Second Sunday Supper Club

secondsundaysupperclub — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:23:48 +0000

The long-postponed Korean BBQ dinner is happening this Sunday! We’ll be meeting for dinner on Sunday, August 10th at 7:00pm. Please RSVP by midnight on Thursday, August 7th. If you would like to carpool or you’ll be driving and have room to take a few folks, please let me know and I will match people up. Hope you can join us!

Han Sung Oak
6341 Columbia Pike
Falls Church, Virginia
703-642-0808
No website

Han Sung Oak is probably the best and most authentic Korean restaurant in the area—and is our favorite place to go. You can tell they make the kimchi (spicy cabbage) and panchan (small plates of vegetables and other yummy goodness) fresh daily. Their menu also carries a variety of options like spicy or miso based soups, Korean styled pancakes, hot vegetable and rice dishes, dumplings/pot stickers, as well as meats to grill on the table. Entrées will range from $12 to $15 and Korean BBQ will run up to $25 per serving.

June update

secondsundaysupperclub — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 21:05:46 +0000

We’ve decided to postpone the trip to Han Sung Oak until August 10th to allow our many June vacationers to join us for Korean BBQ Details to be posted later.

June – Korean BBQ

secondsundaysupperclub — Wed, 28 May 2008 02:41:55 +0000

Kim and Owen get all the credit for this month - they suggested the theme and narrowed down the choices, and Kim provided the commentary below. I trust them on this one!

We’ll be getting together for Korean BBQ on Sunday, June 8th. Please leave your vote here by midnight on Monday, June 2nd. One last note: these are all accessible by Metro bus, and we’ll also attempt to coordinate rides with people who RSVP. Hope you can join us!

Il Mee Buffet
7031 Little River Turnpike
Annandale, Virginia
703-642-2100
www.ilmeebuffet.com

Il Mee buffet has a variety of options that will please the hard core Korean food lover and patron that likes a little Asian variety. Their buffet offers Japanese sushi and Chinese entrées, as well as Korean meats and seafood to grill at your table. Although this place is not the most authentic of Korean restaurants, it has a good variety to choose from and is quite reasonably priced at $19.95 for all you can eat dinner buffet.

Han Sung Oak
6341 Columbia Pike
Falls Church, Virginia
703-642-0808
No website

Hee Been
6231 Little River Turnpike
Alexandria, Virginia 22312
703-941-3737
www.heebeen.com

Hee Been also has a dinner buffet option that includes a variety of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean entrees as well as sushi. This restaurant is a little more upscale compared to Il Mee Buffet. Their menu also carries a variety of spicy or miso based soups, hot vegetable and rice dishes, as well as meats to grill on the table. Dinner buffet is priced at $27.95. Entrées range from $12-15 and Korean BBQ will run up to $25 per serving.

May winner: Proof

secondsundaysupperclub — Mon, 05 May 2008 16:13:31 +0000

We have a winner! We will be visiting Proof on Sunday, May 11th at 5:30. Late-afternoon wine + home in time to watch DVRed Simpsons and call your mom? Sounds good to me.

Please leave your RSVPs here by Wednesday, May 7th at midnight. Hope to see you there, and happy drinking!

May: Wine!

secondsundaysupperclub — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 04:03:28 +0000

As promised, this month’s theme is wine. Specifically, wine bars. We’ll be meeting for flights of wine with food as a pleasant afterthought on May 11th. Please note that this is Mother’s Day, so do the right thing and bring her along! Unless she lives across the country; in that case, a pre-dinner phone call will have to suffice.

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Please vote by Sunday the 4th. Since the 11th is coming up fast, we’ll be asking for RSVPs by Wednesday the 7th. Hope you can join us!

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Vinoteca

By Tom Sietsema
Wednesday, April 9, 2008

A diner could be forgiven for thinking that most of the new wine bars around Washington pop out of the same mold. Is there an establishment in the pack that doesn’t offer a platter of shaved meat, pour wines by the taste or spring from an idea launched by a couple of grape-happy friends who hope to win fans in an up-and-coming Zip code?

Guilty as charged: Vinoteca, introduced last fall by childhood pals Paul Carlson and Diego Cerezo and located just off U Street (at 1940 11th St. NW; 202-332-9463). The restaurateurs’ menu embraces charcuterie (think bresaola, speck and prosciutto), and their wine program encourages exploration with 2 1/2-ounce pours and about 60 labels.

Vinoteca gets the award for trying hardest to please, though, thanks to its sheer volume of enticements. Make a wish of the place; chances are, it’s yours. Happy hour? Vinoteca pours some 20 wines for $5 a glass Sunday and Tuesday through Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. Reservations? The restaurant takes them. Variety? There’s a 40-seat bar, bright in red tile, plus a photo-lined dining room and an upstairs lounge dressed up with art and antiques. If you need some visual stimulation, there’s a flat-screen TV and even live music on occasion. When pals and I dropped by on a recent Sunday, dinner was accompanied by a flamenco dancer.

