Giovanni's Shrimp Truck - Hawaii

For no good reason, I'm posting about Giovanni's Shrimp Truck today... or really, for no other reason than I love Hawaii, wish I was there right now, and adore the shrimp truck. Located on the North Shore of Oahu (this is the Kahuku one, but I've heard rumors of a Hale'iwa one...), the drive is worth it to get these sweet, fresh, dripping in garlic shrimp with two scoops of rice. If you are brave (and enjoy spicy food!), get the spicy version... be prepared with loads of napkins!

For more shrimp truck details, check this out...

Friday Lunch Bites - Openings and Coming Soons

In today's "Friday Lunch Bites" : Restaurant Openings and (the more exciting) Coming Soons.

Here are several that caught my eye...

Openings
Momiji: Offers traditional hibachi-style dishes and sushi for lunch and dinner. (503 H Street, NW)

Taquiera Distrito Federal: With the original located in Columbia Heights, the second location of this Mexican restaurant has opened in Petworth. Tacos, burritos, weekend specials, breakfast (huevos rancheros!). New location at 805 Kennedy Street NW.

Taylor Gourmet: Craving a Philly style hoagie? Your wish has been granted... this deli is serving up hoagies with house-rousted meats. Italian specialties are also offered including chicken cutlets and risotto balls. Think a Philly Italian market transplanted to DC. For more information click here. (1116 H Street, NE)

Coming Soons
Ben's Next Door: The owner of famed Ben's Chili Bowl will oepn Ben's Next Door in early December. According to "the list are you on it," the restaurant will be 3,000 square feet and be "a bit more upscale, serving an American bar menu, alcohol, and, of course, those famous chili dogs." You can look for Ben's Next Door at 1211 U Street, NW.

Bourbon Steak: (very excited!!) Michael Mina (Nobhill, Seablue, Michael Mina restaurant) is opening a branch of Bourbon Steak at the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown this winter. Branches of Bourbon Steak can be found in Scottsdale, Miami, and Detroit. (2800 Pennsylvania Avenue NW)

Mad Butcher: The owners of Georgetown's Hook and Tackle Box hope to open the Mad Butcher next door to Tackle Box (currently occupied by Havanamax cigar shop). Mad Butcher, a butcher shop and restaurant, would bring in meats from local farmers and prepare them on-site. (3249 M Street, NW)

Todd English at the Donovan House: Are you a fan of chef Todd English's delectable "Olives" restaurants? Well, English is bringing another restaurant to town, this time an "Asian themed" restaurant. Sadly, it'll be another 1-2 years before it debuts at the Donovan House (1155 14th St. NW).

***Some of the above information comes from an email service/website I've subscribed to called: "the list are you on it" -- the group provides fantastic information about the DC metropolitan area food world.

DC CUPCAKE WARS - WINNER!

(Two cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake!)

For two months, the Washington Post has been conducting a "cupcake wars" experiment, trying cupcakes from all the local cupcake purveyors... Cupcake shops have popped up all around the DC area in the past year, so it definitely seemed like a delicious (and worthwhile) endeavor to find the best of the bunch!

The Washington Post has crowned its champion -- GEORGETOWN CUPCAKE -- a personal favorite of mine as well. Below is the article published November 5, 2008, that provides some "tasty tidbits" about the cupcake craze, about Georgetown cupcake, and other cupcake locations throughout the area.

(As a sidenote, when this first began, I felt inspired to try out my own cupcake war as a very belated housewarming party... entries to come about that cupcake war... after the war eventually happens!)

Here's the article:
SWEET VICTORY

It took 8 weeks, 141 varieties and extra gym time, but we found the best cupcake in town.

By Jane Black
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 5, 2008; F01

There's almost always a line at Georgetown Cupcake, especially on weekends. But on Oct. 11, the queue had snaked out the door of the cult bakery on Potomac Street and was threatening to block traffic. Perhaps it was spillover from the Taste of Georgetown food festival, which drew more than 10,000 people. Perhaps it was that the bakery had scored several perfect 10s that week in our Cupcake Wars taste-offs. Whatever the reason, police arrived to help manage the flow. By the end of the day, the eight-month-old bakery had sold 5,000 cupcakes.

