Is It Normal to Get Chills When You Look at a Picture of a Croque Madame?

Probably not.  But this website that I just stumbled upon has assured me that lusting over pictures of Red Velvet Cake with Spicy Strawberry-Lemongrass Jam and Cream Cheese Frosting, or Pulled Chicken Sliders with Chipotle-Blackberry Sauce, is not only normal, but a step up from a fifteen-year-old sitting in their bathroom lusting over Eva Longoria wearing nothing but a bedsheet in Maxim.

So I present to you: www.foodporndaily.com

You're welcome.

Just a little taste...

...of eye candy for the foodie

The Final D.C. Post...for now. Ray's Hell Burger.

 

What Ray's looks like during the lunch rush.

Ok ok, so I'm about 4 months late on writing this post.  I don't even live in the D.C. area anymore...as I moved to New York and will be spending the rest of this blog talking about the plethora of NYC restaurants that I can. not. wait. to try.

But for whatever reason, I keep thinking about the cheese I had on this burger from Ray's Hell Burger in Arlington, VA.  Like, sometimes I dream about it.  Well no, thats not exactly true (although a dream about a mountain of delicious cheese is something I look forward to)...but I want to share this rarely seen cheese with those of you who read my blog, so perhaps all 13 of you will see it on a menu or in a grocery store one day and decide to try it.

Hello, I am delicious beer-y cheese on a burger

The cheese is Chimay A La Biere.  The name may seem familiar because Chimay is a famous Belgian beer, often seen in the large format 750ml bottles, and served in its own special glass.  Chimay a la Biere cheese is a semi-hard mild cow's milk cheese produced from cows from the Belgian region.  These very lucky cows are often fed grains from the brewery that makes Chimay beer, and once the cheese is formed, its rind is bathed in Chimay beer.  All of this beer-tasticness imparts a hoppy and earthy flavor to the cheese, while still retaining a mild taste.  Super rich and creamy, almost like Brie, but much milder than Brie with a malty flavor to boot.  Add that to a peppercorn crusted burger with sauteed mushrooms...well, its just really good.

As for my review of Ray's itself, I'm not the type who goes crazy over burger joints, so my opinion of Ray's was that it was good, but nothing to write home about.  Ray's is consistently talked about as being one of the best burger places in the D.C. metro area- it is apparently one of President Obama's favorites, and he took Russian president Dmitry Medvedev there for lunch when Medvedev visited the White House.  But I'm not sure I can really see what differentiates it from the other places in D.C. like Spike Mendelsohn's Good Stuff Eatery, or even BGR The Burger Joint.  In fact, I'll even go out on a limb and say that the Blazin' Barn burger I got from Good Stuff Eatery, which was a burger topped with Pickled Daikon and Carrots, Mint, Cilantro, Thai basil, Lettuce and Spicy Mayo, was juicier and superior to any of the burgers I got at Ray's. 

You gunna eat that?

The coolest thing about Ray's Hell Burger is really the toppings, and that you can find toppings there that you can't find at other burger bars.  This includes the fabulous Chimay A La Biere cheese, foie gras, or even bone marrow.  I also ended up trying the burger known as "The Dog Catcher", which was topped with Roasted Bone Marrow, Persillade, Lettuce and Tomato.  It was my first time trying bone marrow, and I think I should try it again at a fine dining restaurant before I make any final decisions, but it was decent.  It tasted like the fatty part of bacon without the smoky flavors of bacon. Also, its slimier.  Actually...now that I think about it, I'm not sure how much I like bone marrow.

The jury's still out on whether bone marrow is orderable again.

But if I leave you with anything, it is that Chimay A La Biere cheese is delicious and everyone should try it!  You can put it on a burger like I ate it here, or use it like you would any other cheese; Bon Appetit recommends using it on a Grilled Ham and Cheese sandwich.  Nom nom nom.  The only issue is that it may be hard to find.  Next time you are at your specialty food store look for it in the cheese aisle, or get it online- Amazon sells 8oz for $10.99 and its also sold on www.igourmet.com.

