Zaytinya, Washington DC

Waking up to a little Winter wonderland such as this invokes strong emotions within me. Strong emotions because I knew I had f**kloads of shoveling to do before I could leave the house. Well at least the snow had stopped and the three hours of shoveling worked up quite an appetite to justify another meal.

It wasn't our intention to hit another "tapas" style restaurant the very next day but technically Zaytinya does mezze style dishes which is pretty much er... Middle-Eastern tapas. The food here has strong Greek, Lebanese and Turkish influences which were evident in the flavor and selection of dishes.

Warm pita bread on a cold late morning, most welcomed.

Smooth humus with a generous pour of olive oil, this accompanied the bread very well.

Escargots on a bed of mashed potatoes served with a garlic butter sauce, a tad salty but these were still quite tasty snails.

Now this was very tasty, minced lamb kebab koobideh seared just enough to cook the exterior leaving almost a tartare like raw finish within. Delicious!

The homemade veal sausages were also very good with a surprisingly very snappy casing which pretty much just burst forth with full flavor on every bite.

Crisp pita bread filled with seasoned minced lamb, I could imagine this as a nice snack or sandwich to go, the bread remained nice and crisp despite the juicy mince.

Here's a risoni with grilled chicken and shaved parmesan, this felt a little heavy but that could probably be due to the fact that we were already pretty full before this last savory dish arrived.

Zaytinya's rendition of the Turkish delight. Walnut ice cream with Skotidakis Farm goat’s milk yogurt mousse, honey geleé, orange-caramel sauce and caramelized pine nuts. I'm not a big fan of the typical Turkish delight confectionary (way too sweet for me) but this was a nice refreshing change.

And just to balance up the desserts, here's the Greek yogurt and apricots. Muscat soaked apricots, vanilla yogurt cream, apricot sorbet and pistachio powder. Not bad either.

The almost obligatory Turkish coffee ended the meal.

D

Jaleo Revisited, Washington DC

Whenever I'm in DC, I make a stop by my favorite Spanish tapas joint, Jaleo. I've reviewed this place before, so I skipped the upload of many repetitious pictures but here are some dishes that I tried for the first time.

A starter of smoked chorizo and pata negra (jamón ibérico de bellota apparently), cured meat of the black Iberian pig which was thankfully released for sale from Spain to the USA in July 2008 . Oily, smooth and salted just enough, this was good stuff.

Shrimp quick boiled and drizzled with a chili and garlic infused olive oil was up next. The seafoods really shine at Jaleo and I've never been disappointed with the freshness and quality of the seafood here.

Broiled octopus with baby potatoes; fresh seafood well cooked again with a nice sprinkle of paprika.

A great winter dish was the stew of tenderly braised veal cheek with a medley of mushrooms including fresh porcini! A lot more subtle in taste than the dried ones, this should still delight the porcini lovers out there.

We finished our meal with a pair of desserts including this rich vanilla flan with brandy whipped cream. Deceptively rich, it went well with our coffee.

The service as usual is impeccable and they were still just as hospitable and gracious towards us despite the fact that they were planning to close early that day due to the crazy blizzard. That's a photo from the window by the way.

D

Five Guys, Washington DC

I've always found DC to have a nice number of eateries that will fit almost any budget. Although Five Guys is originally from Arlington, Virginia, it's in DC where they really took off, having spawned quite a number of branches in DC, they've gone on to spread to other states.

As their namesake suggests, they do take their fries and burgers quite seriously. Their fries are made from fresh potatoes and prepared almost as when they're ordered. There's a signboard up stating where their fries are from as well. If I'm not wrong, these spuds were from somewhere in Idaho (where else?). Simply seasoned with some salt and black pepper, these were pretty tasty on its own. There's also no reason to order a larger serve because although the size of the cup may vary, they throw everything into a brown paper bag and just fill it up anyway.

There's a bit of a gimmick in their burger nomenclature here, a "little burger" is basically your standard burger and their standard burger here comes with double patties. Needless to say I went for the bacon cheeseburger which came with two very nice and juicy patties. Another plus to this place is that all additional toppings are free, I think I chose mustard, catsup, jalapenos, mushrooms, fried onions, lettuce and tomato. All in all, this made a pretty good lunch. Some aspects of fastfood still remain though, all the patties are only cooked to well-done which is a bit of bummer but they were still juicy enough to be quite delectable indeeed. For fastfood, this is definitely better than your average.

D

p.s: An absolutely happy Chinese New Year to all my Chinese readers out there!

Jaleo, Washington DC

Jaleo at 480 7th Street (Tel (202) 628-7949) is a pretty popular tapas restaurant in DC. The concept of tapas is to share a wide variety of appetizers with friends and it's pretty fun really because you get to taste a myriad of different flavors and textures.

