4. There were black beans in the burrito.  I love black beans, and didn’t have a problem with them at all, but didn’t see black beans them listed as one of the ingredients, so it was a bit of a curve ball.  Pleasant surprise, though.  It helped make up for the lack of cheese and guac.

All of that aside, the burrito tasted pretty good.  I really enjoyed the corn relish and the multigrain rice.  It tasted healthy, and I’d imagine it’s partly due to the fact that they forgot to add the cheese.

Additional note to South Block:  You really should add fresh crepes to the mix.  You already have Nutella and bananas on hand - you have all the makings for a creperie - just buy the grill.  Clarendon needs fresh crepes.  Hurry and do it before a food truck steals the idea.

Tandoori Nights

With the Groupon for Tandoori Nights ticking down (about 13 hours left, at the time of this post), I thought I would post some photos of our recent meal there.  Tandoori Nights is our favorite Indian restaurant in the area, next to Rasika in downtown DC.  Purchase your Groupon ($20 for $40 worth of food & beverage) and enjoy!

Mango Margarita | Bread crisps & dip (brought out upon being seated)

Aloo Chat Papri - A medley of chickpeas, potatoes, flour crisps mixed with chutney and yogurt.  (it’s like an Indian version of Frito Pie - delicious.

Palak Paneer - Fresh homemade cheese cooked in a creamy spinach sauce.

Lamb Korma Kashmiri - Cubes of lamb cooked in a creamy sauce and garnished with almonds and fruits.

Plain Naan - Freshly baked white bread topped with butter

Pete’s New Haven Style Apizza

We finally got back to @Petes_NewHaven for the first time since their grand opening.  I’m almost embarrassed about how long it took us to get back there, but it was well worth the wait.

We came to Pete’s with our Groupon on hand. We ordered 2 generously-poured glasses of wine, 2 slices of pizza, the small antipasti platter, and the small platter of arancini rice balls.  The total cost of our meal was $36, of which we were only charged $16 after redeeming our $20 Groupon.

At the grand opening last March, I had found the crust to be too chewy.  Pete’s assured me later that day that their new oven needed a bit more time to ‘get into its groove.’  Well - the oven has found its groove.  I chose the pepperoni (my ‘litmus test’ of pizza shops), and hubby opted for the sausage & mushroom.  Both were excellent.  Piping hot, thin, crispy crust, and tangy sauce.  The end crusts were a bit chewier than I like, so I may have used it as a point against them if there wasn’t so much other food on the table.

The arancini ($4.95) were filled with warm mushroom risotto.  I’m not quite in the mushroom camp when it comes to foods I enjoy, but I loved these.  I loved them even more served on a bed of marinara and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.

The antipasti platter ($4.95) was quite possibly my favorite part of the meal.  This was the lineup, clockwise from the top:

• Beet salad with goat cheese
• New potato salad with chives and toasted pine nuts
• Breaded zucchini and green olive (that’s right - fried green olive!)
• Grilled artichoke hearts (with what I’m guessing to be a cilantro/corn garnish, but I could be wrong.)

Pete’s is one of those places that’s great for everyone.  If you have kids, it’s quick and painless.  You pay the bill when you walk in, food is brought out swiftly, and you leave as soon as your baby tells you it’s time to leave.  If you’re young and single - enjoy a few beers and great food on the patio while people-watching on a prime Clarendon corner.  If you’re on a budget - just look back up at that $4.95 antipasti platter.  If you’re looking for gluten-free options, look no further.  Something for everyone.

Also, I can’t end this post without listing some of the specials I found on their website:

Lunch special (M-F): Two slices of pizza or a slice of cheese pizza with a side salad and a fountain drink for $5.99.  (toppings are $0.25 each)

July special: In the month of July, email subscribers get $1 gelato and sorbetto all day on Mondays and Tuesdays.  Become an email subscriber here. 

(Oh - and did I mention their soda machine is Boylan’s all natural, made with real cane sugar?)

Pete’s is a great neighbor to have.

Foodspotting in Clarendon

For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, Foodspotting.com is a website that catalogs user-generated photos of dishes from area restaurants. You can sort by city, restaurant name, a specific user, or a few other ways.  I’ve quickly become hooked, and just recently started submitting my own images to the site.  Below are some of my favorite “foodspotted” images from around Clarendon…

Tomato and Avocado Omelette @ La Pain Quotidien

Fresh Beet Salad @ Astor Mediterranean

Loaded Cheese Fries @ Whitlow’s On Wilson

Seafood Kabobs @ Boulevard Woodgrill

BBQ Bacon Shrimp & Grits @ Restaurant 3

burger and fries @ brgr:shack

Cajun Ribeye @ Rays the Steaks

Donuts Treats @ Lyon Hall

Turkish Coffee @ Me Jana Restaurant

Thursday night at Spider Kelly’s

I’m known to be a huge fan of the Spider Kelly’s breakfast burrito.  I ventured out into new SK territory last night: dinner.  Didn’t have my big camera on me, so I snapped a few photos with my cell phone camera.  

Happy hour lasts until 8 PM! at Spider Kelly’s.  I took advantage of the $2 Bud Light.  Bud Light bottles have an odd little feature that allows you to write on the bottle label using either a key or coin. Harder than it looks if you’re trying to get more than 3 characters on there.