Finally, I'll leave you with a picture of another burger.  This one is Diablo-grilled and brushed with Ray's own spicy Chipotle Marinade, then topped with Pepper Jack Cheese, Applewood Smoked Bacon, Charred Jalapenos, and Ray's spicy Heck Sauce.  Why am I just showing you the picture without talking about it?  Because its a burger, and this is a food blog, and therefore pictures of burgers are drool-worthy.  Obviously.

Ray's Hell Burger
1713 Wilson Blvd
Arlington, VA 22209
(703) 841-0001
Menu

Volt

One huge perk about talking about food too much is that your friends start calling you and offering away their reservations before they cancel them.  You can imagine my excitement when my wonderful/fabulous/amazing friend Erin asked me if I wanted her reservation for the Chef's Table at Volt, Bryan Voltaggio's restaurant in Frederick, Maryland.  (For those of you who have been unconscious for the past year and don't know who that is, Bryan Voltaggio was the runner-up on Top Chef season 6.  His brother Michael Voltaggio won.)

Everything about this restaurant was impressive.  Yes, it's in the middle of Frederick...an area that probably brings rednecks and Budweisers to mind more so than it invokes images of fine dining...but in actuality, Frederick is an adorable quaint little town, with a bunch of good restaurants, live music, shops and even a brewery.  It may be 40 minutes from D.C., but Volt fit in very nicely.

Other than the food- which was incredible- the most impressive thing about my experience was that Bryan Voltaggio was actually there.  On more than one occasion I have been to a restaurant with a famous chef and the chef is not working.  Bryan Voltaggio being there, dropping off food at my table and being able to shake his hand and thank him after my meal, made the experience THAT much better.

Food time. Prepare yourself for the ultimate recap. We went with the Kitchen Menu, which consisted of six courses. The first course was a Tuscarora Beet Salad with Goat Cheese, Upland Cress and Balsamic Six.  I don’t exactly know what half of those things are, necessarily…upland cress tasted like microgreens and balsamic six I can only assume is balsamic vinegar that was aged for 6 years.  But the beets were really tender and fresh, and the goat cheese, which was more of a goat cheese cream, was extremely mild.  It was a beautiful plate and overall a wonderful start to the meal.

Beet Salad

For my second course, I upgraded for an extra $25 (pretty steep when you think about the fact that the 6 courses are $95 total) for the White Truffle Farro Risotto with a Hen Egg on top.  This. Dish. Was. To die for. There was a bit of a hiccup between the first and second course…an approximately 35 minute hiccup…but the server apologized for the delay, and it bothered me up until Bryan Voltaggio personally delivered my dish and grated white truffle on my risotto.  I am happy to pay extra money and wait even an hour if that’s what happens when I upgrade my dish! The risotto was perfectly cooked- tender but melting into a creamy sauce.  As for the egg, it wasn’t runny like I thought it would be, but rather...velvety.  And when it melded with the risotto and white truffle it created a rich yet surprisingly light dish.  I realize that you can't tell from the pictures, but it was perfect.

Second Course: Pure Zexy-ness

The yolk was separate from the white, so awesome.

So anyways, as I try to get over my food-crush that was the second course...the third course was a beautiful piece of Arctic Char with Black Forbidden Rice, Squash puree, Matsutake Mushrooms, Brown Butter and Pumpkin Seeds.  This course was very complex, and I feel like I was able to catch a glimpse of Bryan Voltaggio's skill in combining textures and flavors that most of us wouldn’t think to put together, to create a truly memorable dish.  I normally find Arctic Char, which looks and tastes similar to salmon, to be too fishy.  But at Volt, the Arctic Char was buttery and mild.  The black forbidden rice gave texture to the dish, and was perfectly salted and cooked, not sticky and not too hard, as rice too often ends up being.  My only complaint was that the skin on my fish was way too salty for my taste, although my dining partner was more than happy to gobble it up.

