Great Dish: Lamb Sliders at Zola

To be sure, there is many a delicious little burger gracing the ‘starters’ and bar menus of DC restaurants these days – the Matchbox’s minis, The Source’s kobe beef concoctions, the tuna tartare sliders at PS7. I love this trend, not just because I love burgers in general, but because they're an economical and judicious app choice when dining with friends (everyone gets their own)! After dining at Zola in Penn Quarter this week, I have a new addiction to add to the list. Zola's seasonal slider offering features juicy lamb meatballs on house made sticky buns, each topped with grilled romaine, a fiery pepper slaw, and a dollop of creamy goat cheese aioli. Savory, spicy, crunchy, sweet – what else could you ask for in a first bite?

Great Dish: Wontons with Red Hot Sauce at Joe's Noodle House

While the décor isn't anything to write about, and the service, while efficient, is minimal, it's the best Szechuan cooking in the DC area that keeps me coming back again and again to Joe's Noodle House in Rockville.

A perennial cheap eats lister, Joe's, which is located in a nondescript strip mall on Rockville Pike, has scores of devotees to back me up on this claim. Like a lot of Chinese restaurants, the menu is large and can be a bit overwhelming, so take my advice and 1) bring a friend who likes to share, and 2) when it doubt, ask for recommendations.

I’m still working my way through the menu, but so far there’s been many standouts – beef noodle soup Szechuan-style, chopped leeks with pork, garlic and black beans, salty crispy squid, and cellophane noodles with ground pork, just to name a few. However, it’s the wontons with red hot sauce that I have dreams about. They arrive at the table piled atop one another in a bowl, sauce on the bottom, just waiting to be mixed together into a slippery, delicious mess. The pillowy dough is delicate and gnocchi-like in texture, the pork filling is juicy and tender, and the rust-colored sauce is smoky, salty, and singes your lips just as you hope it would. No matter how many times I go or how many dishes I order, the red-hot wontons are always included, and often the star of the feast.

Just remember that whether sitting down or taking out, you order and pay first at Joe's. The cash register in the back has a large sign hanging above to inform you, but many a first-time visitor (including this one) has missed it.

Great Dish: Fresh Figs with Prosciutto and Gorgonzola Cheese

In my opinion, one of the (only) good things about training for a marathon is the requisite carb binges that precede a long run. It was with this excuse, er, goal in mind that I headed to Sette Osteria in Dupont on Saturday night. Sette is one our go-to restaurants for decent, reasonably priced Italian food, and while I’m actually not too crazy about their pizzas, most of their pastas are pretty darn good (particularly the gnocchi with tomatoes and mozzarella and the cavatelli with spicy sausage and broccoli rabe).

Carb-driven though I was, the appetizer on the ‘daily specials’ page caught my eye – fresh figs with prosciutto and gorgonzola-slathered bread. I couldn’t resist my first taste this season of that delicious, summery sweet fruit, and its tangy/salty pairing was the perfect complement. Who knew such a little fruit could steal the show from all that pasta?

Great Dishes

I don’t know about you, but for me, visiting relatives = an excuse to eat myself silly. Below is a list of some great dishes I got to sample over the weekend, thanks to a welcome visit from Mom and Dad.

Foie Gras at Indebleu
Chef Michael Hartzer, formerly of Rays the Classics and the now defunct Viridian, has made a believer out of me. While I was skeptical that Indebleu, at right, could come back from the slippery slope of mediocrity it’s been descending for some time, the recently installed chef has created a strong yet playful menu that begs to be explored. While a coconut milk-poached halibut entrée and “spaghetti and meatballs” dessert (strands of saffron cardamom ice cream paired with gulab jamun) were memorable, several days later I still find myself thinking about the delicious appetizer I had – foie gras, resting on a lightly toasted slice of brioche, drizzled with a port wine reduction sauce and paired with “bruleed” oranges dusted with crushed pistachios. The smooth earthiness of the liver, the sweet citrus crackle of the bruleed orange segments…I know I'm supposed to feel guilty about eating this stuff but man was it good.

Strawberries at the Farmers Market
(Star Hollow Farm Farmers Market, held each Saturday from 9am-1pm at 18th and Columbia in Adams Morgan)
Intensely sweet and miles away from the carbon copies sold at your local grocery chain, these beauties were the perfect beginning to a casual brunch at home, mixed with some blueberries and peaches, sprinkled with some walnuts, and topped with a dollop of vanilla yogurt.


Fried Bay Scallops at Tackle Box
I will admit, much as I love the adorable Barton Seaver (at left), Tackle Box, the site of his restaurant group's new, much dressed-down outpost for sustainable seafood in Georgetown, needs a lot of work. On a recent visit, there was much to grumble about - a few pieces of grilled fish we ordered were embarrassingly skimpy, some overcooked, some overpowered by the wood-grilled flavor; the grilled corn cobs had clearly left contact with their heat source long before we arrived, and the potato salad tasted more of mayonnaise than potato. I'm guessing the recent chef drama is taking its toll. However, lest you think this mini-review is becoming a mini-rant, I will say that the saving grace of my first visit to Hook’s younger, rougher sibling – and the reason for future return visits - was anything dunked in the fryer. Oysters, shrimp and particularly the bay scallops were all fresh and sweet, with a crisp batter so flavorful that the many house made sauces we ordered, though tasty, were mostly left untouched.

Eggs Benedict at Vermilion
At Vermilion in Old Town, Anthony Chittum continues to do what he does best, and that is cooking great, locally sourced food in simple yet unexpected ways. The Sunday brunch menu is no exception, and may just be one of the best kept secrets around. Guests expecting the “usual” brunch fare will be pleasantly surprised to find a substantial showcase of Chittum’s delicious and playful approach to his new American menu – and at a fraction of Vermilion's dinner prices. Delicious = a soft shell crab starter with a side of root veggie “crudo.” Playful = many of the main courses come with your choice of pork and latkes (rebellious Jews rejoice). My favorite entrée, though, has to be the eggs benedict. Sounds simple enough, but slip under the perfectly poached egg a seared shrimp cake, drape it with a spiced béarnaise sauce, and add to the plate a few of those addictive latkes and you’ve got yourself quite a sexy little dish for a Sunday morning.

Summer Berry Pie at The Majestic
For those of you that don’t know, Nana’s Sunday Dinner at The Majestic in Old Town is one heck of a delicious deal. For just $78, the culinary couple behind Alexandria’s Restaurant Eve, PX and Eamonn’s provides a party of four with a three course, family-style meal, the details of which change monthly. And while the centerpiece of this month's summer-inspired menu was a seafood feast of blue crabs, mussels, clams, oysters, shrimp, house made sausage, and corn on the cob, the dessert – a sublime summer berry pie – was the real star of the show. Rather than the berry-dense, lattice-topped confection I was expecting, this pie arrived on our table looking like a cheesecake-pie hybrid, with a buttery graham cracker crust, a sweet cream filling, and a handful of deep blue and purple berries sprinkled throughout. Light and refreshing, sweet and tart, it was summer in a spoon – and the perfect end to a delicious weekend.