Today's Bento

With the arrival of colder weather, we've been eating a lot more lately. Even though we went for an hour run and took an 18 mile bike ride this weekend, it's good to adjust food content and quantities.  To lighten up today's bento, I made a meat-free lunch with half the amount of rice and more fresh fruits and vegetables.

 Umeboshi, quick-pickled cucumber, grapes, persimmon, mandarin orange, spicy bean sesame sprouts with pickled ginger.

Sauteed cabbage with shiitake mushrooms, garlic and ginger; edamame, and rice topped with salmon furikake.

Tex-Mex Challenge: Cactus Cantina v Rio Grande

I had a craving for Tex-Mex.  After a spree of Korean restaurants, it was time for a change.  So we headed up to the National Cathedral area to Cactus Cantina.  http://www.cactuscantina.com/ I'm a sucker for the salsa and thin tortilla chips.  Unfortunately our server was not the most efficient or pleasant.

Queso and guacamole duo ($6.95).  The chips were a little too thin to dip effectively into the molten cheese.  We should have stuck to just the salsa.

 Burrito Gordo with shredded chicken.  ($9.45)  Ok, but not remarkable.  Should have ordered the fish tacos.

Fajitas al carbon with chicken and steak. ($12.75) The boyfriend loved the charred jalapeno and butter dipping sauce.  The only downside was the plate didn't come out steaming.

Side of rice and beans.

***

The next night I met the girls at Rio Grande in Ballston.  Rio has a similar menu, but it's location in Ballston always has a longer wait for a table than Cactus Cantina.  http://www.unclejulios.com/ 

 Hornitas margarita with Grand Marnier ($11)

 Chicken flautas ($11.95)

 Chicken fajitas ($16.95)

Shrimp quesadilla ($13.95). The shrimp were a little too oily.  Wish they would have a spinach quesadilla on the menu as a regular item and not a special.

***

In Cactus Cantina v Rio Grande, the restaurants have very similar menus, but Cactus has a few more non-meat items like spinach quesadillas, spinach enchilladas and seafood enchilladas, and prices are a little lower.  Service was much better at Rio Grande from the initial greeting onwards.  Rio makes a better margarita, but the wait for a table can be much longer.  In the end, I prefer Cactus Cantina, with a different server.

Choong Hwa Won in Annandale

My boyfriend and I have been eating our way through Annandale lately.  It's hard to think of another area with so many interesting and affordable options.  Last night we tried out a Korean-Chinese place recommended by his coworker.  Choong Hwa Won is on John Marr Drive, right behind the Popeye's and near Il Mee and Shilla Bakery on Little River Turnpike.  It's super casual and open until midnight.

 The English explanations for each menu item are ok, although it helps to know a little about Korean dishes.

We were there for the jjambong, spicy red pepper soup with noodles.

 The service was fast, efficient and nice.  The kimchee was good, and I liked the pickled daikon. Never figured out what the dark paste in the middle was.  They serve a warm barley tea when you arrive which helps on cold November nights.

 Large fried dumplings ($7.99).  They were not panfried, but deep-fried with a taste that reminded me of egg rolls.  Inside was a mixture of bitter greens.  Good.

 #31 Sam Sun Go Chu Jham Bbong ($9.99)

This is a fiery red hot pepper soup with shrimp, squid, scallops, mussels, vegetables and noodles.  The server will cut the noodles with a pair of scissors if you'd like.  Excellent and spicy.

#28 Sam Woo Gan Jha Jang ($8.99)

Shrimp and onions in a black bean sauce

 The noodles come on the side with cucumber, and the server will cut them for you with scissors.

All mixed together.  It tastes better than it looks. I wanted it to be spicy, it was not. 

***

I heard about jjanjangmen from my Korean friend who told me about Samos in Baltimore.  I trust his judgement and had wanted to try jjanjanmen for awhile.  Online reviews about Choong Hwa Won rave about the jjangjanmen and jjambbong.  Maybe I'm just a spicy gal, but I liked the jjambbong a lot more than the jjanjanmen. 

The portions are huge.  They provided smaller bowls and my boyfriend and I shared our respective choices with each other.  I would skip the mandu the next time and order a steaming, spicy bowl of #32 next time.  Even without anything else, I doubt I could finish the whole bowl by myself. But I would have a good time trying. 

