Fridays are Fahbulous, and So Are Sesame Street Cupcakes

So the people have spoken (the people = YOU), and 16/26 (about 62%) of you say you'd go into Crumbs (one of the 9274 locations coming soon) and eat Georgetown Cupcakes to their faces.   Interesting!  Just don't start with anyone, readers.  Fighting is unladylike (and also, ungentlemanlike).  And now the week's (most important) news:

Speaking of cupcakes, heeeeey these cupcakes look like Sesame Street characters!  Via EBG.

A few weeks ago I read this article in the Times about growlers, and then on Saturday I saw one!  Thanks Shel for having friends hipster-ish enough (as opposed to old-school beerlovers, the other sect that seems to have 'em) to have a growler.  I love when I learn about something (I didn't know what a growler was prior to reading the article) and then encounter it shortly after--knowledge is power.

Announced this week on Twitter by Dairy G itself (herself?), Dairy Godmother will be featured on Tastiest Places to Chowdown: Presidential Edition, airing March 7 at 10pm.  Set your DVR accordingly.

In honor of the holiday, The Shiksa Blog brings us "Hamantaschen and the Story of Purim."  These treats are delicious and those of you who follow me on Twitter know how hard it can be to keep these little triangles CLOSED.  Via LB.

Yearning for summer Restaurant Week? Restaurants Unleashed Week, March 1-7.  The deal that caught my eye first was at Tabaq, yummm.

Also, watching curling is like drinking merlot, apparently.  NICE!  I guess watching aerials is like drinking 5 Hour Energy.

Have a great weekend!  It's supposed to be nice out, so go out for brunch--what's your first pick these days?

Remember that time...

That I was really sad because I had to take the bar exam, and it kept me from blogging?

Well.  I PASSED.

Now for the real reason I wanted to tell you that: I celebrated with a DEEEEELICIOUS pumpkin custard and gingerbread crust PIE from The Dairy Godmother.  Thank you J, E, & C for being fabulous celebratory company!

I follow DG on Twitter, and there is no better way to give yourself a hankering for dessert than to get the early AM tweet with the flavor of the day.  Check out my pie.  I just ate the last slice for dinner this past Saturday.  You heard me right.  Dinner.

Dairy Godmother

You know I love Dairy Godmother. I told you so here. I follow them on Twitter, stay up to date on the flavor forecast, and even check out the custard cam to avoid lines.

So our President is at it again. He visited Dairy Godmother . Sort of like his visit to Ray's (as in, it's one of my favorite places), except this time he left ol' Joe at home and brought the girls instead. See some photos as re-tweeted from @DairyGodmother here.

The thing about both of these places is that they are ALREADY popular. They are ALREADY hits. You ALREADY wait in huge snaking lines at peak times to get what it is that you need and crave to continue living one more day (read: giant juicy not-totally-dead burger + creamy custard in interesting flavors).

So you already know you should go, but for the first time I tried something NEW at DG, and I've been thinking about it ever since I had it. Yes, have the flavor of the day (or at least a bite of someone else's). And yes, have the turtle sundae or the brownie sundae (brownie sundae is for extreme chocolate lovers ONLY). And definitely, most definitely have vanilla custard on whatever cobbler they have going on.

But also, have the flavor of YESTERDAY or maybe TWO days ago on a sandwich. This sandwich is not on cookies. Instead, it is about 2-3 inches of custard in between two slices of CAKE, frozen.

I had lemon meringue pie custard (crust and all) between two slices of yellow cake, and let me tell you...wow. Wow. WOW.

Oh, and bring your dog. They <3 the DG puppy pops.Dairy Godmother
2310 Mount Vernon Avenue
Del Ray
No, you can't take the Metro there (but you can take the motorcade)

Evening Star Cafe - Brunch style

It's not a secret that we love Evening Star. With the darling restaurant's premier location (read: near Dairy Godmother), it's hard for us NOT to come back for more. Del Ray lacks the crazy crowdedness (and chain stores) of Old Town, and makes up for its tiny size with depth in the "charm" and "good eats" categories.

There's nothing crazy going on at brunch. They aren't reinventing the wheel. But what's done is done well, and consistently well. The Cinnamon-Apple French Toast is sweet (and gooey...and delicious...) but won't give you a toothache, and the Brisket and Eggs is the perfect solution for the person who sorta wants breakfast but also sorta wants lunch. My personal favorite is the Crabcake Eggs Benedict, partly because of all the colliding textures--smooth hollandaise sauce, soft poached eggs with silky yolks, crisp on the outside but delicate on the inside crabcake, and chewy English muffin to sop it all up. OK, I'm officially hungry.

The best part about Evening Star brunch? The slices of chocolate chip pumpkin bread that appeared on the table before our meal.

The worst? It's only on Sundays, people.

Evening Star Cafe
2000 Mount Vernon Ave
Alexandria, VA
Metro: Park it up, drivers!

Evening Star Cafe - an evening in Del Ray

Because we once were huge fans of Tallula for brunch and Buzz bakery, it was only natural to head over to Del Ray to try out Evening Star (they are all part of the same group). Of course, it also came highly recommended by a friend who has impeccable taste.

As per usual, I had scoped out the menu online and hoped that it had been updated recently. I was very happy to see that it had, and the Grilled Watermelon salad was my first course. The listed ingredients are tatosi, mizuna, herbed goat cheese, and pine-nut brittle. I believe the first two were the greens. The salad was fantastic, with balanced flavors, sweetness and saltiness. I wish I could have a brick of the pine nut brittle! It was also nice to have some watermelon this summer--back home the summer meant cousins running around and a giant watermelon getting sliced up. For two people, a giant watermelon doesn't exactly make sense.

For J's first course, he ordered a special scallop appetizer (I now forget the contents) but actually received the bay scallops over gazpacho. The mistake was realized by us, but because he's a fan of tomatoes and it was a beautiful summer evening, he ate it anyway. The scallops were tasty but after a few bites of gazpacho he was done. It wasn't bad or anything, but it was a lot of gazpacho!

Dinner brought me the seared scallops and mashed potatoes. The scallops were delicious, great texture, nice and lightly seasoned, all good. The mashed potatoes were okay, nothing special. My new thing is if it's not that good, I stop eating it (may seem obvious to you, but a few months ago I would have eaten all of those mediocre mashed spuds!), so I barely touched them. J had the peach and apple cider glazed pork chop, which he said was deliciously fabulous.

The real treat is dessert. From what I'd heard, Evening Star's desserts were a little inconsistent. Rather than risk it, we walked over to Dairy Godmother for some delicious frozen custard. The flavor of the day was banana pudding! If I hadn't liked the flavor of the day, I may have gotten The Turtle (caramel and hot fudge) with vanilla ice cream.

The inside was pretty cute, but we sat outside so I already forgot what it looked like. Outdoor seating was comfortable, but the table furthest from the door felt neglected--they brought their check and credit card to the hostess table in an effort to get out of there quicker. I sensed they'd been waiting long, which is tough with antsy kids. Our server(s?) were cool and chatty, which I like.

We'll be back there (to BOTH places) very soon.

Evening Star Cafe
Dairy Godmother
Metro: Nope, it's in Del Ray, Alexandria