Proof is in the pudding

Well, after a little discussion with my foodie friend, we opted to get a table at Proof for Memorial Day weekend instead of Volt Range.  So stay tuned!

And if they don't serve pudding, I will be disappointed.

Fiola, DC

Chef Fabio Trabocchi was one of the first chef's names I ever learned.  I stayed one night at the Ritz Carlton in Tysons Corner years ago and stumbled on a dinner reservation at their restaurant called "Maestro".  It was not until after the evening was over that I realized I had eaten at one of the best restaurants in DC (I believe it was ranked #2 at the time).  Needless to say that this was the first Michelin-level dining experience of my life and it absolutely changed me forever.  Sadly, Trabocchi left DC before I ever had a chance to go back to Maestro but..... he's back!

Trabocchi had retreated to NYC for years before returning to DC to open... Fiola!  And in a short time, Fiola is already rated #4 in Washingtonian Magazine.  I was super excited to head there for drinks and dinner and with a fun group of people to enjoy it with.

The bar scene is very DC yuppy with lobbyists hanging around decompressing after a day on Capital Hill.  However, the bar itself is fairly large and the service is great. It's so nice to not have to fight through a wall of drunks to get a drink at Happy Hour. After drinks, we were finally seated.  An adjustment to the size of our party meant we had to wait 30 minutes longer but the hostess team was very kind.  The ambience of the dining room is classy but not overly pretentious.  We are seeing the food in newer restaurants in DC be more of the focus than the ambience.  I never like leaving a restaurant feeling like they spent more money on the decor than they did on the ingredients and service. An example of this is while the food at Sax isn't "bad", I feel the food is well below the ambience and decor.

Our waiter was pretty much what you would expect when you are paying the prices they charge at Fiola.  He assisted with our selections with some recommendations and did not miss a beat the entire meal.  Nothing but positive things to say about the service.  We had a group of 5 so we opted to go family style with our orders so we could try more dishes.  My favorite way of eating!

Here is a run-down of what we ordered:

Appetizers:

Heaven = Fois Gras

Tuna Carpaccio - I apologize for the lack of a photo but the picture turned out terrible and already had a bite taken out of it.  This dish is remarkably colorful and not for people who judge food by appearance because there are a million things going on.  However, it had many subtle flavors that did not take away from the taste of the raw fish.  The dish was VERY busy.

Hudson Valley Fois Gras - A couple of people in our group had never had Fois Gras before so I had to do a little convincing that we would need two servings of this to avoid a riot.  It's such a satisfying feeling to make such a recommendation and then see everyone's face light up when they try something new. My friend next to me literally moaned and said "Oh god" after tasting the first bite of Fois Gras in her life.  If you visit Fiola without getting the Fois Gras, it would be a crime.  At Fiola, it's a piece of perfectly cooked deliciousness. 

 

The Bucatini with really tasty prawns

Bucatini - I have very little memory of this dish except that one of the people in our group was expecting actual sea urchin, not just sea urchin flavor.  I do remember the prawns were well cooked and the fresh pasta was perfectly cooked.  It's just so hard to eat Italian food at normal restaurants after having it at places like this...
















Lobster Ravioli - This is one of my favorite dishes, in general, so it's tough to impress me, however Fiola's lobster ravioli was exactly what I would expect from a 38 dollar dish.  Big chunks of lobster, homemade fresh pasta and a great flavor.

An excellent Lobster Ravioli

The tortellinis

Tortellini -  I don't really recall what was inside the tortellini as the menu appears to have changed since I went but wow, the pasta is so fresh.

Such a big difference between really good, fresh pasta and what a local Italian chain eatery serves.  Not that I eat at local Italian chain eateries any more :)  Ok, that sounds pretentious but the best way to get me to dip out of a Friday night outing is to tell me that we are going to Olive Garden.

It's hard to say "cockles" without chuckling

Branzino - A perfectly cooked piece of fish alongside some freshwater "cockles" which are like a small clam.  The chef used a liberal amount of foam in this dish.  Flavored foams are pretty cool for me but I can see how some people are a little grossed out by it.  The first time I had foam was actually at Maestro so it was interesting to see that while the rest of the culinary world has moved away from foams, Trabocchi still enjoys cooking with them.