Today's Bento

Persian cucumbers (much smaller and crunchy) with miso paste, tangerine, cavatappi pasta in tomato sauce and lighter eggplant parmesan.  The eggplant was coated in a flour, egg wash and panko mixture, then baked for 40 minutes at 350F instead of panfried in oil.  It takes a bit longer, but the crunchy texture from the panko was nice.  With a little tomato sauce topped with mozzarella and grated parmesan cheese between each layer, I assembled the eggplant stacks and baked for another 30 minutes.  A lighter, meat-free lunch.

Shilla Bakery in Annandale

Shilla Bakery is located at 7039 Little River Turnpike in Annandale.  http://www.menusarang.com/xe/397  When we parked, we noticed some damage to the storefront that looked like a car had tried to make a new entrance way to the bakery.  Maybe they couldn't wait to eat some lovely desserts and breads?

 They make a wide variety of cakes.

 They also have individual-sized desserts in a variety of chocolate and fruit flavors.  My boyfriend picked up a green tea mousse cake that had a layer of adzuki (sweet beans).  It was light, delicate and delicious.

 The Speciality Coffee Cake and the Pig and Bear were very cute.

They also had anpan, breads and sho-cream or mini cream puffs.  Really a lovely destination for people with a sweet tooth or two.

Vit Goel Tofu (Lighthouse Tofu) in Annandale

While DC lacks a Japan Town, Annandale is a mini-Korea Town with a plethora of restaurants specializing in different dishes.  The hardest part is learning where to go and what to order, but if you're adventurous it's full of delicious and affordable surprises.  Honey Pig is great for Korean bbq  but some times the wait is too long.  Saturday night our HP plans were dashed when we drove through the full parking lot and saw many people waiting.  Instead, we headed down the road to Vit Goel Tofu Restaurant at 4121 Chatelain Road. http://www.menusarang.com/xe/293

 It's a brief menu, and specializes in soon dubu.

 The panfried mandu were flavorful and better than at Honey Pig. ($5.99 small)

 The pan chan are much nicer too.  Water kimchee, fresh kimchee, cucumbers in kochujang, steamed beansprouts in sesame oil.

Large (seafood pancake) hamul pajeon ($12.99).  Baby oysters, crab, shrimp and baby squid studded  pancake with scallions.  A bit greasy but delicious.  We should have ordered a small.

 Soon dubu #3 (tofu stew) with clam, shrimp and oyster ordered spicy. ($9.50)

My boyfriend ordered his #2 (clam, shrimp, oyster, beef) spicy spicy, and it was hot enough to make sweat drip from his brow. 

***

Lighthouse is great in the colder months when you need a hot bowl of bubbling soft tofu stew to warm you up.  Cracking the raw egg into the stew is optional, but the stew is so hot, it will cook the egg quickly.  The seafood noodles (jukumi bokuem) looked good too, fat udon noodles mixed with squid, vegetables and a special sauce.  They serve the rice out of a hot stone bowl, and pour a barley tea into it after serving the rice.  You put the rice with tea into a small bowl and it reminded my boyfriend of ocha-zuke, the Japanese dish of green tea poured ontop of rice. 

Old Ebbitt Grill in DC

We meant to go to the Rally to Restore Sanity and even rode bikes up from Old Town.  But my stomach started to protest once we hit the streets of DC.  Messages from my friend on the Mall confirmed that acquiring a seat, a well-earned beverage and some food was the better way to go.  http://www.ebbitt.com/

 Off the back bar there's a hidden, quieter nook and excellent perches for people-watching.  We saw many costumed-people carrying signs amble by.

On this cool crisp autumn day, oysters called to us.

 We ordered a dozen oysters from the East Coast.  ($23.95)

The East Beach Blonde (RI) and Harpswell Flat (ME) were my favorite.  The Raspberry Point (PEI) and Wellfleet (MA) were my boyfriend's favorite.

 We also ordered a dozen Jonah crab claws ($16.95)

The glutton in me wished there was a ramekin of drawn butter to dip the crabmeat into.

 French Dip au Jus sandwich ($10.95)

 Fish and Chips ($13.95)

***

We should have just shared one sandwich after the raw bar order.  Our bike ride home was definitely slower.  Unfortunately the  bartender left a lot to be desired.  We saw he was getting busier, but providing plates and napkins with silverware after we ordered food would have been appreciated.  Then his slow pace and surly handling of the growing number of patrons was noticed by not only us but other parties nearby who waited and waited to order drinks.