Couldn't resist the double "been". Sorry, won't happen again. Well, not in this post, anyway.
So, in my ongoing quest to find and share delicious cheap eats in Alexandria, Arlington and DC, I've come across another gem--if you like your food nice and spicy, try out the enormous Korean Buffet at Hee Been restaurant off of Little River Turnpike. The restaurant is located in a rather dodgy strip mall, but don't let that stop you--that's actually a hallmark of tasty cheap food. I mean, who really wants to pay for the location? Certainly not the food fiend. I'm all about what's on the plate.
If you like barbecued beef, chicken, pork, etc, the mini grill in the middle of the tables gives you the real thing. You can cook it up yourself (picking your pile of fresh, marinated meats from the buffet) or you can ask the lovely ladies on the staff to do it for you. Being lazy, I took the pre-cooked teriyaki chicken (nicely smoky), the pulled barbecue pork (delicious, sweet and spicy and tangy and irresistible) and the tasty grilled spicy haddock over grilled sliced tomatoes (mmmm). Theses and many more await your perusing on the long buffet table that snakes through the room, beginning with kimchees and salads, moving through snacks, grilled tofu, raw meats to cook yourself, at least 4 huge tureens of homey soups, onto a variety of rice dishes, dumplings, yummy fried savory pancakes and other fried delights I've never seen before (one was like a deep fried sushi roll--tender and flavorful). You can fill your plate up over and over, just sampling a little of this and a little of that--and, excluding some disgusting raw clams, it's all tasty, fresh, spicy and moreish. Onto the previously cooked meats (make sure to take a huge serving of the barbecued pork) and then move to the sushi table.
Korean style sushi tasted better here than the tiny little Japanese bites they give. All the normal roll type sushi with cooked Korean style noodles, meats and veggies inside were simply amazingly yummy. Again, there is so much to choose from that my advice is to take a bit of this and a bit of that, discover what you really like and go back for more of that. You absolutely must wash this down with a beer, and a cold glass of Korean Cass beer, very light and refreshing, is a great pairing with all those spicy treats you'll be firing up your palate with.
For those like the food fiend who hate to drop a lot of money, go during the weekdays at lunch, when all this (excluding the beer) can be had for $14.95. Considering the great array and variety of delicious food to choose from, that's not a bad deal. Be warned: the prices go up substantially on the weekends, but it's still a great chance to sample (and stuff yourself silly with, should you desire) lots and lots of delectable Korean food. The service is fast and friendly, the ambience laid back, and the food is stupendous. 3 out of 4 chopsticks from the food fiend.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Sunday, August 19, 2007
margaritas, tacos, birthdays and more margaritas
I don't know about you, but as I get older (and older and older, arrghh), I like to spread my b'day celebrations out over the course of a week....a couple of lunches with friends, small get together with family, and a blowout dinner with Pat to top it all off. I have to exercise like a fiend for a couple weeks after to balance it all out, but it's more than worth it. So, some Mexican recommendations, since this seems to pop up during my birthday season on a regular basis: the San Antonio something (I think Grill) near the AMC Hoffman Center in Alexandria serves passable taco salads, lomo saltado, sizzling fajita plates and damned fine mega-margaritas (tell Juan it's your birthday and you may get a freebie if you're female and don't mind batting your eyelashes just a bit). Yeah, I know that behavior is shoddy, but I do it on occasion, usually when alcohol is involved. Mea culpa.
But the best thing they've got, which is truly delectable is Cuban food! Just ask for it if you don't see their special daily menu--they don't seem to mind requests. The ropa vieja, which is shredded beef cooked till it looks like rags or old cloth (the ropa) in a homey yet picante sauce of tomatoes, peppers, onions and spices is to die for. Have it over rice and you'll be happily stuffed and smiling all day long. Add a couple mega-margaritas and you might even feel like it's your birthday.
But the best thing they've got, which is truly delectable is Cuban food! Just ask for it if you don't see their special daily menu--they don't seem to mind requests. The ropa vieja, which is shredded beef cooked till it looks like rags or old cloth (the ropa) in a homey yet picante sauce of tomatoes, peppers, onions and spices is to die for. Have it over rice and you'll be happily stuffed and smiling all day long. Add a couple mega-margaritas and you might even feel like it's your birthday.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Popcorn Topping
So, we took an afternoon to play and saw the latest Bourne movie: The Bourne Ultimatum. Plenty of chase scenes, fights, torture, identity confusion....all the usual stuff. Sorry, but I'm giving the Bourne producers an ultimatum: show me something different or I'm giving up on the series. Surely they can tinker with Robert Ludlum's original material enough so that there is something better than the same old predictable crap--yeah, I said it fellas, crap. Strong words from the food fiend.
