Category Archives: DC Restaurant

Locolat to Become Hans Pedr’ Kaffe – Oops she did it again!

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Hello everyone!

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Remember her???? We already blogged about this amazing lady, Jessica Knudsen, owner of Hawthorne Fine Pastries in Severna Park. And yes, she has done it again!Jessica recently acquired Locolat which will soon be named Hans Pedr’ Kaffe.

Before I say anything, check this link out: http://www.zagat.com/b/washington-dc/locolat-to-become-hans-pedr-kaffe. Zagat already has their eyes on her!

At the beginning of this month, Sherry, Marty and myself decided to take a trip down DC to support our friend. We are all already a big fan of her bakery, I knew in advance that it was worth the trip down, besides, she already told us that every Thursday, she offers half price Mussels, it was a Thursday :).

Her shop is located right at the corner of Florida Avenue NW.

This is what the front of her Kaffe looks like: 20131205_174836IT LOOKS AMAZINGLY FRENCH!

We went inside to give our favorite Chef a big hug, she was busy decorating a cake (which looked amazing by the way). When she was done, she gave us all a big hug and gave us a tour of the place. See for yourself:

20131205_16563620131205_16573220131205_17010920131205_17012020131205_17013120131205_17014320131205_17015920131205_170216Drooling yet?

I have to admit, my imagination started to run wild. I have recently become a huge fan of the TV show Breaking bad. For those who seen the show, you will understand my references here (for those who didn’t, Netflix it! best show ever). So here it is: you saw that chocolate machine thingy that runs all day? Well, I brought home that night chocolate truffles (every kind she had) for my husband, because he is a chocolate addict. That stuff was like crack for him and he couldn’t get enough. I promised him that I would make a trip down DC regularly to get him his fix . Then I started to wonder, if I bought a winnebago motorhome, and got that chocolate machine thingy in it, and convinced Jessica somehow to start “cooking” for me , and make little baggies of chocolate crack, I bet we’d make a fortune! I can guarantee you that there are a lot of “addicts” out there just like my husband. But then I thought, she probably won’t go for it, she already run 2 businesses as it is, working maybe 100 hours a week, so the conclusion is irrefutable: I need to clone this woman. (all of these wild thoughts happen in less that 2 minutes, amazing isn’t it??).

Back down to Planet Earth, we were starving. Jessica has been part of our Hungry Women adventures many times, so she knew exactly what Sherry and I would like, and voila! that’s what appeared on our table:

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Everything was amazing, the display the quality, the charcuterie, the cheeses, and the bread.

Marty got the 2lbs Mussels: 20131205_182936Equally as amazing! We were so full, but Jessica decided that we needed to try one of her savory waffle. Sorry, I don’t have a picture of that one because it was gone that quick. Just picture a waffle, with some kind of beef stew on top of it. Honestly, to me, it tasted like Boeuf Bourguignon on top of waffle. Who would have thought that such a combination would be blog worthy????????

Jessica told us that her busiest day is Sunday brunch. We have to go there for Brunch SOON and I cannot wait! (Victoria: I made you a promise and I will keep it, we shall go together 🙂 ).

On another note, I don’t know what you guys do when you are bored, but personally, when I am bored and having nothing productive to do, I like puzzles, mindless games, reading…nothing really fancy.

When Jessica is bored, this is what she does:

20131205_18103220131205_1810471471157_616232805080438_1428848396_n(the last picture is home made marshmallows, if you have never tried homemade marshmallows, please do! you will never ever buy the crap in a bag again).

So I say it again, I need to find a way to clone this woman.

Take a trip down DC, perfect for the Holiday Season!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Aida

Rose’s Luxury – Another unique place in DC

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Last week, the hungry women were shopping for Halloween decoration preparing for a big party. And of course, in between errands, what do we talk about in the car?? FOOD and WINE!

We started fantasizing about duck fat and what kind of trouble could we get into …One idea was to make fried chicken with duck fat! Can you imagine? HOME. MADE. FRIED. CHICKEN. FRIED. IN. DUCK. FAT. We absolutely have to try it (Dear Lord: I promise I will go to the gym every day if I we eat this).

Then we started to wonder where in MD could we buy duck fat as the new mission was set.

We all agreed: JESSICA WOULD KNOW! (the same Jessica that owns this fabulous bakery in Severna Park we blogged about previously). So we texted her asking if she had any idea where we could get duck fat locally, She proceeds to tell us that she would have a 5lbs duck fat container dropped at her Bakery by Tuesday.

Well I’d be damned, that woman knows people… it almost sounded like we were doing something illegal.

