Red light, green light

And boy, did I stay on green.

Fogo de Chao, you have my heart. Brazilian steakhouse, unlimited meat, amazing salad bar. *sigh* And yes, I am well aware you don't got to a Brazilian steakhouse for the salad bar, but this one was complete with hearts of palm, sundried tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, asparagus, marinated mushrooms, etc. This was not your typical salad bar. But never fear--I had a tiny plate from the salad bar. The rest of the meal?

Meat.

And more meat. You have a coaster in front of you with one side green, the other red. The green side means: 'Bring it on. I'll have more, please!' while the red side means: 'No, thanks. I am so stuffed to the brim I cannot possibly fit more meat!' There was to be had filet mignon, parmesan encrusted pork loin, house cut of sirloin, linguica, and my favorite, the lamb chops. Oh.my.god. The lamb chops. Peppery, perfectly seasoned and spiced, moist, amazing. I had my red meat ration for the week, but it was beyond worth it.

And dessert? Papaya cream topped with cassis. Smooth, light on the palate, refreshing. Does life get much better?

Pictures of a local favorite

Remember when I posted in January about Bourdain's DC episode? And remember that chicken from El Pollo Rico that I raved about? Well....

...behold the glory!
That, my friend, is pure flavor. Simple and delicious.
And again.I told you: 3 choices. Chicken (white or dark, quarter, half, or whole), french fries, coleslaw. I usually hate restaurant coleslaw but theirs is good. And the fries are crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. SO good.

And remember those dips? Bottom right: green jalepeno. Bottom left: creamy tangy sauce. Top: the two mixed together. Sigh. Life doesn't get much better than this.

Jaleo my soul

Jaleo: one of 7 of chef José Andres' restaurants/hotels around the Washington DC environs. My God. Can this man cook. Each restaurant has a different theme. Oyamel: Mexican. Jaleo: Authentic Spanish tapas. And so on. Andres is the host of PBS' Made in Spain series featuring authentic Spanish cooking at Andres house in DC and showing the origin of the food in Spain. If you find yourself in front of the t.v. on a Saturday at 12:30pm I would highly suggest checking out his show. Andres is quite the character and so passionate about food! He has also served as a judge on Top Chef and Anthony Bourdain visited Andres' restaurant Cafe Atlantico on the Washington DC episode of this season's No Reservations.

I took a picture of the sugar packet below since it lists not only the famous restaurateur, but all of his restaurants as well.
Now let us begin the show! My boyfriend and I went to Jaleo with another couple who is equally the food enthusiast. Being a night out, we began with a white wine I had never heard of-- Xarmant txakoli. This is the best white wine I have ever had. Crisp with honey, citrus, and herbs. You know the wine is good when I don't touch my water. This Crystal City location of Jaleo (there are 3 total) has a wine shop on the second floor. We all loved our wine so much we checked out the shop afterward. Of course the restaurant sells it for $34 at the table, but it was a steal for $17 in the wine shop! I'll be saving this momento for a nice night in with a good seafood dinner. (Don't worry-- I'll post whenever this occurs!)
Let's get to the tapas.
Cebolla asada con queso picón: Roasted sweet onions, pine nuts and picón cheese. These onions were so sweet and delicious. The crazy thing is that they were ice cold! We expected them to be served warm. Oddly enough, after you get past the first cold bite, you find that they're just perfect! Cold, sweet onion paired with tart, creamy cheese. It was so different and a much needed change to everyday fare. Tortilla de patatas: traditional spanish omelette with potatoes and onions. Simple. Clean. Delicious. Traditional chicken croquetas. I fell in love with these when I was in Barcelona. I got them every night I was there! Gambas al ajillo. Shrimp sautéed with garlic and quindilla peppers. We soaked up the sauce with our bread but I assure you picking up and licking the bowl would NOT be inappropriate here. Citrusy, garlicky, amazing. Filete de buey a la parrilla con pimientos del piquillo confitados: Grilled beef sirloin with ‘piquillo’ pepper confit. Just look at that beef. I didn't taste the sirloin but my friend said it had a fantastic flavor, albeit a small entrée portion. Salmón con espinacas a la Catalana: Seared salmon with sauteéd spinach, pine nuts, raisins & apples. I didn't try this one either but my friend seemed to love it. Now for the pièce de résistance. Paella de pescado y marisco: Paella with Norwegian lobster, monkfish, fresh tuna, squid, shrimp, clams and mussels. I don't know how Andres did it but the seafood actually tasted like sea water. I almost expected to see the ocean outside of the window. You only get seafood like that at a seaside restaurant where your food and feet are inches from the sand. And the saffron! I could see beautiful red strands throughout the whole dish, beautifully intertwined with the rice. I must admit that I don't cook with saffron due to the prohibitive price, so it was quite the treat to be eating a dish so heavily flavored with the delicate and fragrant spice. It was served with a rich garlic aioli that added a creamy flavor to the rich paella. Can you tell I'm drooling again? I hope you can live vicariously through these pictures. And the paella mere moments later! The menu said it serves 2-4 but my boyfriend and I had no problem polishing it off ourselves! What can I say? I can't leave good food untouched. Pastel Vasco con helado de leche merengada: Basque cake with semolina cream, cinnamon-vanilla sauce & ice milk. Yum! I have two angles for your viewing pleasure!