But you know, it's not so much the movie I take issue with as the popcorn. I'm probably dating myself, but back in the day we used to order hot, BUTTERED popcorn and generally got a deliciously greasy treat, drowned in either butter or margarine, to be enjoyed heavily salted and washed down with a sugary dose of Pepsi or Coke. Now they have popcorn TOPPING, with no pretense at being anything remotely connected to butter. The base for this, from what I've been reading, is generally coconut oil, cheaply produced and rich in artery clogging fats. Not that it tastes like coconut oil, or butter, or margarine, or anything else found in nature. The topping we experienced yesterday tasted highly industrial and should probably have been labeled "industrial by-product". For once in my life, I couldn't finish a medium sized bag of popcorn--a sad moment in this dedicated eater's junk food history. The stuff coating it was just too slippery and vile to keep eating. We both gave up, Pat (who can generally eat anything) and myself (who can pig out righteously, but in a more ladylike fashion), and sipped sadly at our jumbo sized diet Coke that tasted primarily of old soda water and icecubes. *sigh*
Maybe I'll just pop up some of my own at home next time, melt some real butter over it and sneak it into the theater. That's not a felony yet, is it?
But you know, it's not so much the movie I take issue with as the popcorn. I'm probably dating myself, but back in the day we used to order hot, BUTTERED popcorn and generally got a deliciously greasy treat, drowned in either butter or margarine, to be enjoyed heavily salted and washed down with a sugary dose of Pepsi or Coke. Now they have popcorn TOPPING, with no pretense at being anything remotely connected to butter. The base for this, from what I've been reading, is generally coconut oil, cheaply produced and rich in artery clogging fats. Not that it tastes like coconut oil, or butter, or margarine, or anything else found in nature. The topping we experienced yesterday tasted highly industrial and should probably have been labeled "industrial by-product". For once in my life, I couldn't finish a medium sized bag of popcorn--a sad moment in this dedicated eater's junk food history. The stuff coating it was just too slippery and vile to keep eating. We both gave up, Pat (who can generally eat anything) and myself (who can pig out righteously, but in a more ladylike fashion), and sipped sadly at our jumbo sized diet Coke that tasted primarily of old soda water and icecubes. *sigh*
Maybe I'll just pop up some of my own at home next time, melt some real butter over it and sneak it into the theater. That's not a felony yet, is it?
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Pennsylvania Potpie, Zucchini Bread and Love
Is there anything better than going back to your hometown and eating the comfort foods of your childhood? I've had the freshest sushi possible in Tokyo, Peking duck in one of Beijing's finest dives (where they serve you every part of the bird but the quack), shark steak right out of the ocean in Thailand's Koh Samui....but do they really compare to my mom's Pennsylvania Deutch chicken potpie?
Well, kinda, yeah, on a hot summer's day maybe, but in the dead of winter there's nothing like mom's homemade wide noodles smothered in thick tasty gravy and big chunks of tender chicken. Too bad it's still August and we're in the midst DC's summer swamp, mom made it for me anyway on her latest visit and I ate every steaming bite, sweating mightily and swallowing like a champ. She makes it for me everytime we get together and I worship her for it. Despite her crazy conservative politics and a passion for Nascar, mom's a sweetheart who understands the healing power of food cooked with love. Guaranteed, whatever she cooks for us makes us stronger and better, as if she's slipped us a potion for robust good health into that shimmering gravy. Despite a life of occasional wanton decadence, I almost never get sick...and mom knows why, making sure my sister's and I get the good stuff whenever we come by.
But I digress....in fact, I want to share the glory of my sister's incredible zucchini bread, made with zucchini grown in her backyard garden in central Pennsylvania, where the veg grows to be nearly as long as my arm. This will have to come in a later post, as her recipe has to be included. Should you want to feel the sublime power of chocolate chip encrusted, moist, rich, delicious zucchini bread as it melts on the tongue, well you'll just have to wait until she gives up the recipe in her next e-mail. I still have a thick slice of the latest loaf in my fridge, and I feel it calling me away from the computer....
Well, kinda, yeah, on a hot summer's day maybe, but in the dead of winter there's nothing like mom's homemade wide noodles smothered in thick tasty gravy and big chunks of tender chicken. Too bad it's still August and we're in the midst DC's summer swamp, mom made it for me anyway on her latest visit and I ate every steaming bite, sweating mightily and swallowing like a champ. She makes it for me everytime we get together and I worship her for it. Despite her crazy conservative politics and a passion for Nascar, mom's a sweetheart who understands the healing power of food cooked with love. Guaranteed, whatever she cooks for us makes us stronger and better, as if she's slipped us a potion for robust good health into that shimmering gravy. Despite a life of occasional wanton decadence, I almost never get sick...and mom knows why, making sure my sister's and I get the good stuff whenever we come by.
