We recently attended an event to showcase the new enclosed heated patio at Bacchus of Lebanon in Bethesda. The patio is nice and toasty! Here is a video of Zaid (the owner) talking about the new patio.
Below are some photos from the event. We definitely need to go back soon for more of the yummy fresh hummus and baba ganouj.
-Jason
Disclosure: From time to time, we are given free items, meals, or entry to events. Our words are still our own.
Mahal BBQ has been open a few weeks (weekends) at the Sandlot in Georgetown (2715 Pennsylvania Avenue NW). These are really great guys who know their food and work hard, but still need to work a few kinds out after only a couple of weekends of service. Also, the prices are pretty high. This is an outdoor venue, so isn’t open when it rains. Also, there is a bar at the Sandlot.
The Half Chicken was the standout here, and I would stop by for it (and the Chili-Vinegar Sauce) regularly if it wasn’t $24. Try it once, it’s worth it. The Smoked Beef Cheek ($26) was too tough to chew, which is something they need to work out. We did not try the Sausage Platter ($22) or smoked Oyster Mushrooms (20). The Green Papaya Salad didn’t taste like much until I poured the tasty Chili-Vinegar Sauce on it. The Pimento Cheese could have had a better (thicker) texture. Give them some time to work the beef dish out, but get the chicken in the meantime, if it’s in your price range.
-JAY
We recently tried out a week’s worth of Territory Foods‘ meals. Territory is based in the DC area. The meals arrive at your door (Sundays and Thursdays) already prepared and just need to be heated up. They do not use gluten, dairy, or refined sugars in their dishes. Currently, there is a discount code for your first order on their website. You can also check their menu out directly.
It is nice that all the ingredients are listed, so you can avoid allergens. We avoided two ingredients, one of which was in the salmon entrée, so instead ordered the family-style roasted salmon filets (three come in the package) and a family style side of Asparagus Rice.
The Zaatar Pesto chicken had a lot of ingredients, and would up being a bit muddled and one note (from all the spices), which could be corrected by serving it on white rice instead of cauliflower couscous (but they can keep the red peppers). It also was dry, which must be why they include a small container of olive oil. It still wasn’t a bad dish, but we were surprised at how good some of the other dishes (salmon, fajitas) were.
We definitely recommend checking Territory out.
-JAY
Disclosure: From time to time, we are given free items, meals, or entry to events. Our words are still our own.
Restaurants, bakeries, and grocery stores often have food left over at the end of the day that could go to waste. The Too Good To Go app is a marketplace where you can purchase food from business at the end of their day (or meal service). The items in these bags/boxes can be pretty random, even if you pick up two boxes at the same location (or on different days).
The food is usually already packaged as a mystery bag (or box) when you pick it up during the specified timeframe, but there were some exceptions. I didn’t mind waiting a few minutes if a place put a bag together while I waited.
Purchasing these deals can be competitive, with new mystery bags/boxes usually hitting the website 15 minutes after the current day’s pickup range ends. As an example, The Cakeroom‘s pickup range is 8pm to 9pm, which means that at 9:15pm on Tuesday, the mystery bags/boxes to be picked up Wednesday will populate on the app. There are exceptions such as Rose Ave Bakery that sometimes drop mystery bags/boxes on the app for same day pickup.
Below are mystery bags/boxes I tried:
Ala ($3.99) in Dupont Circle has two pickups with different types of items, afternoon and evening (and I tried both). The above image is from the afternoon timeslot, and contained a Halva Croissant, Apple Tea (loose chopped dehydrated apples), an herbal teabag, Meringues, one Thumbprint Cookie, and Crunchy Chickpeas (dried).
Le Pain Quotidien ($4.99) gave me 3 pastries: a Cheese Danish, an Apple Turnover, and a Pan Aux Raisins. PDQ is much more readily available on the app than other baked goods options and has multiple locations (Dupont, 17th Street, Penn Quarter) you can choose from.
Rose Ave Bakery ($3.99) downtown offers fun Asian American-themed pastries. It is located at The Block DC food hall with Pogiboy, which is also on the Too Good To Go app. My Rose Ave mystery box contained green pastries: two Matcha White Chocolate Donuts, a Pandan Donut (green filling), and a Matcha Chocolate Cookie.
Taim Falafel‘s ($3.99) mystery bag included a Falafel Bowl and Tractor Beverage Company‘s Mandarin Cardamom. Their Georgetown and Dupont Circle Locations are both on the Too Good To Go app.
Zenebech ($4.99) is an Ethiopian restaurant in Adam’s Morgan. When I checked in, they put together a Vegetarian Combo for me with injera (spongy flat bread made from teff). I was lucky enough to score bags from both Zenebech and The Cakeroom to be picked up on the same evening, which was nice, because they are on the same street a few blocks from each other.
The Cakeroom ($5.99) put together a bag of mostly chocolate flavored items. There was a slice of Cherry Cheesecake, two slices of Chocolate Vanilla Cake, and two Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes.
