One Fleeting Moment

During the week, we diligently cook and eat at home so that on weekends we may eat out heartily. We frequent all sorts of eateries - hole in the wall, sit down and half way fancy places and rarely exceed our $ 50 budget for a dinner for two (we usually average $20-$40). For sometime now, I had wanted to create an online list as a quick reckoner for those times when sorting through the Washingtonian is just not feasible. A few of our tried and tested places are given below (along with a list of must try's). Most of them have extensive online reviews etc. or their own web pages, but the ones without much of a Net presence have been listed along with their address for location identification purposes. I plan on updating the list periodically, lets see how that works.

Great Hole in the Wall Types
Maiwand Kebab
Adresss: 15508 Old Columbia Pike, Burtonsville, MD 20866
This is strictly take-out, unless you love eating out of styrofoam plates with plastic cutlery. The food is plentiful, cheap and the kebabs succulent. Not recommended for vegetarians. There is a Columbia location too.


Amma’s
The low ceiling and lack of good lighting makes it slightly claustrophobic, but the dosa’s are done just right. I visited Amma's after more than 2 years in this region (and that is sacrilege according to some), as my curiosity was piqued by a certain visitor from the other side of the pond who could not stop gushing about it during his short DC sojourn.

Pho 88 - Vietnamese Restaurant
Address: 10478 Baltimore Ave, Beltsville, MD 20705
This is the only Pho place I have been to so I have nothing to compare it with, but on a cold day after a brain freezing field trip, their hot clear broth with noddles and chicken strips really warms the very bones.

New Deal Café
The quiche and soups du jour of this place have become comfort food now and the weekend brunches are as homely as it gets. And yes, this is our neighborhood hang out location.

Costa Alegre
Address: 5815 A Greenbelt Road, Berwyn Heights, MD 20740-2258
Authentic burritos and a very homey chicken soup. I was not very impressed with their fajita.


Mark’s Kitchen and Savory Café
These are two of our favorite Takoma Park eateries, Savory does organic well while Mark’s is all about fusion (without any jazz) and a mean Venetian coffee.

Ben's Chilli Bowl
Go to this DC landmark for soaking up history which seeps through layers of flaking paint at this 47 year old hot dog joint. Its located at the corner of U and 13 th, SE or directly opposite the U Street Metro Station's 13th street exit. And remember, the thing to order is the half smoke.

Sabang
Address: 2504 Ennalls Avenue, Wheaton,MD 20902
Fiery Rendangs, tofu and crunchy vegetables in peanut sauces and the deep fried, batter dipped plantain...that is all I remember. And oh yes, the friendly staff and the pocket friendly price. I am definitely going back to sample more of their menu.

Yekta Kabobi
In a little strip mall with its faced turned away from the busy traffic on Rockville Pike sits this little gem. The prices are a little higher than your average hole-in-the-wall but the portions are generous. The kabab platters are served on a bed of chellow rice with flat bread, butter, onions and key lime halves on the side. The meat is succulent and juicy with just the right amount of flavour. An order of the raita like Mast-o-Khiyar completes the meal. The lamb kabob comes heavily recommended by my Iranian colleagues. The fresco on the wall depicting the Iranian grilling tradition is quite captivating too.

Great for a Date Types
Lebanese Taverna
We have visited both the Woodley Park and Silver Spring locations and have wonderful things to say about both. The Woodley Park is a sit-down restaurant with all the trappings and a much larger menu than offered at the Café in Silver Spring. The Café is also a lot cheaper so unless you have a date to impress stick to the Café. You will miss out on the Lebanese equivalent of the complementary bread basket -zatar and naan.

Mandalay
The ginger salad or fermented tea salad are must haves as is the Shewji dessert. Burmese cuisine is intricately influenced by the cuisines of the countries that geographically surround it. The fiery red Indian style curries are therefore sometimes tempered with coconut milk while left as is on the other occasions. The chicken with sour mustard is a personal favourite.

Haandi
Decent Indian food with nothing exciting in the menu.

