We broke for lunch late, and headed over to The Overwood in Alexandria. I do their website in exchange for the occasional free lunch, and I hadn’t seen them in a while. So we went over and sat at the bar for a late lunch. Rami, the chef, came out and said hey, and took our order. He also asked how we liked grits, and wanted to know if he could try something out on us. Generally, when chefs experiment, it’s best to be there. They start thinking outside the box, and then they deliver big.

Rami brought out this delight, which my camera fails to adequately capture. It’s a grits cake, in lobster sauce with veggies, crawfish and shrimp. And it was heaven on earth. The grits were perfectly textured and subtly flavored, the lobster sauce creamy, and the crawfish and shrimp moist and perfectly done.

Sometimes it’s good to know the chef. I understand this is on the menu all weekend, DC-folks.

Overwood
220 North Lee St
Alexandria VA
703.535.3340

Yummy — Originally uploaded by tbridge

Sure, it’s chilly out today, and maybe it feels more like late March than it does late April, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a little chilly in exchange for some free ice cream, does it? Ben & Jerry’s is giving out a free scoop of ice cream, for as long as their supply holds, in the greater world today. There are five B&J’s Scoop Shops in the District. Click on the pretty map for all the details.

There are a few outliers as well, including Old Town, Bethesda, and Fairfax, so zoom back if you’re out a bit further so you can get the ice cream love, too. Scooping starts at noon, be prepared to wait in a bit of a line.

A few days ago, I found myself in a foreign land known as “Capitol Hill”. It took me about 45 minutes to find my way over there from NW DC, partly because my GPS told me to get onto 395 like the stupid gadget that it is. When will I learn to turn that thing off while driving through our complicated crisscross of roads and quadrants? Alas, after going from Dupont to Union Station to L’enfant Plaza to Eastern Market, I had finally made it to my destination on 8th street SE in what was probably the most difficult possible way.

After meeting with my underground stonecutters group and drinking the blood of an English sheep, I decided some food was in order. “What do these people of ‘Capitol Hill’ eat?” I wondered. Do they partake in the sushi, the steak frites, or the spaghetti and meatballs? It was then that I remembered a tale once told by my friend about a place known at Kenny’s BBQ and how it was legendary in this far off land. Low and behold, this famous eating establishment was a mere ten minute drive away.

As I made my way into the establishment, I was greeted by a fine young lady behind the counter. Actually that’s not true. She didn’t say a word and just stared off into the distance, waiting for me to order. She used a toothpick to clean underneath her fingernails. I perused their menu and started to salivate because one, I was starving and two, it’d been ages since I’d eaten some good BBQ.

I asked the customer service oriented counter lady, “What comes with the platter?” She replied, “It’s a platter.” Mmmmm. That was sounding good. I then remembered how much I like baked beans with my BBQ and asked, “Do you have baked beans?” As she stared down at the cash register and ran her fingers over the buttons she replied, “No.” So I decided on the shredded beef platter with a side of macaroni and cheese, and in the absence of baked beans I chose a side of black eyed peas and rice. In ten minutes my food was all bagged up and ready to go, so assuming I could find my way back to NW, I would be eating in no time.

When I got home, I unpacked my Styrofoam container of shredded dead cow as my dog anxiously drooled nearby. To my surprise they had included some cornbread along with my massive meal. I couldn’t wait to see how much of it I could stuff into my face at 10:00 at night. I dove into the BBQ beef and at first thought to myself, “Arrrggggghhhh….BBQ….sooo delicious….” My dog looked at me and said, “Arrrggggghhh….I know…BBQ…sooo delicious…give me some noooow you bastard….” But as my hunger wore off and I actually thought about critiquing the taste, my thoughts changed to, “Hmph. It tastes like shredded beef with sweet and sour sauce on top of it.” The macaroni and cheese had almost no flavor to it. It was more like macaroni and Elmer’s Glue. The black eyed peas and rice tasted pretty good but would have been much better had they been baked beans. And the cornbread you ask? It was pretty dry and tasted like it was premade or had been sitting on a shelf all day long.

So all in all, my Kenny’s BBQ experience wasn’t one that I’m going to highly recommend to you. In fact, I’d rather eat with my grandma in her retirement home’s cafeteria where they serve a delicious ham with applesauce. Plus I get to eat in the warm company of my grandma.

Photo of a flying pig by Grundlepuck

When you’re out walking to lunch today, in the glorious spring sunshine, take a moment to think about what you’re having. Is it trucked in by Sysco after being canned somewhere in the midwest? Or is it hauled in from area farms?

I’ve fallen in love with the area farmers markets, which are about to start their season again. The Post sent over a very neat Google Maps Mashup with a bunch of local farmers markets. Be sure to play with the days of the week on the map, as that made me miss my two favorite farmers markets initially.

