Restaurant Review: Art and Soul

DC Restaurant Week is losing a bit of excitement for me. When I was new to the city several years ago, the prospect of trying out restaurants outside of my price range was pretty appealing. I liked getting dressed up, trekking to different parts of the city, and splurging a little. As the years have worn on and my opportunity to patronize "fancy" restaurants regularly has increased, the prices have gone up and reports of mediocre food and service abound, so the week doesn't hold quite the same appeal.

That said, Restaurant Week fatigue or not, any excuse to leave work for a few hours for a lingering August lunch is one I will always jump at! After becoming a little bit smitten with his fawning attitude and delicious southern food through Top Chef Masters, my boyfriend and I decided to spend our Restaurant Week lunch at Art and Soul, chef Art Smith's restaurant on Capitol Hill.

We settled into a white leather banquette, cozier than it sounds, and dug in to a tiny skillet of pull apart rolls. Dusted with butter and salt and light as a feather, the bread was a wonderful first note to begin our meal. First courses were a Caesar salad, with a fluffy deviled egg on the side, and a creamy baked potato soup. August in DC isn't typically "soup weather" but this was the best course of the day. The soup was pureed smooth, and filled with big hunks of smoky bacon. Too bad licking the bowl is generally frowned upon!

For the main part of our meal, I enjoyed the fried chicken with mashed potatoes and my boyfriend, who misses his time in the South desperately, opted for the catfish with crawfish etoufee. Both entrees were tasty and well executed- but a bit of a letdown after the delicious soup. We finished our meal with two satisfying desserts - a seasonal peach crumble and a decadent chocolate cheesecake. Both came in relatively small portions, which was exactly what we were looking for at this point of the meal.

We emerged from the dark, sultry Capitol Hill Liaison Hotel into the bight afternoon sunshine and went our separate ways back to work, filled to the brim with Chef Smith's southern food, with just a touch of soul.

DC Cheap Eats: Capitol Hill

Forget the long hours, the low pay and the demanding bosses, the real hardship associated with being a Capitol Hill staffer is the frustrating lack of good lunch options around our office buildings. Predictable sub sandwiches, overpriced "designer" salads and mediocre Mexican can only take a girl so far. I've managed to uncover a few gems during my time on the Hill, however, that I don't mind sharing with the class. Now that we've improved the lunch situation, how about we tackle the paycheck situation next? :)

LeBon

210 2nd St. SE

Washington, DC 20003

(202)547-7200

A charming little cafe tucked just around the corner from the "main drag" of Pennsylvania Avenue, LeBon Cafe is a little slice of the City of Lights on Capitol Hill. The menu features French favorites like quiche and croque monsieur as well as hearty soups, fresh salads and tasty paninis. On nice days, they put out a bunch of sidewalk tables and you can enjoy your food while watching the action around the Hill. While not quite as good as wiling away your afternoon in a cafe on the Ile St. Louis, it isn't a bad way to pass the lunch hour.

Good Stuff Eatery

303 Pennsylvania Ave. SE

Washington, DC 20003

(202) 543-8222

A relative newcomer to the Capitol Hill lunch scene, Good Stuff Eatery caused quite a stir in the Halls of Congress when it opened this summer, promising good, fresh burgers fast. It didn't hurt that semi-celebrity chef Spike Mendelsohn, of Top Chef fame, was at the helm. With the help of my always willing taste tester, I checked out Good Stuff last week. We sampled the turkey burger with cheddar, a regular burger loaded down with cheese, bacon, bbq sauce and onion rings and the handcut "Spike's Fries", generously doused with cracked pepper and herbs. Not exactly health food, but delicious nonetheless! I'm still on cloud 9 from the dellllllicious Milky Way shake that we split, on a whim, at the end of our meal. Handspun when you order using house-churned ice cream, it was out of this world (Get it? Milky Way...out of this world... ok, sorry, bad pun ;)). Get the mini size...because even though it is tasty, it is really rich, and you'll likely lapse into sugar shock if you finish a large size by yourself! It was worth every delicious sip...