Indique
Now, these guys do exciting Indian fusion cuisine. Think, palate burning Chettinad Chicken beautifully plated with a creamy Dal Makhani and a billowy Upma to revive the shocked cells. And like all good Indian places, they serve Kingfisher beer which goes well with most Indian food.

Penang
Try the Roti Canai and Roti Telur, which are listed in the appetizer section. You could make a divine meal with two orders of these flaky, Rumali Roti’s served with a coconut-y chicken curry . But I would advise against that and suggest the Nasi Lemak which is served with a sliced soft boiled egg, anchovies in tomatoes and onion and a dry chicken curry.

American Grill previously Fuzio’s in Arundel Mills Mall
The pork fusili here is hot, hot, hot. Strangely the spices and the habanero cream sauce in this dish have a detoxifying effect on the brain and that's why we keep going back for it. Hey, its so good that we order it inspite of our self imposed restriction on artery clogging red meat like pork . Everything else on the menu is pretty blah.

Sala Thai
Great ambience, pretty lighting and the Bethesda location has music too. Good for a date, get a window seat if you can. I would rate the food as good but not exceptional.

Zed’s
Don't go alone, take your friends along because the food here naturally lends itself to sharing. The injera bread is so good that you could easily top off on the little rolls that the waiters keep bringing to the table.

Great Sage
Healthy, wholesome organic in the middle of nowhere with an attentive and cordial wait staff. Try it even if you are committed carnivore.

Jaleo
They do tapas and they do it well. Beware, those little plates of food add up to quite a nice bill afterwards too, but given the quality you will not be complaining.

Maggiano’s
Order from the daily specials and don’t be tempted by the pasta by the bowl or whatever they call it. Those are made for pasta fiends with no palate. The wine list is impressive. They have cafe which leads to the restaurant called The Corner Bakery. The Bakery was started to provide fresh bread for the restaurant but over time its become an entity of its own. The cafe is good for lunch and refreshments.

Nirvana
A vegetarian Indian place which no one really talks about…funny, as the food is as close to home cooked that I have ever eaten in a restaurant. They make you wait for a long time for your food though and the wall paint is awful.

Mimi’s
Didn’t eat there, but the $ 9 martini’s were awesome.

Mount Everest
Address: 1805 18th St. NW, Washington DC 20009
The biryani at this little Nepali eatery in DC used to be yum, not authentic but flavorful nevertheless. On our last visit there, the biriyani was not as we remembered it, but the other dishes were still good.
OUT OF BUSINESS AS OF 10/31/2006


Gifford's Ice Cream
Address: 7237 Woodmont Ave., Bethesda, MD 20814
Giant scoops, loads of flavors and a corner location by the Lanmark Theatre make this place quite a treat. Besides they have been in operation since 1938, so there is a little bit of history too. They don't do too good a job of marketing that history in the shop but the rum raisin is worth another visit back.

Greek Islands Grill
Address: 15410 New Hampshire Av. Silver Spring, MD 20905
About a mile south of the intersection of New Hamphsire Avenue and Norbeck Road in the most forgettable of strip malls there is this little white and blue Greek eatery. The gyro platters come with a side of oven roasted potatoes, fluffy pita bread and tzatziki. The meat is perfectly seasoned and crisped just right. And if you have great apetite you could start off with an appetizer sampler. I found myself with no appetite after nibbling on the various spreads, dolmades etc.


Great Chain Types
Better than the standard TGIF's, these chains have slightly exciting menu's done with a predictable consistency that makes them nice fall back options when you can't decide.

• La Madeliene
• Panera Bread
• Noodles and Company
• Atlanta Bread Company
• Chipotle
• Ikea Cafe
• P.F. Chang's China Bistro
  

Totally Blah Types
Eggspectation
Great concept that hardly works.

Delhi Dhaaba
Horrible, stale food at atrocious prices. Wonder how they hold on to their prime location in Bethesda?