That's busier than most Saturdays. But only by about 25 percent. Co-owners and sisters Sophie LaMontagne and Katherine Kallinis, winners of our Cupcake Wars, bake from 5:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. most days. And though they allow employees to scoop batter into tins and check the ovens, they pipe the frosting on every single cupcake themselves. On average, the store sells between 2,000 and 3,000 cupcakes Tuesdays through Fridays (up from 800 when it opened in February), 4,000 on Saturdays and 2,000 on Sundays. Do the math: At $2.75 each, that conservatively adds up to sales of more than $38,000 a week and $2 million annually.

No wonder then that "cupcakeries" continue to open in Washington and around the country. This past summer, Lavender Moon Cupcakery opened in Alexandria and Hello Cupcake debuted in Dupont Circle. And just when it seems the market is saturated, more are on the way. Before the end of the year, Nostalgia Cupcake will open in Annapolis, and Red Velvet Cupcakery, sister to Dupont Circle's TangySweet, will open in Penn Quarter. Online-only Bakeshop DC, which sells at Murky Coffee, plans a storefront in Clarendon. Upstart Cup of Yumm is searching for space in and around Gaithersburg. Sprinkles, the famed Los Angeles cupcake shop, is hunting for space in Northwest Washington, with plans to open late next year.

To be honest, we thought that cupcakes' 15 minutes might well be over when we launched Cupcake Wars, a round-robin showdown of Washington area bakeries. But after receiving hundreds of e-mails and phone calls from bakers and rabid fans, we could see that the trend has life in it yet. We established clear rules to keep things manageable -- all bakers must have a retail storefront presence inside the Beltway -- and extended the battle from six to eight weeks to accommodate a mountain of reader suggestions.

It wasn't long before we had a bad case of cupcake fever, too. In and out of the tasting room, we debated at length the proper ratio of frosting to cake and how much more quickly a vanilla cake can dry out than a chocolate one. We had a spreadsheet to crunch the numbers on the cupcakes' weights, prices and flavors. In total, in the preliminary rounds alone, we sampled 141 varieties or 31 pounds of cupcakes; that's 7.75 pounds for each regular taster. The amount of weight gained by each taster is considered private.

The appeal is nostalgic, of course; we all fondly remember the cupcakes of our childhoods. But cupcakes actually date to the 19th century. According to the Oxford Companion to Food, there are two theories about the origin of the word "cupcake." The first refers to any small cake baked in a cup-shaped mold, as small cakes were before the invention of the muffin tin. In the United States, the term also may refer to the American use of cups as a measuring system. An 1845 recipe for a "cup cake" includes four cups of flour, three of sugar, one of melted butter and one of sour cream with a teaspoon of baking powder dissolved in it for a loaf-size cake.

The modern cupcake craze began in 1996 when Magnolia Bakery, a quaint Southern-style bake shop, opened in New York's Greenwich Village. According to legend, co-founder Allysa Torey began making vanilla cupcakes as a way to use up leftover batter. Cheap, and by definition portion controlled, the cupcakes were a hit in the neighborhood, and it wasn't uncommon to see a line out the door on weekends. The cupcakes' national debut occurred in 2000, when an episode of HBO's "Sex and the City" featured Carrie Bradshaw and gang digging into the retro sweets. The lines got longer. Soon, Magnolia was a stop on the "Sex and the City" bus tour, and bloggers were breathlessly posting four times a day about cupcake news and trends. Savvy entrepreneurs began to wonder if they could create cupcake mania elsewhere in New York and beyond.

Magnolia may have created the trend, but today most cupcakeries take their inspiration from Sprinkles. The sleek Beverly Hills shop set aside birthday party nostalgia and offered instead elegant, dainty cakes in more than 20 rotating flavors such as ginger lemon, chai latte and chocolate marshmallow. Sprinkles President Charles Nelson says he had a hard time persuading any landlord to rent him space for the first shop. Today, the bakery has five outlets in three states, each selling about 1,500 cupcakes a day. Sprinkles plans to open in 18 cities, including Washington.

If others don't beat them to it. Local cupcake shops have developed fast followings. Hello Cupcake, which offers 18 flavors at a time, has a line outside most mornings before the shop opens at 10 a.m., says owner Penny Karas. There's a second rush between noon and 3 p.m. and a final flurry after work hours. At Baked & Wired, a 7 1/2 -year-old bakery in Georgetown, cupcakes have forcibly moved center stage. Eighteen months ago, owner Teresa Velazquez says, she was making 50 or 60 cupcakes a day. Now she tries to keep five flavors in stock and sells 300 to 400 on weekdays and up to 1,000 on weekends. "I never wanted to be a cupcake place," she says. "But if you don't have cupcakes on weekends or you've run out, people get really upset."

