250 N Glebe Rd
Arlington, VA 22203
703.816.0222
www.ravikabobusa.com


I don't remember Ravi Kabob when I lived in Arlington a little over a decade ago but my work hours were crazy back then and I thought Ruth's Chris Steakhouse was at the top of my food food chain.  I could have used another word instead of using 'food' twice but a food food chain is not too far from a foo foo chain which sounds like an awesome thing.  It's not that I think that Ruth's Chris is bad.  It's that I thought that was the only type of fine dining restaurant that existed.  It's amazing what a decade and living in NYC does to one's culinary tastes.  Well, since I've come back, I've been told by just about everyone I've asked that Ravi Kabob is on the required reading list when it comes to DC food hot spots.

465 K St. NW
Washington, DC 20001
202.682.3123
www.eatkushi.com


There's this phenomena that I've noticed in DC where upscale apartment buildings also house retail shops, restaurants, grocery stores, and any other conveniences that a resident may want or need.  It's like a hotel but on a larger scale.  I guess this may be what they refer to as "bethesdafication" and it was in one of these types of "bethesdafied" buildings that I found Kushi Izakaya & Sushi.  It's in a neighborhood caught in between the trendiness of Penn Quarter and the cool hipness of H street.  The building also has Chipotle, Safeway, Busboys & Poets (which I very much need to visit) and so much more.  I guess if you're aiming for one-stop shopping, you'll want to live here.

414 H St NE
Washington, DC 20002
202.450.3265
www.boundaryrd.com


This week, work's been a bit of a bear so I haven't gotten to eat anything that was a) good for more and b) just good.  I have managed to funnel some good money into delivery pizza and fast food so I'm glad I'm doing my part in keeping the economy going.  The weekend, though, allowed me a few windows of time where I could venture out and get a few quality bites.  I was feeling a bit brunchy hence I went to brunch (yes I just wrote that sweet piece of logical deduction).  On Saturday, I decided to head out to Bar Pilar for a quick bite (a more detailed post will happen when I go back for dinner) and then Boundary Road on Sunday for a more involved brunch.

1234 H Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002
202.388.3086
www.tokiunderground.com


I'm a member of donrockwell.com which is a very big and very active forum for people who love food.  There was a thread on there discussing Sakuramen and one of the latest posts gave the place a pretty negative review.  I was in disagreement with the post so I wrote about my experience and near the very end I said something like, "It's not Momofuku...blah, blah, blah".  So, a subsequent poster said, "Why does it have to be Momofuku?"  Well, I was going to respond but I like those forums so I didn't want to start an argument.  But, all I kept thinking was, "Well, because I like Momofuku, duh."

1612 14th St NW
Washington, DC 20009
202.986.8778
www.pearldivedc.com


For me, having a good meal is just as much about the food as it is about the people you're eating with. The ambience is important too but I find that you can make up for a lot of things if you really enjoy the company.  This was never more evident to me as when a good friend of mine came to DC and we had lunch.  We've had a lot of really good meals together from Dell'Anima to Sushi of Gari to Dieci to Sorella to RedFarm and I wanted to make sure we headed to a good place.  So, I chose to go to Pearl Dive Oyster Palace, yet another restaurant in the Black Restaurant Group.

I read somewhere that Virtue Feed & Grain had been nominated by Bon Appetit as one of the 50 best new restaurants in America.  The first thing I thought, was "waitaminute, I went there back in January...how can it still be a new restaurant?"  Oh.  It probably had only been open for a short while in January.  My second thought was that they had probably sufficiently worked out all the new restaurant quirks and it's now getting nationwide recognition.  Coincidentally, I had some friends come into town that were staying in Old Town Alexandria and wanted to meet up for some dinner and drinks.  Two birds and one stone later, we decided on an early dinner (6ish) at Virtue Feed & Grain.  Make that three birds, this is officially my first return visit to a place that I've blogged about and am blogging about again.  Yeah, just go with it.

I've surprised myself about all the barbecue I've written about in this blog.  Blue Smoke, The Canopy, Rocklands, The Pig and that order at Waterman's comes to mind.  I never realized just how much eat and just how much I enjoy some good barbecue.  I am a big fan of slow cooking meat in a smoker and letting all that flavor from a rub or a sauce soak in.  So, when I got this e-mail after I got back from North Carolina, I jumped at the chance to get a better education about real barbecue.