Heritage India
Every dish we ordered was an expensive oily mess…the kitchen probably has its own vegetable oil rig.

Memsahib
The much talked about belly dancer performed for precisely 10 minutes, the fresh fruit course came straight out of the refrigerator and the fabled 6 courses included a measly portion of rice pudding and chai (yep! it gets its own course)...still want to try it out?

Prince Cafe
Address: 8145-A Baltimore Avenue, College Park, Maryland, 20740
A hookah bar with half way decent falafels and other Mediterranean dishes, but lousy (bordering on evil) service. If you love that vile brew called Turkish coffee you might want to visit, or if you are into hot muisc videos from Middle East. Otherwise steer clear. The College Park location is preffered over the Georgetown one mainly due to its late hours.

Akbar's
Another Indian restaurant with bad wait staff, too much attitude and too little to show for. Why do Indian restaurants consistently fail to provide good customer service? Our waiter was downright rude and plonked a steaming bowl of curry on our table. Apparently he was mad that instead of ordering one entree per person we insisted on sharing. I am not sure what the service at their Baltimore location is like but have heard some nasty stories.

And Finally the Yet To Try Types
El Pollo Rico
Address: 2541 Ennalls Ave. Wheaton, MD
Cuisine: Peruvian

Pasta Plus
Address: 209 Gorman Ave. Laurel, MD
Cuisine: Italian

Hollywood East Cafe
Address: 2312 Price Ave. Wheaton, MD
Cuisine: Asian

Mannequin Pis
Address: 18064 Georgia Ave. Olney, MD
Cuisine: Belgian

Sweet Basil
Address:4910 Fairmont Ave. Bethesda, MD
Cuisine: Thai

Afghan Grill
Address: 2309 Calvert St. NW, Washington, DC 20008
Cuisine: Afghan

Bukom Cafe
Address: 2442 18th St. NW, Washington, DC 20009
Cuisine: African

Cuba de Ayer
Address: 15446 Old Columbia Pike, Burtonsville, MD 20866
Cuisine: Cuban


Green Papaya
Address: 4922 Elm St., Bethesda, MD 20814
Cuisine: Vietnamese

Mayorga Coffee Roasters
8040 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20910
Cuisine: Coffeehouse

Samantha's Restaurant
631 E. University Blvd., Silver Spring, MD 20901
Cuisine: Mexican, Salvadoran

The Brickskeller Saloon
1523 22nd St. NW, Washington, DC 20037
Cuisine: American

The boy calls it “your porn” (as opposed to his porn, go on click it, we are totally PG-13 here). He is referring to the modern COOK BOOK. Unlike your grand mom’s much thumbed, oil splattered collection of recipes; the modern COOK BOOK matches the pastel décor of your kitchen and perfectly complements your dinner set, it panders to the yuppie inside you and most importantly (like all good things in life) it comes with a price tag. It also makes mega bucks for the publishers, who rather smugly call us a “cookbook-crazy culture”. Now that's a first for me. I have heard us being called all kinds of names by folks who can, but a cookbook-crazy culture...Nah!

For starters, most people cannot tell a tomato from a potato, will probably crumble to pieces when confronted with a whole head of garlic and probably drop dead on being told “imitation crab meat” has no crab in it. Come lunch time most folks troop out to the nearest McDonald’s to get their daily burger fix and we were just told dinner is back [hat tip: KFC , phew! what a relief]. Simply put more than half the population is incapable of fixing anything more complicated than a sandwich (mayo slathered bread with processed animal tissue in between) themselves, let alone cook a full sit down dinner for four. Then there is our social obssesion with dieting and body fat which ensures people fall over each other to grab the latest copy of whatever Atkins and his kin come out with. By the way diet hell aisle usually precedes the cookbook aisle in most book stores in case you haven't noticed.

