** stars in Tom Sietsema's Fall Dining Guide 2011 ("The city's best source for kitfo -- Ethiopia's fiery, butter-splashed version of steak tartare," writes Tom.) http://wapo.st/pFL1z9
2 stars in Tom Sietsema's Fall Dining Guide 2011. "I'm partial to the 18-inch white pizza strewn with tender clams," writes Tom. http://wapo.st/oB3G9Z
** stars in Tom Sietsema's Fall Dining Guide 2011. (Tom recommends the "piping-hot miso-flavored feast wrought from wiry yellow noodles imported from Sapporo.") http://wapo.st/pALURb
If the prospect of driving to Columbia for Chinese food doesn’t appeal to you, focus on the specifics: the best tea-smoked duck we’ve found and superlative dim sum that’s cooked to order.
What to get: Shrimp-and-yam patties; bun cha, charred pork meatballs in spicy fish sauce; Hanoi-style sizzling catfish with dill and mint; clay pots of pork or catfish; lemongrass-marinated short rib.
Some of our favorites—deviled eggs topped with piquant green sauce, gorgeously fried prosciutto croquettes—never leave the menu. Look to the specials for interesting spins on seasonal veggies.
There are moments in nearly every meal here—a soup that activates every taste sensor, a salad of Technicolor intensity—that make you think you’ve never really eaten Thai food before.
The dishes explode with flavor, the kitchen is remarkably consistent, and the setting is comfortable and calming.
If you’re after something quick, the excellent pork souvlaki wrapped with feta in warm, soft pita is the way to go—it’s one of our favorite sandwiches in the area
We recommend: Sambusas; yebeg wat (lamb); doro wat (chicken and hard-boiled egg); kitfo (beef tartare); kik alicha (split peas); gomen (collards); azifa (green lentils).
The flavors of the kitchen’s chicken makhani are at once amped up and complex, and it’s hard to resist sopping up all the tomatoey gravy with blistered rounds of cilantro-sprinkled naan.
Try the tender meatballs blanketed in terrific red sauce (now sold by the jar) and fluffy tiramisu. To drink, there are wine carafes and interesting draft beers.
Pies at this Hill-staffer gathering place are best when leaning toward the creative, including an outstanding barbecue pizza topped with smoky shredded pork, cheddar, and fried onions.
Enhance any of the phos with accompanying plates of bean sprouts, basil sprigs, lime wedges, and jalapeños or with a dollop of the Sriracha chili sauce found on the tables.
The produce here is bright and fresh and tossed into an array of salads, including a noteworthy one with shredded beets, walnuts, and garlic. Also good: Carrot salad with garlic and chili peppers.
The kitchen’s skill is evident in its mole, a sauce that involves no fewer than 15 ingredients and lots of hours. The rich and nutty version here comes ladled over chicken enchiladas.
Considered the king of the area’s Peruvian-chicken houses. A tip to up your chances of a getting a great chicken: Prime time might mean waiting in line, but the birds won’t sit in a warmer.
We recommend: Shrimp salad with lemongrass; crispy fish with green mango; crispy pork belly with chili and basil; coconut ice cream.
We recommend: Fried risotto balls with mozzarella and roasted eggplant; Margherita pizza with buffalo mozzarella; chorizo pizza with onion and roasted red pepper; prosciutto-and-arugula pizza.
Begin with the superb veggie combo platter, which includes fine renditions of baba ghanoush, hummus, tabbouleh, and foul (fava beans). It’s a good primer for the zesty, garlicky flavors that abound.
The kitchen makes its own lemongrass-laced pork and roasts a perfect, plump quail. But there are rewards up and down the menu, and many of the best dishes don’t make meat the star.
Good starts to the meal include a simple dish of cold cucumber with cilantro. Pork with crunchy cucumber and seaweed-like mushrooms is good for those who shy away from spice.
Appetizers of sambosa and bulanee, perfectly fried triangles filled with beef, potato, or leeks, make for outstanding starters. For entrées try one of the stews or rice dishes.
Start w/ something from the fryer—such as batter-dipped squash batons or bundles of watercress fritters dipped in tamarind-chili sauce—then balance it with the crunchy, earthy pickled tea-leaf salad.
Try one of the soups, such as the restorative beef soup with noodles, egg, and turnips or the clam-and-tofu soondooboo with a red-pepper broth and an egg whisked in for richness.
While you don’t want to miss the grilled meats, other parts of the menu are worth exploring. Those include chul pan stocked with baby octopus and pork, as well as a scallion-studded seafood pancake.
The 149-item menu has many good entry points, but we like to start with the shrimp toast—airy baguette halves slathered in shrimp paste and deep-fried to a crisp —or a round of spring rolls.
Try the crispy salmon, a moist filet encased in a crunchy shell and set on steamed jasmine rice. Or a dish of deep-fried bay scallops tossed with basil, scallions, and red peppers.
The stars of the menu are the generous entrées, particularly a spicy, cilantro-rubbed chicken tandoori kebab. The juicy ground-beef chelo kebab kubideh impressed with its meatloaf-like flavors.
There might not be a better value than the $4.99 refillable bowls of sul leung tang, a soup made by simmering beef bones for 48 hours and studding the broth with beef slices and rice noodles.
Accompany all the meat on the menu with a generous plate of the sweet, fragrant rice-and-carrot pilaf called shirin polo and a dish of warm eggplant dip.
Jaeger schnitzel is a thin cut of veal topped with a homey mushroom-cream sauce and served with a mound of sautéed vegetables such as carrots and zucchini.
The warm pita holds spit-grilled pork and is finished with a handful of crispy French fries. Dips such as kalamata-olive tapenade and tyrokafteri make nice shares with lightly griddled pita.
Note the color coding on the menu. For most people, yellow will be plenty hot; red means the kitchen has seasoned with abandon.
We recommend: Tuna burger with grilled pineapple; Greek-style lamb burger; Wellington burger with blue cheese and roasted mushrooms.
Kids can order spaghetti and meatballs while adults supplement the wood-fired pizzas with interesting salads such as one with arugula, pears, and Gorgonzola.
The best of the tacos, the al pastor, features glistening, spice-rubbed pork sliced from a spit and piled into a nubby, two-ply corn tortilla.
Even if you’re stuffed, you can’t leave without a bite of Perez’s homemade alfajores—anise shortbread cookies filled with caramel. Sublime.
There are five spice levels for the soondubu—medium is about right for the average diner.
Interesting small plates include kathi rolls, the cool potato salad called papri chaat, and tandoori chicken wings—sample them with abandon during the weeknight happy hour.
Consider the superlative lamb chops, marinated in a paste of ginger, chili flakes, and garlic, set over a charcoal flame until the surface darkens, then sprinkled with sumac.
While the soondubu is the star of the menu, there are other gems. The selection of pa jun—egg-and-scallion pancakes with seafood, kimchee, or vegetables—make for good additions to the table.
