Loco for District Taco

The first time I had District Taco was after a bourbon-filled evening with my friend-couple and the subsequent next day hunger that resulted. Carly had to head to work, but we stopped by District Taco for their breakfast tacos. I usually make my own breakfast burritos, but District Taco has me put to shame. The corn tortilla was filled with egg whites, cheese, black beans, cilantro, pico de gallo, jalepeños, and it was delicious. The only problem was that it broke apart pretty easily, which was understandable since it was full, but still pretty annoying. Fortunately, District Taco is equipped with forks and I was able to make it work.

The average eater will be full after one taco. If you’re really hungry, maybe after two. And it would take an extraordinary hunger to devour three. I am not amongst the extraordinary in this case. I was very average, and very full. And I was hooked.

Before I go on to my next experience, I have to describe the venue a bit. When you enter, you’re immediately hit with yellows, reds, greens, and an overall festive feel. It’s well-lit and spacious on the inside. There are booths, tables, and stools, so no matter if you’re camping out there for a meal or just dropping in quickly, you can have a seat and feel comfortable. Despite the fact that there are only two cashiers, things seem to move with purpose and I’ve never waited more than about 3-4 minutes to order. If you’re eating in the restaurant, they bring your food to your table and that takes maybe 5 minutes. It’s quick and it’s easy.

So anyway, on to my second visit. Last week when I went to District Taco, I attempted two tacos again. With just a Woodchuck in my stomach, I figured I could handle two. WRONG AGAIN! I went for the chicken taco with rice, cheese, black beans and jalepeños, and barely made it through the first. They look so small but they are so filling. I wrapped up the second one and took it home to reheat later as a midnight studying snack.

Carly, in all her creativity and ingenuity, created a fabulous drink that is completely free. District Taco offers soda water as well as regular water. The bubbly water, combined with cilantro and a squeeze of lime is super refreshing and a great way to counteract the heat of the spicy salsa offered at the salsa bar. We’re calling this fake cocktail a “Cilantro Limeade” and you should try it, whether at District Taco or at home.

Unfortunately, District Taco is still working on getting its liquor license. When that happens, I can recommend this place even more highly than Lime (which I will be reviewing sooner rather than later). So for the raging alcoholic in you, hit up a nearby bar or lounge before or after you go.

How to get there:

Take the metro to Eastern Market (blue/orange) and exit the station. It’s across the street from CVS.

How much you’ll spend:

Tacos are 3/$7. Split with friends. Be happy.

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paperwork

utilizing the food

taking a taco to go

more salsa bar

pour up, drank.

my cup of salsa

Carly and her tacos

cilantro limeade

my taco

salsa bar

chalkboard with specials

Chicken Noodle Soup…Because I’m a Mom at Heart.

variety of tomatoes for color and flavor

up close look at the three varieties

leftover chicken

chicken broth

get saffron, it will change your life

my favorite pasta, because it’s so versatile

simmer simmer

before the noodles

adding the ditalini

Chicken Noodle Soup

finished product

Chicken Noodle Soup. I feel SO matronly admitting that I did indeed make chicken noodle soup the other day, especially because I made it as a reward for completing my first week of law school.

Des, meet mom jeans and PTA meetings.

Anyway, it was delicious. The best part about chicken noodle soup is that it is an easy and quick way to get rid of food that is just sitting around or leftovers that you are tired of reheating. This version is full of vegetables, both fresh and frozen; and best of all, it only takes about 30 minutes. I froze about a third of what I made, so I’ll let you know how it tastes from frozen down the line.

THE STUFF THAT YOU NEED: 

• 1 box of pasta. I use ditalini when I make mine, but you can use whatever type of small pasta you like. I do not suggest anything larger than elbow macaroni noodles.
• 14.5oz can of chicken broth (I use Swansons, but you can also make your own. I’ll probably try that next time)
• 4 cans of water. Use the chicken broth can to “measure”.
• About 2lbs of chicken, cooked. I came up with the idea to make soup because I was trying to get rid of all the chicken that I cooked the other day. This is a great way to get rid of your leftover chicken.
• 20 grape tomatoes. I used a pack with a variety of types, but it isn’t necessary
• 1 bag of frozen assorted vegetables. You can get creative here and use whatever frozen vegetables you have around. Like I said, this is a great soup to dump leftovers into. The package I used had broccoli, cauliflower, red bell pepper, mushrooms, and green beans.
• 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of onion powder
• 1 teaspoon of paprika
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon of tarragon
• 1/2 teaspoon of saffron
• 1/2 teaspoon of celery salt
• 1 large pot. Like, the biggest you have. And if you don’t have a big one, then go buy one.
• Small, sharp knife to cut chicken
• Another knife to cut grape tomatoes
• Cutting board
• Ladle…yes, I own a ladle. I make a lot of chili, gazpacho, stew, and soup lol. Please don’t take my cool 20-something card away

THE STEPS THAT YOU TAKE:

1. Open your can of chicken broth or homemade broth and pour it into the large pot.
2. Fill the can with water and pour into pot. Repeat this step 3 more times.
3. Add garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt, pepper, tarragon, saffron and celery salt to the liquid. Stir to distribute evenly throughout.
4. Turn up the heat to bring water and broth to a boil.
5. While bringing broth to a boil, cut up your chicken into bite-sized pieces. Add these to the broth.
6. Cut the 20 grape tomatoes into halves and add to the broth as well.
7. Once the water begins to boil, add the bag of frozen vegetables and the box of pasta.
8. Allow the pasta to cook completely (approx. 7-10 minutes).
9. Turn down the heat and bring soup to a simmer.
10. At this point, you should definitely taste the soup to see if you like it. Also, be sure that you haven’t boil out too much broth. If you need to add a little more water, be sure to do so.
11. Get some saltine crackers, curl up on the sofa, watch HGTV and enjoy!

