Category: Eat

Epic Smokehouse

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Epic Smokehouse, 1330 Fair Street Arlington, Virginia 22202
The name suits it well. It’s pretty epic. This place is what you would call, upscale bbq. Bacon is a key player in their menu, and I am appeased. On one our date nights, the boo and I chose this place because, after the Bacon Shortage scare, I wanted to consume as much pork product as possible. Lucky for us, there was plenty.

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The Appetizers

We chose the bacon app, and the kahlua pig roll.

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The Verdict

The bacon appetizer is just a slab of pork belly, smoked and cooked, topped with sprouts and their fig and mustard sauces. Delicious and fatty. The kahlua pig roll was something to write home about. It’s pulled pork and kimchi rolled in an egg roll wrapper, with a lemongrass coconut dipping sauce. I don’t like kimchi on the regular, but the way the flavors presented itself in that rolled up bite worked really well. Top it off with the cool, creamy coconut dipping sauce, it made me sad when the appetizer was over. But at least the entrees were next!

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Entrees

We had the filet mignon with the crawfish hollandaise, with fried asparagus and an extra side of bacon sprouts.  Also the applewood smoked baby back ribs with fries and an extra side of sauteed portobello mushrooms.

The filet was perfectly seasoned, and you could cut it with a butter knife. I ate it with a bite of mushrooms and it was amazing. Making my mouth water just thinking about it. I love asparagus. But battering and deep frying it was a bad idea. There wasn’t really any flavor to the batter, but the asparagus was perfectly cooked. They topped the steak with two crawfish tails, which was pointless and didn’t bring anything to the meal. Our hollandaise came out later and had no flavor. It literally just tasted like egg and butter..no salt. Nothing. Disappointing.

They don’t say how many ribs on the menu. It’s just “Ribs”. Its a full rack. I got mine with a side of mushrooms, it also comes with fries. These were smoked to perfection. I loved it. It was quite intimidating when it came out, there really was no right way to go about it, so I just dug in. I really enjoyed it. But I like things extra saucy, so I might ask for more ‘cue sauce on the side next time.

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Overall, I had a great meal and would love to go back again! Who doesn’t love a bacon dominant menu? If not for food, then at least for dessert!!!

 

Posted on by miemo 0

Smashburger

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I love burgers. But you probably already know that from my other posts. Guess what? There’s a new place to satiate my hunger for juicy burgers and fries… Smashburger. Lucky me, I got to go try them out before they opened. And yes, they won me over. I got to meet the founder Tom Ryan, and he even took me into the back to teach me the secrets of how they get their burgers so juicy..oh yeah and I got to smash one myself!

But first, lets talk about food. Let’s talk about 100% angus beef, fresh not frozen, that gets bowl cut (meaning chopped into tiny pieces instead of run through a grinder) and then smashed and seasoned on the grill. Oh and butter? Butter is always better. Their patties get hand rolled into perfect 5 oz meatballs (for the regular sized burger) and then smashed into their signature smash patty shape. If you aren’t a fan of burgers, there’s chicken. Their chicken is smashed and then grilled, or battered and fried like chicken fried steak. Take your pick. I had the BBQ, BACON, Cheddar burger with added garlic mushrooms, with a side of Beefy chili, fried pickles, smashfries, and sweet potato smash fries, and downed it all with their signature mixed teas.

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They have 3 teas, which will probably be different at other Smashburger places (I heard there was a sweet tea and a mango tea somewhere out there) the ones are this location are called, citrus smash, passion punch, and classic crush. You can mix and match to your taste. I personally like the citrus smash. Light and refreshing! Tom found these guys (Teako Teas) at a farmer’s market and loved their display and their handcrafted flavors that Smashburgers became their first national client.

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Everything was amazing. I didn’t even need to break out the ketchup bottle. Yes I did use the Smash sauce (I’ll share the secret, mustard, mayo, relish and lemon juice). The fried pickles were crispy from the batter and puckering awesome. Both types of smashfries were seasoned with olive oil, rosemary and garlic came out crisp on the outside and perfect in the middle. Not a fan of meat? There is something for everyone…

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This right here is their Spicy Baja Black bean burger. Aka the veggie burger. You can have that or create your own with their multitude of sauces, buns, cheese and toppings. These are also made fresh in house.