1500 New Hampshire Ave NW
Washington, DC 20036
202.797.0169
www.doylecollection.com/restaurants/café_dupont.aspx


My mom loves Julia Child.  She's seen Julia and Julia several times and her go-to recipes for almost anything begins and ends with Julia Child.  Her and I have spent countless holidays making Julia's tarte tatin recipe.  I don't even know if that's the proper title but that's what it's called in my family.  So, when I saw that some restaurants in DC were celebrating Julia Childs' 100th birthday, we decided to try the prix fixe menu specially for the occasion at Cafe Dupont, located in the Dupont Circle Hotel.

901 N. Glebe Rd.
Arlington, VA 22203
703.962.6982
http://wobusa.com/Locations/ArlingtonVA.aspx


So......

This place opened a block away from where I live in Ballston.  It's the latest in a chain of bar across the US that serves, I think, over 500 beers on tap and in bottles at all their locations.  They have a small menu that consists of basically pretzels and hot dogs but allow you to order from other places in the neighborhood and bring your own food in.  They've got the pre-requisite cute waitresses, lots and lots of TVs, and even sometimes have live entertainment.  They even have this loyalty program that comes with a t-shirt.  Blah. Blah. Blah.

2605 Wilson Blvd
Arlington, VA 2220
703.248.0150
www.earlsinarlington.com

I have a confession.  I am not Joey Tribbiani.  About half of you just went, "Who the f*ck is Joey Tribbiani?"   Some of you are thinking, "Of course you're not a character from a TV show that went off the air 8 years ago".  Then there's the three...um...two of you saying, "Yeah, you don't seem like a sandwich guy".  If you're still confused, here's one more hint:  "Ms. Chanandler Bong".  But, yeah, I'm not a sandwich guy.  I could be a burger guy but I don't consider them in the same food group as sandwiches (an inadvertent hint!).   It's not that I don't like sandwiches but they would never be my first or even third choice for a meal.  I think it's just a simple case of preferring hot food over cold food and I've always associated sandwiches with cold food unfair as that may be.

1117 V Street NW
Washington, DC 20001
202.588.5841
www.sekidc.com


After a long weekend of eating really rich, really not good for you foods, I wanted something clean & simple for dinner.  I thought about making my return trip to Toki Underground but ramen didn't quite feel right.  Then, I remembered that Izakaya Seki had just opened up last week and that the menu was really intriguing. So, off to 'authentic' Japanese-cuisine land I went.  Now, I have no idea what 'authentic' Japanese cuisine really is but there was enough promise in the menu for a good and healthy meal that I couldn't resist.

21055 Sharp St
Rock Hall, MD 21661
410.639.2261
www.watermanscrabhouse.com


The father of a good friend of ours' is in a band that plays 50s & 60s music and this past weekend, they played in Rock Hall, MD.  This was the perfect excuse for a bunch of us to meet up somewhere that wasn't a big city and it's never a bad thing to go to the Eastern Shore.  This isn't the Eastern Shore of Ocean City, MD or any of those beach towns up and down the Atlantic Coast.  This is the Eastern Shore where you take a quick left after Kent Narrows (instead of the right to Ocean City, hon) and into sprawling farmlands and winding waterways.

3000 Washington Blvd
Arlington, VA 22201
571.257.5054
www.obylee.com

I've been looking forward to trying out Oby Lee ever since I saw the signage go up since this combination coffee shop & wine bar is directly on my way to and from work.  The other coffee shops in the area (Northside Social and the local Starbucks) both require a slight detour which, if you're late for work, is a huge detour for much needed coffee in the morning.  Oby Lee let's me pull right up, get a coffee, maybe some breakfast, and not lose an extra minute.  So, this past week, I stopped by for a couple of breakfasts and a quick dinner.

1725 Wilson Blvd
Arlington, VA 22209
703.841.0001
www.rayshellburger.com


As you can tell from my weekend in North Cackalackey, I've been eating pretty good and unfortunately, pretty heavy.  So, for today at lunch, I was thinking that I want something healthy to eat.  (Eyes on the post, please.  I see you suspiciously looking up at the title of the post).  I looked around to see what was close and decided that Ray's Hell Burger was the place to go for some healthy goodness.  Okay, okay, so I didn't find any of the healthier options appealing today so I made a beeline for perhaps (you'll see later) the most unhealthy option of all.  Don't judge.