Farewell to Wiinky's in Arlington

After plans to try out Ravi with a friend were thwarted, we turned to another neighborhood spot that was unfortunately set to close tomorrow. Wiinky's has served hotdogs and burgers for the past two years, but in an unfortunately far to familiar refrain, the landlords were not renewing the lease for the restaurant and a few other local shops on the block to make way for a pet store. Truly a shame, since this place makes some fantastic burgers.

Ranchero Burger

Cheeseburger topped with jalapenos, onion and fried egg. The fried egg had a runny yolk that melded into an unctuous burger. 

Chili cheese fries.

Since they had already sold out of hotdogs, the hubs got an extra cup of chili. Nice and spicy with a different flavor than the version at Ben's Chili Bowl. Very enjoyable.

Alamo Burger with great bacon, cheese, avocado, lettuce and tomato and a side of onion rings.

The hubs' bacon cheeseburger.

***

Such as shame Wiinky's is closing, but hopefully they can find a new location with a more amenable landlord.

Virtue Grain and Feed Nibbles

Before heading out to my first ever metal show at the Black Cat, we met up with friends at Virtue in Old Town. The hubs' friend and former bandmate is a bartender there, and a super nice guy. His girlfriend is vegan, and Virtue is unfortunately not even fairly vegetarian-friendly. For vegans, well the drinks are good.

Spicy buttered popcorn.

In my mind, I was thinking of the fantastically delicious and butter popcorn we had at Pingvinen. This version was less abundant and a little oily. Perhaps something more like the truffled popcorn at Screwtop would be a better accompaniment to the fun drink menu.

Deviled Eggs

Super creamy, these are a lovely rendition.

Roasted peanuts.

Crabcake appetizer.

Nice crab flavor, but more breading and filler than the lump crabcakes at District Commons.

Thick chips.

Rapini with local clams and spaghetti.

***

Virtue has a number of interesting dishes, but the reason to go is for the friendly staff. It's also a beautiful space. I think it's nice to see local restaurants doing well and not being crowded out by chain restaurants you can find in any city.

G Street Food "Cuban" Sandwich

I met a World Bank consultant for lunch, and tried out the G Street Food location near 17th and G Street. 

"Cuban" sandwich

This sandwich deserves the quotation marks, since this is clearly a sandwich inspired by the famous cubano, but too fancified. The bread is not pressed, and the prosciutto instead of regular ham is an inauthentic touch, but the pork was well seasoned. I carried the odor of garlic around for hours afterwards. Super filling sandwich, a little on the salty side, and really nice bread.

Sichuan Express Noodle Soup #4

The weather took a turn for the colder this week. I'm ready for the cold, blustery days of spring to finally make way for the warmer, sunnier springtime weather of normal springtime in Washington. To combat the cold, I decided I needed some noodle soup from Sichuan Express. The noodle soups have become so popular, you could be stuck waiting for a while if you head over during lunchtime. Trying to be strategic, I went there at 11:45 am. 

While I really like the shrimp or pork with bamboo shoots and bok choy, this time I tried a new one, the #4 with stew beef and vegetables.

The beef is marbled with fat, and the oil broth is spicy, with a nice hint of freshness from the cilantro.

It was nice, spicy and hot, but not my favorite. If I'm looking for spicy I think I'll stick with the mabo ramen.

Kabob Palace Takeout

The husband has been super busy at the office this last week. His building has been under renovation for the last few months, and they finally finished the new gym. While he's finishing up work, I've been running on the treadmills, getting my exercise fix in. We picked up some kabob combos from Kabob Palace afterwards. Calling ahead before we head over is a must. KP is a zoo every time we go there, and it's nice to cut down the wait.

Chicken and ground beef kabob with salad, rice, spinach and chickpeas.

***

The hubs loves Kabob Palace the best, although I'm really interested in trying out the karahi, or Pakistani curries made with either chicken or lamb, at Ravi Kabob. We tried to stop by Ravi with a friend on Saturday, but we arrived right at prime time family dining time and no tables were available. The hubs finally saw some karahi on one of the tables and I think I've convinced him that we need to try it.

"Priceless" Mahobin Dog

We've been on a Japanese drama viewing marathon. Partially it's to help my listening comprehension, and also it's something we can do together. We started off with Priceless, a Kimutaku (Takuya Kimura) drama highlighting that the important things in life are people and relationships, not money. 

The main storyline included a company that makes "mahobin" (thermos).
Frequently throughout the 12 episodes, the main characters eat hotdogs, and even ran a special hotdog yatai (portable food stall) for a time.

