Girl Meets Food

Imagine that I’m Keanu Reeves, and you’re that other guy. We travel back in time to meet Ted Neal, this cool Navy pilot dude whose sons are Ted’s Bulletin partners Mark and Ty Neal.  Cool Navy Pilot Dude tells us that the world will no longer exist unless we write a most excellent blog post.  So he gives us this bodacious gourmet experience at Ted’s Bulletin that is so unrivaled, it inspires us to rock out on this blog.

First, Cool Navy Pilot Dude makes us a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup ($9.79) that is totally comforting and satisfying.  Like I’m a little dude again.

Drew’s gooey peanut butter bacon burger ($12.29, pictured, bottom left) comes with a choice of beef, chicken breast, or turkey patty, but in a total twist of irony, I select a vegetarian black bean and corn patty.

Sweet, crunchy, salty, savory, it is most resplendent!  Served on a sesame seed bun with sweet and spicy Roma tomato jam on the side.  The crisp, battered fries are also outstanding.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and it is served anytime at Ted’s Bulletin. We devoured The Walk of Shame breakfast burrito ($11.29), which has delectable sirloin steak, scrambled eggs, cheddar and shredded hash browns.  It is most delicious.

To accompany this gastronomical experience, we require a beverage of equal or greater bodaciousness.  A sweet, alcoholic Bailey’s Caramel Macchiato shake ($7.99, pictured, top right) is smooth, not non-non-thick as to tire our brains. That would be bogus, dude. continue reading… »

Molly O’Neill is an award-winning author and former food columnist for The New York Times Magazine. Her latest cookbook, One Big Table: A Portrait of American Cooking hits stores today…but I’ve got a copy for you to win for free!

With 600 recipes from the nation’s best home cooks, farmers, fishermen, pit-masters, and chefs, One Big Table: A Portrait of American Cooking offers a unique look at our national cuisine, with personal testimonies and historical perspectives.

This 880-page, lavishly illustrated, full-color cookbook valued at $50 features many D.C. recipes like Barbecue Matzo Balls, Macadamia-Crusted Swordfish, and Thousand-Layer Cake.

Both Publishers Weekly and Booklist gave One Big Table starred reviews, and a recent Washington Post feature (available here) calls it “a remarkable collection of recipes and life stories…utterly unlike the usual all-in-one cookbook.”

So how do you win a free copy of this compelling cookbook from two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee and James Beard Award winner Molly O’Neill?

Just be a Girl Meets Food subscriber, either by email or RSS, and you will be automatically entered. Just remember to email me your name if you subscribe by RSS so I can count your entry. Open to new subscribers in the U.S. only. One entry per person, please. Contest ends November 30, 2010. Void where prohibited.

Photo: District 2 Bar & Grille

You’re a man who eats, sleeps and breathes football.  Your beautiful, young girlfriend loves classy restaurants and doesn’t know the difference between a Hail Mary and a Bloody Mary.

Luckily for you District 2 Bar & Grille offers both, so you can win the Boyfriend of the Year award.

With an African mahogany bar and warm muted colors, District 2 Bar & Grille isn’t the typical run-of-the-mill, dark, loud sports bar with greasy patrons.  Quite the contrary.

It is the man cave in the home of your wealthy friend whose wife is an interior designer.

Take a seat in one of the high-back leather booths in the dining room, where natural light filters in through floor-to-ceiling windows and a unique frosted glass ceiling.

Your girlfriend can feast on cinnamon-raisin French toast ($9) or eggs Benedict ($10) as you enjoy NCAA college football and NFL games on eleven flat screen TVs.

If you’re a professor at nearby American University and your beautiful, young girlfriend is actually one of your students, then you’ll like that District 2 Bar & Grille has free wifi.  You can research that “chemistry paper” you’ve been working on while watching the game. continue reading… »