I tell ya, all over the world, not just in the US, it is not about what you know; it is about who you know. Knowing someone who can deliver a bucket of duck fat within days is Numero UNO on my list at the present time! Now I have someone in my rolodex that can indulge me with duck fat for life (I even told her that I wouldn’t know what I would do without her, her answer was “you’d eat regular fat”, nah I pass, you are stuck with me Missy).

Side note: Did you ever notice that, in the English language, most disease finish with “itis”? appendicitis, arthritis, conjunctivitis, meningitis, etc..

I had to come up with something that describes our disease, been thinking about it for days, came up with some ideas, no of them clicked…Then I mentioned my issue to Jessica. It took her only a couple of hours to come up with this:  CANARDVINITIS!  (Why didn’t I think of that???).

Since we are addicted to canard and vino, Canardvinitis is simply perfect. All the hungry women suffers from it. There is no cure (except for a bucket of duck fat that supposedly can last you for a while, I will let you know…).

So while we were talking to Jessica, she mentioned that she was going to open a bottle of 1994 Saint Emilion and because we have ZERO shame in our game, we simply invited ourselves (Are you kidding me?  Under no circumstances you can put the words Saint and Emilion in the same sentence and expect me not to show up). On top of it, it was Sherry’s anniversary that day and we almost gave no choice to her poor husband. He was going to hang out with the Hungry Women in DC, on his anniversary (told you, zero shame).

We got to Jessica’s place, got molested by the wonderful doggies, drank the liquid velvet and went to Dinner. Jessica told us we needed to try this new place called “Rose’s Luxury” on Capitol Hill (http://rosesluxury.com/).

It was 6 of us, no reservations and we were the luckiest people in this entire restaurant: we got to sit front row of heaven’s kitchen, as if you were in front of the stage of your favorite rock band concert. See for yourself:

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Our setup was actually comical, since we were spread apart in one row; we kept getting up from our chair to try other people dishes. Just picture women going back and forth with a spoon in their hand…We are definitely a funny bunch.

We had Vietnamese Pate, herbs and garlic bread (LOVED IT) ; pork sausage, habanero  and lychee salad (LOVED IT TOO!), porcorn soup with grilled lobster, spaghetti with strawberry and ricotta (that was different, I didn’t care of that too much but our friend Sarah loved it!) and the pickled brined fried chicken and trimmings.

2 highlights:

Number one: The popcorn soup with grilled lobster. To all the ladies that were with me that night: please add your comments at the end of this blog because I am speechless on this one. BEST SOUP I EVER HAD. It was almost like eating my crème brulee but in a popcorn soup version of it.

20131012_200842 IMAG0130Notice the group picture? What am I doing? Eating this divine concoction and paying zero attention to the camera…

Number two: the Fried Chicken: I have been on a quest lately to find a place that have an excellent fried chicken (yeah, I am French and I love fried chicken, sue me!). My quest has ended, best fried chicken I have had so far (I almost asked the chef if he ever tried it with duck fat but I didn’t want him to know about it before we tried it ourselves).

I must admit, we were a little disappointed with the desserts as it was the least favorite part of the meal. We tried 3 different ones and we did not care for any of them.  I really hope that Rose’s Luxury reads our blog. I know a fabulous pastry Chef that might be willing to consult (hint hint, wink wink).

Overall, we all agreed, we will most definitely be back!

Leave it up to Jessica to find these unique places. Keep it up Woman!

Stay hungry!

 

Aida.

Beucherts Saloon, 623 Pennsylvania Ave SE Washington DC

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Happy Sunday!

Sorry it took so long to blog about Friday night, but I must confess (appropriate for a Sunday morning 🙂 ), I had to recuperate a bit. We dined and wined so much this week that I felt the need to stay away from food for at least a day and work out a little. I didn’t want to be forced to change the blog name from “wherethehungrywomenat.com” to “fatbrokeandhappy.com”.

In any case, let’s turn the wheel and go back in time to this past Friday evening:

Our dear friend Jessica Knudsen (Executive Chef and owner of Hawthorne Fine Breakfast Pasty, http://hawthornefinebreakfastpastry.com/ trust me: we will blog about this!) mentioned Beucherts Saloon a little while after we started this blog and told us it was a MUST GO.  I would go _anywhere_ Jessica recommends, that girl knows her stuff when it comes to food (and wine!).

One thing I would like to point out is their website: http://beuchertssaloon.com/ which is a very fun website to navigate through. They have randoms rules that appears such as Rule # 266 Unattended children will be given espresso and a puppy (my personal favorite). Check it out for yourself when you get a chance.