Third Course: Arctic Char

For my fourth course, and a very close runner-up to the risotto dish, was the Red Wattle Pork Belly with a Sweet and Sour Mustard Sauce, Haricot Verts and Cannellini Beans.  I’m not sure if words can accurately explain how delicious the pork belly was…if it was on a bone, it would have fallen right off of it.  It was tender and salty and I wanted to put it between two pieces of bread and eat it for lunch every day.  It was that good.  However, I found the cannelini beans unnecessary; cannelinis are pretty flavorless and a very soft bean which was almost the same texture as the pork, so it didn’t add depth to the dish.

Fourth Course: Pork Belly...nom nom nom

At this point in the meal I was nearing a food coma, and while the fifth course of Waygu Beef Short Ribs was a good dish, I can’t remember anything of note.  I thought the meat was a bit too fatty and the other components to the dish (carrots, chanterelle mushrooms and Yukon gold potatoes) didn’t blow my mind.  The little garlic chip was good though...for a garlic chip.

Last, but not least, was the dessert course: Chocolate covered Banana Ice Cream with a “PBJ” on the side- Concord Grape sorbet, Roasted Peanuts, and Caramel Powder.  Cute concept with the PBJ, and the Concord grape sorbet was tangy but sweet, and legitimately tasted like Concord grapes.  But…caramel powder, or any powder for that matter, is weird to eat. Why? Because sometimes by accident you inhale it in a cloud of smoke like a pixie stick.  And you choke and look kinda stupid, and the server sees you and laughs at you, and you wonder…couldn’t Bryan Voltaggio have just drizzled some caramel on top if he wanted me to taste caramel? But I digress.  Any dessert that has chocolate, banana and peanuts in it is already a winner in my book, and it was a nice end to the six courses.

The Final Course: Dessert

Overall this was a FABULOUS meal.  Besides all of the courses, the meal started with an amuse bouche and ended with an array of chocolates and other small treats.  Additionally, right before they gave us the check, we were each given a mini poppy-seed pound cake that was wrapped up for us to take home.  It was a nice touch, and in combination with all the other little touches by the staff at Volt, definitely made me feel like the $400+ (!!) we spent on the meal was worth it. 

If you love food, and you'd love to catch a glimpse of a celebrity chef in action, and you feel like calling tomorrow for a reservation in late December (you have to call about two months ahead of time for a reservation) then GO TO VOLT! You will by no means be disappointed.

Volt
228 North Market Street
Frederick, MD 21701
(301) 696-VOLT
http://www.voltrestaurant.com/index.htm

Domku

When you wake up on Sunday morning and it's 80 degrees out...and it's October...brunch is in order.  It's the law.  I think.  But where to go? Apparently my choice this morning was to the outskirts of Columbia Heights in Washington, D.C., where a quaint Scandanavian restaurant is nestled between a gospel church and a convenience store.  Domku.

I will admit, the surroundings are...interesting.  Located on Upshur and Georgia Ave., disassembled car parts lay in the middle of the street, and the voice of a woman from the church next door yelling "Praise Jesus" reverberated throughout the restaurant.  Editors note: "yelling" is an understatement.  She was quite possibly experiencing an exorcism, or giving birth.  It's a toss-up.  Yet, Domku still managed to emerge as a quiet refuge in otherwise unassuming surroundings.

So....on to the food.  I started out with Abelskiver.  Abelskiver are traditional Danish pancakes cooked in a special Abelskiver pan, and dusted with confectioners sugar.  Pancake balls, if you will.  Conceptually: amazing.  Who wouldn't like a pancake ball?  But I like my pancakes light and fluffy, and these little guys were heavy and a bit chewy.  Moreover, I was sorely disappointed they weren't filled with any sort of jelly or fruit, which I was under the impression all abelskiver were made with. Just like a pancake, abelskiver aren't at all sweet on their own, so they were missing that gooey deliciousness that happens when you combine that sort of "pastry" with jam.