Inspired by the drama, I made special "Mahobin" dogs in honor of the finale.
The key is super fresh French bread.

Sick Husband's Dinner Request

Last weekend the husband was feeling under the weather. That didn't stop him  from hitting the driving range for an hour. Afterwards, he surprised me by going to the new Safeway by himself to pick up some groceries while I ran 11 miles. Since he procured the groceries, I made his dinner request, clam chowder.

Bacon-wrapped water chestnuts....

Because bacon makes many things better.

Cheese-topped biscuits.

Thick and creamy New England-style clam chowder.

***

The husband loved his hot bowl of chowder and hopefully it helped him feel just a little better. 

Taco Salad

A nice way to get a lot of flavor and color into your daily meal, homemade taco salad. Perfectly ripe avocado is a must, as are vine-ripened tomatoes that actually taste like tomatoes.

Ground beef with taco seasoning topped with lettuce, black olives, tomatoes, red bell peppers and avocado with a light vinaigrette.

Mushroom Risotto and Arancini

I found some dried porcini mushrooms at the new Safeway along with some arborio rice. After picking up some portobello mushrooms, I knew what I had to make....mushroom risotto. Some oven-roasted asparagus helped to add a pop of color and flavor. 

Meatfree Monday Meal

With the leftover risotto, I made arancini.

Sunday Pot Roast

We checked out the newly renovated Safeway in Belle View. Usually we frequent Super H Mart, Trader Joe's or Whole Foods in Alexandria. Each has their own advantages and disadvantages. When I feel like cooking Asian food for the week, we head to Super H, but it's the farthest away. When time is short or we feel like Italian or traditional American, we go to TJs or Whole Foods. 

The renovated Safeway has a more extensive meat department. We picked up a beef chuck roast on sale. The produce area has varying degrees of fresh vegetables, some a little worse for the wear. I also picked up an oven bag to cook the pot roast and vegetables in, which definitely helped with cleanup afterwards.

 After two hours in a 350F oven.

With the liquids from the bag, I made a rich gravy to spoon over the roast and vegetables.

Sunday Beef Pot Roast with onions, carrots, parsnips and baby potatoes.

Yechon in Annandale

 The husband and I took a new acquaintance of his out to dinner at a Korea restaurant in Annandale. Since I'm still not digging the (Honey)pig and we had been to Lighthouse fairly recently, I suggested we go to Yechon. In my mind, the gastronomical analogy is that Yechon is like the older brother of Honeypig, plus we hadn't been back to Yechon in ages. What I had remembered is their array of banchan is impressive.

 Hello banchan.

 Japchae

 Panfried Mandu

 Hamul pajeon. 

I loved that the server cut it with a sharp pair of scissors. 

Nice bits of scallions and squid but a thinner variety than Lighthouse.

Grilled mackerel.

The husband liked this mackerel way more than the version at ToSokJip.

Mackerel is an acquired taste that I love. This version was nice, plump and well-cooked.

Special Galbi.

Since our table was space-constrained, we had them cook the galbi in the kitchen and not on the table. 

***

This was definitely more expensive than the Pig, but I really liked being able to order mackerel, japchae and bbq at the same place, and we didn't even dabble in any of the casseroles, soups or stews. We took the leftovers home and they were enough for a second meal for the two of us. 

Welcome Home Breakfast

The husband headed to NY for a two day conference and arrived home late on Friday night. To welcome him back, I picked up two pork breakfast sausages, eggs and buttermilk from Whole Foods to prepare him a homemade version of his Overwood big breakfasts.

Bacon, sausage, two eggs sunnyside up and a stack of blueberry buttermilk pancakes.

***

It's wonderful to have him back home. Fortunately we don't have jobs that include too much travel. On the bright side, he did stop into the Uniqlo flagship store in New York and picked me up two cute shirts from their Hello Kitty and Peanuts lines. 

Daikaya Ramen in Chinatown

I love ramen with a capital L. I've heard rumors of Daikaya, a real Japanese-style ramen shop, opening up in DC for years. Ren's Ramen is authentic Japanese ramen, but it relocated to Wheaton and I rarely head there.  

With an unexpectedly relaxed Friday schedule, I headed out to Chinatown to check out Daikaya. Luckily my lunch partner needed to meet on the early side, and we arrived shortly after the doors opened at 11:30 am. We were seated at once and checked out the menu. The menu offered mugi-miso, shoyu, shio or vegan shio ramen options. There were also gyoza and some drinks, plus way too much extraneous randomness on the laminated menu. 