None of the cupcake entrepreneurs is worried the market is too crowded. But there is a push to differentiate. At Hello, the flavors have cutesy names such as You Tart! (lemon cake with lemon cream cheese frosting) and Prima Donna (chocolate cake with strawberry buttercream). The Penn Quarter's Red Velvet will offer classic Southern flavor combinations from David Guas, a former executive pastry chef for the Passion Food Hospitality group, which includes DC Coast and Acadiana. For a steep $4.50 each, Nostalgia Cupcakes in Annapolis will offer alcoholic flavors, such as the Black Tie (chocolate liqueur cake with raspberry Chambord filling and white chocolate meringue frosting), when it opens within the next few weeks.

In Chicago, More Cupcakes has gone one step further. In addition to sophisticated sweet flavors (passionfruit poppy seed, for example) there are bold, savory flavors, including the BLT, a bacon cupcake with ranch frosting topped with an heirloom tomato and micro-arugula; the peach Camembert, with a Sauternes reduction frosting; and the bacon maple, a brown-sugar cake topped with maple frosting and candied bacon. "A few years ago, thyme ice cream seemed so outrageous. Now it's just normal," says founder Patty Rothman. "The question is, how far can we push it? Can we make a cupcake into an appetizer or a side dish?"

More Cupcakes already is successfully serving mini-savory cupcakes as hors d'oeuvres, and the savory cupcakes, especially anything bacon-flavored, have been moving well. The shop sells up to 150 BLT cupcakes a day. Men in particular like them; women favor the bacon-maple. The trick, Rothman says, is tapping familiar flavor pairings. Apple and gorgonzola makes sense to people. Madras curry, a curry cake swirled with berry jam and topped with goat cheese frosting? Not so much.

More's menu has garnered much attention; Couture Cupcakes is considering adding savory flavors to its menu, too. After less than two months in business, Rothman already is planning a second location.

Cupcake entrepreneurs acknowledge that the exploding number of bakeries could lead to a shakeout. But none anticipates a full-scale cupcake backlash. "It's a small pleasure. At $3.25, we're equivalent to a cup of coffee at Starbucks and cheaper than a treat at Cold Stone Creamery," says Sprinkles' Nelson. "And who's not having a birthday, even in an economic downturn?"

The exception to the expansion rush seems to be Georgetown Cupcake. When they opened, LaMontagne and Kallinis registered Internet domain names for Dupont Cupcake, Kalorama Cupcake, Capitol Hill Cupcake and others. But after eight months in the spotlight -- the sisters appeared Monday on Martha Stewart's television show -- they're rethinking their strategy.
"We don't want to be a chain," LaMontagne says. "We still want cupcakes to be special."

An Election Day Special: Obama's and McCain's favorite foods ... and some election day freebies

Today being a historic election day ... and being in the nation's capital ... I thought it would be fitting to post these blog entries I found on So Good blog.


Yes, you know all about their politics, all about their platforms, all about their SNL skits... but do you know Obama's and McCain's favorite foods?


Check it out here: OBAMA vs. McCAIN

As featured on Good Morning America, Obama's chili recipe:
Obama Family Chili Recipe
1 large onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
Several cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound ground turkey or beef
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground basil
1 tablespoon chili powder
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Several tomatoes, depending on size, chopped
1 can red kidney beans

Saute onions, green pepper and garlic in olive oil until soft.
Add ground meat and brown.
Combine spices together into a mixture, then add to ground meat.
Add red wine vinegar.
Add tomatoes and let simmer, until tomatoes cook down.
Add kidney beans and cook for a few more minutes.
Serve over white or brown rice.
Garnish with grated cheddar cheese, onions and sour cream.

and...

McCain's Rib Recipe
Dry Rub:
1/3 part Garlic Powder
1/3 part Salt
1/3 part Pepper
3 lemons

Turn the grill down to low temperature.
Mix together garlic powder, salt and pepper. Then cover both sides of the ribs with that.
Grill ribs, bone side down, for 90 percent of the time. It will take about an hour to an hour and a half. Squeeze the lemon on it frequently, because that makes it taste a lot better.

And a small bonus...