So if the ones with body image issues buy diet fad books, the ones who cannot cook eat fast food, get fat and then head to the diet aisle....who is buying these cook books? Simply discounting the small number of people who can cook and are wealthy enough to buy these books leaves me and I am certainly not contributing to the growth of wealth in this sector. I use the Internet to do my research and graze through the cook books in various book stores to absorb ideas, just like the other cooking enthusiasts I know. I might even get one from the local library if I am interested. Then why are these coffee table style, lifestyle glossies written by some photogenic food personality flying off the shelves like hot cakes. Here's what I think is happening, explained with the help of an example:

A is an average person on the North American continent. Like most other fellow inhabitants of the continent, A eats out every day because A cannot cook. Sometimes in a hurry A even eats fast food and pretty soon A is growing obese at an alarming rate. Haunted by social taunts and the visible lack of that thing referred to politely as "love life", A visits the dieting aisle of the neighborhood book store. A likes good food (remember the restaurant visits) and Rachel Ray promises quick meals, so A picks up the display copy some silly clerk had left near the diet aisle, on the way out. The hunger pangs from dieting set in and A figures out a perfect way to satisfy the cravings – the untouched Rachel Ray (A still does not know a pot from a pan) book with pretty pictures. No, gentlemen, A does not eat it. A proceeds to drool all over the pictures and feel satiated without inhaling even a single calorie. Infact next week A goes back, heads straight to the back wall where the food porn is tastefully arranged (for the discerning buyer who can cook) and buys two more books. A gets a Moroccan themed one and one with lots of pasta pictures and fantasizes about the guilty pleasures in store on the way home. Next A tells some friends "The Great Dieting Story" and pretty soon folks are lapping buy cook books and diet books at the same time. They have even started giving buy-one-get-one-free offers on particular combos.

Tra-la-la, the mystery of Photogenic Food for the Not So Photogenic Folks successfully solved. There might be a more rational, statistically correct explanation but I love my story and am sticking to it. And this article is solely responsible for bringing forth all the mental bile that I had painstakingly sequestered away till now.

Labels: Food

In more innocent times, when boys were still boys (read made of "snips and snails, and puppy dog tails") these men were the only ones that mattered*. They were the reason why I hopped, skipped and jumped all the way from the bus stop back home every afternoon after school, the reason I ran up the flight of stairs to our third floor apartment, the reason why lunch took more than an hour. I never missed our weekday appointments and sat separated by the heavy, tinged glass of the Sonodyne TV – same time, every afternoon. They were as different as different can be. One was a slightly plump, smiley faced Indian cook and the other a sauve, lean con man who paraded around as a detective. A class mate's brother famously declared that watching said cook do his thing during lunch made the insipid food his Mom cooked more palatable. Needless to say it did not go down to well with Mom.

On those hot afternoons (I only remember school days as hot or rainy) with the curtains drawn to keep the heat out, we would watch Sanjeev Kapoor cook up something terribly homely yet delectable. My mom would be busy taking notes while we tried to convince ourselves that the masoor dal on our plates was actually dal makhani. It was well known that moms, aunties, kitty party ladies and other assorted inhabitants of aunty-dom were adoring fans...he was the new, respectable version of the film hero crush from their college days. Unlike a famous Sikh cook with a penchant for adding a dash of sherry or a splash of rum to all his dishes, Sanjeev Kapoor cooked with readily available and totally kosher ingredients. Average housewives could cook like him without causing the neighborhood baniya to hiccup hysterically. Besides his recipes turned out perfect unlike those demonstrated on the dowdy Doordarshan cooking shows and the possession of a professional degree automatically elevated his status a couple of notches.

