Fast Casual
You can’t go wrong with places like Pret a Manger and Le Pain Quotidian, but if you’re in town during the week, why not try a food truck?

Downtown
Old Ebbit Grill (American upscale)
Marcel’s (French)
Fiola (Italian)
Bibiana (Italian)
Zatinya (Mediterranean)
Equinox (Fine dining)
Oyamel (Mexican)

H St. NE
Toki Underground (Ramen)

Chinatown
Daikaya (Ramen)
Busboys and Poets (American)
Kushi (Sushi/Japanese)
RFD (sports bar/casual)
Rosa Mexicana (Mexican)

Cleveland Park
Dino (Italian)
Palena (Italian/French)

Adams Morgan
Mintwood Place (American)
Tryst (coffee/dessert)
Open City or the Diner (casual American food + great coffee)
Mama Ayesha (Middle Eastern)
Jack Rose (for classy drinks)
Cashion’s Eat Place (awesome brunch)
Millie & Al’s (great dive bar)
Black Squirrel (great dive bar)
TAAN (ramen)

Dupont/West End
Izakaya Seki (Japanese)
Founding Farmers (Southern/Country)
Shophouse (A test version from Chipotle of Asian fast-casual)
Little Serrow (Thai)
Komi (Greek)
Rasika (Indian)
Filter (coffee shop)
Dolchezza Gelato (coffee shop + gelato)
Blue Duck Tavern (American)
Pizza Paradiso (good beer, great pizza)

Georgetown
The Tombs (American)
Kafe Leopold (European)
Baked and Wired (cupcakes + coffee)

Capitol Hill/Eastern Market
We the Pizza (pizza)
Good Stuff Eatery (burgers)
Ted’s Bulletin (great for brunch)

14th Street/Logan Circle/U Street/Shaw
Ben’s Chili Bowl (kind of a DC tradition: late night chili dogs)
Estadio (tapas)
Busboys and Poets (American)
Chix (healthy chicken dinners/wraps, great for lunch)
Seasonal Pantry (a really cool supper club, reservations required)
Sundevich (an unusual sandwich shop)
Fast Gourmet (a sandwich shop. in a gas station.)

This quiche is easy-peasy and perfect for a Sunday afternoon when you don’t want to stand by the oven. It is deeply flavorful thanks to the caramelized onions and the pre-made crust, and has a smooth custard texture.

Feta, Mushroom and Wilted Spinach Quiche

Inspired by Tree Hugger

Prep time: 45 minutes
Cook time: 30-40 minutes

Ingredients
Pre-made pie crust (I used deep dish)
1/2 onion, sliced
1 cup mushrooms
2 cups fresh spinach*
1 cup milk
1 cup half and half
4 eggs
1/2 cup feta
salt and pepper

Directions
If your pie crust has been in the freezer, start by letting it sit on the counter during your preparation. Once it has thawed, poke holes in the bottom of the crust to prevent bubbling during cooking.

In a skillet over low heat, add a tablespoon of butter (or olive oil) and add onions. Cook onions on low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes until they are a deep brown color. Remove from heat and set aside.

While you’re waiting on the onions, combine milk, half and half and eggs in a bowl, season with salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly.

Preheat oven to 375. In the same skillet, add a teaspoon of oil or coat the bottom of the pan in butter and saute the mushrooms until the liquids have released. When the mushrooms are nearly done, add the spinach and allow to wilt, 1-2 minutes. Remove the ingredients from heat and add to the caramelized onions.

Add vegetable mixture to the bottom of the crust and top with feta cheese. Pour egg mixture into the crust, then carefully place into the oven. Cook 30-40 minutes until a toothpick can be inserted in the center and removed cleanly.

*I had spinach on hand, but you can also use broccoli, kale, or any other greens.

So here we’ve arrived at a better, tastier option than sweet potatoes tossed in olive oil.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Olives and Feta
Adapted from The Wednesday Chef, which is adapted from Traveler’s Lunchbox

Ok, maybe more than a dollop of Greek yogurt.

2 large sweet potatoes
1/2 cup of crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup black olives, pitted and chopped
3/4 cup guacamole, or at least mashed avocado
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1 to 2 scallions, thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 to 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt to taste
A spoonful of sour cream or Greek yogurt for each potato

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Rinse the potatoes, then using a fork lightly prick the potatoes all over to ensure even cooking. Place on a foil-lined baking pan in the oven and bake until they are completely soft, about 45 to 60 minutes (depending on their size).