But I digress....in fact, I want to share the glory of my sister's incredible zucchini bread, made with zucchini grown in her backyard garden in central Pennsylvania, where the veg grows to be nearly as long as my arm. This will have to come in a later post, as her recipe has to be included. Should you want to feel the sublime power of chocolate chip encrusted, moist, rich, delicious zucchini bread as it melts on the tongue, well you'll just have to wait until she gives up the recipe in her next e-mail. I still have a thick slice of the latest loaf in my fridge, and I feel it calling me away from the computer....
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Indian buffet
Ah, the sweet taste of an Aroma Indian buffet....it completely negates the effects of a morning run, but who cares? That's what foodies exercise for, so we can eat more, of course. Fuck fitness, I like a full plate.
That's exactly what I get at my local fave, Aroma in Shirlington. I allow myself one, just one, extremely full plate of everything on display. In my husband's case, it's three full plates, packed with vegetable fritters, korma matteer, butter chicken masala (you have to love the name butter chicken alone, for the rich oiliness it conveys), lamb rogan josh, vegetable pilaf, tandoori chicken, cucumber raita, and various salads and veggies avec sauce (those I tend to take in smaller portions....no need to waste precious plate space on salad). If they have gulab jamun for dessert, we are transported into a blissful sugar induced daze. (Gulab jamun being sweetened condensed milk enriched balls, somewhat like doughnut holes but denser, floating in sweet, rosewater scented syrup--they are better than they sound, a sensual treat on the tongue.)
So we indulge in the full on lunch buffet, thinking ourselves quite diet conscious for not getting beer along with all that spicy, sauce laden meat (okay, there were a few vegetables swimming around there, too). We stick to iced tea and are sure to make up for any calorie deficit by getting extra portions of their thin, crisp, very fresh naan bread, convenient for soaking up any extra masala sauce. Patrick, my love and constant dining companion, has found that fingers coated in butter chicken masala are also quite tasty once the naan runs out.
Bellies gently stuffed, we generally waddle over to the wine shop, the Curious Grape, for a tasting of whatever yummy stuff they have out on any given day. There's nothing quite like chasing a spicy Indian lunch with a nice chilled shot of barely sweet Riesling on a hot summer's day. Consequently, we usually get seduced into buying a bottle or two of whatever we've just tasted and enjoyed, but that's the price you pay for the chance to taste a rich ruby Spanish tempranillo or a citrusy Chilean sauvignon blanc you normally wouldn't buy. Then again, who minds being seduced once in awhile? Sometimes it just feels right to give in to temptation.
Follow all this with one of the semi-arty movies at the nearby theater, as your food slowly settles in and digests, your newly purchased wine bottles at your feet awaiting an evening's sampling, and you find yourself in a very comfortable place. I squeeze Patrick's arm as the lights dim and I burp gently, scenting the air around me with cumin and settling down into my seat. This is my idea of a food adventure.
That's exactly what I get at my local fave, Aroma in Shirlington. I allow myself one, just one, extremely full plate of everything on display. In my husband's case, it's three full plates, packed with vegetable fritters, korma matteer, butter chicken masala (you have to love the name butter chicken alone, for the rich oiliness it conveys), lamb rogan josh, vegetable pilaf, tandoori chicken, cucumber raita, and various salads and veggies avec sauce (those I tend to take in smaller portions....no need to waste precious plate space on salad). If they have gulab jamun for dessert, we are transported into a blissful sugar induced daze. (Gulab jamun being sweetened condensed milk enriched balls, somewhat like doughnut holes but denser, floating in sweet, rosewater scented syrup--they are better than they sound, a sensual treat on the tongue.)
So we indulge in the full on lunch buffet, thinking ourselves quite diet conscious for not getting beer along with all that spicy, sauce laden meat (okay, there were a few vegetables swimming around there, too). We stick to iced tea and are sure to make up for any calorie deficit by getting extra portions of their thin, crisp, very fresh naan bread, convenient for soaking up any extra masala sauce. Patrick, my love and constant dining companion, has found that fingers coated in butter chicken masala are also quite tasty once the naan runs out.
Bellies gently stuffed, we generally waddle over to the wine shop, the Curious Grape, for a tasting of whatever yummy stuff they have out on any given day. There's nothing quite like chasing a spicy Indian lunch with a nice chilled shot of barely sweet Riesling on a hot summer's day. Consequently, we usually get seduced into buying a bottle or two of whatever we've just tasted and enjoyed, but that's the price you pay for the chance to taste a rich ruby Spanish tempranillo or a citrusy Chilean sauvignon blanc you normally wouldn't buy. Then again, who minds being seduced once in awhile? Sometimes it just feels right to give in to temptation.
Follow all this with one of the semi-arty movies at the nearby theater, as your food slowly settles in and digests, your newly purchased wine bottles at your feet awaiting an evening's sampling, and you find yourself in a very comfortable place. I squeeze Patrick's arm as the lights dim and I burp gently, scenting the air around me with cumin and settling down into my seat. This is my idea of a food adventure.
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