 
For dessert, we enjoyed a mix of a delicious marscapone custard underneath a scoop of rhubarb lemoncello shaved ice which Italian restaurants call "granita". 


The meal was overall worthy of its #4 ranking in the DC area and I hope to return.  Let's just hope Fois Gras is still legal to be served before my next visit!


Rating - 5 out of 5 stars.  Great for a date or for foodies.  Although the food is a reasonable value compared to the top restaurants in DC hosted by a James Beard award-winning chef in the kitchen, it will set you back a pretty penny.

Nostos - Great Greek Gastronomic Goodies - Tysons Corner

I received a tip from a friend that there is a Greek restaurant in Tysons Corner worth checking out.  So I grabbed a foodie friend and headed to TC.  I really like Greek food but beyond Zaytina, I haven't found any Greek food in this area that I liked much (Note, I don't consider Komi really Greek).  So I went into this dinner with high hopes.

The location is set in the heart of Tysons Corner on route 7 near the mall.  The interior of the restaurant is modern with whites and mints dominating the color palette.  We arrived at 6 pm and it was already bustling and filled to capacity before our food arrived.  Hint, make a reservation or it's unlikely that you will get seated.  Word is out.  Nostos is good.

The menu is about 80% small plates which is my favorite style of dining.  Lots of tastes and flavors instead of one huge entree I can't finish.  But before we ordered food, we selected a couple of glasses of Greek wine, which were both excellent. The waiter was kind enough to provide me with complimentary tastes of two wines so I could made an educated decision.  Fantastic service!  After careful consideration and consultation with the waiter, who was a doppleganger for Peter Gallagher from tv's "Arrow", we made our selections.

An accidental sexual presentation?... I don't think so.

First, the bread came.  Not Pita.... bread.  Can you possibly forgive Nostos for placing bread on the table instead of the traditional starch of Greece?  The answer is "YES".  The bread was excellent and served with one of the best small dishes of hummus I've ever had to to along with it.  We decided to start with their Greek version of baba ganoush, Melitzanosalata.  I'm not a huge fan of eggplant (has the word egg in it, after all) but this was actually very good.  We quickly got into a second loaf of bread and a second round of the complimentary hummus while scooping this dip up.

Stuffed Grape leaves

I sometimes get a craving for stuffed grape leaves.  If they are done well, they can be extremely tasty.  Nostos does a great job with theirs and drenched two stuffed grape leaves with a lemon-egg sauce.  Admittedly, they aren't the most beautiful things to look at, but they were excellent.

Something on the menu jumped out at us and was also recommended by the waiter so we tried it.  The Saganaki which is a thick slice of kefalograviera cheese flambeed tableside with oil and lemon.  The result?  A salty, crusty piece of warm cheese to spread on the bread.  This small plate is around ten dollars and is a must-have, not just because of the taste but the oooo and ahhh factor as the entire restaurant turns to see the explosion of flame at your table.

Peter Gallagher produces cheese flambe'!

The next two dishes came out together.  First, fried zucchini with a yogurt dill sauce.  The second, pieces of fried cod with a lemony garlic bread puree.  The zucchini tasted like it should.  Lightly fried and a yummy dip.  You won't blow your mindhole eating it but if you like fried veggies, you can't go wrong.

It is almost criminal to go to a Greek restaurant without eating fresh fish.  But since we loaded up on numerous other goodies, there was no room left for a full fish entree.  So we opted for the fish bites.  The fish was fresh, it was fried and it had a good sauce to dip it in.  Let's move on.

Grilled Octopus.  A must-order!

The next two dishes were a sauteed shrimp, feta and tomato dish.  I've actually cooked something similar to this before.  Very tasty.  But what I really want to talk about is the Grilled Octopus.  For whatever reason, my expectations were very low, in spite of the waiter giving it his highest recommendation.  The octopus came out as a single, long tentacle obviously grilled over and open flame.  It was lightly seasoned and incredibly fresh and served over some sort of pureed veggie.  The texture was unlike anything I had eaten before.  Normally, cooked or raw, octopus is fairly gamey.  However, the meat of this octopus was more like eating succulent cooked lobster.  It cut easily under the knife and was delicious.  This dish is a must-have if you dine at Nostos. 