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(Tom Ryan, Founder & Chief Concept officer)

Now I know what you are thinking, “Ugh, another CHAIN burger place?”. Okay stop right there, yes there are over a 100 locations and its the fastest growing “better burger” places out there, but founder Tom Ryan strives to make it unique. With each region the Smashburger is located at, he creates some regional menu items. He’s even traveling, and conducting beer pairings with local breweries for each region. Pretty awesome right?

Tom had a vision. He wanted to bring the burger place back. When he was telling me his vision for what Smashburger is, it made me think of the fabulous ’50s, a time of sock hops and poodle skirts. Back when taking your date for a milkshake and a burger was cool. Here you can suck down some haagen daz shakes or a soda float, have a beer with your buddies and just hang out. The food is great, the vibe is fun, and could be the perfect start to your girl’s/guy’s night out.

Key things I learned:

  • The burger stays juicy because its chopped into tiny pieces not run through a grinder
  • The smashing on the grill seals in the juiciness and fat
  • Buttered buns keeps it from soaking in the burger’s juice and getting soggy
  • I am a terrible at flipping burgers in a fast food situation

Hope you guys get a chance to enjoy it! I almost went back the next day (if it wasn’t rush hour, it would have happened…even after the gym).

 

Posted on by miemo 0

Eat Bar, Arlington

Food. I love it. We already know this. New favorite place to grab a bite? Eat Bar in Arlington. Its attached/next door to Tallulah, which I have yet to try out. The place is small, and has it’s own tiny parking lot, but you can find parking through the neighborhoods because the lot will most likely be full. Just go in a grab a seat if you can find one and a happy server will come tell you about any specials and their small plates menu.

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Bacon Popcorn Balls.

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Marinated Olives

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Corn dog bites

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Veal liverwurst…least liked thing of all that we got. I was hoping too much for pate that was as good as France.

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Catfish Fingers

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Pork Slider. OMG. LOVE THIS.

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Crispy Chicken wings, in a thai style chili sauce. A little too sweet for my taste.

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And the grand finale? Waffle sundae. Cocoa waffle with BACON caramel, ice cream, nuts and whipped cream.

I want this again. Yay for food adventures and adding to my list of go to meals 😀

Posted on by miemo 0

Macarons in France

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The big debate. Laduree or Pierre Herme. Let me just say this…its pretty much your preference, classic or modern. Maybe I don’t have the advanced palate for these delicate treats but neither of them were like, “OH MY GOD WOW I LOVE IT’. Just me. I actually prefer the ones I get at home from Michel Patisserie *gasp*.
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Laduree is a cute, old style place. You can come and have a dainty tea time with your girlfriends (pinky up of course).

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Pierre Herme is definitely “cooler”. Fancy fusion of flavors, some of the macarons even sparkle!

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But between the two, which do I prefer?

What can I say? I prefer the classic flavors!

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Hotel Amour

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Amour, Amor, Amore…that’s love. For our farewell dinner, we decided to go to Hotel Amour. We saw the cute garden seating and decided it would be a nice place to say good bye. The restaurant was part of the hotel. The hotel itself was themed around love and sex. Pictures of nude ladies, as well has a well endowed Mickey Mouse decorate the inside. The garden seating is a courtyard where the walls are covered in ivy and little birds harass your feet.

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The staff were all attractive young women, who all could speak English. The courtyard was green and lush. And of course completely booked. We were so hungry we didn’t mind eating inside. But one of the ladies said she had one table and not to tell anyone *wink*. So we got to eat outside. Like most of the restaurants in France it was a prix fixe menu. I chose to start with the artichokes with mimolette, and for my entree, the roast chicken.

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The starter was raw artichokes, celery leaves, mimolette cheese all lightly seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper. Simple, but the combination worked to create a savory starter. The chicken was served with a side of haricots verts. It tasted like it was marinated in italian dressing with orange zest and hazelnuts. The chicken was served with an au jus underneath. Perfectly juicy inside, and the skin was soooo crisp. I wish I could roast a chicken like that. It was half a chicken, so I couldn’t finish, and they don’t let you take it home. So I ate all the skin and as much chicken as I could before I had to walk away from that plate!