 

Happy 2 Week Anniversary, Des Eats DC!

I’m glad I’m too old to mark anniversaries like 2 weeks in romantic relationships. No sappy “we’ve been together for 7.5 months”  Facebook statuses here. Been there, done that. But I can, and will, happily celebrate that we have had two absolutely AMAZING weeks of Des Eats DC. 670 views. 11 countries. Countless shares and retweets. $1,100 raised.

We’re building this together, and I couldn’t be happier. Please keep sending in the recommendations, the restaurants you want me to review, the recipes you want me to try, and all the love and support.

Coming Up…

• This week, there will be a chicken noodle soup recipe posted and a posting for Dangerously Delicious Pies. There will also be a post about Alero Resturant and I’m working on a list of bottomless drinks/brunch spots in DC.
• I am accepting ideas for my first “Food in Culture” article. These articles will highlight food culture in different regions of the country. I’ll release a poll later so you all can choose what region you want me to write about first.
• In all of my “leisure time” (aka time that I carve out of time when I’m supposed to do other things), I’m learning Ruby on Rails and some other coding with CodeAcademy, so I can learn to do some of the technical stuff myself. These are some skills that I’ve wanted to expand for awhile, and now (at the start of law school) seems like the perfect time to do it.
• Just started working to help launch Georgetown’s Food Recovery Network chapter with some undergrads, so I’ll definitely be posting about that as it develops.

Thank you all SO much for helping me as I work on my dream! Don’t forget to follow the Twitter account and like us on Facebook. If you have any questions or ideas, don’t hesitate to contact me!

This Weekend in Des Eats DC-Round 2

Main objective? Survive.

I just finished my first week of law school, and man. It’s going to be an interesting year.

Restaurant Reviews: I’m hoping that I can get somewhere to eat either tonight or tomorrow afternoon. If not, I’ll post a review of a place I’ve already been later this week. Dangerously Delicious Pies will also get a review, since I had that on Friday and took some pictures.

Recipes: Yesterday (Friday), I made chicken noodle soup and it’s pretty amazing, so I’ll be posting the recipe for that. I took lots of pictures while I was making it, so those will be added as well. I’m including a photo so you can get a sneak peak at it.

Chicken Noodle Soup

I’ve gotten a lot of feedback from readers about wanting more pictures, and wanting video, and tons of advice on how to do it. Thank you! We can only get better by doing this together. In the first 11 days, we’ve had over 500 views from visitors in 9 different countries, new followers on Twitter and Facebook, and comments on posts. To everyone who has shared Des Eats DC with the world, thank you!

Golden Brown Delicious–That About Sums it Up

 

 

Chicken and donuts. CHICKEN AND DONUTS.

Where did such an intriguing combination come from anyway? Who cares? It’s delicious! And tucked away in Dupont Circle at Golden, Brown and Delicious (GBD), you can get your fix of the greasy goodness.

The distinctive smell of frying dough filled my nose the moment that I entered GBD. Meeting my friend Vanessa for dinner there was possibly the best move I have made in DC this entire summer. At the entrance of the restaurant, there is a cute little bar that was already packed around 6:00pm. There are also some booths across from the bar, spacious enough to seat about four people at each. The dimly lit venue has a very cozy feel that I absolutely love and I immediately felt comfortable.

Grabbing a seat towards the back, I quickly snatched up the happy hour menu to see what a chicken and donut shop could possibly offer for adult beverages. I was pleasantly surprised to see an assortment of beers, wines, and cocktail, and finally settled on a “Stiff Punch”. It was a delightful combination of gin, triple sec, grapefruit juice, lemon and pink peppercorn. The drink was refreshing and for $3, you can’t beat the price. The happy hour runs on weekdays from open until 7pm, so you can knock back quite a few drinks with very little damage to your wallet. And, speaking to the alcoholism that runs rampant in DC, it was a pretty strong drink.

On top of the happy hour specials, they have a great beer list. Two sections stand out the most: a “chicken” beer section and a “donut” beer section. That’s right. They took the time to distinguish which beers go best with their two signature menu items. Genius! Though I didn’t sample a beer this time, I would come back just to enjoy the beers they offer.

After very little deliberation, I settled on the “The Luther” for my meal.  I really can’t even begin to explain the deliciousness, but I’ll try.

The Luther is a brioche doughnut glazed in maple-chicken jus with candied pecans, slab bacon, a fried boneless chicken thigh and a side of fries. Just typing that line makes my mouth water at the thought of that meal. After placing my order, it didn’t take long for the waiter to bring out the food, and for a bit, I just stared at it. The sheer quantity of food is intimidating, but it smelled incredible. The doughnut was perfect; the glaze and the pecans added crunch and sweetness to the thick “bread” of the sandwich. The chicken was a little bit dry, but the flavor was great. Hopefully that was just a fluke and next time it will be a bit more moist. After years of toying with on-again, off-again pescatarianism, I am falling in love with bacon all over again and this bacon added a nice, smoky flavor to the dish. The fries were perfectly crispy, though in terms of quantity, there were just too many.

I fought mightily to finish the meal. I tried, I really did. But I could not.

And when the waiter came with the check, I had the gall to request an apple fritter to go. BEST LIFE CHOICE EVER.

When I got home, I warmed the apple fritter and ate it with a scoop of Haagen-Daz vanilla frozen yogurt. As my eyes rolled back in my head, and the cinnamon and sugary goodness covered my tongue, I nearly cried.

GBD is amazing, and if you haven’t been yet, you’ve got to go.

How to get there: Red line to Farragut North or Dupont Circle. It’s about equal walking distance from either one.

How much you’ll spend: Eh, probably $15-$25 bucks. It’s so worth every penny and the portion sizes are great.