We had a very nice ride down DC listening to the “Best of Al Jarreau” CD and arrived at Jessica’s place around 6:00pm. After being molested by her 2 wonderful giant dogs for about 15 minutes (lots of kisses), Jessica opened a bottle of 2004 Behrens & Hitchcock “14th of July”. I honestly can say that this was one of the best red wine I have had in a while: a nose of dark fruit and spice, beautiful color, big, think chewy, velvety blend of deliciousness, I didn’t even want to go in the restaurant and wanted to sip on that wine all evening!  See, I like my wine the same way I like my cheese, if it smells like dirty feet, you know you are in for a treat!

What a wonderful start of the evening that was.

We walk down to the restaurant from her house which was a nice little walk (I always enjoyed walking in the middle of DC). The picture I posted above is the entrance of the restaurant. Looks like nothing right??

I loved the way the bar looked:

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They also offer a cork fee for $25 which means that they will open your own wine and decant it for you! Our beautiful waitress Liz should have gotten a warning that the crazy and hungry women were coming over. She kept saying that she didn’t want to be in a picture because she was convinced that she was not photogenic, I think she is darling!

She hang in there the whole evening (trust me, hard to do with our crowd).

We took full advantage of the cork fee offering (I couldn’t get over the difference in color of both wines a Cristom Pinot Noir and Newton Puzzle, yum yum and yum):

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I was the designated driver for the evening, so decided to not have a cocktail to start, the other 4 ladies each chose a different concoction. The winner cocktail was the Beuchert’s 75: Gin, lemon, seasonal herbal syrup and prosecco. I am not a big fan of gin but I have to say this was quite refreshing and delish (what? being the designated driver didn’t mean that I couldn’t take a sip!)

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In the meantime, we ordered the  Charcuterie, Country Pate and Fromages board to start with. I am not going to write too much about that board as we took several pictures through the “process” of enjoying it:

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Absolutely Zero shame in our game, none. We mean business.

It didn’t take us long to make a decision the entrees: Sherry and Daun shared the Dry Aged Strip Steak, Jessica had the Fried Green Tomatoes, Sarah had the 5 spice chicken sausage, I had the grilled lamb loin chops. As far as the sides, Jessica suggested the GPOD French fries, the roasted mushrooms and the white corn grits.

Here is what the entire meal looked like:

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I never liked grits. I think they taste like _nothing_. I _never_ tasted grits that taste better than mashed potatoes! white corn and got cheddar. Nuff’ said. The roasted mushrooms were as delicious as the grits.

The fries. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah the Fries….Jessica warned me and I quote: “Their fries are stupid!” which is a big compliment in her own language. She was right, they were above stupid, despicable yuminess with a creamy mayonnaise with Taragon at the bottom of the dish (I had to ask for a separate container with that sauce), yeah, I am dipper.

I really have no idea what GPOD stands for, if i had to guess, it would say it is God’s Presents Of Deliciousness. We had 2 servings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All of our meals were delicious and so fresh. The highlight of all the entrees was this one:

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This was Sarah’s chicken, looks obscene right?? Well, all I am going to say is this: Sarah’s sausage was enough to satisfy 5 women and some!

Sarah had to excuse herself to go to the Ladies room. We all understood. 🙂

Anyway, down to the desserts (yes, you are all thinking that we are out of our mind after all this decadence, and that gluttony is a sin and bla bla bla).

Descent to hell it is, head first:

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Our least favorite one was the Popsicle (after Sarah’s sausage, I think it might have been a visual thing, we were scared for life after all…).

But we are ladies after all, and when ladies enjoy their meal (dessert is this case), this is what they do when they want to compliment the Chef:

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Speaking of Chef, Jessica and I went to talk to him while he was busy making everyone happy, and I wanted to take a picture of the creator of everything we had the pleasure to sample that night. We didn’t take too much of his time but did mention to him that he was definitely blog worthy!

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Since as usual, we were the loudest in the room, Chef Andrew Markert came over our table and introduced himself to all of us. What a delightful surprise that was!

And what a nice and talented young man. We had a very nice chat, he told us about his background (See the About Section on the Beucherts’ website) and that he actually does everything in the kitchen (including the desserts!). He also changes the menu twice a week.  I seem to remember that the only thing that they do not make in the kitchen is the bread.

The _only_ bad note is the Coffee. DON”T order it, unless you like Chicory because that is what it taste like. Other than that, all the stars for this restaurant and Chef Andrew Markert. We are all big fans and will definitely come back, worth the trip down to DC!

Stay hungry and enjoy your Sunday!

Aida.