China Boy is a small storefront that primarily sells store made "chow foon," a broad, rice noodle, but also serves various soups, stir-fries, and crepe dishes, all of which feature their chow foon.
The store is primarily a carryout with only one table available to sit in. The interior is quite spartan and most of the people who came in while I was there had no interest in tarrying. I also noticed that the vast majority of people came in and ordered the chow foon plain, presumably to use in their own dishes at home.
I ordered a tripe noodle soup and a noodle crepe dish with dried shrimp. The tripe noodle soup was hearty, rich, and beefy. It was perfect for a cold winter's night. The tripe was tender and just chewy enough without being overwhelming offalish on the palate. The only drawback, to be honest, was the chow foon. Now, the chow foon itself was delicious, but I guess I don't much care for it in soup. I simply prefer thinner noodles with a little more bite to them. But, YMMV, as always.
The crepe dish, again featuring the chow foon, was more to my liking. The chow foon gently draped the dried, preserved shrimp, framing the briny, saltiness of shrimp in a billowing cushion of soft, chewy noodle. Some soy-based sauce and chili oil really made the dish sing. I would definitetly recommend this dish.
The woman at the counter was a little brusque, but I did get there near closing (they close around 5:00 pm). However, we conversed and she was surprised I was not Chinese since I ordered the tripe dish and visibly enjoyed it. And, I learned that, apparently, there are more than one type of tripe. The tripe she uses is only suitable for soups (and costs around $2.99/lb.) while a more expensive type of tripe can be deep fried and made crispy (something I had while eating at Ripple in Cleveland Park and costs about $5.99/lb.). You learn something new everyday!
So, if you want a crash course on offal with a side of chow foon, stop on by China Boy.
Showing posts with label gallery place. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gallery place. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Oyamel - Gallery Place
Oyamel is Jose Andres's Mexican small plates outpost, serving consistently well-prepared, inventive, and accessibly priced dishes that your average, twenty-something, white-collared Washingtonian can afford as a splurge now and again.
The ambiance is upbeat, but not nearly as frenetic as Andres's Greek/Middle Eastern inspired restaurant Zaytinya. This place is a restaurant foremost, and it is possible to have conversation without having to scream in your companion's ear. Service, however, can be a little intrusive, as my waiter consistently interrupted conversation with my dining companion. I know he was just trying to be helpful and attentive, but part of the art of quality service is to ask patrons their status during lulls and to not interrupt when the guests are trying to have quiet conversation with each other.
The food was of fairly high quality that you won't find in many other restaurants in DC. The one exception to this was my lengua taco. While well made, I know of several tacquerias where I could have purchased one of the same quality. But, the Mexican squash salad was refreshing and moreish. The Papas al Mole were crispy and the sauce dark and flavorful. Although they were just fries, they were excellent fries. The plaintain fritters were sweet and tasty, though the sauce was fairly forgetabble. On the other hand, the tamal verde had a bright and zippy sauce, but the chicken breast was kind of bland. The guacamole was nice and well made.
Other dishes I have enjoyed immensely in the past have been the scallops pasilla chile and pumpkin seed sauce, the short ribs, and the taco with confit of baby pig (which you cannot get at the other tacquerias in town).
I know this sounds like I am damning the food with faint praise, but the food really is generally well made. I have no qualms about coming back, especially because, generally speaking, you will not find food like this anywhere else in DC.
The ambiance is upbeat, but not nearly as frenetic as Andres's Greek/Middle Eastern inspired restaurant Zaytinya. This place is a restaurant foremost, and it is possible to have conversation without having to scream in your companion's ear. Service, however, can be a little intrusive, as my waiter consistently interrupted conversation with my dining companion. I know he was just trying to be helpful and attentive, but part of the art of quality service is to ask patrons their status during lulls and to not interrupt when the guests are trying to have quiet conversation with each other.
The food was of fairly high quality that you won't find in many other restaurants in DC. The one exception to this was my lengua taco. While well made, I know of several tacquerias where I could have purchased one of the same quality. But, the Mexican squash salad was refreshing and moreish. The Papas al Mole were crispy and the sauce dark and flavorful. Although they were just fries, they were excellent fries. The plaintain fritters were sweet and tasty, though the sauce was fairly forgetabble. On the other hand, the tamal verde had a bright and zippy sauce, but the chicken breast was kind of bland. The guacamole was nice and well made.