The food is easy to like. Vinoteca’s sliders go beyond the usual beef (mini) burgers to include juicy lamb with feta cheese, tuna with chili mayonnaise and venison with brie. And a plate of tender sauteed shrimp with tongue-teasing grits disappeared before it made its way around our table. Helping to put out the flames is a “bubble bath” — Vinoteca’s way of showing off a trio of champagnes in a flight for $13.

Entrees $16-$24.

Proof
By Tom Sietsema
Oct. 14, 2007

Overnight sensation? That’s stretching it. But from the moment Proof opened in Penn Quarter this summer, the wine-themed restaurant introduced by Washington tax lawyer and self-described “food freak” Mark Kuller was swarming with drinkers and diners. Some patrons had been fans of Asia Nora, from which the owner plucked his chef, Haidar Karoum. Others were eager to see what wines Sebastian Zutant, one of the city’s most popular sommeliers, was pouring. Here’s what the masses discovered: sparkling ceviche, luscious flatbreads and panko-paved chicken — simple but clever food — washed back with the option of something special from the champagne trolley, cult wines including Screaming Eagle and 40 or so wines by the glass. The name of the newcomer — which features a warm interior of exposed brick, walnut floors and antique chests — refers both to its alcohol content and its neighbor, the National Portrait Gallery, whose vast photo collection is rotated on monitors above Proof’s bar. Albert Einstein and Chateau Petrus: What a match!

Cork

By Tom Sietsema
February 20, 2008

“Cooking is like writing,” says Ron Tanaka. Both benefit when you “have something to say.”

Judging from the throngs angling for one of about 80 seats at the new Cork Wine Bar in Logan Circle, the 40-something chef has plenty to say.

As in, french fries are better when they’re double-fried and tossed with gremolata.

As in, chicken livers become addictive when they’re marinated in garlic and rosemary; sauteed with onions; splashed with sherry; enriched with butter, lots of butter; and pureed with more rosemary before being slathered on bruschetta.

As in, try the trout. Cured with salt, sugar, fresh herbs, clove and lemon zest, the fish is treated to roasted hazelnuts and a bright tangerine vinaigrette.

Altogether, Tanaka counts about two dozen hot and cold appetizer-size plates on his menu, whose honest flavors and clean presentations suggest an impressive background. Among the starry establishments where Tanaka has served as a sous-chef over the years are CityZen, Palena and Michel Richard Citronelle. His latest gig has him toiling in a tiny kitchen with a six-burner stove, a grill and a fryer — but also an easy four or so blocks from home.

The crowds that show up six nights a week (Cork is closed Mondays) aren’t just eating well; they’re sipping well, too. The restaurant’s wine program, which focuses on France and Italy, is meant to “expose people to new things,” says Diane Gross, who co-owns the place with her husband, Khalid Pitts. A blackboard lists four categories of wine served by the flight: three two-ounce tastes of sparkling wines, chenin blancs, cabernet francs and grenaches. Gross says the biggest surprise is “how much wine we’re selling!” They’d expected to move plenty of Bordeaux and Burgundy, she says, but not as much of the offbeat or up-and-coming stuff — including wines from Priorat in Spain — as they have. “My personal mission is to get people to drink more sparklers,” Gross says, and to strip champagne and other bubblies of their “special occasion” status.

The lines outside the brick-and-wood main dining room make us wish Cork took reservations for other than early birds (5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays). For now at least, Gross is resisting; she wants neighbors to feel they can “drop by on a Tuesday” and not worry about having every table spoken for. As an alternative, she advises would-be patrons to call 30 minutes ahead of arrival so their names can be put on a waiting list.

Cork’s phone had better rest near a thick pad of paper.

Wines by the glass, $6-$14; plates to share, $4-$24.

April hiatus

secondsundaysupperclub — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 16:43:47 +0000

Due to lots of scheduling conflicts, SSSC is taking a break for the month of April. Check back for updates on our May 11th theme – Wine!

March Winner – CAFE 8

secondsundaysupperclub — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:24:21 +0000

Cafe 8 is the winner! Please leave a comment below if you will be able to join us for dinner on Sunday, March 9th at 7:15 pm. We’re going to call to see if we can make reservations, so let us know if you can come!

March – New Restaurants

secondsundaysupperclub — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:03:05 +0000

For March, we bring to you a chance to try some of the new restaurants that have popped up around DC in the past year. There were plenty to choose from, but we found these four to be promising options. Please leave your vote by Saturday, March 1st in the comments. Dinner will be on Sunday, March 9th. (The reviews are a tad bit long, but definitely give you a good feel for the options!)