For dessert, I obviously went for their creme caramel.  It was just "ok" but keep in mind when I say that, that it is increasingly difficult to impress me with a flan or creme caramel.  The interior of this dessert was a little bubbly and the caramel sauce was a little too sweet for my taste. 

Had to dive into this before I got the photo

I stopped the manager to comment on his serving skills and overall swagger (if you see him, you'll see what I mean by witnessing how he carries plates and glasses of wine around) and he brought us some greek dessert wine to enjoy after our meal.  I love places that go above and beyond like that.

Overall, Nostos is a restaurant I will be frequenting for any special occasion I might have.  The service was top-notch and my server was a true professional, offering excellent recommendations and clearly loving his job.  The prices were reasonable for the quality of food and service, but for two people that are drinking wine, it is likely going to run you around 100 dollars for the meal.  That is always money well spent for a meal that you can remember one day.





Rating - 5 out of 5 stars.

Tommy Dinic's - Reading Terminal Station Philly

RTS during peak hours

Reading Terminal Station.... This is a foodie mecca.  It's surprising to hear how few people even know of its existence.  Everyone associates Pat's, Gino's and Jim's steaks with Philadelphia but if that's all you experience while in Philly, you are completely missing out.  Inside this old train station are rows and rows of food stands almost all of which are worth paying a visit.  The cookie stand and hand-dipped ice cream stands are a good bet, as well as the cheesesteak stand, the creperia and the Amish market.  However, one stand rises above the rest.  With a line that pretty normally extends 100 people deep, Tommy Dinic's is the heartbeat of Reading Terminal Station.

I woke up on a Saturday morning and after talking about the cravings I've been having for Tommy Dinic's in the last couple of months, I finally got in the car, picked up a friend and made the trip to Philly.  I can't lie and say that the trip was all about anything other that driving 2.5 hours just for lunch.  Crazy?  Maybe.  Worth it?  Absolutely.

Tommy Dinics specializes in hoagie sandwiches.  Two of their sandwiches are absolutely incredible.  The first and most famous, is their Roast Pork sandwich with Broccoli rabe and sharp provolone.  The Travel Channel apparently named this the greatest sandwich in America.  So this was definitely on my list.  However, my real reason for driving to Philly was their other sandwich... the beef brisket sandwich with roasted peppers and sharp provolone.

First the pork sandwich.  I can see what the fuss is about.  The pulled pork is extremely juicy as it sits in a hot broth until it is ready to serve.  If you haven't had broccoli rabe before, it's essentially chopped up, seasoned broccoli.  It makes for a nice condiment and it's healthy!  This is the only place I've been that serves sharp provolone and I love it!  But is this the best sandwich in America?  Sadly, no.  My pork was a little dry by the last few bites and I felt the sandwich lacked seasoning.

It would probably make my top 10 but what's crazy is, the sandwich that without a doubt is the best sandwich I've ever had.... is the beef brisket sandwich.

Just look at that meat!  Chunks of the most moist and flavorful beef brisket you've ever had. I ordered peppers and the waitress suggested I try a blend of hot and mild peppers.  This turned out to be a great idea.  The sharp provolone serves as a basin of sorts that succeeds in keeping the juices from the meat in the sandwich instead of completely soaking through the bread.  To add a little kick, I added some horseradish sauce which is in a metal tin at your booth.  Together, the full package is a heavenly blend of texture and flavor that takes your breath away. 

I washed my meal down with a coke and grabbed a warm cookie on the way out.  Before leaving, I picked up a strawberry rhubarb pie at the Amish market stand and said goodbye to RTS.  Until next time, RTS.

Unless you enjoy waiting in line for 20-30 minutes, here is a really simple little tip only for my readers.  Stalk the people who are sitting at the counter and grab seats as soon as they get up.  No one sits for too long here so if you are a good seat stalker, you are golden.  Most of the patrons are just grabbing a couple of sandwiches to go, so there is almost no competition for these seats.  The best part?  You get served immediately!

Rating - 5 out of 5 stars. 

Hot Spot Asian Fondue - Fairfax, Virginia

Who doesn't love fondue?   Hot Spot in Fairfax is an Asian-style Fondue restaurant located in a strip mall in the eastern part of Fairfax off route 29.

