Let’s CoCo Crazy

I am all about CHOCOLATE- dark, milk, white… I LOVE it all! When I heard there was a chocolate themed restaurant in DC, I knew we were going to get along quite well. The first time I visited Co Co. Sala was just for drinks and I fell in love with the atmosphere.  They have all the lights dimmed, rich browns and reds fill the restaurant and lively music is in the air.

 Even the menu looks like there is a piece of chocolate on top!

Last week I visited Co co. Sala and started with the “MMM” MALTED MILK MARTINI- Svedka Vanilla / Bailey’s / Malted Chocolate. To say it’s delicious is an understatement, it is one of the best drinks I have ever had. (Not a statement I pass around lightly) After realizing how amazing their drinks were, I knew I had to try their extremely unique menu. Everything on the menu has a special twist, some dishes even use Chocolate!

 Pictured: The “MMM” Malted Martini… The first of two 🙂

We ordered: LOBSTER CROSTINI WITH CAVIAR, TOMATO & BURRATA SALAD, PAN SEARED COCOA NIB CRUSTED SCALLOPS & WILD MUSHROOM & ROASTED TOMATO RISOTTO. Yes.. All of the food was good, but let’s be honest, you don’t care! You want to hear ALL ABOUT THEIR DESSERTS! There are so many to chose from and each has at least 3 parts to it. That night we had the ‘CO CO. GROWN UP’. It had
milk chocolate peanut butter gelato, bananas foster, a mini co co. cupcake & a malted shooter. YUM YUM YUM! 

Pictured: Our ‘Co Co. Grown Up.’ I am NOT a peanut butter person, but even I enjoyed the peanut butter gelato!

I totally suggest Co Co. Sala to anyone that is looking for a unique restaurant experience. It is definitely on the pricier side, especially if you order every course. I even took my parents there last time they were in town and they LOVED it- They said it was something that they had never experienced before!

Have you been to Co Co. Sala? Let me know what you think!

“Get Baked”

I had the unique opportunity to run an advertising campaign in a class for a local bakery and specialty coffee shop, Baked & Wired. We were able to design ads for them and help them start a Tumblr account. Luckily, they would also give us some FREE goodies whenever we stopped by! I got to try many different items that I had not been able to try previously. Baked & Wired is located in Georgetown, off of M Street.  My favorite detail about their shop is that you will always know when they are open if their “pink bike” is parked outside of the shop with flowers in the front basket. The shop is very specific about having their too different delights-: Baked Goods (BAKED) & Coffees and Teas (WIRED).

Pictured (Courtesy of Google Images): “Pink Bike” outside of Baked & Wired so you know they are open.

WIRED

When you walk into B&W, you chose to go to the right or left. I always start to the right to get my AMAZING Latte or DELICOUS Iced Tea (depending on the weather). They offer 2-3 different types of espressos at any given time and you can chose your liking. I never know which to get, so the baristas always tell me a little bit about each and which they prefer depending on the drink. Their iced teas are made fresh everyday and they always have different, fun flavors.

Pictured: One of the ads we created in our advertising project for Baked & Wired. Many of the ads were placed around GW’s campus!

*Tip: If you don’t know what you want, let the baristas make you their favorite drink! You can NEVER go wrong there 🙂

Baked

Now.. after I get my drink, I have to head over to the baked good sections.  I am all about their biscotti (Chocolate Dipped Almond, to be exact), but they are probably most famous for their “Cake-Cups”, not to be confused with cupcakes.  Out of all of the cupcake shops located on M Street, B&W blows all of them out of the water! I am also obsessed with all of their bars, specifically their “Smores” bar. Get ready to drool… Butter Graham Cracker bottom, homemade marshmallow, with dark chocolate on top. I don’t think I can really say enough about how amazing their baked goods are!

Pictured: Another ad from our Advertising teams project, featuring 3 of their famous bars!

Have you been to Baked & Wired? Let me know what your favorite treat is!