Quick option: While roasting creates the most flavorful potatoes, you can also clean and prick the potatoes and then place them in the microwave for five minutes (or until fully cooked).

2. While the potatoes are roasting, combine the other ingredients, except avocado, and allow to marinate until the potatoes are done.

3. When the potatoes are fully roasted, remove them from the oven and place on plates. Slice each potato lengthwise down the center, and lightly mash the insides. Pile half the topping on each potato,along with avocado, season to taste with salt and pepper, dollop yogurt or sour cream on top and serve.

While Jessica over at How Sweet It Is made this beautiful pizza in her cast iron skillet, I have made mine in the good ol’ fashioned oven (I can’t commit to owning such a heavy piece of kitchen equipment as a cast iron skillet). Still, I will say this pizza dough recipe is worth a try however you bake it–it came out perfectly.

Vegetarian Pizza with Brussel Sprouts

Adapted slightly from How Sweet It Is

During a class on euphemisms I asked my students to help me write down every bad word they’d ever heard. One girl in the class shouted out, “Feminist.”

For all the detritus strewn about these days about women in power, we’re still behind in many ways. Although women account for 50.8% of the American population overall, they still face an embarrassing gender pay gap of 23% (in other words, women make 77 cents for every dollar earned by a man). Fewer than 20% of the seats in Congress are held by women (18%, in fact)  and we’re still fighting for basic rights over our bodies, including access to birth control, abortion, and education.

It’s been an interesting time to be a woman. My undergrad capstone project was a paper called “The Feminist Mis(take): Third-Wave Feminism in Bridget Jones’ Diary,” and it was my first glimpse at what feminism was and is for my generation. The notion of the “MRS degree” was making a resurgence at JMU, which collided with my (perhaps misguided) preconceptions about girls who wore pearls, Ugg boots with no pantyhose and giant Vera Bradley bags. It was the time I expected to meet other girls who were raging against the machine, too, but instead many seemed rather content, if not oblivious (happily, maybe not for girls now).

Today I feel as though we’re mounting an entirely different fight as feminists, one that circles back and finds us sniping at each other. Watching the recent fallout around two powerful women, both making bold decisions, has been heartbreaking (here, here and here). And it doesn’t end there–it was painful to watch the Twitter feeds light up with snarky comments during awards shows, almost exclusively towards actresses, and primarily by my female friends. We’re not doing ourselves any favors towards our worth when we constantly shout to one other that we’re worthless.

Despite this, I’m still hopeful. We feminists are vigilant and we have a great chorus of women who are restructuring the way people will view this next wave of feminists. It will be more subtle, but never less powerful.

As I get older and I feel the more recognizable elements of youth begin to slip away, I’m ever more in awe of women who have taken age and made it work for them by remaining studious, physically active and ambitious. I refuse to let age tell me I should set back and leave it to the next generation. I’m dedicated to surrounding myself with women who inspire and empower me to take risks. That’s my pledge on this International Women’s Day–to stop standing back in admiration of women and start reaching out to them.

Images
Stanford | Washington Post | New York Times | USA Today

Above City Bikes in Adams Morgan there is a little known secret– every other month a very small apartment becomes crowded with a group of DC food adventurists who meet to swap homemade goods and stories.

At the swap I met Claire Sadeghzadeh, a co-organizer along with Jess Schreibstein and Tanya Fey, to ask how DC Food Swap came about. Claire shared with me that the swaps are becoming more popular in cities like New York, and she, along with Jess and Tanya discussed having a more intimate version in DC. As their mission states, they hope to “nurture a space for our community to learn about growing, preserving, cooking, and foraging wholesome foods.”

I attended the third local food swap along with 30 other people, and although technically “underground” (the organizers told me that they were not accepting press at the event, which is why you’re reading about it on my blog and not Borderstan) there is a waiting list to get in. Claire told me that interest in the swaps had swelled and despite having more than 50 people at the previous event, they felt it diminished the opportunity for a more intimate exchange.

The rule of the food swap is simple: “All swap items must be homemade, homegrown, or foraged by you.”

Here’s How It Works:

Register to attend the event and pay the $5 cover charge at the door. Individuals bring as many or as few items as they would like to swap for; in my case I brought six equally portioned containers of homemade tomato soup, and twelve cheddar/scallion scones. Each swapper provides a description of the item, along with ingredients, and a few test samples for people to try.