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Lucky its within walking distance, so Cece could go there whenever she wanted to for dinner. She got a burger and fries, and I LOVED the fries. Yes, they gave her ketchup. I was trying to research more information to share on the artist that owns this hotel (who has also opened one in NYC) but I couldn’t find any. But from what I am told, he is a street artist name Andre who’s known work is his love graffiti. So this hotel makes sense, because it goes with that theme. You can also rent the rooms by the hour, if you and your mistress need a place to shack up. I didn’t get to check it out, but it makes sense considering the decor inside.

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So next time you are in Paris, try the chicken at Hotel Amour! They speak English.

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SHWING!

 

Posted on by miemo 0

France: Food edition

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If you know me, then you know that I went to France with the top priority to EAT. I chose to go eat, over going into the Eiffel Tower. Yea, I know, terrible.

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Lets talk about charcuterie. I love it. The first “french” food I had when I got there, was french bread and charcuterie. This is pretty much a plate of meats. Hams, sausages, bacon, and pate. Sometimes you can get it with cheese, and little pickles. It is served with butter and french breach. This was my staple. I wanted it all the time. Too bad that I came back to America and am prepping for a cleanse, because I would eat it all the time here too.

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The cheeses, the butter, the mayo, the baked goods…everything smells so heavenly and tastes even better. If I had to pinpoint what France smells like, I would say butter and cigarettes. Here, ketchup isn’t left on the the table with the salt and pepper. You can get freshly whipped mayo to dip your fries and anything else into.

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In my opinion, everything is expensive. And not just because the dollar to the euro is pricey, but because food in general is expensive…except foods in charcuterie! A lot of the restaurants have only prix fixe menus. It is much cheaper to hit the market and cook at home. But if you are a Parisian in the middle of the city, your kitchen is pretty much non existent. My cousin eats a lot of simple foods that can be prepped without a stovetop, microwave or oven! Crazy. I know. Lets just say we had a lot of charcuterie…and I loved every minute of it. Brie, camembert, pate, these were much cheaper than they are in America…probably because we have to import it. For example, a wedge of brie is $8-14 but in France 1 euro! I definitely ate a LOT of cheese while I was there, what lactose intolerance?

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For breakfast, we went to Chez Prune, where for breakfast you got a basket of breads, a plate, and a dessert.

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For Dinner we had more charcuterie. And a really hard to open bottle of wine.

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We went to their Japanese town for ramen and bubble tea. The ramen still can’t touch Toki Underground, and the bubble tea is a lot different than I expected…it was actual tea, with a mango syrup for flavoring. The balls were delicious though.

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I waited my whole trip, for moules-frites. Mussels and french fries. And what better place to have it than at the south of France? For 14,50 euros we got this…

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I’ve never had such tasty mussels in my life. The french fries were scoop shaped, so I got a good amount of mayo on every fry. Crisp outside and hot mealy goodness inside. The mussels themselves were perfection. Provencale herbs, right amount of seasoning, creamy, buttery and the touch of lemon and wine to freshen things up. It was unfortunate for my belly that it wasn’t any bigger. The pot alone had at LEAST a hundred mussels and I could only fit half of it. If we knew the portion was going to be so large, we would have shared. I was so sad to waste it. They don’t let you take food in doggie bags by the way. In case you were wondering. Anywhere in France actually. Maybe even Europe.

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Here’s more pictures of food to make you hungry. I want to go back and eat.

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Posted on by miemo 0

Chasin’ Tails, Arlington

 

For one of Deanna’s birthday festivities, we decided to try Chasin’ Tails Seafood and Bar. I’ve been to Hot N’ Juicy a couple of times, and I guess there’s enough interest around here for them to open up another crawfish joint.

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It’s really nice inside for a down and dirty seafood joint. But I guess there are some standards for the area! New Orleans street signs and fun pictures of crawfish and sayings decorated the walls. They even have a watering hole in the back with hand washing stations. They have a good selection of beers (I say this because they carry Abita beers, my favorite being purple haze). I ordered a pound of clams in garlic butter, and a pound of crawfish in original cajun medium spicy. Oh yeah, and their whole shebang wings. No plates, no silverware, just a bag of your food.

The Breakdown:
Please remember that my family is from Louisiana, and crawfish boils are our thing, so it is very hard for me to EVER find quality crawfish boiled at restaurants. The only other place I’ve had it (other than in Louisiana) in a restaurant here is Hot N Juicy so it will be hard not to compare. Anyways the clams were good. They serve short neck clams there. The wings were also good, if you like garlic. I don’t like it THAT much so I only had like two wings and tapped out.
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And now to the crawfish.

