georgia brown's

washington, dc

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our guidebook explained that bill clinton came here to get his soul food fix. so we had to try it. derek and i love soul food. i think it's pretty typical for asian-americans to love soul food. i find that chinese food and southern soul food cooking have a lot in common. for example, when i was ordering my shrimp and grits, the waiter initially asked me if i wanted the heads on. then without waiting for me to answer, he said "yeah, you want it with the heads on." of course. i'm chinese.

my shrimp and grits were pretty tasty but i still preferred the version i had at the redhead. georgia brown's version had too much sauce and it drowned out my grits. my favorites dishes were the appetizers - deviled eggs and fried oysters (pictured). delicious, but the little decorative extras were unnecessary. turns out georgia brown's is fancified soul food. tastes good, but not worth the extra price. overall, not a huge fan. sorry bill.

elephant & castle

washington, dc

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there's an elephant & castle in the west village. i've walked by a few times, thought it looked interesting, but never tried it. when derek and i walked by elephant & castle in DC, i thought it was a branch. it's not. unfortunately.

it is, however, a theme restaurant. the theme here is british pub food. the quality of the food here is okay, but prices are reasonable. it seems like a good spot to meet up with friends for a cheap drinks and bar snacks while you're downtown. i enjoyed my curry chips (apparently a popular british pub snack) - french fries with curry. for my entree, i had a decent shepard's pie. anyway, it was good, but not great.

j&g steakhouse

washington, dc

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we were staying at the W in washington DC, which has great views of the city from its rooftop bar - you can see the top of the white house! in an effort to be fancy and exclusive, there's a velvet rope and a bouncer managing the line. derek and i managed to skip the line by flashing our room key cards (a nice perk). we wanted to get a good spot in order to see the cherry festival fireworks. once we got up there, however, it wasn't that crowded. (but maybe DC has a different definition of crowded). we snagged the perfect spot with a view of the water and enjoyed yummy strawberry lemonades (infused with alcohol, of course).

by the time the fireworks were over, it was pretty late for dinner. after browsing through a few dinner options in our hotel guide, we learned that the j&g in the hotel's lobby restaurant actually stood for jeans-georges, a famous new york chef. an easy choice for lazy people of somewhat discerning taste. for my entree, i had the snake river farm wagyu sirloin, which was amazing. derek had the bone-in rib eye, which he enjoyed (and considered just a small step below primehouse's 40-day aged rib-eye). for dessert, i had a cookie plate which made a pretty picture and a nice treat. derek had the famous jean-georges molten chocolate cake, which is one of the few desserts he truly enjoys.

ollie's trolley

washington, dc

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so begins our vacation in DC. we were hungry when we arrived and our room wasn't ready yet, so we wandered around downtown to find some grub. ollie's trolley looked a little out of place among all of the office buildings and fancy power-lunch restaurants. the entire restaurant is painted in bright red and yellow with a carnival theme. in fact, the whole place looked like it belongs on coney island.

derek and i decided to stop in for a mid-afternoon, pre-dinner snack. because that’s what we do. we eat burgers and fries as mid-afternoon, pre-dinner snacks. i had a burger and derek had a cheeseburger. they were pretty good but nowhere near the level of BLT or little owl. there was some interesting seasoning sprinkled directly on the patties (as opposed to being marinated into the meat before cooking), but i’m not sure it added much to the meat. the same seasoning was found on the fries and those were very tasty. overall, while we wouldn’t go here to satisfy a specific burger craving, it satisfied our mid-afternoon, pre-dinner craving.

van leeuwen truck

twitter

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on the way into mesa grill, jinny shrewdly noticed the van leeuwen truck parked outside. instead of ordering mesa grill desserts, we decided to get ice cream from the truck. van leeuwen is another one of the fancy food trucks - this one serves gourmet ice cream and coffee. it's a little pricey, but still cheaper than a plated dessert at a restaurant.

and it was perfect for a sunny afternoon. seriously, everyone eyed our ice cream enviously as we walked down the street. someone even shouted, "hey, that ice cream looks good!" and it was good. gourmet ice cream from a truck! awesome.

mesa grill

new york, ny

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another one of bobby flay's restaurants. as usual, the appetizers and side dishes outshine the main courses. my favorite appetizer was the queso fundido (jinny's pick). made with goat cheese, but i couldn't tell - it was creamy cheesy buttery goodness. the tuna nachos (my pick) were pretty good. i enjoyed the deconstruction of the nacho - there was a small bowl with really well-made crispy tortilla chips. then separately, there was another bowl with a puddle of cheese sauce and avocado sauce, topped with a tuna tartare.

the bread basket is fantastic - blue corn/yellow corn cornbread, perfect with a bit of butter on top. the basket also includes small rolls that taste like mini-baguettes - delicious and perfect to dip into the queso fundido. the entrees, were less spectacular. my chile relleno (pictured) had a great cornmeal crust, but the rest of it fell flat. next time - i think i'll stick with apps only.

new york hotdog and coffee

new york, ny

CLOSED

derek and i have passed by this place many times, usually on our way to another restaurant. the sign in the window "korean buglogi hot dogs" catches our eye, but we never stop since we're eating elsewhere. derek is particularly intrigued by the combination of an all-american hot dog and korean barbecue. a few weeks ago, we finally decided to make a special trip to satisfy his curiosity.

the verdict? interesting, but not that great. it tasted like sauteed beef and onions on top of a hot dog. the bulgogi wasn't flavorful enough to make a real difference. i had a plain hot dog and although i enjoyed it, it wasn't worth making a special trip for. the whole restaurant is very odd - why the combination of hot dogs and coffee? it just doesn't work.