After 30 minutes of Khana Khazana, it was time for Remington Steele and Laura Holt. A romantic caper disguised as detective show, it was funny and made us fall terribly in love with the suave man who went on to become the most famous Bond of them all. Admit it, if you think Sean Connery was the best Bond ever its because you were either born on the wrong side of the 50’s or you just feel bad about taking the honors away from the guy who did it first. However, coming back to Steele, like the Internet revolution, the cable TV revolution was still light years away from our tiny town. So most inhabitants of that strange place called Aunty–dom, that I mentioned earlier, usually viewed English shows suspiciously and would not allow their babies (of corruptible-putty-in-cranium fame) even a glimpse of the sexy Mr. Steele. Thank God, my mother had no such views and we were spared a miserable, deprived childhood. So for a few years, our afternoons were full of Remington Steele trying to outwit Laura Holt, with poor Mildred thrown in their midst. Mildred went on to become Ray Romano’s conniving mom and every time I watch “Everyone Loves Raymond” I swear I can still hear her go “but Boss...”. After both the shows and lunch was dispensed with, my mother would sometimes let us help us make a titbit or snack that we had seen in the show. And while my sister and I fiddled around in the kitchen the three of us would discuss the plot of the next days episode of Remington Steele.

Sanjeev Kapoor went to do more shows, and write a gazillion cook books and Brosnan became Bond. As for me, I swear by the formers recipes (ever since I made a much appreciated Marie biscuit cake in college for the club) and never miss latters movie. This reminds me, I better add “Matador” to my Netflix lists if I intend to maintain that claim**and might as well add some old episodes of Remington Steele while I am there.

* apart from Daddy dearest off course.
**maybe not every film, but come on how may of you have watched a movie called "Live Wire" just because it starred the man.

Labels: Nostalgia

So Sex and the City is officially over for us, we watched the last four episodes last evening. Carrie and her lot grow up, trade in their neuroses for marriage, motherhood or maturity. Ladies and gentleman, romance as we knew it is officially dead. Please welcome the Botox syringes and chemical peels.

a wee bit mad and for all those folks who wondered what was up with me....well nothing much. Except the fact that the radio drones on about the evils of terrorism while an ill informed colleague with the world view of a myopic rhinocerous clucks and tch-tch's about the Mumbai blasts, the theatres are showing degrading muck like 'Little Man" and the mercury has been hitting the 100 F mark quite regularly here. DEPRESSING.

After spending a weekend in the shade, consuming slightly chilled and rather delish mangoes, the clouds of gloom are lifting. I have decided to ignore the newspapers for a while and indulge in the trivial and frivoulous, not that we were indulging in much metaphysics earlier. So here's what's keeping my brain cells ticking off late:

• Congealed, black coffee in a styrofoam cup is an accquired taste . And when the concoction is so cold that you can admire its tar like consistency ...yep, definetely not for everyone .
• What is with this "high rate of speed' business? Off late I have noticed most cops use this language as do the bozos who anchor news shows on TV. Speed by virtue of its being is a rate, so calling it a high rate of speed is kind of redundant. Now if you want to express the fact that the speed was changing, use the terms accelerating and deccelerating that physicists invented ages ago. Or if some one was going above the speed limit, just use the word "speeding", not "high rate of speed".
• This blog has become a virtual wish list...not bad. My newly accquired set of parents have bought me a whistling kettle which is all shiny and cute. And considering the fact that this blog has been blocked in Islamabad for ages now, its a really sweet gesture....Thanks.
• Carefree romps about swashbuckling heroes, head strong heroines and doped out pirates go terribly awry when the above mentioned sterotypes start falling into 21st-century-soap-opera style love with each other. Oops! I have said enough, no more.

There's nothing new I can offer...go away. I am taking a break. Normal programing will resume some time next week (or may be even later) when I have managed to rid myself of all the depressing thoughts, the negativity and the gloom.

At first glance, its an elegant watercolor painting grandly titled "Maharana Sangram Singh of Mewar Hunting Heron" from Rajasthan, 1720-30. The writing on the wall reads:
"The details of the hunt –its courtiers and servants, a tented palanquin signifying the presence of a court lady, a village and its temples, the tilled field and lows hills – all contribute to the portrayal of the ruler as the embodiment and causes of his flourishing kingdom."

Fine, fine...we get the point, ancient Indian painter very skilled. But what about his twisted sense of humor? How else do you explain the presence of these two gentlemen in the lower left hand corner of a "royal" painting? I apologize for the poor picture quality . Museum lights don't make for great pictures and the view through a magnifying glass does not help either. Anyways, look closely, you'll get the idea.