Other dishes I have enjoyed immensely in the past have been the scallops pasilla chile and pumpkin seed sauce, the short ribs, and the taco with confit of baby pig (which you cannot get at the other tacquerias in town).
I know this sounds like I am damning the food with faint praise, but the food really is generally well made. I have no qualms about coming back, especially because, generally speaking, you will not find food like this anywhere else in DC.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Nando's Peri Peri - Gallery Place 5/13/11
I went to Nando's on Friday with several friends who I found out have never been before. The Nando's in Gallery Place can get raucous and loud during dinner (and for that reason I prefer the Dupont location for its quieter ambiance), but luckily we manage to get a table quickly for our party of five. As noted elsewhere, they have an unusual system where you order at the counter, pick up your own flatware and drinks, but have your entrees delivered to you. I'm used to it, but it can be bewildering for first timers.
I ordered the half chicken with hot sauce, which has pronounced, but tolerable heat, with a side of fries. While the fries are solid, the chicken is where it is at: juicy and flavorful. To be honest, I generally prefer Nando's to the Peruvian chicken places like El Pollo Rico. I just find the breast meat dry at those places while Nando's manages to deliver consistently moist white meat, which is quite a feat considering how many orders they must churn out daily. Also, I would go with a half chicken...while I generally prefer dark meat, the quarter chicken is literally just a leg and a thigh, which I find a little small. Not to mention you miss the contrast between the white and dark meat when you get only a quarter chicken.
The sides are good, if a bit meh. The mash potatoes are solid and someone ordered pea mash with mint, which I found a little weird texturally. The chicken livers are actually very good, smothered in a hot sauce, but the richness and intensity of the liver is not for those who feel fainthearted with respect to offal.
In sum, Nando's is a reliable stand-by I go to whenever I feel like an inexpensive, but flavorful meal. Although it is a chain, like Chipotle, they understand where their strengths lie, and they always execute their limited menu with great consistency.
I ordered the half chicken with hot sauce, which has pronounced, but tolerable heat, with a side of fries. While the fries are solid, the chicken is where it is at: juicy and flavorful. To be honest, I generally prefer Nando's to the Peruvian chicken places like El Pollo Rico. I just find the breast meat dry at those places while Nando's manages to deliver consistently moist white meat, which is quite a feat considering how many orders they must churn out daily. Also, I would go with a half chicken...while I generally prefer dark meat, the quarter chicken is literally just a leg and a thigh, which I find a little small. Not to mention you miss the contrast between the white and dark meat when you get only a quarter chicken.
The sides are good, if a bit meh. The mash potatoes are solid and someone ordered pea mash with mint, which I found a little weird texturally. The chicken livers are actually very good, smothered in a hot sauce, but the richness and intensity of the liver is not for those who feel fainthearted with respect to offal.
In sum, Nando's is a reliable stand-by I go to whenever I feel like an inexpensive, but flavorful meal. Although it is a chain, like Chipotle, they understand where their strengths lie, and they always execute their limited menu with great consistency.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Full Kee - Gallery Place 2/9/2011
Full Kee
509 H St NW
Washington, DC 20001
Located in the neighborhood formerly known as Chinatown, Full Kee is a holdover from the pre-Verizon/MCI/soulless telecom conglomerate Center era. While the restaurant is not as whimsically named like its neighbors, such as Wok n' Roll and New Big Wong, it is one of the few remaining Chinese restaurants in the area that still attempts to prepare a semblance of non-Americanized Chinese food.
While it has several species of roasted fowl hanging in the window, it isn't really a "hole in the wall" Chinese restaurant. It has several rooms and is actually fairly spacious inside. Since I was with a relatively large group and we were seated at a table with a lazy susan, one of those circular trays which allow you to spin different platters of food around the table, we decided to share our entrees family style.
The menu is fairly Cantonese, although there are many Americanized dishes intermingled in the selection, so you have to know what to order. For appetizers, I ordered crab rangoon with duck sauce, an Americanized dish, while others ordered steamed dumplings and a corn soup. The crab rangoon was as expected: a delectable fried wonton stuffed with cream cheese and very little imitation crab, just as I like it. The duck sauce however was obnoxiously cloying even for duck sauce. I didn't get to try the steamed dumplings, but people at the table seemed to enjoy them. I also tried the corn soup, which was basically egg drop soup with some kernels of corn tossed in...it was extremely bland and forgettable.