Not Your Typical BBQ

Being from Florida, when I hear BBQ… I think beer, chicken and ribs on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. I had never had the chance to visit an authentic Korean BBQ restaurant before this weekend, and the closest thing I have had was from “Yellow Vendor” Food Truck; It is AMAZING, don’t be afraid of the simplicity of the yellow truck. This weekend I went to Honey Pig, an authentic Korean BBQ restaurant in Annandale, Virginia. (I know this is a blog about DC eats, but this restaurant is TOTALLY worth the hike).  They are open 24 hours, 7 days a week, perfect for the never sleeping college student!

Pictured (from left to right): Daniel Wolman, Jessica Fern & Andrew Metric standing outside Honey Pig

When you walk in, an extremely nice and attentive staff greets you. Your table has a large ceramic stove in the middle and they place a salad, HOMEMADE Kimchi, a cucumber mixture, bean curd and different sauces down. I tried all of them and everything was spiced perfectly and complemented each other very well. We started with one order of pork and chicken dumplings. *Tip: There is no need to start with an appetizer, you get so much food overall!

Pictured: The EXTREMELY packed table of food…

We each ordered an entrée: 2 Orders of Beef Bulgogi, 1 Order of Spicy Pork Bellies and 1 Order of Pork Rib. Everyone also received a side order of white rice with their meals as well. To drink, we ordered a bottle of Soju. Soju is a drink that is native to Korea. It would be comparable to vodka, but a tiny bit sweeter. *Warning: If you cannot handle your alcohol, do NOT consume!

Pictured: Soju, Korean vodka-like drink. On average Soju is 19.5% Alcohol

Overall, this restaurant is a hidden gem in my book. The food and the atmosphere are extremely authentic and I would HIGHLY recommend you trying it out if you are looking for a change of scenery in Washington, DC. It is also really fair priced. The four of us got all of that food and alcohol for $18 a person. One of my favorite details during the meal was the mix between American and Korean pop music being played in the background!

Do you have a favorite Korean BBQ Restaurant or have you tried Honey Pig? Let me know!

Need Some Yelp?

I have been lucky enough to travel to many places in the US and I tend to spare no expense when it comes to eating out! (*Thanks Dad!) Wherever we go, we try and find the best place to eat and the best way to do that is RESEARCH FIRST! Yelp is your friend 🙂

 

Yelp’s motto is “connecting people with great local businesses,” which holds to be very truthful. Yelp allows people to post about their personal experiences wherever they have gone, good or bad. I have started to post on Yelp myself because I rely so heavily on these strangers to lead me in the right direction.

 

Yelp is also a great tool when you don’t know the name of a restaurant you want to go to or what type of food you are in the mood for. For example, you can say, “Washington, DC” – “Mexican”.  From that search I got a list of the top Mexican Restaurants in the Washington, DC area, in numerical order!

Pictured: Search Image from Yelp, “Mexican” in “Washington, DC”

Tip: Yelp also hosts profiles for hotels, spas, museums, or anywhere else you find yourself going on a vacation (or “stay”cation)

 

Let me know about your experiences on Yelp!

Be a Tourist in Your City!

This past weekend I turned 22 and my Dad flew from Florida to celebrate with me! He was nice enough to take my friends and I out to delicious dinners, as well as some fabulous lunches throughout the weekend! Our first lunch was at Old Ebbitt Grill… we had eaten there before, but they made my birthday meal really special this time around. I know many people think of Old Ebbitt as a “Touristy” place, but I have to disagree and say that every DC’er would LOVE it!

Pictured: Old Ebbitt’s “Bloody Maryland”

We started with two “Bloody Maryland’s” – this is a typical Bloody Mary, with old bay seasoning and a jumbo shrimp on the rim. For appetizers we went with their raw bar menu. I can’t go to Old Ebbitt without having Little Neck Clams on the half shell or fresh oysters! (We had half a dozen of both!) As a main course, I went with my favorite thing on their menu, the single crab cake with a sweet potato on the side. My dad had the Oyster Po-Boy, served with French fries and coleslaw. I personally did not try it, but he said it was AWESOME!

