Tuesday Afternoon Barhop

When your nearly 10-month old child starts her nap at about 1030am, you realize that she will likely wake up in time for you to have a nice afternoon out rather than at home while she is sleeping. As a result: afternoon barhop in Virginia. In this case, two bars/restaurants in VA: Rustico in Alexandria, VA and Jay's Saloon and Grill, Arlington, VA.

First, Rustico, Alexandria, VA. I'll give you some skinny then a map. Rustico seemed like a great place and it definitely was. I was with a very good friend who had been before and who also knew that I like good beers. What a great beer selection. The big kickers for me:
Leffe Blonde and Gulden Draak. (NOTE: I gave you wikipedia entries because I know that 1) Leffe's website is slow, 2) Gulden Draak's site is in Belgium and 3) I am often annoyed by beer snob reviews...I am NOT a beer snob.)

Leffe in bottle and Gulden Draak on tap. Both great beers. My brother had touted both, and he did not disappoint. Leffe was a great Belgian blonde with a modest alcohol content while GD was a darker ale with a higher (7.5%) alcohol content. I thoroughly enjoyed both and am very glad that I went to Rustico.

Also good at Rustico: fries. They were quite good, though probably not as good as some real tradition frites elsewhere. Also, I had another very strong, tart and fruity beer of 15.5% alcohol...but I forgot what it was.

Here is the location, and parking is free nearby:
View Larger Map

On to Jay's, which is apparently the location of a coming happy hour for friends of mine (including me!). Jay's reminds me of Fitzwilly's, the Chicken, etc., from my old college days. Don't misunderstand, it's not a perfect match, but good enough for northern VA.

Jay's smells like smoke, grease, and beer, and it looks like smoke, grease, and beer has been slathered everywhere. I love it. They have cheap beer (today was $2.50 longnecks of Bud and Bud Light) and bar food including jalapeno poppers...as every bar should have. You don't need more than that for a good happy hour bar in my opinion. If it smells like beer, tastes like beer, and (maybe) looks like beer - it must be beer!

Jay's - hot stuff but a little tough on the eyes:

View Larger Map

Good Pasta Sauce - All'Amatriciana Sauce

I enjoy eating pasta dishes because they fill me up, are generally easy to make, leave plenty of leftovers (for now), and can be customized, so to speak, with the sauce, pasta type, garnish, etc. A new favorite sauce of ours is all'amatriciana sauce. It's a little bit sweeter than a regular marinara sauce, due largely to the yellow onion, but still has a nice salty attribute due to the pancetta or bacon.

Here's a recipe that has the specifics for the all'amatriciana sauce, but I'll list them here too:

All'Amatriciana Sauce:

Ingredients:
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 6-8 ounces pancetta or slab bacon, diced (depends on how much you like)
* 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
* 2 garlic cloves, minced
* Pinch (OR MORE!) crushed red pepper flakes
* 1 (28-ounce) can tomato puree
* 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
* 1/2-1 cup grated Pecorino Romano (again, do you like more cheese?)

Directions:
In a large heavy skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the pancetta or bacon and cook, stirring constantly, until golden brown, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Simmer, uncovered, over medium-low heat until the sauce thickens, about 15 minutes. Stir in the cheese and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

I adapted this online recipe slightly to the one I have in a cookbook as well as to my own taste as noted in parentheses in the ingredients. If you use the 28 oz. can of tomato puree, this sauce is good over a pound of pasta and can serve several people. You can probably also use crushed tomatoes, I doubt it matters that much.

As for amount, with a pound of spaghetti, we generally have many servings left for leftovers. It's good stuff people!

I Miss Texas Breakfast...and $2.10 Coffee

I really wish I could just transport lots of the local Mexican food restaurants from Texas to my neighborhood here. This morning, we woke up really wanting some good breakfast. I definitely could have gone for the migas at Coco Loco, College Station, Texas. Too bad for me.

We started doing a quick search for places to eat, and I noticed Anita's. I read some reviews that made breakfast there sound pretty good. So, why not? Well, turns out that it was decent. I ordered Anita's Famous Breakfast Burrito. It was filled with eggs and chorizo, covered in a "New Mexican" red chile sauce, and served with refried beans and homefries. I wasn't impressed, but it wasn't bad. The chile sauce overwhelmed the burrito itself, and I could have used more chorizo. It filled me up, but it felt like I was missing something. Perhaps it's the salsas from Coco Loco?

Here's the location of this branch of Anita's:

View Larger Map

I will probably eat here again, in large part because I want to try other items. But, I'll probably check out other breakfast joints around here before going back.

One last thing - the coffee was $2.10! For normal restaurant coffee?!?

Opa! - Plaka Grill, Vienna, VA

I think we may have decided that Thursday night is dinner-out night. I think we have gone out the past two Thursdays, but that is irrelevant really. We decided to try a small Greek joint here in Vienna, and it worked out wonderfully.

Plaka Grill is in a small shopping center and definitely feels like a small, local place. There is maybe seating for 25 or so, and the service is extremely quick. We ordered two appetizers: hummus and tyrokefteri (feta, hot peppers, olive oil pureed together), Plaka gyro, and mousakka (eggplant, beef, pasta, cheese). Each dish was really good, and I ate entirely too much - go figure. We ordered more than we would normally because it was a) our first time here, b) we like Greek food, and c) why not? Plaka also gives you plenty of pita bread with each dish. I love that we did not have to go ask for more even though I was eating pita like I was starving.

Here's the location - NOTE: you won't find the correct location by typing in Plaka Grill, Vienna, VA for some reason. So, just use 110 Lawyers Rd NW, Vienna, VA:

View Larger Map

Plaka Grill gets high marks from me, especially since it was very quick service as well. It's not some swank joint, but definitely a good place for a good price. I shall return!

Seared Tuna Suck

So, I'll make this quick. There are a few points I'd like to note about making seared wasabi-crusted tuna the night before last:

1) The tuna was packaged for use the following day, while previously we had seen the steaks out in the main seafood area - thus displaying greater freshness.
2) I used sesame oil which really did add a nice touch to the flavor - of which there was less than there should have been (see 1 above).
3) I did not use a non-stick pan - who gives a crap though, except much/all of the wasabi and sesame seeds stuck to the pan. Next time, I guess I will go non-stick?
4) I baked one steak per the directions on the package, and it was slightly overcooked - for my taste at least. I like med-rare, this was much closer to medium than I liked.

In sum, it was mediocre. I am looking forward to getting fresher tuna, perhaps making my own dressing/rub, trying my non-stick pan, and then picking some good sides. I took it easy with the sides this time (jasmine rice and store-bought seaweed salad) because I was in learning mode with the store-bought crusted tuna.

Lessons learned, people, lessons learned. Back to my personal Bond-a-thon on this drizzly, cold day! NOTE: Forecast = 50, rain likely. Wow, thanks.