The first thirty minutes of the swap are dedicated to set up and conversation; it provides everyone with an opportunity to peruse the options, consider “bids” and learn about the food. The next hour brings a process much like a silent auction–individuals walk around and place their name and their “bid” at each “station.” For more impressive items, I noticed that individuals were willing to trade several smaller items from their own cache. The final half hour is dedicated to making the swap–you examine your bids and decide which to accept.

Unfortunately, my soups were packaged with an eye toward utilitarianism (read: Tupperware) and they didn’t stand a chance against fresh produce grown in community gardens, or craftily packaged mason jars of apple butter, and bottles of infused tonic (I also highly underestimated the number of vegans present at the event). The display of creatively packaged and well-made items were impressive, if not also tasty. The entire swap had a nervous energy–timid cooks hoping for bids, swappers hoping to go home with a prized new dish.

For now, the swapping belongs only to the food–if you want the recipes you’ll have to connect with the cook personally, and that’s only if they’re willing to share. At the end of the afternoon, I walked home with homemade mint jelly, poppyseed bread, apple butter, shortbread cookies and pumpkin woopie pies.

The food swap will no doubt grow larger as more people learn about it, and the organizers are already thinking about how to expand the learning opportunities. Claire mentioned that they hope to develop classes that arise from expertise in the community–canning, cheese making and foraging were among the ideas one group I spoke with would like to see.

I love seeing this kind of local flavor in Adams Morgan and I’m already planning how to make my contribution more appealing for the next swap.

Anyone else attended a food swap?

Filed under: DC, Food Tagged: Adams Morgan, DC Food Swap ]]> http://metropoetrylis.com/2013/03/05/dc-food-swap/feed/ 1 arlusk DC Food Swap | Metropoetrylis http://metropoetrylis.com/2013/03/05/that-noise/ http://metropoetrylis.com/2013/03/05/that-noise/#comments Tue, 05 Mar 2013 15:30:42 +0000 arlusk http://metropoetrylis.com/?p=1511 ]]> It’s been almost three years since deciding to become mostly vegetarian. I had read Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals quite by accident, followed by Animal, Vegetable, Mineral by Barbara Kingsolver. Loved them both and left feeling more connected to my food.

And then one night as I set about preparing two cornish hens for me and David, I literally gagged, hand deep in a chicken carcass. It wasn’t appealing anymore, the beauty had been lost for me once I really understood where it had come from*. I was now pesce/vegetarian. I did a check in a few months later, outlining some philosophical decisions around this new lifestyle, and found that I still felt committed to a primarily vegetarian diet.

Occasionally, I would find myself in a position to eat meat: a perfect New Year’s Eve dinner at Dino (venison), a carefully prepared meal by a friend (soup, with chicken stock), Paris (croque madame). My food philosophies have allowed me flexibility, and because of that I will never regret missing a memorable meal.

But people seem to be frustrated with the gray area–some of the greater insults I’ve heard call me a “fake vegetarian,” “cafeteria veg” or “fauxtarian.” It isn’t the ignorance that accompanies these chides, but rather the utter snobbery that makes them so off-putting. Instead of using it as an opportunity to talk about interesting ways to incorporate vegetables into a meal, most people scoff, “Well, I could never do that. I would miss X [beef, chicken, sausage, blah, blah] too much.”

The truth is, becoming mostly vegetarian hasn’t been easy. It was a drastic lifestyle change and it has required learning a whole new repertoire of recipes. You say you’re not dying to eat brussel sprouts? Well, I’m not always either, but I’ve found ways to make them interesting and enjoyable. Same with peppers, onions and sweet potatoes, all vegetables I one time despised.

And yes, there are types of meat that I miss–BBQ, hamburgers and bacon. And you better believe that when I’m sick and David makes a beautiful BLAT that I eat the hell out of that.

But I respect my body and my food too much to throw just anything on the grill and stuff it down my gullet. Studies show that a vegetarian (or reduced meat) diet may produce “a lower risk of obesity, coronary heart disease (which causes heart attack), high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus and some forms of cancer.” [check it]

So, call it what you want, but being mostly vegetarian (or flexitarian) has made me more thoughtful about food. I’m more aware than ever of ingredients, calories and process. And, at the end of the day, at least I won’t be questioning the make up of my carrots.

*A note: I’m not anti-meat, or pro-animal–if we had a more sustainable way to produce meat for the world, one that didn’t involve factor farming, or insane antibiotics, or animals suffering in inhumane conditions, I would be one skillet toting son of gun. But until that meat is affordable to me (and hopefully everyone else), I’ll stick to my vegetables, thank you very much.