Pictured: Old Ebbitt’s PoBoy Sandwich w/ Fries and Coleslaw

*Hint- During the Winter, they serve their crab cakes with a “Sweet Potato Au Gratin”…. YES, it is as good as it sounds!! Also one of my favorite things I have ever eaten

I was not going to get dessert because it was lunchtime, but our waitress, Deborah, (She has worked there for many years and can tell you everything about the menu backwards and forwards, I would suggest asking for her when you arrive!) talked me into it… with little convincing of course! We got the chocolate-chip bread pudding that was outline with a special message! (See Below) Deborah, was even nice enough to sing Happy Birthday to me, something they do not usually do at Old Ebbitt.

Pictured: Chocolate-Chip Bread Pudding w/ a special Happy Birthday Message.
They spelt my name wrong, so I just ate the extra letter 🙂

***Tip: Old Ebbitt has a Raw Bar Happy Hour twice a day from 3pm-6pm & 11pm-1am and I have to suggest ordering the:

Orca Platter

1# lobster, dozen Jonah crab claws,

dozen clams, dozen oysters, dozen shrimp

$99.95  $49.98 WHAT A DEAL!

 

 

Wing Fling

So, its Sunday and I am watching football, like I have done since I knew how to open my eyes. And what does everyone want when they are watching football? WINGS! (And beers.. but lets try and have a post that doesn’t revolve around the alcohol I drink)! After being in DC for almost 4 years I have tried all the “known” wings in the Foggy Bottom area, as well as from all the quintessential delivery spots. I will always be partial to wings from my hometown in Florida, but I have definitely found wings that come close to measuring up.

First, you can always count on Marshalls – located on Pennsylvania and 25th. It is a very hometown feeling bar, I would compare it to Cheers, if DC had a bar like that. They do wing specials throughout the week too! I also really enjoy Wingos, but I have only ordered in from Campus Foods. They do an $8.99 special- 8 Wings, French Fries and a Soda. I highly suggest that deal, they are perfect on a Sunday during football! Lastly, I know I have mentioned Tonic in previous posts, but they have great wings as well! On Sundays they do wing specials during football games too. *Hint: If you show up before your game starts, the bartenders are happy to put on the game you chose to watch on one of their three TVs!

Pictured: Alex Crook, GW Senior, ordered a “normal” plate of wings at Marshall’s during one of their specials

Tip: Almost all bars in the Foggy Bottom area offers Wing Specials on Sundays during football.. Let me know you favorite places to catch a football game 🙂

**NEXT WEEK… I know some of you asked for me to let you know about a future bar crawl and there is one next weekend. “Nightmare on M Street” is next Saturday and tickets are $20, and going up until then. Click Here for Tickets. Also, it’s my 22nd Birthday Week, so there will be A LOT of fun posts coming up about all my faves!

It’s Not Just a Car

Scion is located in Dupont Circle and serves seasonally FRESH and DELICIOUS food! It was one of those restaurants that I had always walked by, without ever actually going inside. After a full day of walking around DC, my friend and I ended up right in front of Scion, so we decided to finally try it!

Their menu is very seasonal, which is always the best because you know that your food is going to be SUPER fresh! The first thing that jumped out to me on the menu was “Fried Pickles,” at first I thought EW- then I thought we HAVE to try them! (Snookie would approve!) They were perfectly fried and not too salty. For my main course, I went with the Crispy Goat Cheese Salad with Grilled Chicken- I forewarned you about my obsession with goat cheese! The cheese, like the pickles was perfectly fried and the salad dressing was just enough.  My friend went with the Braised Veal and Gorgonzola Ravioli (Veal Osso Bucco, Crumbled Gorgonzola & a Chive Cream Sauce); as my friend Jess says, “I had some Order Remorse.” His raviolis were to die for!

*Picture via Scion’s Twitter Account

For dessert we had the Fresh Strawberries with Sabayon Cream, which were so sweet and delicious! Everyone that has been to Scion has told me I HAVE to try the brunch, that is next on my Sunday Brunch List… If you have been, let me know what to get!