Hot Spot is trying to do what few restaurants have done outside the beltway.  Create a trendy asian atmosphere with cook-it-yourself style fondue cooking.  Overall, they succeed in this mission.  When you walk in, almost as soon as you notice the dense, humid smell of the cooking broths, you also notice that they spend considerable money in their decor.  The restaurant is definitely modern and not dingy like some asian holes in the walls.

Mmm, butter beer.  With a little rum, of course.

The first thing to try is the butter beer.  This is probably hit or miss for most people as it is very sweet.  Very much like a whipped-cream topped cream soda with a kick (if you opt for the optional shot of rum in it).  They do serve drinks though, so point scored.  They explain to you that you essentially choose one broth flavor per pair of people and then check off an unlimited number of items off the dipping menu.  The dipping menu contained everything from your standard meats and seafoods to mini dumplings, exotic vegetables, as well as tripe, tongue and other more obscure parts of dead animal.  Feel like being adventurous?

What they tell you is that they will automatically bring out a big plate of veggies for you to try at the start of the meal.  What they don't tell you is that many of the more exotic and sometimes more expensive items are not on the initial menu sheet they give you.  They strategically have a second menu that has more stuff on it to choose from.  I think they expect people to go buck-wild with the initial menu and fill up before they get to the second, more expensive menu.  Brilliant thinking, however, my readers will not be fooled!  Order light on the first menu and when you know what you like, go ballistic on the second menu :)

12 different types of protein for dipping!

There is a sauce station where you can select from a large variety of condiments and create your own dipping sauce.  This is much more useful for people that like to breath fire with each bite they take or if you get a bland broth that doesn't add flavor to the food.

Yes, that is a whole octopus

Some of our favorites:  We all agreed that the bigger dumplings (chicken?) were better than the super small ones.  The tongue was not my favorite.  All the other meats were really good.  We ordered the Spicy Broth and the Shabu Shabu.  The Shabu was extremely mild yet good.  The Spicy was REALLY spicy.  I read people's reviews saying it wasn't that spicy and I think these people are playing a practical joke on you.  There is actually a VERY spicy option but if you really need to go that route, you have an absolutely shitty palette and you might as well eat cardboad with sriracha at home instead of going out.  They have a lot of asian vegetables that are not only cool and interesting but taste really good if you don't overcook them.  The shrimp were a favorite and tasted pretty fresh!  And remember.... it's unlimited meat!

We were too stuffed for dessert or to even look at a dessert menu, so I apologize for that.  All in all though, it was a fun meal and we got our money's worth.  The all-you-can-eat option is around 22 dollars.  If you don't go crazy on butter beer, it's a reasonably priced dinner.

P.S.  Make 100% sure every piece of clothing you take into the restaurant is washable because you will leave stinking like fondue broth!  Leave your jackets in the car and wash your hair immediately afterwards.

Rating - 3.5 out of 5 stars

Bistrot du Coin - Dupont DC

I've been hearing about Bistrot du Coin for quite a while now as a lover of good French food, I finally had an invitation to go!  The restaurant in located near Dupont Circle just a few blocks northwest.  Parking can be a bit of a nightmare in this area if you go during prime dining hours.

The restaurant has a very homey feel to it in spite of being placed in the middle a hot part of town.  I really liked what they did with the decor.  The bar is a massive wood structure and adds a bit of class to the restaurant area.  There is an upstairs dining room that appears to handle overflow.  Ambiance is romantic yet eclectic. 

The menu was great.  It's a french restaurant so there is a decent selection of french wines.   The first thing I did though was hunt to find Fois Gras!  Mission Accomplished.  It's harder and harder to find Fois on menu's these days.  In addition to the Fois, we also ordered their ravioli's (something of a specialty at Bistrot du Coin) and a small pot of mussels in white wine, tomatoes, thyme and garlic.  For a main, we went with the filet with Bearnaise sauce.

Fois Gras and risotto.  Fantastic

This is BdC's version of ravioli's.  Lots of cheesy goodness.

The picture doesn't do the thickness of the filet justice.