Bourdain checks out a local favorite

In this season of No Reservations Anthony Bourdain travels to Washington DC and visits José Andres restaurant Café Atlantico and a little-known place in my neck-of-the-woods in Arlington, VA: El Pollo Rico. I was anxiously awaiting a Washington DC episode to come since one of my friends was eating lunch with coworkers at El Pollo Rico and called me up to tell me that none other but Mr. Bourdain himself entered the place during her lunch! Okay, if I wasn't at work and didn't have a meeting within the next 10 minutes I would've driven there in an instant! It's about 3 minutes from my work and a tiny place in a nondescript parking lot. It's only of those hole in the wall type places that is actually a little piece of heaven.

Chicken, oh the chicken! I don't know how they get so much flavor into their rotisserie chicken. El Pollo Rico is cash-only and you'll go out of your way to pull out cash just to eat here. You order at the counter. Quarter chicken, half chicken, half white chicken. A guy then takes a whole chicken and hacks out your part with a butcher knife. There's no sugar-coating this. And frankly, you don't care! Fries that are so creamy inside and cole slaw complete the order. Those are the only two sides. You know a place is good when they offer only two sides, no other options, and you wouldn't want it any other way. It comes with two tiny dipping sauces: a green bitter jalepeno dip and a creamy tangy one. There's only one way to dip. Mix the green sauce with the creamy white one. Add more green depending on your affinity with heat. That's all there is to it.

I was so impressed that Bourdain got wind of this place. It truly is one of those places that only locals know about. It lends validity to the places Bourdain visits since I can testify to the local celebrity of this place.

Les Halles Washington DC restaurant closing...

Les Halles, Anthony Bourdain's brainchild, is sadly closing its Washington, DC doors. Les Halles, modeled around the typical Parisian brasserie and named after the French gastronomical shopping centers, has remaining locations in New York and Miami.
I first visited this gem a few months ago on a double date with a couple equally enamored by Anthony Bourdain and No Reservations. I was doubly excited by this French-inspired restaurant due to my days studying and living in Lyon, France. More about this below. Bourdain's Les Halles prided themselves on their french fries, and boy are they good. Every last one was crunchy and well-seasoned.

We began with a double portion of mussels served alongside crusty French bread. While the bread wasn't exactly like how it was in France, it still served its mussel-juice-sopping-up purpose!

I ordered a steak with béarnaise sauce-- one of my favorites! The steak was a perfect medium and the béarnaise couldn't complement it better. Creamy and herby from the tarragon. Delicious! My boyfriend had the steak au poivre and loved it, but he was admittedly enamoured with my béarnaise. (Not to mention he prefers MY steak au poivre!)

Dessert: Orange Crepes Suzette prepared tableside. A firey spectacle of butter, the juice of an orange, zest, and grand marnier! Quite pricey for a dessert crepe but well worth it in my opinion.

Now let's cross the pond to Les Halles' namesake. Les Halles de Lyon is an unassuming, old building from the outside-- the neon in the 'H' conspicuously missing so that the sign read, Les alles. I often passed by on my walks to Part Dieu, the train station closest to my apartment. I lived in Lyon for 6 months and sadly did not venture inside Les Halles until the end of my stay.
Rows and rows of charcuterie, cheeses, mussels, produce etc. All fresh and beautiful-- no surprise coming from Lyon, the gastronomical center of the world. Small food stalls and restaurants are intermingled, perfect if the food is too enticing and you need to sample and eat immediately. This is how it usually turns out for me!

If you find yourself in France, please do yourself a huge service and visit one of the many Les Halles locations that dot the country. As for Les Halles in DC, you will surely be missed...