Okay, so I'm on a roll with trying new restaurants. In the month of March alone, I think I've tried 4 new places in the DC/VA area along with new hot spots on my corporate travels through Seattle and LA. I love food and I love finding the little hole-in-the-wall spots that have an element of charm and flair to them. For the month of March, I've decided to do a review of two completely different restaurants. It's just another example of how I'm an overachiever at times - so, ladies and gentlemen, you're not getting ONE restaurant for the month of March, you're getting TWO! :)
First Restaurant of the Month: Kramerbooks & Afterwords
Washington, D.C - Dupont Circle
I had never heard of Kramerbooks until a recent friend of mine suggested it as a good dinner place in Dupont Circle. As a fellow Washingtonian, we are aware that any place worth knowing about is through word-of-mouth. It was last Friday and I wanted to go out in Dupont, but also wanted to have dinner with two of my close friends, Mike and Stacy. We all have drastically different schedules, so it's nice to sit down and catch up once and a while over good food and delicious cocktails. Kramerbooks is a cultural hot spot located in the heart of Dupont Circle; a go-to place for the yuppies of Washington D.C. It is literally located within a book store, and not a situation where you have a Seattle's Best coffee to the side. People hover around some of the most eclectic book topics I've ever seen as they wait for their name to be called at this local gem. We waited about 30 minutes for our table, but it wasn't so bad knowing we had a plethora of books to keep us entertained.
We sat down at this little table; it was sort of a neighborly place. Everyone was seated close together that it felt like a small-knit community. This place had a sense of warmth and coziness to it - the dim lighting, intellectual conversations, and over abundance of cloth hats and scarves made it known that it's a place for stimulating conversation with young intellectuals. We were greeted by our waitress, April, who gave us a drink menu and ran down the list of specials. I started off with the Real Espresso Martini, a delicious combination of vanilla vodka, brewed espresso, Kahlua, and Frangelico. It was late and I knew I needed a drink that would give me a little extra boost to get me through the night. (Hey, this isn't college anymore; working all week exhausts me!). The drink was a very rich, smooth cocktail and is a must-have for coffee lovers. Stacy ordered an amazing glass of white wine; I think it was a Sauvignon Blanc. It was so good that she went to Total Wines that same weekend to find it in the store. Mike was the adult of the group and just stuck with water. :)
Now in regards to our meals, there was a wide variety of different dishes to choose from, all within the $20-$30 range, which is pretty reasonable for the heart of Dupont. Much to my surprise, the waitress recommended getting any dish with seafood since it's brought in fresh everyday. I was torn between two salads, and the waitress recommended the was jumbo lump crab cake, sliced California avocados and tomatoes, over market greens and red onions drizzled with a little extra virgin olive oil and balsamic dressing. I love seafood, so I was very excited when my salad came with a nice portion of crab meat. It was a simple, clean, healthy salad - the avocados and tomatoes were perfectly seasoned and the dressing added just enough sweet and tangy to the crab meat. It's appearance was exquisite. It was a good-size meal, but I wouldn't say I was exactly full after my meal, but that's okay since the meal had a lot of other great qualities. My friend, Mike, I think made the best choice by his Smoked Pork Cuban Sandwich. At just around $15, he had a great portion of slow-smoked porked, pulled from the bone and piled onto a grilled baguette. It was layered with aged gouda (that's enough to say yum already), aioli, prosciutto and pickled jalapenos. With that, he got a nice side of market greens and "dirty" rice and beans, made with black beans, sausage, bacon, garlic, onion, and red peppers. He labeled the meal as "delicious" and I'd have to add that I tried a little of the pulled pork and it was delectable and extremely tasty. And, last but not least, my friend Stacy got the Lobster dish with a side of mac & cheese and succotash. Unfortunately, her lobster was sub-par, and seemed to be very bland. It was a huge amount of lobster, but was not appropriately adorned with the right fixings. When you order lobster, you expect great things, so I'm not surprised by the disappointment.