PS: This officially concludes the unofficial "Ewww! Look what we found in DC" phase that we have been experiencing off late. We promise to look the other way when we come upon the next installment of anything remotely indentifiable as toilet humor on our next trip to DC. And even if we giggle about it, we will not torment you decent folks.

my little sister is another year old...a very happy birthday to you, Mitul. Here are a bunch of old pictures from a long time ago, when shoes set off allergic reactions, elder sisters were often mistaken for the ugly "Hit-Me" toy and a bad taste in head gear was considered cute.

• Thank you MI 3 -its cool to have Ethan Hunt do what I do for a living, that is when he is not getting himself or the Bay Bridge blown to bits.
• If there aren't 57 vareities of Heinz Ketchup then why do the Heinz guys keep bragging about it on their bottle? Old Man Heinz got carried away about 100 years ago, so what?
• An Incovenient Truth is a darn good movie, so good that the Boy has been muttering Global Warming under his breath ever since. Go watch it and if you are an American citizen you are hereby granted special permission to weep copiously at the very end to lament the pathetic electoral choice of your country folk.
• Jonathan Rhys Myers is very cute (looks slightly evil though)...nah, I would not have forgotten that one.
• Its one thing for the mighty Smithsonian Institution to be besotted with a rustic beauty from Pakistan but an annual Public Display of Affection (aka PDA ) is just excessive, shameful and wildly predictable?
• And Superman is back from his vacation on Krypton, where he apparently OD-ed on the complete Mills and Boone collection of sappy romances and discovered a whole new world of heroes with brazenly muscular arms, swooning ladies in lovingly clingy dresses and midnight waltzes under a starlight sky. Ewwww!!!
• My chilly pepper plant is depressed. The flowers just wither and die away. Anyone know why?
• Cubed red potatoes (with skin on) and blanched orange caulifower florets when baked at 350 F with a mixture of cayenne pepper, cumin, nigella, ginger, hing, tomato paste and a bayleaf or two sauteed in 3 tbsps of melted ghee makes for a great dining experience and a fragrant kitchen.
• Rice is not a good choice where fiercely independent two year olds are concerned unless you consider cleaning sticky, mushed up rice from the floor therapeutic after a nice dinner.

Back then, yodeling "Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, guess I'll go eat worms” was fun but slimy pui saag with rice was gross. My grandmother would cook that horrible, mucus-ey stuff with a vengeance every time we visited her during the summer. My Dad harbored some ill-begotten notions about the curative and cooling powers of pui and this wrecked havoc on our sensitive palates every summer. Besides, the name itself was repulsive. Repeat it in a whiny tone and voila! you have a new term of abuse. The only other vegetable that incited such passion in our household was the ubiquitous patol.

So after all these years, it was strange to find oneself excited at the sight of a plastic wrapped bunch of greens in the vegetable aisle. The label said red shen-choy but the Boy and I nodded at each other and went "pui". Yikes!!!. But now that we are all grown up and mature we decided to act our age and bring the offending shrub of greenery home, where it was sauteed with ground up mustard, ginger and green chillies. It tasted good, even the Boy agreed. But is red shen-choy really Chinese for pui...now that my dear friends is the million dollar question. You see, I just don't remember how the vile slush from my childhood nightmares tasted. But its good to know that I don’t hate it anymore. And on my next trip home I might even ask for some, which as my Mom will tell you is quite a rarity.

PS: Most Bengalis might know what pui and patol are. I believe patol is called parwal in Hindi but that's about it. I have no clue what they are called in English.

Labels: Food, Nostalgia

What kind of a hurry/state of emergency/national disaster/catastrophe causes someone to leave this behind?
The picture was clicked on the Green line train to Greenbelt today evening. The photographer, her partner and the other folks in the compartment had trouble keeping their rambunctious laughter in check at every station along the way as new passengers boarding the train reacted to ITS presence.