For my meal, I chose the grilled Mahi Mahi fish tacos.  They were WONDERFUL!  I’m pretty picky about my fish tacos.  I usually prefer the taste of fried ones unless I find grilled ones like these!  Might be my favorite tacos in Clarendon.  The tacos come with a choice of side.. fries, onion rings, salad, mixed veggies, grilled asparagus, and some others.  I chose the grilled asparagus.  To my pleasant surprised, the asparagus was FIRE grilled!  You could taste the char on it.  Delicious.

My friend ordered the burger, and she devoured it.  It was topped with grilled onions, served with fries, and some of their special fridge sauce.

 .

SK’s was PACKED with sports fans and there were flat screen TVs on every wall.  As we all (hopefully) already know, the Mavs won another beautiful game last night!  1 more game, and Dallas will be crowned champions once again!

Dinner: Spanikopita turkey burgers and @BakeshopVA

Canceled flights aren’t always a bad thing.  For lunch, my canceled flight gave me El Paso Cafe’s fajitas, and for dinner, we just had a recipe that has quickly risen to the top of the dinner ranks in this household: Spanikopita turkey burgers.  

Recipe:

• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 medium size onion, diced
• 1/2 a bag of frozen chopped spinach
• Approx. 4 oz. (or more) feta cheese, crumbled
• Salt and pepper (around 1/2 teaspoon of each)
• 1/2 teaspoon onion or garlic powder
• Any other spices you may want to use.

Mix all ingredients together, and form patties.  Add a few tablespoons of olive oil to a skillet, then fry the patties over medium heat about 4-5 minutes on each side, until cooked.  Serve on buns or in pita bread with tzaziki sauce, which can be found at Whole Foods in the refrigerated section. where the other dips are located.  Chopped tomatoes would also make a good garnish.

Finally, for dessert, we went to Bakeshop.  I couldn’t decide between the red velvet cupcake or the chocolate macaroon, so I got both.  I loved the macaroon so much that I couldn’t even touch the red velvet cupcake because I didn’t want to lose the macaroon flavor in my mouth.  

Perfect ending to a canceled flight.  

Taste of Arlington

We had a great time at Taste of Arlington yesterday.  We got there about 30 minutes after the start time, and it was already packed.  The weather held up nicely for the most part, aside from a couple small showers.  

I do think in the future, the Taste of Arlington committee really needs to expand to include more streets.  It was way too many people in such a tight space.  Lines were stacked on top of other lines, or blocking restaurant booths all-together.  Had we not been so tightly packed into such a small area, we probably would have had the patience to spend all of our tickets.  We walked back home with a couple unspent tickets.  

That aside, it was a great time, and we had very happy bellies.  My favorite tastes of the day were BGR Burger Joint’s beef sliders and Jaleo’s Paella.  My hubby’s favorite bites were both from Pinzimini - braised short rib and pork belly.  Below are some photos of the event.  

The BGR crew grills up beef sliders, which were my #1 favorite taste of the day.

The massive paella pan at Jaleo’s booth.  My #2 favorite taste of the day.

Caribbean Breeze’s chicken kabobs and rice.  My 3rd favorite of the day.

My least favorite taste: the buffalo wings from Velocity5.  Way too over-salted.  These wings were the only bite I didn’t actually finish.

Rustico salad.. this was one of my hubby’s bites, and I didn’t actually taste it, but he enjoyed it.

Spike Mendelsohn signing autographs

Pork belly at Pinzimini, complete with a syringe dropper for the juice!!

Braised shortrib from Pinzimini (my hubby’s #1 favorite taste of the day)

Chocolate cake from RiRa.  I LOVED this cake. (my hubby’s words were along the lines of, “it’s just good chocolate cake that they didn’t screw up.)

Free smoothie samples from the MickyD’s booth.  A refreshing treat to end our day.

@LobsterTruckDC Lobby2 launch party

I was lucky enough to be invited to the party for the launch of Red Hook Lobster’s 2nd DC truck - Lobby2! One set of wheels just wasn’t enough to keep up with demand for lobster roll perfection in this city.

I realize that Red Hook isn’t specific to Clarendon.  As a matter of fact, I don’t think Red Hook has even driven through Clarendon (have they not gotten the memo about Clarendon’s hungry and affluent dinner crowd?) Nonetheless, Red Hook’s massive following is not just in the DC area, but up along the east coast.  I’m certain several of my readers have had their share of waiting patiently in lobster lines that snake around the block.

The launch party took place at Yards Park, a beautiful venue right on the Anacostia River, next to Nationals Stadium.  Tray after tray after tray of lobster rolls and whoopie pies were brought out.  Some people got seconds.. some got thirds.. some wanted to just jump right into the truck and hijack the whole thing.

I’ll be honest, I’ve ordered lobster in fine restaurants all over the world, but nothing has turned me on to lobster the way Red Hook has.  Maybe it’s just that street-food-loving gene in my DNA, but Red Hook is what did it for me.  

Now, let’s just hope that with the new addition to their family, Red Hook makes a Clarendon dinner appearance one of these days.  Red Hook, if you’re listening.. just park in front of Whole Foods at 5:30 or 6:00 PM, and you’ll be met with love, trust me, even by the smallest of patrons:

Thanks for the great party!