So, I’m not entirely sure why the first time I heard it from a friend, over the phone, after the first span of long-distance in our friendship, that I stumbled over the words. I guess I had never heard it from a friend, and to me, saying I love you was tantamount to calling someone “family.” And she was, is, my family.

I’ve had other friends who carelessly spill those words with the belief that any profession of love, anywhere in the world, is doing God’s work. And I’m not sure I agree. The special quality of “I love you” is the authenticity of feeling you are loved.

There will be a lot of haranguing today about “singles awareness” and whatnot, but the truth is, there is not a Valentine’s Day in my entire life when I did not feel loved by a great number of people, and that brought infinitely more pleasure than any box of chocolates.

If you need a pep talk today, head on over to the Washington Post to read about Will’s Bake Sale, two guys who are spreading the most incredible kind of love. You can also read their story on Borderstan where I covered it last month.

You might also read about the unrequited love of Scott Thompson’s Chipotle server, or the eternal love of Maurice Sendak.

Heart-Glazed Cornmeal Cookies | Martha Stewart

I’ve been working on extending that invitation more frequently in this lovely era of my late-twenties when more often than not, my dear friends are still without kids. It’s a time like no other in my life–when we have a home that is our own (well, in as much as renting a place can be), we have jobs that allow us to indulge is a good bottle of merlot now and again (which is really an occasional step up from our Trader Joe’s standby), and I have the utter pleasure of bringing a meal to a table of adults who can talk about politics, or books, or more likely than not, Downton Abbey.

For me, hosting comes down to a few simple things:

Make What You Know

I’m not going to use this as a time to test out a new 5-hour recipe. Stick with the basics, share food that has a story. Craft a huge pot of pasta and sauce, make your own sandwiches or build tacos. All good options for a dinner party.

Know When to Call for Backup

When I got married, I learned a lot about leaning on friends. These days I’m not shy about asking folks to pop by the store for extra napkins, or ice when I’ve forgotten it. And if we’re anticipating many guests, there’s no shame in having a potluck.

Take Time to Tackle One Insecurity

No amount of dusting or painting will ever make your home perfect. There are always going to be piles of things you mean to put away, or the laundry you meant to have done. So my policy is after you’ve done your cursory cleaning, take time to tackle one insecurity that will otherwise make you uneasy all night.

I’m making my insecurity public–it’s the puppy. He runs our lives oh-so-completely and despite ardent vacuuming, I cringe to imagine our guests leaving with pants full of dog fur. So, I put extra energy into ensuring Jack, and his ever-present coat, is contained.

The timing of this post coincided nicely with hosting tips from Apartment Therapy‘s January Cure series. In the article they remind you that the point of dinner parties are to be with your friends, so focus on simple foods, good drinks, and most importantly–abandon insecurities about your home.

“Chances are, your friends and acquaintances are going to be more interested in your conversation and company than in your servingware, and the things that bother you the most about your home may very well fly under their radar completely.” – On Hosting, Apartment Therapy

Image via Apartment Therapy

Not to mention David is on an avid, un-ending love affair with sweet potatoes.

Last week, however, I stumbled across this recipe from the Attack of the Hunger Monster and decided this baked counterpart might be worth a try. Not to mention David is on an avid, un-ending love affair with sweet potatoes.

The results? Delicate, salty, crunchy tots that taste far better than any frozen iteration.

I’ve adapted the recipe a bit to account for my rock-star Ikea oven that, although electric, bakes at lightening speed.

Sweet Potato Tots for Two (adapted from Attack of the Hungry Monster)
makes about 12-15 medium sized tots

2 large sweet potatoes
3/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, divided
Salt
Garlic powder
Non-stick cooking spray

• Wash the sweet potato, pierce it with a fork all over. This is a crucial step–I’ve clean exploded sweet potatoes from the microwave, it ain’t pretty. Microwave until fork tender, 5-7 minutes.
• Let the potatoes cool, then carefully peel off the skin and mash the sweet potato in a bowl. I like super creamy potatoes, so I made sure mine were mashed well.  Mix in some salt, garlic powder and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. I also added a 1/4 tsp of paprika.
• Get your coating ready by mixing the bread crumbs with the remaining 1/4 cup of Parmesan and some salt.
  Scoop about 2 tablespoons of sweet potato mixture into your hand and form a tot shape.  Roll directly in the bread crumb mixture and place on a sprayed baking sheet.  Continue until all tots are formed.
• Bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes, turn them on the baking sheet and bake for an additional 7-10 minutes.