Pho 2000 - In case you need noodles in Herndon...

I like pho, as is well-known to those who know me well. I enjoy trying new pho locations throughout the area and just recently tried Pho 2000 in Herndon/Reston/whatever you call it Virginia. I was pleased to find out that it was pretty damn good.

First, I will never claim, like some douchebags do, that I KNOW what pho should taste like. I don't really case what it is supposed to taste like, I just know what I like. I like broth that is not too sweet, plenty of meat and other random bits, fresh basil, peppers, etc., and plenty of random sauces to put in it. Well, I really only like sriracha and maybe red pepper paste(?).

Second, as a result of the above, my judgment of any individual pho restaurant is subject to my personal taste. Pho 2000 fit the bill. The broth was good, almost too sweet for me, and the rest of the requirements from above checked out. It did not hurt that the fried summer rolls were damn good, too, and, as always, the iced coffee fit in nicely.

If you are ever in this area (see map below!) and want some pho, definitely stop in Pho 2000. The one drawback: there were few ways to customize what you wanted in your pho (i.e. meatballs, tripe, tendon) BUT the rest of the menu was fairly extensive. IN fact, they have seafood hotpot. I really want to try that one - any takers?

MAP!

View Larger Map

Ranch Style Beans - Only the Best

If you have never had Ranch Style Beans, you are not living. A great can of beans can help make a meal much tastier and heartier. Steak? Sounds good, but can I get some Ranch Style Beans? BBQ chicken? Sure, but what about those Ranch Style Beans? Give 'em to me!

By the way, you can find more about these on Conagra's website, including where to buy them. Around here where I live, you can only get them at Harris Teeter!

New Vegas

What, you may ask, is New Vegas? And what, if anything, does it have to do with food and drink? Well, my friends/acquaintances/complete strangers, New Vegas is the upcoming game of the Fallout franchise.

I am excited. Can you tell? Can you see the shit-eating grin on my face? NO?!? Good. I am sure feces taste nasty, so technically I would not be grinning.

It is likely that this game, when released this fall, will take even more time away from posts and making food than my kid(s) do. Fear not! I will likely drink while playing this game, so I can make random posts about that.

Image copyrighted, I feel certain, by any or all of the following: Obsidian Entertainment, Bethesda Softworks, and any other awesome person or group that works of great games like this.

Beer and Food - Only the Essentials, Please

HI! Remember me? No?!? Well, OK, that's nice. Love you too.

Awhile back, actually in April around the anniversary of my entry to this planet, my brother and his family visited us. To celebrate my birthday, we decided to go out for the night, leaving the kids with a wonderful babysitter. The destination: Birch and Barley. It has an excellent beer selection and good food, too.

So, I will be honest; I have no idea what beers I had anymore. That is the downside. The upside is that they almost always have five, FIVE, different kinds of cask/living ale on tap. FIVE. That is impressive. I know that almost every beer we had was great. One of the beers, Akavitt Porter was ridiculously strong, sweet, but memorable...mostly because of the strength and sweetness. I HIGHLY recommend Birch and Barley, and especially the upstairs bar ChurchKey, if you are looking for a great, but often pricey, beer selection in DC.

Regarding the food, the taste of each dish--yes, I tried all four--was very good. (You like that description, don't you? 'Very good, yes, it was very good.' What do you want me to do? Wax all food-snobbish?) We had the venison loin, pork cheeks, duck breast, and seafood tagliatelle. All were, here it is, very good. Check out the dinner menu.

The main drawbacks - this place is a bit upscale for some, so the bill will be high, the food portions are probably smaller than most would like, and the wait for some items may be more than one would like as well. The pushforwards (what is the opposite of drawback anyway?) are a fantastic beer selection and great taste in each dish.

DAMN! I almost forgot about the bread. It, too, was very flavorful and a welcome surprise. The bread plate (gratis after you sit down) included pretzel bread(?) with beer mustard, cinnamon raisin bread, and kalamata olive bread. There may have been more, but I do not remember.

I recommend it - here is the location:

View Larger Map

Roasting birds!

So, tonight was my first time trying to roast any sort of bird. In this case, it was a lovely chicken from somewhere, I forgot at what store I bought it. (Doesn't language without a sentence ending in a preposition sound so...stodgy?) Anyway, I think the roasting worked well. NOTE and DISCLAIMER: The chicken to the right (if your configuration and computer are not foolish and allow you to view this post EXACTLY as I am, is certainly not mine, nor is the photograph that I purloi...ahem, borrowed from the intra-webness).

I used a simple recipe from Epicurious that I, of course, did not follow to the letter at all. What fun is that? My only changes were, um, I probably cooked it about 5-10 minutes too little. BUT, the chicken was hot, cooked, tasty, and extremely juicy (the only good type of roasted chicken, by the way), but there were a few places that looked slightly undercooked. As is his nature, yours truly ate it all! Third person is better when referring to eating slightly undercooked poultry, in case you were not well-versed in the ways of pinko-commie chickens.

Love to all, roast birds, and don't worry so much about getting germs.