Café 8 (Turkish)

424 Eighth Street, SE; Eastern Market Metro

http://www.cafe8dc.com/Menu.html

With his eye on Washington’s emerging baseball stadium and news that Matchbox, among other restaurants, is coming to Capitol Hill, Turan Tombul is betting that “Eighth Street will become the next Georgetown.” Certainly the restaurateur is doing his part to create buzz in the area, first by financing the Italian-themed Locanda and then by opening Cafe 8 in November. A nod to Tombul’s Turkish origins, the intimate Cafe 8 replaces Ellington’s on Eighth and adds doner kebab, cigar borek and pide to the international flavor of the neighborhood.If there’s a single dish that would draw me back right now, it’s that pide (pronounced PEA-day), or Turkish pizza. What distinguishes the pie from the crowd out there is its shape: Two sides of the dough are folded inward to create a crust that resembles a boat. There are several toppings to mull over; a combination of spinach, feta cheese and olives is among the crowd-pleasers. Created by Hamza Celik, a veteran of Cafe Divan in Georgetown, the food at Cafe 8 includes leaden cheese-stuffed phyllo rolls (cigar borek), overly smoky eggplant dip and very satisfying grilled lamb and veal, shaved over toasted pita and tangy with yogurt sauce: what the menu refers to as “Iskender kebab” and what the kitchen lights up with a wrinkled green pepper.

Inti Restaurant (Peruvian)

1825 18^th Street, NW, Dupont Circle Metro http://www.intirestaurant.com/menu.html

A Latin newcomer with promise. … But sipping a freshly frothed pisco sour and enjoying the free spiced puffs of Andean corn, you might be forgiven for feeling a little superior as you watch the passersby. … the seven-month-old dining room, which shimmers even at night thanks to its bright-yellow walls and a cheesily upbeat soundtrack of pop covers on pan flute, has found its own steady following.To find out why, start with one of the ceviches. The wide bowls—enough for three or four to share—come heaped with cilantro-and-citrus-zinged shrimp or cubes of flounder; these simpler ceviches are better than the mixed-seafood version, which adds rubbery octopus, squid, and scallops so tough you’ll find your fork working to avoid them. A tiradito of flounder—long strips of fish covered in a beige purée of chilies, lime juice, and garlic—isn’t the prettiest plate, but it delivers a good scalding to the tongue.Cilantro also perks up a chowder loaded with shrimp, potatoes, celery, and rice—a satisfying winter warmer. One of the best dishes is pollo a la brasa, a spice-crusted, charbroiled rotisserie chicken. You can get half of a meaty bird, plus sides of bacony canary beans and crisply fried yuca, for $8.95. Diners in the ’burbs, with dozens of Peruvian rotisserie shops scattered about, have been feasting on deals like this for years. Inti gives DC residents a chance to catch up.

Full review: http://www.washingtonian.com/restaurantreviews/1550.html

Locanda Restaurant (Italian/Greek/Mediterranean)

633 Pennsylvania Ave., SE, Eastern Market Metro

http://www.locandadc.com/objects/menu/Menu.pdf

Good grazing on the Hill. While the less-than-original space feels stark, it doesn’t lack for warmth when owner Aykan Demiroglu is around. Clad in jeans and a polo shirt, the former Le Paradou general manager stays on a constant loop around the dining room, chatting with a clientele largely made up of Hill residents.In the early evening, Locanda lures locals with 30 wines by the glass and a grazing-friendly menu of cheese, cured meats, and Mediterranean small plates. But miniature dishes such as a gritty fava-bean spread on crostini or a limp squash blossom stuffed with grainy mozzarella are outshone by larger appetizers like the zucchini carpaccio, a palette of green and yellow circles enlivened by a lemony dressing and soft nubs of ricotta.Locanda makes its own fettuccine, gnocchi, and ravioli (fillings change daily) by hand. But two of the best pastas are store-bought. Thick loops of calamari-shaped noodles, tossed in a tangy green sauce of parsley, capers, and anchovies, are complemented by sweet grilled shrimp, clams and mussels in their shells, and rings of firm squid. And there’s an everything-but-the-cheeseboard mac-and-cheese with tube-shaped maccheroncelli—baked in a shallow cast-iron pan for maximum crustiness—with Tallegio, Gorgonzola, and Parmesan.Cheese also finds its way into an unexpected but winning dessert: a fried turnover filled with pecorino and slathered with flowery Acacia honey. Nothing cookie-cutter about that.