All of the food was excellent.  The filet was enormous! I have no idea how restaurants can uniformly cook steaks that are 4 inches thick at the thickest point.  I'd really like to try their mussels in a creamy sauce such as their sauce with light curry.  Taking pieces of buttered french bread and dipping it into an amazing mussel sauce is heavenly.  That could have been my entire meal.  The French fries.... were incredible.  They didn't serve ketchup with them but they didn't need anything. 

Service was spotty.  I had to get up and find my waiter on more than one occasion and the manager had to take care of getting my check at the end of the dinner.  To the restaurant's defense, the place became a mob shortly after we got there and everyone in the restaurant world knows how crazy that can be when 75% of your tables at seated within 15 minutes of one another. 

Bistrot du Coin is on my list of places to try again in DC.  Prices were reasonable for good french food in the Dupont Circle area.  Definitely check it out if you are looking for a good French meal.

Rating - 4 out of 5 stars.

Toki Underground

Toki's Classic Ramen with pork loin.  Minus the egg for me

The first thing I observantly noticed is that Toki Underground is actually above ground.  Wow, I thought, when I walked in.  How clever of them :)  

DC is an area of burgeoning Asian food influences.  While there have been some trendy sushi places and even a couple of good Japanese restaurants (Sushi Taro and Makoto), there are many other types of Japanese food that have not been well represented in DC.  Toki Underground is an attempt to fill in that gap.

I've heard of some noodle bars popping up in DC but this is my first time making it out to one.  Until now, my noodle adventures have been primarily surrounding finding the best Pho restaurants in the area.  Toki has a decent following so far and with a quick check on yelp before going, it is clear that you will be waiting in line for a table if you go during peak hours.  We decided to go at around 11 PM on a Saturday night to avoid dealing with the rush.

Toki's ambience is slightly sexy, dark and fun. We were seated at the bar right in front of the noodle chef.  My first impression was ohhh, he's not even asian!  Let alone Japanese.  That's a bit racist to notice but in an area that has almost ZERO Japanese owned/run Japanese restaurants, I was hopeful to see a smiling Japanese noodle cook, preferably one that is 82 years old and looks like Jiro.  But behind him, I did notice a couple of asian-looking fellows cooking and I proceeded to order.

Their menu is pretty simple although their website didn't seem to list the noodle soups when I checked.  The main section of the menu is a list of different noodle soups available.  They also offer a few different add-ons like pork cheeks or extra egg.  I really wanted to try their dumplings but I was so focused on the ramen soup that it didn't happen.

The ramen soup was amazing.  Here is the problem that you'll have by trusting reviewers.  You have some people who grew up eating Ramen for 25 cents a bag and they can't understand paying 10 dollars for a bowl of it nor do they have the palette to taste the subtle differences in some cases.  Then you also have people who have had great ramen in Asia and that's also a difficult comparison.  What you get at Toki is an influenced version of Ramen that should be evaluated on its own merit.  For me (recently visited Japan AND grew up on bags of cheap Ramen), the broth was excellent with a rich and buttery flavor.  The pulled pork was tender and I was able to get a little bit into each bite of noodles I picked up.  The noodles were noodles.  For me, Ramen noodles are either good or they are overcooked.  People try to get very descriptive and critical of ramen noodles and with Soba or Udon, I can understand that.  Not with Ramen.  To top off the above listed ingredients were a piece of Nori (dried Seaweed), a soft-boiled egg (I held this back), some sesame, scallions and their seasonal vegetable... mustard greens.  The mustard greens were actually a perfect addition.  You could peel away a little piece off the cooked roll floating in my delicious broth offering each bite a little contrast in texture and some bitterness. One of my friends got the pork cheeks and devoured them.

We finished our meal with some chocolate chip cookies and milk.  For 7 bucks for 3 cookies, this is the only thing that seemed a bit pricey since my world famous bag-of-cookies costs half that and yields me about two dozen cookies.

I can't wait to return to Toki Underground.  I'm even looking forward to bringing my kids when I come back.  It was worth the hype and the wait.  Hopefully they will quickly expand to another location now that they've proven that DC is ready for high quality ramen!  Avoid coming in big groups as they only have bar seating and don't take reservations.  Great place to bring a date and it won't break the bank if you are on a budget.


Rating - 5 Stars.