Girl Meets Food

Flippin’ Pizza’s new D.C. location is scheduled to open for business this Friday, July 2, 2010.

Before the official opening, you’re invited to stop by for a free slice of cheese or pepperoni pizza, and a drink on Thursday, July 1 from 5 to 7 p.m.

Flippin’ Pizza is located just north of Dupont Circle.  Be there or be square!

Flippin’ Pizza
1745 Connecticut Avenue, NW,
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 386-9579

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Full disclosure: I got a free meal out of this.  However, that won’t stop me from telling you if I didn’t like something.  Nothing brings me more joy than kvetching.

–’–,–@

Perhaps you’ve passed by Mie N Yu, in a scarlet-red building on a busy street in Georgetown, unaware that its dark, muted entrance is a portal to a den of gastronomic iniquity—colorful, sensual, warm and glowing, abuzz with murmurs of activity.

Photo: Mie N Yu

At the management’s invitation to sample the Blind Tiger Menu, I stepped inside the misty glass exterior to be greeted with a scene from a nighttime Moroccan bazaar.

“Blind tigers” were illegal prohibition-era saloons.  The only clue to their illicit existence were small toy tigers placed on the tables to indicate back rooms where one could get a drink, with the cottony critters turning a blind eye.

Mie N Yu similarly fulfills your licentious desires, with a menu that is rich as it is enticing.

I lounged beneath silken drapes as a feast of flavors, colors and aromas was laid before me.

Start with the zesty blue crab salad.  Sweet, jumbo lump crabmeat and long, creamy soba noodles sit atop crisp, cool greens, dotted with pickled quail eggs and edamame. Tossed with a vinegary dressing.

Sunomono blue crab salad

Crisp, balloon-like lamb kabobs are piping-hot, clean, coarse and earthy, on a pillow of charred vegetables, with cool, roasted coriander yogurt sauce.

Fun-to-assemble, wisely-named Confucius duck is lacquered in a red glaze that is markedly sweet without the accompanying hoisin sauce.

However, don’t forget the fresh cucumbers and curly scallions as you fill the mini mandarin pancakes.

The sultan’s steak is grass-fed, grain-finished Red Angus beef, butter-tender under a seared veil of basil and pomegranate.  Soft yet forlorn-looking sheets of homemade egg pasta are served al dente, deflated under the weight of creamy, brown walnut-garlic sauce.

Char masala lamb kabobs, Beijing-style lacquered duck

The striped bass is strong like a shot of whiskey, and jolting like a slap from Al Capone, telling you to speak easy.

Acidic, spicy, pungent and fragrant with cinnamon, tamarind and ginger, this creamy fillet is pacified by a bowl of fluffy, cilantro-speckled basmati rice.

And since you can party like it’s not 1929, drink to your heart’s desire.  Choose from the Blind Tiger Wine List, which offers an international selection of wines by the bottle for under $28, or choose from Mie N Yu’s award-winning list of over 350 wines.

Prefer cocktails instead?  The Perfect Pear is perfectly paired with summer—Absolut Pear vodka, sparkling white wine, and fresh fruit juices.

Pakistani cinnamon & ginger striped bass, sultan's steak

Or make Eastern Promises that are strong, fragrant and tart—Plymouth gin, five-spice infused simple syrup, freshly muddled limes, and soda. Cocktails are priced from $9 to $17.

Finish the evening with hand-crafted gelati and sorbets from Dolcezza (who else?!) made with local ingredients including champagne mango, which is dense, rich, sweet and fruity.  So good.

Priced at $25 per person, the Blind Tiger Menu is extended through the end of July, and is only available by clicking here.  Choose “special offers” and make your reservation online. Tax, gratuity, and beverages are not included.  No substitutions allowed and menu is subject to change.

Mie N Yu
3125 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 333-6122

The Travel Channel will be filming today at 3 Bar & Grill in Clarendon for an episode of Food Paradise about bacon.

Oh, Baby Cheeses, I wish I could be there.

To celebrate their 15 minutes of fame, 3 Bar & Grill will be hosting a preview of their 2nd annual Week of Bacon which takes place in October.

Trust me, you don’t want to miss that.  Unless you’re a pig.

So, today, Tuesday, June 29, 2010, 3 Bar & Grill will be giving away their incredibly tasty, free pulled pork sandwiches during a pig roast on the patio starting at 5 p.m.

There will also be a three-course bacon-infused menu for $30!

I love this country.

3 Bar & Grill
2950 Clarendon Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22201
(703) 524-4440