Abelskiver

For my meal, I got the Nordic Eggs Benedict- 2 poached eggs and gravlax on toasted sourdough rounds, topped with hollandaise.  Gravlax, which I had never tasted before (and, I note, has a semi unappetizing name), is salmon that has been cured in a dry marinade of salt, sugar and dill.  Minus the smoky flavor of smoked salmon, the two are very similar...but there is definitely a difference in texture- smoked salmon being a little more slick, and gravlax being more grainy.

Domku's twist on an egg benedict was well seasoned and tasted pretty good.  However, there were some missteps.  The toast rounds at the bottom killlled me.  They were were WAY too hard- the consistency of melba toast- and totally threw me for a loop.  Plus, my poached egg was a bit overcooked and they forgot the hollandaise (as you can tell from the photo).  I personally like more of a runny texture when I open up a poached egg.  But when the waitress brought over a side of the hollandaise and put it on top, it totally pulled the dish together.  It was creamy and LIGHT.  How a chef can possibly take a sauce made completely out of butter and egg yolk and make it taste like it's good for you, I will never know.  I work for a steakhouse where hollandaise is commonplace, and while ours is definitely delicious, you can actually feel your arteries clogging as you eat it.  Domku's version was comparably salty and creamy without the heaviness. 

Nordic eggs benedict

My friend got the Pyt i Panna, which is a Swedish hash. The chopped potatoes, carrots, and onions were the perfect texture, perfectly uniform, and pretty damn delicious.  Reminded me of a holiday Pot Roast dinner.  My other friend got an omelet, which was a balanced combination of spinach, red bell pepper and feta cheese.  The egg was well cooked and it was heavy on the feta cheese.  I also appreciated the fact that it was not, in fact, the size of a small child, like many omelets I see these days- see, e.g. The Pancake House.

Pyt i panna- with an added fried egg

The omelet.  Looks like...an omelet.

An omelet from The Pancake House. Looks like... a heart attack.

I also tried the borscht.  Nothing to write home about...but the only other time I've had borscht was in a little neighborhood restaurant in Prague, so my scale of delicious borscht is probably skewed.  Nonetheless, the soup base had a good beet flavor, and it was packed with tender strips of carrots and beets.  Following Domku's theme, the broth was very light.  Although the soup would have benefited from a dollop of sour cream...everything tastes better with a dollop of sour cream, so that's not really a critique as much as it is a fact.

Borscht

Overall, Domku is a good neighborhood spot.  It's definitely health conscious- all the plates are served with a tangy vinaigrette-topped green salad- and somehow, even though there were a ton of potatoes and eggs in Domku's dishes, the kitchen managed to make those ingredients taste light.  It's clear that some things could be improved...but hey.  Almost everything was less than $12- the Pyt i Panna was $4. Four dollars! A box of Mike & Ike's from CVS is like, $3.29.  $4.00 is a steal.

For those who live in the Columbia Heights area or for "travelers looking to experience something off the beaten path" (as it says on their website), Domku is a solid and inexpensive nearby brunch spot.  Check it out!

Domku Cafe 

821 Upshur Street, NW

Petworth, DC 20011

T 202.722.7475

F 202.722.7472

E-mail: domku@domkucafe.com

www.domkucafe.com

The post that started it all...

I love food. Eating it, cooking it, learning about it, reading about it...I love it. But what's the point of having a passion if you don't get to share it with others?

Accordingly, I'm trying out this new thing called blogging.  I believe it's called blogging, or "yogging".  It might be a soft "j".  I'm not sure, but it's supposed to be wild.

So, for those of you food nerds reading this blog, I hope you enjoy the restaurant reviews, recipes, awkwardly-inserted Anchorman quotes, and other random musings of a fellow foodie!

Happy eating!