restaurant review: DC dishes

The second rice was just as nice.  A hip looking place on 14th st in Macey and Caroline's neighborhood, Dupont, this rice served up tasty Thai food.  Enticed by much of the menu we decided to get a bunch of things and split them.  Macey,the outnumbered meat eater, graciously went along with it.  To start with we got the ubiquitous deep fried tofu, and tasty and “rice style” pumpkin empanadas, a delightful  little surprise to find on a Thai menu.  We moved on to an unintentionally mushroom-saturated entre selection: drunken noodles with mixed mushroom and tofu, green curry mixed mushroom and tofu and crispy tofu and ginger topped with mushroom sauce.   All three dishes were tasty and satisfying.  The best part, the second rice also served as a second birthday dinner!  Sweet.

must haves on the menu:
sweet potato empanadas

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And what trip to a college campus would be complete without a trip to the campus cafeteria?  Too bad GW doesn’t really have one, a fact that Chelsea and Iris had a hard time getting over.  After baffling  over it with Macey and Owen, we decided the best way to understand it was to go to J street and see it for ourselves.  It was basically a cluster of fast food restaurants, all of which were closed at quarter of 8 on a Sunday evening.  Worried that there was no option for eating well, we went to the pay per weight cafeteria area which did have a surprisingly broad and healthy selection, including a “vegan bar”.  While the selection was on par with other College cafeterias, which is to say, passable for food, the price for those of us without a GW bucks card it was rough on our wallets.  Still, eating in and hanging out made for some fun quality time with both the Bros.

must haves on the menu:
QT with the bros

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It might have been better had we not discovered Sticky Fingers Bakery, because it made us realize how lacking Boston is in the vegan delights department.  Chelsea and Iris met up with the vegan there, and found him in a cute, hip, little Dinner-style seating area where some people were cozyed in with computers and others were conversing and chomping contentedly.  The walk up counter offered a appetizing range of baked goods and a large selection of pre-made sandwiches, wraps and salads.  When we arrived Zach had already devoured a grilled cheese sandwich which he raved about “it’s just like childhood, only vegan!”.   Chelsea got a pre-made “Asian Salad” which was just alright, and Iris got one of the only other things on the hot menu, a vegan quesadilla, or as we  coined with Caroline, a vegadilla, which was delicious and vegetable-filled with teese and vegan sour cream that could have passed for the real stuff.  The sugar eaters among us polished off the meal with a slice of vegan peanut butter and chocolate cake and a lemon coconut cookie.   Both were solidly “good”, but not out of this world, but then again our vegan standards are rapidly rising.  

must haves on the menu:
anything from the hot menu

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For space/time reasons we’ve been trying to keep these reviews to the three best places if we go to more than that, but for this one we’re going to have go ahead and rave about the Amsterdam for outstanding falafel.  What really sets this place apart, and reminds Iris of her staple vegetarian dining option in Spain was that they give you a white or wheat pita with falafel and hummus and then there is a self serve bar where you can add any number of toppings, vegetables mixes and sauces.  Making it your own is magnificent. 

must haves on the menu:
the falafel!

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honorable mention from the Chels Bells:  
KramerBooks & Afterwords Cafe & Grill