Shoyu Ramen with ground pork, one slice of chashu, hanjuku tamago, nori, moyashi and negi.

The broth is a combination of pork, beef and chicken and had a unctuous depth of flavor. I tasted shiitake mushrooms, although it's possible it was a trick on the taste buds. 

Vegan Shio Ramen

This included flower-shaped carrots, bean sprouts, mushrooms, negi and brussel sprouts in a light salt broth. 

***

The seating is interesting, essentially communal tables with low stools. Food comes out when they're ready, with my bowl arriving a few minutes before my companion's. It's a ramen joint, not really one meant for kicking back and camping out for a while, yet I imagine the turnover is not as fast as the restaurant, or the impatient prospective patrons standing in the front, would like it to be. For me, the broth had a great flavor, but was very salty. Shoyu is not my favor style, I actually like Hakata ramen from Kyushu the best, or Hokkaido miso ramen with corn, but this was a good bowl. I'll have to go with the husband to see what he thinks. We had tried to stop in earlier, but the throng standing in the front window deterred us. 

Snowquester Strikes Washington, DC

Lack of effective bipartisan leadership led to Sequestration being triggered March 1st. As across the board cuts impact defense and non-defense budgets, a number of activities will be curtailed, including air shows and Blue Angels demonstrations. Below is the funniest, yet sobering visual of sequestration's impact.

 ***

Snowquester also struck the greater DC region this week. Capital Weather Gang and other media sources over-hyped the late winter storm's potential impact. In light of the impending 6-12 inches of mixed precipitation, the federal government closed, area schools were closed, and the stores were emptied of the essentials. Due to the forecast, my boss decided we should work from home. The husband's office was closed too.

 

Snowquester Lunch at Home

Tuna Melt on Whole Wheat Bread with cucumber and tomatoes, with a mug of tomato soup.

Half Chipotle Steak Burrito with Guacamole and Half Chipotle Carnitas Burrito with Guacamole and Sour Cream.

***

We were both able to a lot of work from home, and I even managed to squeeze in a good workout in the morning. The husband headed out into the rain (yes, snowstorms in DC are more often only rain) for a haircut. He picked up burritos for us and we split them to avoid having to choose. 

Ravi Kabob II

Following a big afternoon of song engineering for him and RFS2 and biomethane research for me, we mulled what to do for dinner. We didn't make it to the grocery store for our weekly provisions pick up and we had  reached a fairly high level of cabin fever. After debate and realizing Balkan Grill was closing in 30 minutes, we decided to head over to Ravi Kabob to compared Pakistani kabobs to Afghan and Persian kabobs.

 vegetable samosa with a delightful freshly baked flat bread.

Ravi Combo 1 with chickpeas with seasoned beef and chicken kabob.

The chicken was juicy and perfectly cooked.

***

The husband liked them but preferred Kabob Palace. I liked how RKII also offered family-style meals of chicken biryani and lamb karahi, as well as an array of curries. 

Hong Kong Palace

This was a working weekend. The husband's creative juices were flowing while he added bass, guitar and drums to a song and then mixed the song. I spent hours catching up on work, handling last minute research requests, and pulling information for a research brief due Friday. After our regular Saturday morning tag-team cleaning, working on research in the afternoon, then gym time, we headed out Hong Kong Palace for a relaxed dinner together. We missed the big dinner rush and were seated right away, with food flying out of the kitchen.

 Dan Dan Noodles Appetizer.

Nice spice level. HKP and Mala Tang are sister restaurants, and both use this linguine-like noodles.

 Cold, spicy chicken appetizer.

The husband loves this. It's bone-in chicken pieces, so bite with caution.

 Vegetables and Beef in Spicy Sauce.

The fresh cilantro on top adds a fantastic brightness to counterbalance the spice.

Man oh man I love this dish, so much this was the second time this week I ordered it.

 Mapo Tofu with Ground Pork

A less saucy version than others, but really like the leeks and sichuan peppercorns.

Sichuan wontons in spicy sauce.

This is quite a bit of food, but by taking home the leftovers, we had plenty for a second meal for two. Notably, our Sichuan dinner for two was less expensive at HKP than the spot near our offices in DC. I'd like to try the Chengdu bacon and maybe try out a fish in spicy sauce dish, but we'll need another person with us. There's a great deal of comfort in having discovered a beloved restaurant with a number of favorite dishes we both enjoy.