DC Cheap Eats: Adams Morgan

Adams Morgan gets a bad rep. It's usually associated with drunk college kids hopping (stumbling, crawling...) from one watering hole to the next, grasping for the elusive brass ring of cheap beer and attractive members of the opposite sex.

And while those views definitely have merit, it's not always like that. I'm in the neighborhood, so it's easy for me to pop over on a weeknight, when 18th street is, you know, kind of normal. No enduring sharp elbows to the side as people clamor for cheap jello shots or getting pushed off the sidewalk to make way for the throngs of stumbling bachelorette parties, teetering in their heels.

If you can look past the discarded beer cans and empty pizza plates featuring tell tale signs of last nights greasy Jumbo Slice, there are some good and affordable places to grab a bite in this part of town. Just be sure to get in and get out before another group of rowdy underage GW fraternity boys stagger down the street...

Astor
1829 Columbia Rd NW
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 745-7495

Around the corner from most of the action on 18th street, Astor is a little bit of an off the beaten track place to grab a quick bite to eat. The menu features a bunch of Middle Eastern specialties that you can carry out or eat on one of the tiny tables in the restaurant or right out front. The service is a bit slow, but worth the wait. You can't go wrong with any of the menu items, but personal favorites include a heaping (and I mean heaping!) Greek salad, velvety hummus, a tangy chicken schwarma sandwich and the vegetable pizza overflowing with fresh produce.

So's Your Mom
1831 Columbia Rd NW
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 462-3666

Nestled in between Astor and the snaking line for the Bank of America ATM is So's Your Mom, a tiny deli and gourmet food store that often gets lost in the shuffle of Adams Morgan. The petite space is filled with gourmet meats and cheeses, bottles of unique salad dressings and mustards, and fancy bakery pastries. In addition to the grocery offerings, you can get big fresh sandwiches made to order with Boar's Head cold cuts and New York-style bagels with a variety of cream cheeses. Head around the corner to Kalorama Park with a copy of the Washington Post, your So's Your Mom bagel and a cup of coffee and you have my preferred way to spend a lazy weekend morning!

Toledo Lounge
2435 18th St NW
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 986-5416

Toledo Lounge is a laid back, grungy oasis in the midst of the madness that is Adams Morgan. With its glaring orange neon sign and duct taped vinyl booths, the place won't win any awards for atmosphere, but the drinks are cheap, there are usually seats on the patio, and the service staff is prompt and attentive. They've got food specials throughout the week and on Wednesday night, they offer half-price grilled cheese. It isn't any fancier than Kraft singles on plain white bread with a heaping plate of fresh cut fries, but it's a cheesy, buttery comfort food hug. All for less than $10 bucks, including tax, tip and a few beers to help wash it all down.

You Had Me at Hello

As with most trends, the cupcake craze took a while to travel from NYC to D.C. While I am sure New Yorkers have moved on to the latest and greatest dessert treat, D.C.'s love affair with cupcakes has only just begun.

A few weeks ago, Hello Cupcake opened in Dupont Circle to long lines and rave reviews. I popped by last night to pick up a few cupcakes for a work celebration and couldn't resist sampling some of the offerings. The selection varies by day and was a bit limited yesterday, but I did visit the shop right before they were slated to shut down for the night. I tried an "HC Original" - classic yellow cake with chocolate frosting, a "24 Carrot" - carrot cake with cream cheese icing, and a "Triple Coconut" - coconut cake, coconut cream cheese icing and toasted coconut topping. (The bakery also offers vegan and gluten free selections - see website for more details!)

YUM.

The HC Original was just kind of meh...the cake was slightly dry and the chocolate icing tasted like it was made with chocolate flavoring as opposed to actual chocolate, but the other two cakes blew me away. The cakes were moist and dense and the icing was creamy and rich. And piled on thick!

The treats were sugary sweet and might be a little too much for some, but for this dessert lover, Hello Cupcake made me never want to say Goodbye...

Hello Cupcake
1351 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036

Hours
Mon-Thurs 10-7
Fri-Sat 10-9
Closed Sunday

Prices
Individual cupcakes: $3
Box of 4: $12
Box of 6: $18
Box of 12: $33