Month: September 2016

Corn Chowder and Old Bay Potato Chips

It’s fall! My favorite season of the year means it’s time for hearty soups and big flavors.

Chowders are the type of thick, rich stews that have long been important in American cooking. Most settlers, whether they were in the northern Massachusetts or southern Virginia colony, had easy access to the main ingredients for a good chowder: potatoes, milk, vegetables (like corn), chicken or clams. While the north is known more for seafood chowders, owing to its abundance of clams and fish, the south had plenty of corn, shared with the English by the native Americans, and peppers, brought from Africa by enslaved Africans. Colonial Williamsburg even has a corn chowder recipe in their cookbook.

I sauteed onions and bacon in a little bit of canola oil, then added the diced peppers (You can add red peppers too, if you like. I stuck with green) and corn. Chicken stock, heavy cream and some cheddar cheese rounded out this delicious and hearty chowder. I ate some for dinner on Sunday, then packed the rest for lunches for the work week.

I didn’t use potatoes in my chowder because I knew I wanted to try chef and Vice contributor Matty Matheson‘s Old Bay potato chips. They’re super easy to make. Peel some potatoes (or don’t, if you don’t want to), slice them very thin (I used a mandolin slicer), fry them in vegetable oil until they just start to brown, drain them on some paper towels and toss them in Old Bay seasoning. They were easily the most delicious potato chips I’ve ever eaten.

DC Ramen, Lobster Rolls and Silver Spring Sushi

I was in DC on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week for a work conference, and got the chance to hit up a couple of awesome spots in the District. First up was Haikan, the new-ish ramen joint from the Daikaya team. It’s in Shaw near the Howard University campus, on the bottom floor of the Atlantic Plumbing apartment building in a slick, modern, light-filled space.

I started with the Smoke Show cocktail: Ryukyu Awamori, a rice-based spirit similar to shoju that hails from Okinawa, mixed with Dolin Blanc vermouth and black peppercorn tincture with a torched cedar chip in the glass. The aroma of the smoke mingled with the sweet and savory notes of the other ingredients and elevated the drink (plus I’m a sucker for a smoked cocktail). I got the Smashed Cucumber Salad and the Shoyu ramen with spicebomb, nori and bamboo. The salad was delicious, in a sweet, soy-sauce based Rayu-Shoyu dressing, but the ramen was the star of the show. The broth was rich, and the spicebomb lived up to its name, adding a ton of heat and flavor. As with everything the Daikaya team does, Haikan hits the sweet spot of Asian flavors that are hot right now, with the authenticity and attention to detail that will please any ramen purist.

The next night, after my work event, my husband headed up to meet me so we could go to a show at The Fillmore in Silver Spring, one of our favorite venues. We always stay at the Hampton Inn or Homewood Suites (they’re in the same building) the next block over from The Fillmore. We parked the car, checked into the hotel and headed out to find somewhere to eat dinner.

A block away from the hotel, we found Sushi Jin, a narrow sushi spot sandwiched between a hair salon and a Quizno’s. They had a bunch of special rolls on the menu. We got a roll called “Lobster Lasagna” and a bunch of other rolls and some Japanese craft beer – Hitachino White Ale from Kiuchi Brewery in Ibaraki.

The sushi rolls were all delicious and filling. The Lobster Lasagna was topped with mounds and mounds of fresh lobster, and the other special roll we ordered was full of Maryland crab. Sushi Jin was a hit – my new favorite sushi restaurant in Silver Spring.

On the way out of DC the next day, we made a point of stopping at Metro Center where the food trucks line 12th Street at lunch, so that we could grab lunch from the DC outpost of the always-delicious Red Hook Lobster Pound. My husband and I visited the original Red Hook location on our last NYC trip, and when I found out they had a DC food truck, I decided I had to give it a try.

It was pricey, but it is lobster after all (funny considering lobster used to be so plentiful it was considered the food of the poor). I got the BLT lobster roll and my husband got the Maine Style. Both were served on a warm, buttered roll with a huge pickle spear. We got some Cape Cod chips and the truck had Maine Root fountain beverages, so we got a Mexi-Vanilla Cola.

This was a delicious DC trip. I can’t wait to return to try out more food spots!

Pop’s Market on Grace

Before a show at The National on Friday night, my husband and I stopped for dinner at Pop’s Market on Grace. The casual restaurant and market is located just down the block from the Carpenter Center and is convenient to galleries and entertainment on Broad Street as well. This section of Grace Street has historically been a part of the downtown shopping district, and is even a designated historic district with the National Park Service.

Pop’s Market offers a wide range of quick-service foods, like sandwiches and salads, as well as prepared meals like pastas. I had the Caprese on focaccia and my husband tried the pulled pork hoagie. Both were ENORMOUS – enough that we had a whole meal for Saturday’s lunch.

Pop’s also has refrigerated prepared foods, coffee and breakfast items and other local products. The space is expansive, with high ceilings and a prime corner location, as well as architectural details like exposed brick.