If you’re interested in Farm Shares, please check out the VABF’s listing of CSA farms in the northern virginia area, most of whom will have dropoff points in the District. It’s not too late!

Strawberries — Originally uploaded by tbridge

It was late last night as we got off the Metro at Courthouse after the Nats loss. The Vicodin I’d taken to dull the pain after my wisdom teeth came out was wearing off, and frankly, in that situation I get might grumpy. Having only had a yogurt, I pulled into the Wendy’s at Courthouse & Wilson for a Frosty.

Now, the Wendy’s closes its dining room at 10 or so, but their drive-thru is open until 2 in the morning. Which is great, if you have a car. But as the picture here demonstrates, about a half dozen people last night took it upon themselves to just walk up to the window. Sure, two of them waited in “line” between a few cars, but the rest showed up unbidden, and the wait while they placed their orders was 10 or so minutes, holding up the rest of the line.

Folks. It’s a drive-thru window. It’s not a walk-up.

Drive thru walkups — Originally uploaded by tbridge

Beating up on the Washington Post has come to be kind of a hobby for me of late, but I wanted to take a minute to give credit where credit is due. One of the highlights of my week has come to be reading the Post’s Wednesday food section. The paper is my lunchtime ritual and it goes into the recycling bin when I’m done… except for Wednesdays, where more often than not I find myself bringing home a recipe page from the Food section.

This week’s inspiration for me to bring home the section was the concoction from the picture seen here: a Strawberry, Mozzarella, and Arugula salad. Mmmmm. Not only yummy sounding but a great variation on the usual mozzarella and tomato, which my darling (but in this matter, brain damaged) girlfriend won’t eat, as someone who isn’t a fan of the tomato. I’m angling to see this on our table within the week.

FreshFarm Markets open this week, inaugurating the farmers market season. I’ve been anticipating this for a while, as last year I became addicted to my weekly pitstop at Penn Quarter on the way home to the Metro.

Open from 3pm to 7pm every Thursday starting today (until December 18) on 8th between D & E Streets NW, the Penn Quarter market features all sorts of goodies - fruits and veg, dairy, handmade soaps, flowers - and there are more locations across town.

Now, does shopping at a farmers market qualify under my new-found parsimony? Yes. Local farms + seasonal produce + high quality = worth every penny. The salad I get at Whole Paycheck or Ghetto Giant is dead on arrival. The living head of lettuce I get at the farmers market lasts a week, fresh and crisp. No contest.

Recession, economic crisis, gotterdammerung, whatever you want to call it, when things start to get increasingly expensive, I start to expect more. And as I’m a reasonable, tolerant, terribly sweet-natured person, when I go off on a rant, please indulge me.

Working downtown for many years, I’ve been noticing the price creep of basic lunches. Yesterday it really hit me when I went to Cosi for a salad and saw with a shock that everything there is now $7+. Yikes. My morning coffee breaks have also been creeping up. Now, my love affair with caffeine, the one substance I’ve ever been directly told by a doctor to lay off, is not the same as those coffee drones who really don’t have a freaking clue what the difference is between froth and crema. In other words, I’m a snob. Well, actually, no, I’m a purist. I want things to be right. If I am going to risk painful palpitations for it, at $3.08 my cappuccino better be a cappuccino, and not a latte..

Like the slide of suburban property values, I’ve been noticing the slide of the proper cappuccino in this city for some time, but nowhere is it more prevalent than the Caribou Coffee near my office at 13th & G. This morning is yet another time that I ask (nicely, politely, I’m not a jerk about it!) the barista to remake what they hand me. Filled to the brim with barely an 1/8 of froth is NOT a cappuccino. When I explained (nicely, politely) this time the response was “so you want it dry”.

(This is all Starbucks’ fault of course - wet, dry, skinny, tall, yadda yadda yadda. No wonder they all took off recently to relearn the basics.)

So - sigh - no, no, no. I don’t want a dry cappuccino. I want a cappuccino. And in this current economic clime, everything I have to shell out for had better be made/done right.

I had a great breakfast the other day at Pete’s Diner on Capitol Hill. It’s right at the intersection of 2nd St. SE and Pennsylvania Ave. and they have some darned good food at reasonable prices. Go check it out!

The best part, though, was the “cash only” sign at the register, featuring a dog crapping out $100 bills. These folks have a great sense of humor! Now all I need is to find what kind of dog does that. It certainly isn’t a golden retriever, based on what I have to step over in my brother’s yard.

Photo: A dog that shits money! Originally uploaded by carlweaver

The UFCW has reached a tentative agreement with Safeway & Giant to keep their employees at work, and the deal has gone to a vote of the union members effective tomorrow. Details at this point aren’t known, but we’ll know more on Wednesday on what, if anything, was lost to the workers or to the corporations.

Good news: No picket lines to cross.
Bad news: You’re still shopping at the surliest store in town.