We also ordered several dishes for entrees. I ordered the eggplant "casserole" with minced chicken and salt fish, which I thought was well prepared. The eggplant was steaming hot and the protein acted as accompaniments rather than the main players. Nonetheless, I thought it was well-seasoned and harmonious and would order it again. Someone else ordered a white fish dish with peppers and onion which was also quite tasty. The sauteed snow pea leaves were serviceable, if a little bland and undistinguished. It could have used a little garlic.
The peking duck was also well done. The skin was crispy and the meat moist, and when wrapped in the pancakes, worked beautifully with the earthy, tangy hoisin and the brightness of the green onions.
The Americanized dishes were a bit more mixed. The barbecue pork dish was nauseatingly cloying. The sauce tasted like corn syrup and tomato paste, though the pork was pleasantly crispy, I suppose. The shrimp with walnut in mayonnaise was far more successful, and really good. It did a better job balancing the sweetness with the savory and was probably one of my favorite dishes of the day.
All in all, if you want authentic Chinese food, you are better off trying to find something in either Fairfax or Rockville. Those restaurants are far more consistent and inexpensive (though they tend to be either Taiwanese or Sichuan, and not Cantonese). But, if you are in Gallery Place and you want to try some Chinese food, Full Kee isn't the worst option. At least it hasn't transmogrified itself into a Panda Express.
509 H St NW
Washington, DC 20001
Located in the neighborhood formerly known as Chinatown, Full Kee is a holdover from the pre-Verizon/MCI/soulless telecom conglomerate Center era. While the restaurant is not as whimsically named like its neighbors, such as Wok n' Roll and New Big Wong, it is one of the few remaining Chinese restaurants in the area that still attempts to prepare a semblance of non-Americanized Chinese food.
While it has several species of roasted fowl hanging in the window, it isn't really a "hole in the wall" Chinese restaurant. It has several rooms and is actually fairly spacious inside. Since I was with a relatively large group and we were seated at a table with a lazy susan, one of those circular trays which allow you to spin different platters of food around the table, we decided to share our entrees family style.
The menu is fairly Cantonese, although there are many Americanized dishes intermingled in the selection, so you have to know what to order. For appetizers, I ordered crab rangoon with duck sauce, an Americanized dish, while others ordered steamed dumplings and a corn soup. The crab rangoon was as expected: a delectable fried wonton stuffed with cream cheese and very little imitation crab, just as I like it. The duck sauce however was obnoxiously cloying even for duck sauce. I didn't get to try the steamed dumplings, but people at the table seemed to enjoy them. I also tried the corn soup, which was basically egg drop soup with some kernels of corn tossed in...it was extremely bland and forgettable.
We also ordered several dishes for entrees. I ordered the eggplant "casserole" with minced chicken and salt fish, which I thought was well prepared. The eggplant was steaming hot and the protein acted as accompaniments rather than the main players. Nonetheless, I thought it was well-seasoned and harmonious and would order it again. Someone else ordered a white fish dish with peppers and onion which was also quite tasty. The sauteed snow pea leaves were serviceable, if a little bland and undistinguished. It could have used a little garlic.
The peking duck was also well done. The skin was crispy and the meat moist, and when wrapped in the pancakes, worked beautifully with the earthy, tangy hoisin and the brightness of the green onions.
The Americanized dishes were a bit more mixed. The barbecue pork dish was nauseatingly cloying. The sauce tasted like corn syrup and tomato paste, though the pork was pleasantly crispy, I suppose. The shrimp with walnut in mayonnaise was far more successful, and really good. It did a better job balancing the sweetness with the savory and was probably one of my favorite dishes of the day.
All in all, if you want authentic Chinese food, you are better off trying to find something in either Fairfax or Rockville. Those restaurants are far more consistent and inexpensive (though they tend to be either Taiwanese or Sichuan, and not Cantonese). But, if you are in Gallery Place and you want to try some Chinese food, Full Kee isn't the worst option. At least it hasn't transmogrified itself into a Panda Express.
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