Upon my arrival in D.C., I mentioned how I really need to detox from my glutinous Atlanta trip. Well, that didn't happen. The following morning after getting in, Karen took me to Cafe Belga for brunch with our old high school friend Jason. From there, we went to Eastern Market, where we saw the infamous Lobster Truck. Lobster Truck! Of course we tried it. and not just one lobster roll... two! The fat fest continued on as Jason then took us to Maine Avenue Fishmarket, where he introduced us to deep friend scallops. Have you ever had deep friend scallops? Wow, amazing! Especially on a cold sub 20 degree day! Have I mentioned all this food was consumed within 3 hours? Yeah... so much for my detox.
Belga Cafe is a belgian restaurant that served some amazing mussels and innovative waffles (or "wafels"). I ordered the Geitenkaas Wafels, which had goat cheese, roasted tomatoes and red pepper with a side of salad. Karen had the Gerookte Zalm Wafe, which was a puff pastry waffle with smoked salmon, roasted tomatoes and chive cream. Jason ordered some amazing mussels. The portions, thank goodness, were normal sized! However, the food itself was just okay, although I did really like the puff pastry waffle. I think more restaurants should make puff pastry waffles now.
Look at the steam coming off these mussels!
a cross section view of the puff pastry waffle:
Upon Jason's suggestion, Karen and I bought tickets to an improv comedy show called "A Girl's Guide to Washington Politics."
**tip** Tickets can get expensive, or you can go 2 hours before the show and and get their stampeded seat tickets for $15. There are about 10 of these seats, but they are first come first serve.
As we waited to buy our stampede tickets, Karen took me to Teaism, a cafe that serves food, tea and little snacks. According to our friend Dan, Teaism has these amazing salty oat cookies, so we decided to try one. I wish we had ordered a dozen - it was amazing! Although one may be turned off by the name of "salty oat," the salt actually wasn't too heavy. It was just subtle enough that it surprised you with every bite, but it wasn't like drinking out of the ocean. I would really like to get my hands on the recipe!
After sharing the cookie and a bar of bacon chocolate, we headed over to the Woolly Mammoth Theater to catch the show. The show itself was hilarious - they poked fun at just about everything, left and right. There was even a section where they asked the audience to shout out a name of a place in DC (someone said Tidal Basin), a celebrity (someone yelled out Kate Gosselin) and an issue you feel strongly about (Don't Ask Don't Tell). From there, they completely imrovised a song and skit about Kate Gosselin around the Tidal Basin and somehow also incorporating DADT. It was pure comedic genius. However, the one thing I did notice was that if you don't follow politics, you may not understand some of their jokes or know who they were poking fun at. Regardless, for $15, Karen and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. If you're in DC and follow current events, I would highly recommend it.
After the show, we were both ravenous - a girl's gotta eat right? Karen then took me to Kushi, her newfound favorite izakay/sushi place. We ordered several things to share, including some fresh hamachi and uni, along with grilled stuff. The fresh was pretty fresh. I always use the uni as a guide, and the uni at Kushi was pretty decent. It was Karen's first time trying uni, so I described it to her as the "foie gras of the sea." And if it's bad, it smells like feet. Luckily, the uni didn't smell like feet and was very velvety and buttery. There was a hint of fishiness, which to me doesn't mean it's completely fresh.
[lobster roll, deep friend scallops, hamachi and uni]
We ended the night with some lovely sea salt and black sesame ice cream. It's good to have friends who enjoy food :)
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