High Steaks

When I was a Sophomore, I was lucky enough to score my first choice internship with the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown in the PR Department. Before interning there I had heard all about Bourbon Steak and that it was the place to find the best food and see the most famous celebrities and politicians. Walking past it everyday, not having a chance to try it yet, was basically torture! Fast forward into my Junior year, my time had come…

My friend took me to Bourbon Steak for my birthday and I have to put this meal in my top 5.. NOT an easy thing to say! My previous (AMAZING!) boss had 2 glasses of champagne sent to our table for my Birthday, which started the evening off perfectly. We started with two appetizers to share- I had the Steak Tartare, which was made table side with the ingredients I chose and my friend went with a delicious Tomato Salad.

 

For our main courses, I had a HUGE filet mignon, cooked rare of course! And my friend had the buffalo filet, which was unbelievably tender. Besides the steaks being amazing, they have so many sides to chose from. We had the magical mushrooms (THEY WERE VERY “MAGICAL”) and the mac-n’-cheese. I don’t think I have enough words to describe how amazing their food really is! For dessert I had the root-beer float with homemade ice-cream and chocolate chip cookies.

*Hint: The Four Seasons Staff treats every customer like royalty, but don’t worry, you WILL pay for that treatment. (Totally worth the splurge!)

Why walk when you can..Crawl?

When my friends and I heard that there was going to be a Foggy Bottom Bar Crawl, we knew that we had to join in! We bought our tickets off of Groupon for $20- you got 2 t-shirts, 2 drink tickets and 2 passes for the tour.. SUCH a deal! The best part about the tour was that every bar on the crawl had great food & drink specials. *Tip#1: Make sure you do a bar tour with a bunch of people, it’s a lot more fun like that!

                        Three of the Crawlers outside of Elephant & Castle:

(From Left) Marisa Meyers, Jessica Fern and Daniel Wolman

We started the tour around 5:30pm at Tonic’s bar. They offered cheap wings, tater tots, pumpkin beer and Bud Lite. Between the 8 of us on the tour- many of each were ordered! Because all of us on the tour are GW students, we all frequent Tonic quite often, so we were only there for about a half-hour. After Tonic, we decided to head towards 19^th Bar where they had Flatbreads on special- $5!  We got a table and ordered beers and flatbreads.. Unfortunately, they were not that great. I have eaten at 19^th before this, and my suggestion would be to stick to the bar food (Wings, dips, burgers, hotdogs, etc…).

                                   FoBoGro’s License for the Bar Crawl: APPROVED!

Across the street from 19^th Bar is Elephant & Castle, a semi-authentic English Pub. I say semi-authentic because of the Strongbow on tap and Boddingtons cans. After we all finished our one beer, we were off to the bar we were all looking forward to- Bayou. Bayou is a Louisiana style restaurant and bar. Their special was on sliders (Oyster, Shrimp, Beef & Turkey) for $2. We all ordered them and were blown away- I cannot wait to go back there for a real meal! Our last stop on the tour was 51^st State, just in time for the Yankee game… 51^st is always a good go to bar- never too crowded, good drink specials every night and really NICE staff! *Tip#2: We decided that one person would pay at each bar, that made it much easier to get drinks all at once!

Quick Trip to France

I have never been to France, but my friends guarantee that Bistro du Coin (pronounced “Bistro du qua”) is quite authentic compared to a real bistro in France. From the mussels, to the French bread all the way to the Peroni on tap! Every time I go to the bistro my waiter has been from France or somewhere close by and recommends the best dishes on the menu! I ALWAYS start with a clay pot of mussels, and then of course dipping the French bread into the left over mussel broth- YUM!  Another favorite appetizer is the warm goat cheese salad. (*A reoccurring theme will be goat cheese with me, it’s one of my favorite things ever made!)

As a main course, I have to recommend the Le Steak Maison. In non-fancy terms, grilled sirloin with french fries and HOMEMADE béarnaise sauce. Yes, béarnaise is one of the most fattening things ever, but also one of the most delicious! OH YEAH- it’s only $17.95. To top off your meal, they have really delicious ice-cream, chocolate being my favorite 🙂

Unfortunately, the bistro does not accept reservations after 6:30pm, but their bar is a great atmosphere to grab a glass of wine wait for your table. (*Twice the hostess has told me 50 minutes to an hour wait, and it only took about 20 minutes) They are also open until 1am on Thursday, Friday and Saturday- so it’s a great choice for late-night eaters!