Full review: http://www.washingtonian.com/restaurantreviews/1391.html

Station 9 (American; Southern/Soul)

1438 U St. NW, U Street Metro

http://www.station9dc.com/menu.html

The space is also quite handsome, and the menu endears itself to a variety of appetites. Pulled pork. “Mama’s” salmon cakes. Peanut chicken. Coconut flan. If the lineup has a slightly familiar ring to habitues of U Street, here’s the likely explanation: The chef responsible for infusing the nearby Creme Cafe with upscale twists on down-home charm — Terrell Danley, who refers to himself as “Chef T” — is the same guy who’s supervising the stove at Station 9, which takes its name from the post office it used to be. Bring an appetite. The appetizers served here could stand in for light entrees. That salmon cake, an ho-mage to Danley’s mother, is a thick, creamy-crisp patty veined with chopped parsley, celery and onions, while the “Mo’ Rockin’” beef rolls yield stubby cigars of pastry-wrapped meat seasoned with garlic and parsley and super-sized with fluffy minted bulgur wheat. Station 9′s barbecued pork ribs could pass for the monster order that tips Fred and Wilma’s car in “The Flintstones.” Rubbed with chili powder, dried thyme and cumin, the meat and bones crowd a plate on which every bit of space is taken up by smoky baked beans, which taste as if they were prepared over a campfire, and a fat pillar of pineapple-topped coleslaw. A whole ear of corn and a cake of potato salad escort the grilled-then-roasted half-chicken perked up with a vinegar-stoked, brick-colored barbecue sauce — a summer picnic in every bite. Only slightly less imposing is chicken in a sauce of crushed peanuts, broadened with a mound of steamed rice and broccoli rabe. One of several dishes that draws on the backgrounds of its principals, this one, a Cameroonian memory for co-owner Aymeric Saha, took Danley seven tries to perfect. (“Two-way lamb,” a nod to co-owner Samir Tazi’s Moroccan heritage, makes a lesser impression with its messy appearance and dry bed of couscous.)The food isn’t just generous. Some of it is quite elegant. Danley’s scallops, gently sauteed and dusted with lemon zest, are the equal of those at the Oceanaire Seafood Room or Kinkead’s. Broccoli rabe, enhanced with roasted peppers and tomato and a confetti of minced fried golden potatoes, helps send the plate to first class. Crisp of skin and snowy of flesh, head-on rockfish shows up as if it were caught and deep-fried mid-swim in the sea. Station 9′s hamburger, served on a sturdy bun with skinny fries that quickly go limp at the table, is decent, but I appreciate the thought that goes into its condiment, a bright mince of peppers and pineapple that gives the standard fresh punch.Full Review: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?node=cityguide/profile&id=1140751&categories=Restaurants

February Winner – Beacon Bar and Grill!

secondsundaysupperclub — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:08:14 +0000

The winner is Beacon Bar and Grill this month! Please RSVP under the comments by February 6th to let us know if you can come. We’re making a reservation.

February – Brunch

secondsundaysupperclub — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:50:45 +0000

For the month of February (a mighty good month… home to the birthdays of Rachel and Jackie), we are moving up “supper” to “brunch.” As this is a favorite meal of many supper clubbers, we are providing four choices this month. Please leave your vote below in the comments. We hope that you can join us on Sunday, February 10th. Please submit your vote by January 31st.

Btw, we didn’t include magazine/newspaper reviews for the restaurants because for the most part, they do not deal with brunch and/or are out of date! Instead, we’ve highlighted a couple key appeals about their brunches AND provided links to the brunch menus for you to drool over.

Beacon Bar and Grill (1615 Rhode Island Avenue, Scott Circle, Farragut North/Dupont Circle Metro) — http://www.capitalhotelswdc.com/BBGWDC_com/brunch.htm Sunday Brunch includes all sorts of favorites including eggs benedit, waffle stations, omelet stations, salads, and a variety of more lunchy options. This brunch comes with unlimited champagne, mimosas, and Bloody Marys.

Crème Café (1322 U Street, NW, U Street Metro) – http://www.cremedc.com/Brunch.php

Chicken & waffles? Eggs benedict on crab cakes? Shrimp & Grits? $15 for bottomless mimosas? This brunch hot spot on U Street has a little something for everyone.

Dupont Grille (Jurys Hotel, 1500 New Hampshire Ave NW, Dupont Metro)- http://www.dupontgrille.com/alternate.php?Id=3048 Brunch here stretches the gamut from vanilla pecan waffles to steak frites. For $19.95, get a brunch entree, fresh seasonal fruit, Dupont Grille sweetroll, coffee, and your choice of freshly squeezed orange juice, champagne, Mimosa, or Bloody Mary.

Poste (555 8^th Street, Gallery Place/Chinatown Metro) – http://www.postebrasserie.com/posmenu/brunch.pdf

Brunch is first-rate, as satisfying for the traditionalist in search of eggs and French toast as for the brunch hater in search of something new, such as duck pastrami on rye and lavender-flecked sugar doughnuts fried to order. (From Washingtonian Magazine)