Who knew you would get free bonuses for your vote today? Need some extra incentive to get out there? Here's a couple food treats being offered up in DC today if you show off that "I Voted" sticker:

Daily Grill: Free happy hour appetizer on Election day from 4 pm until close
Ben and Jerry's: Free scoop of ice cream
Krispy Kreme: Free star-shaped doughnuts with red, white, and blue sprinkles
Starbucks: Free tall-size brewed coffee

Good Stuff Eatery

Today, I went with two friends to Good Stuff Eatery, the burger place opened by Spike Mendelsohn of Top Chef fame. We've heard rave reviews about it (and word that it could take nearly 30-45 minutes to get your burger of choice)... we decided to brave the crowds today since it was a gorgeous fall day to be out.

We got a little bit nervous when we asked this one woman who was standing outside if she was waiting to get in ... we found out quickly that we were unnecessarily nervous (we think she was just waiting for an outdoor table). We entered the line to place our orders... the line was about 20 people deep, but we were happy to have the time to take it all in. The menu looked delicious - different types of burgers for all tastebuds, not to mention salads and desserts. I nearly drooled on myself looking at people's "hand spun shakes" -- in particular, the seasonal "pumpkin spice" shake caught my eye. But first things first.

We made a game plan - we would each order different burgers and different sides so we could try as much as possible. As we were making our plans, I looked over across the counter, and THERE WAS SPIKE. I admit, I get fairly starstruck. The girl in front of us "secretly" took a picture of him with her camera phone. The guy behind us struck up a conversation with Spike mentioning how he has been wanting to come by for months but it was always packed. I mainly thought it was so great to see Spike behind the counter, cooking up the burgers, overseeing everything. This is clearly his baby and I hope that they will expand to have more locations around DC (as I read that they were thinking about doing...).

In the end, we decided to get:

• Coletti's Smokehouse Burger -- applewood bacon, sharp vermont cheddar, fried vidalia onion rings with chipotle bbq sauce (that's the giant onion ring on the burger)





Blazin' Barn Burger -- (kind of a Thai burger!) pickled daikon & carrots, mint, cilantro, thai basil, lettuce, mint


Uncle D's Chili in Cheddar: spicy chili, cheddar, green onions, and sour cream (with the "Spike's Village Fries" below)

And sides of course... "Sunny's handcut fries," "Spike's Village Fries" (thyme, rosemary, cracked pepper!), and "Cliff's Homegrown Vidalia Onion Rings."

The verdict: Delicious. My favorite was probably Coletti's Smokehouse Burger - I am a sucker for a bacon cheeseburger and the bacon on this was particularly sweet which was a nice compliment to the richness of the burger. I did enjoy the Blazin' Barn Burger quite a bit because the vegetables and herbs made it really refreshing.

My co-eaters? They thought that the beef tasted really fresh and that the burgers in general were better than Five Guys (DC's ubiquitous burger chain... that I crave after a long day at work... or for lunch after a long night), but that the fries were about the same.

I have to say that one of the things I was surprised about but was quite excited about was the array of dipping sauces. We tried them all. Your usual ketchup and mustard... and then a series of mayonnaises... old bay mayo (I can't resist Old Bay... but this was on the salty side), Sriracha mayo (thai hot sauce), chipotle mayo (my favorite), and mango mayo (not very "mango-y" but quite sweet).

Good Stuff Eatery is a great neighborhood spot to just drop by and enjoy some good, soul-comforting food. The staff was very friendly and happy to help. The scene is a little bit chaotic, but that goes along with the popularity of Good Stuff Eatery. There are some tables outside on the sidewalk and tables on the second floor. We were able to find a table easily despite the volume of customers and they move quickly to get the food out.

(A combination of our three burgers!)

To be honest, I'm already trying to find a time to go back... and I've already started planning out my menu. Or attempting to. This time around, I was tempted by the Good Stuff Melt (melted cheddar & muenster, caramelized onions & mushrooms with good stuff sauce) ... but I read about Spike's "favorite" burger, the Spike's 5 Napkin burger... dairy fresh cheese, applewood bacon, farm fresh fried egg, brioche bun, good stuff sauce. And then there's the turkey burger with "chunky avocado and sprouts" and muenster chees and "ruby tomato" and.... AHHHH. Apparently I'll just have to go back again and again... and maybe one of these times I'll actually engage Spike in a real conversation...

Regardless, definitely on the list is one of the hand spun shakes... If I make it back during the fall, I MUST have the pumpkin spice shake. But otherwise, I think I will fall for the "D-lechable Leche."

Ok, must go find something to eat now... maybe next time I should just buy two burgers and save one for later. This was a much longer post than expected!