Liquid Brunch

If you know me, you know I am completely obsessed with “Brunching.” It doesn’t matter if it’s Monday or Sunday, I always want to go to brunch. “Brunching” is now a frequent verb that I have gotten all my friends to use when they brunch with me. Of course, the BEST part of brunch is all the drinks that comes first. From the Spicy Bloody Mary to the classic Mimosa, all the way to HELLO, GOOD MORNING Screwdriver, they are all a necessity.  I have put together a short list of not only good brunch places, but great places to find drink specials.  *Heads-up! Most places unfortunately only offer drink specials on Sundays, because that is when “normal” people brunch 🙂

 Tonic @ Quigley’s Pharmacy

•  Unlimited Mimosasare offered Sunday’s for $12.00 or the Bacon Bloody (Bloody Mary served with 2 strips of Apple wood Bacon) is only $8.50. Although you may be surrounded by hung-over underage college co-eds, it is TOTALLY worth the try! I also have to suggest making your own omelet there, they are delicious- my choice: Egg White, Mushrooms, Swiss Cheese & Turkey Sausage.

Madhatter 

• The Madhatter is MadCheap! They definitely have one of the best and cheapest brunches in DC- Their unlimited Mimosas are under $10 and my favorite meal on the menu is under $10 as well! The Hangover Helper (Biscuits, scrambled eggs, home fries, shredded cheddar cheese with your choice of bacon, sausage, or ham- topped with a sausage gravy with a side of toast…9.95), with gravy on the side is my go to choice at the Madhatter.

Cedar

• If you are looking to spend a bit more or want to take someone special to an extraordinary brunch, I HAVE to suggest Cedar. On the outside of Chinatown, Cedar is hidden downstairs, with only one small sign outside. Their restaurant is very small, but packs a HUGE taste. (Definitely use Opentable on this one!) Everything I have ever had there has been delicious! They offer special “Champagne Cocktails” including:

• Poodle | Grapefruit Juice & Champagne | 10
• Snowflake | White Cranberry Juice & Champagne | 10
• Fruit Basket | 2 Fruit Purees & Champagne | 12
• Stratosphere | Creme de Violette & Champagne | 12
• Flirtini | Citrus Vodka, Pineapple & Champagne | 12 (MY FAVE!)
• St-Germain | Elder Flower Liqueur & Champagne |12

Do YOU OpenTable?

Before I dive into my favorite places and experiences in DC, I HAVE to tell you about a website that allows me to eat at these places whenever I want!

The BEST advice I could give you would be to use OpenTable ! I created an account about 6 or 7 years ago and they have probably paid me about $400 dollars over the years. If you are not familiar about their site, every time you make a reservation you get 100 points and with these points you can earn “Dinning Points.” Once you have 2,000 points, they will send you $20 or you can hold your points and wait until you can get $100! Just a heads-up, if you do not show up to your reservation they can “punish” you. If you do that four times within a twelve-month time frame they will kick you off their site and you can lose all of your points! On the flipside, if you use their site enough, they make you a “VIP” Member. This title is shown to restaurants when you make your reservation and they may offer you an even better table 🙂 This has happened to me before at a nice restaurant in Philly! Opentable is also great to use when you do not know where you want to eat- check what tables are available and GO, it’s super EASY!

*Hint: Some restaurants offer 1,000 Point Tables on off days and times- The best restaurants for this deal would be Blue Duck Tavern or The Palm DC!

Hello DC!

Hello DC- I want to first introduce myself and let you all know why I am blogging in the first place! My name is Ariel and I am student here in Washington, DC. I have been in the city for 3 years now and do NOT ever plan to leave.  I love to try to restaurants, find secret (tourist-free) places and explore the city whenever I have time. Because I am very opinionated and my friends always come to me asking for weekend advice, I decided it is time to start blogging! With much encouragement and tons of ideas, I knew this was for me!

Thank you all for reading what I have to say and please dont hesitate to tell me what you want to hear!

-A