The seasoning was decent…in the bag. But in actuality, it failed. The crawfish itself, tasted like pondwater and there was nothing to save it. I understand that its not crawfish season, and when I commented on this with the waiter…he tried to play me for a fool. “We get it from a special place where they send em live all year”. No, that isn’t possible right? The mud has to be a certain temperature…crawfish season is March-June. Unless they have some indoor lab making this all happen. But the service was amazing and I like the atmosphere. I might go again for the clams and crablegs, but I wouldn’t say this is going to be my new favorite spot.

Beignets get the job done. A little too bready for my taste, but hey if we want Cafe du Monde beignets we should go there right?

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Either way it was a good time with good people. Happy Birthday D!

Posted on by miemo 0

France Fever: Macarons

Lets talk about macarons. You know those pretty little cookie sandwiches that are littered all over pinterest with their bright colors and so tasty look. I think there are more people that haven’t had them that has. Usually big cities, such as New York and DC will have bakeries will have somewhere for you to get a taste. But if you are looking elsewhere they aren’t THAT easy to find. I loved looking at pictures of them, and I had this big fantasy of what they would taste like. I have this weird way of being able to calculate the ingredients in recipes and pre-taste them in my mind. Sound peculiar, but usually works.

 

 

When I saw the recipe for them, and calculated it in my head. I couldn’t taste them. So I had to go find some. And I did. Let me tell you though. My first time I had them, I did NOT see what the big deal was…and I sat there and tasted about 10 different ones. Not that I would cast this decision so quickly, I found another bakery, to give it another change. It was the Swiss Bakery, in Burke. They were mini, and they were chocolate…and they still didn’t wow me. Feeling like I will have to try them in France to really be sure that I don’t like them… I gave it another chance. Michel Patisserie seemed to be the big provider of these baked delicacies in the area so I decided to try his.

 

 

I ordered a box of 30 for a friend’s birthday, so that other people could have a chance to try it (50% of the party had not tasted one ever, and the rest had one “a long time ago”). I placed an order, and they said I could pick it up at Artfully Chocolate in Delray. While I was there I picked up 4 flavors of my own to try.. Key Lime, Pistachio, Caramel and Raspberry. OH MY GOODNESS. GUESS WHAT?

I love macarons.

 

 

Really I do. The crisp of the first bite, the soft melting in the middle, the swirl of flavors in your mouth…win. Why didn’t I like this before?! It was an experience. If you want to try a macaron for the first time, remember this one thing. Get a WHOLE one to yourself. I just realized why I didn’t like it the first time. The first time, I bought so many, and had to share the flavors so we cut them. The second time, it was too small to get the whole “first bite” experience. This third time, really was the charm. I am in lust. I can’t wait to try them in France…OH WAIT I will be eating them next weekend in the City of Lights! Lucky me!

Au revoir mes amis!

Posted on by miemo 0

Sugar Creek Seafood Restaurant

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When I was visiting the Outerbanks for the first time, we went to Sugar Creek Seafood restaurant. I had really high hopes for this place. We were eating dinner around sunset, outside with the cool ocean breeze, it was a pretty magical set up. The website sells it as a pretty fancy place.

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I started off the meal with a pina colada. It was delicious. We are off to a good start!

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Then it went down hill. I had really high hopes for the food here, which is probably why I felt it was sub par. The clams were COMPLETELY filled with dirt/sand. The flavor was there, but I could not get over how much dirt I was eating.
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For the main course, I chose shrimp and scallop duo. You can either have them fried or broiled. I was leaning towards broiled, but when asking our server, she said she loved everything fried. Wrong choice for me. Deep fried scallops are disgusting. And this one was soggy on the bottom. The fries and shrimp were good though!

I guess the draw on this place isn’t really the food but the atmosphere. We had a really nice view and our server was awesome. The only part of the restaurant experience that I wasn’t fond of was the stank face I got from the blond curly haired hostess. The other hostesses were polite, but she just sat there and gave me the nastiest look and rolled her eyes. Rude. Other than her, all the staff was great. The food, not so much.

Not going back.

Posted on by miemo 0