We started off with a refreshing red sangria which was tart enough to whet our appetites and not excessively sweet.


Next up was the plate of breads, olive oil and pickled stuff. The breads were ok, they tasted pretty fresh even though it would have been better served warm. I'm slightly prejudiced against the whole "healthier" olive oil with bread thing preferring a slab of salted butter anytime but I guess this is a Spanish restaurant so it can be forgiven.


Next came the smoked salmon on cream cheese topped with salmon roe (ikura). Thankfully the cream cheese wasn't very salty which gave this dish a more balanced edge because smoked salmon and salmon roe always tends to be rather salty.


Then came some delightfully well-fried calamari. Fresh squid, crisp and light batter and dipping mayonnaise, this went fast.


The meat cannelloni baked with cheese was pretty hearty as well. Served whilst the cheese was still bubbling, this piping hot dish was great Winter comfort food.


Of course we had to order a chorizo tortilla (Spanish omelette) in a Spanish restaurant. Somehow the minced chorizo tasted a bit like beef hash and the the oil spilling out from the side was rather overwhelming (even for me), but nevertheless this was still pretty tasty.


The grilled sea bass was excellent with a crisp finish to the skin and a good serve of soft tasty spinach wedged between the slice of fish.


We had to order a straight-up chorizo on a bed of mash because of the lack of chorizo-ness in that tortilla. This tasted like chorizo.


The chicken croquetas was not too bad. A crunchy shell covering soft mashed spuds and shredded chicken. The slight hint of spices (curry powder??) in this made it quite flavorsome.


Deep-fried marinated shark was up next. As with the previous seafood dishes, this was executed excellently as well. The shark tasted like it was brined slightly which helped diminish any fishy flavors whilst still maintaining a nice bite.


Craving some mammal, we ordered the grilled lamb. Not too bad, albeit rather small a chunk but it was tender and succulent.


Another popular tapas dish is the albondigas which is a platter of meatballs. These were good meatballs possibly made with no or minimal filler hence tasting meaty enough to satisfy most carnivores.


Steamed mussels in white wine were next. Fresh mussels in a delicious broth. Served hot and steaming, we would have gotten some bread to soak up that broth if we weren't starting to feel a little full.


Here's another grilled pork sausage on a bed of potato chunks. As good as a coarse meaty sausage can get.


Deep fried potato wedges were pretty much the carbohydrate staple for this meal.


Since we were having such a good run with the seafood, we decided to cram in the grilled squid served on a layer of marinated olive puree. As with the rest of the seafood, this was done just nice as well.


Last but not least, because I love nutella, I couldn't help ordering the rich hazelnut mousse cake to finish off the meal. Rich but not too sweet, this definitely hit the dessert spot.

D

Etete Ethiopian Cuisine, Washington DC

I truly love trying new types of cuisine. When AH suggested Ethiopian food for dinner I jumped at it immediately. Of course the description of eating chunks of meat with my barehands was a great motivating factor haha.

Injera is sort of like a soft pancake (almost like a dosai/tosai) made from teff flour. It's fermented prior to being cooked so there's a slight sour tinge of flavor which makes this a rather acquired taste.

Besides the additional injera on the side, the base of our serving platter is made out of one huge sheet of injera. It comes with some basic gravies and the food is piled on by the server.

Each different dish is gradually piled onto the same platter.

Once everything is done, we peel off pieces of injera and proceed to eat with our barehands all the tasty morsels that's been placed on the main injera platter. Communal barehand eating; awesome.

Although all the dishes tasted pretty damn good, my personal favorite would be the grilled beef short-ribs. Grilled till they were slightly charred but still maintaining a juicy interior, these savory and spicy treats of meat-on-bone were truly delectable.

We had some fine red wine to accompany the meal and also some tej. Tej is a traditional Ethiopian wine fermented from honey and a form of hops called "gesho". Rather sweet with a slightly muddy(?) flavor, this tasted odd initially but paired well with the tart injera.

Best part about the meal is that you get to eat the plate when you're done! Well.. technically not really the plate but the layer above the plate... which is made of injera... ok.. you get the idea.

There's something so primitive and primal about eating meat with one's barehands that appeals to me so tremendously; this I felt was pure genius.

Etete, my first Ethiopian dining experience and definitely far from being my last.

D

Cakelove, Washington DC

This little bakery along U street seemed to be garnering quite abit of popularity, so we stopped by for a look.

Apparently they specialize in cupcakes. At 3usd a pop, these are definitely at a premium compared to some that you get back in Singapore.

Nevertheless the flavors and colors did inspire us enough to buy a little box home to sample.

They turned out to be pretty tasty. The icing on top help kept them moist and buttery even though we ate them at the end of the day.

D