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| My jumbo crab meat salad! |
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| Mike's Cuban Pork Sandwich |
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| Stacy's Lobster dish |
I think, overall, Mike and I give Kramerbooks a 4 out of 5 stars, while Stacy might come out at more of a 3 stars out of 5. The location was perfect for fellow Dupont Circle-ers and was a nice mix up from the upscale lounges. This is that perfect place if you still want to go "out" on a Friday night, but want something a bit more low-key with a little bit of flair!
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Second Restaurant of the Month: Tara Temple
Arlington, VA - Ballston
I found out about Tara Temple through Bloomspot, a company which delivers unique offers for spas, restaurants, and bars in the Washington D.C. area. It's like a groupon, but better because their offers for restaurants are for 3 or 4-course meals. Their motto at Bloomspot is "Live Life Better," and I can say without a doubt that I've done that every time I purchase a voucher from them. I received a voucher for $60 towards a three-course meal at Tara Temple, a trendy Thai restaurant located in the heart of Arlington, VA. I love Thai food and ever since I've lived in Virginia, I've grown to appreciate authentic Thai. It's a pretty common category of food here in the area, so it's important to stake out a good spot!
I went to Tara Temple on Sunday evening after attending an amazing ballet with my friend, Stacy. She treated me to the ballet, so I treated her to dinner, haha! I'm so blessed to have the friends I do. Tara Temple is adorned with true, authentic decor - it's red lounge benches and spunky chandeliers make this a great place for happy hours or a fun date night. We started off our three-course meal with a glass of wine for Stacy and a vodka club soda for me. Long gone are the days of wine for me....finding out I was allergic to it was a sad day! For our appetizers, I ordered the Crying Tiger steak and Stacy ordered the Pork Gyoza, which are dumplings steamed in a spicy ra-yu ponzu. The crying tiger steak was delicious - phew, did it have a kick to it!! It was spicy, but so good and cooked to perfection! The steak was moist and savory. Stacy's pork dumplings were steamed to perfection and quite tasty as well. Our appetizers arrived within a timely fashion, which earns big brownie points from me. I hate waiting for food; being Italian, patience is not my strong suit... it's something I'm working on, but it is a hard task. My mom might have passed down a variety of traits to me like intelligence, beauty, tenacity, and hootspa, but patience was not one of them!
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| Pork Dumplings! |
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| Crying Tiger Appetizer |
For our second course, the main entree, I ordered the classic Thai dish, the "Drunken Noodle." A delectable dish of wide flat noodles stir-fried with tomatoes, onions, red and green bell peppers, and chicken drenched in a spicy Thai basil sauce. For fellow Thai-food lovers, the Drunken Noodle dish is a staple; it's a great way to test if the Thai food is authentic and savory. This dish was a hit in my book and boy, did it clear out your sinuses. It was a SPICY dish, one of those where you feel like your nose will run, but it was oh-so-good! Besides the quality of ingredients in this dish, this was a perfectly-sized meal for the girl who's not afraid to eat. As you know from my previous reviews, big portions earn big brownie points for me! Now, you can order the Drunken Noodle with either chicken, shrimp, beef or vegetarian (which is tofu). I ordered it with the chicken and it was cooked to perfection! Stacy ordered the stir fry with spicy fresh Thai basil, chili and garlic sauce. Both dishes had enough "kick" to them... I felt like if a spirit lived inside of me, it would have come out due to the intensity of the heat, haha! Also, both dishes gave us a perfect amount of food while staying true to Thai authenticity. From the spices, to the ingredients, to the mixture of it all, these dishes were sure to please those who find Thai food to be a signature staple in their palette.
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| Drunken Noodles...yeah!! |
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| Stacy's Thai Basil Dish |
Finally, for the dessert we split the Caramel Apple Cake, which came with side of chocolate ganache. It was a very simple and yummy dessert but I could have done without the frozen apples in the cake. They should have either been warmed or taken out of the cake completely. Biting into a mouth-watering piece of cake can be instantly dissatisfying when you bite into a frozen, unbearably cold piece of apple. Although delicious, they should warmed the apples next time!
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| The Caramel Apple Cake |
Overall, I think Stacy and I would give Tara Temple a 4 stars out of 5. The service was timely, the dishes were plentiful, and the food was authentic and appetizing. The location was incredibly easy to get to as well, and the decor of this place made it easy to see how the transition can go from a casual dinner to an upscale lounge.