I recommend Too Good To Go in DC (it’s in other cities too) but you need to be open to receiving really random items, especially at Ala. If you get something you can’t eat, share it with a friend. Too Good To Go is definitely a good value, since most of the mystery bags I received were worth 3 to 4 times what I paid.
-JAY
Glen’s Garden Market in Dupont Circle recently became Dawson’s Market. The store seems mostly the same, which is nice. I know that a lot of businesses haven’t gotten back to doing tastings, but Dawson’s is an exception.
Every Thursday, Dawson’s has a different brewery pour samples 5pm-7pm during a weekly cookout, but lately other tastings have been happening as well. Today, both the Dupont Circle and Rockville locations had a wine and cheese tasting (see the Siema Wines photo above for Dupont Circle), and this weekend there will be tastings from Dawson’s Thanksgiving Menu. In Rockville the Thanksgiving menu tasting will be on Saturday, November 13th 12pm-3pm, and in Dupont, it will be on Sunday, November 14th 12pm-3pm.
Dawson’s has an online event calendar.
-JAY
The COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic has been especially hard on the restaurant industry, since traffic and seating has been reduced across the country. The use of ghost kitchens may be one way for entrepreneurs to expand their businesses and minimize losses during this difficult time.
Philadelphia entrepreneur Aaron Anderson operates several Original Hot Dog Factory restaurants in Philadelphia. He has partnered with Chef Big Rube, who is known for his immensely popular chicken, to open several ghost kitchen concepts (chicken shack, halal burgers, cheesesteaks, and breakfast bars) through Cloud Kitchens, and a brick and mortar restaurant (steak and shrimp) in Philadelphia. Ghost kitchens like Cloud allow for Anderson to invest in innovation because he can open new food concepts without raising funds for the expenses of a full new restaurant.
“Back in the DC area, ghost concepts are allowing for interesting experiments. Although Foster’s Grill in Vienna is known for its Charburgers, they recently launched a delivery-only ghost concept called Chicken Frenzy from their own restaurant’s kitchen. Chicken Frenzy’s menu includes chicken sandwiches, chicken salads, chicken fingers, and wings, as well as onion rings, plant-based chicken sandwiches, shakes, brownies, and chocolate chip cookies. Some of Chicken Frenzy’s menu items have been added to Foster’s Grill.
On a larger scale, Ghostline DC opened in August in Glover Park. Ghostline DC is a multiple-restaurant professional kitchen (delivery and takeout). Some of the items flowing out of Ghostline DC include ramen, pizza, fried chicken sandwiches, cupcakes, breakfast sandwiches, and pastries.
Hopefully, food entrepreneurs here and throughout the country will continue to find ways to stay in business and possibly even thrive during this pandemic. Don’t be surprised if you see more chicken sandwiches (a recent trend) coming through ghost kitchens in the near future.
-JAY
We need a few writers!
Do you have some new recipes to share?
Have you discovered the best restaurants in the DC area?
Do you want to write a comparison article for a particular item or dish (such as best BLTs)?
Need some foodie cred? (Good, since that is how we are compensated. )
Then we want you for DCFUD! Send a writing sample to
jay (at) dcfud (dot) com, along with a couple ideas you’d like to write
about.
-JAY
The good news is, some of us are over-employed. (That’s good, right?) Some of us have even moved away from the DC area. (You know who you are.) 🙂
But the bad news is a dry spell for the FUD at the moment. So, to counteract this terrible state of affairs, we are looking for…
A FEW NEW WRITERS!! Have you discovered the best wine, restaurant, or food truck in DC? Do you want to write a comparison article for a particular item or dish? Need some hipster cred? Do you have some random recipes to share? Writing experience for your resume? Articles for your Portfolio? Passionate about food? Then we want you for DCFüd. Send writing samples to dcfud.writers@gmail.com, along with few ideas you’d like to write about. It’ll be crazy!
This is on a volunteer basis. Writers who contribute regularly may be assigned events to cover.
-JAY
JS Casting emails us casting calls occasionally. Click on the images twice to enlarge. The associated email addresses for these two are ChoppedJuniorCasting@notional.com and BeatBobbyFlayCasting@gmail.com.
-JAY
Catalina teaching the cookie decorating class, while her father assists next to her.
We were in attendance at Wildfire‘s Memorial Day brunch where guests enjoyed a breakfast buffet, cookie decorating class and face painting. DCFüd‘s, Editor-in-Chief was the guest speaker for the event.
Chef Oscar Huerta prepared some delicious brunch items for us including bacon, scrambled eggs, potatoes, banana bread, and French toast. Chef Huerta’s daughter, Catalina, taught cookie decorating skills to the kids at the event. And, yes, the sugar cookies themselves were tasty.
For $20 a person, this kid’s event was a good value. Wildfire has an upcoming Kid’s Cakepop Class ($20 per child) scheduled for July 8th; a portion of the proceeds from this event will be donated to Food for Others.
-JAY
