Pete's New Haven Style Apizza - Ten-Frien

Ten-Frien!  That's Tenleytown-Friendship Heights for the uninitiated.  The newest Pete's outpost is in between the two red line stops, not quite part of the shopping fiasco that is FHeights, but also not the Big Box hubbub at the AU stop.  There appears to be a cute newish coffee shop and pet shop nearby, and an unfortunate Italian/pizza joint across the way. 

Pete's has become our latest "why not?" on nights we don't feel like cooking or we have guests who want some local flavor.  We can walk there, which is convenient, and although there isn't any outside seating yet--likely due to a permit delay--the walk to and from gets enough of that muggy, summer air for this gal.  The food is great, mixing up my own Boylan's soda is fun (because I'm 5), and the pies are huge.  HUGE.  We always have leftover, and it makes my workday lunch that much more interesting. 

New Haven-style apizza (a-BEATS, rhymes with a-TWEETS--not Pete's Apizza = Pizza Pizza) has a super thin crust.  Now, I'm no NH expert.  I only drive through/fly over Connecticut, for the most part.  But the apizza has a nice chewy/doughy end (or as my mom calls it, the bones), and the bottom is impossibly thin and crisp without being burned.  HOW DO THEY DO IT!?  It must be magic.  You can't even really fold this pizza if you try, because it's that crispy.  Nosh nosh.

Shall we look at some dishes?  I'm getting hungry just thinking about it, and luckily I just baked 2 lbs of banana bread. 

Fried goat cheese.  Can you go wrong?  (Answer: no.)

Mmmm fried eggplant (named Edge of the Woods)--we've gotten this pizza TWICE.  And the 2009 World Series Champions!!!

Arugula!  So fresh and tasty, like having a salad (with dough underneath).

Deeeelightful antipasti plate with housemade pickles (so crunchy and fresh and light), roasted corn and tomato salad (I loved this the most), fried risotto balls (dec.a.dent.). 

Solid salad. 

Halfsies--eggplant from earlier (this is a separate occasion, you see) and meatballs on the Boola Boola!

We really like Pete's.  These people are series about their apizza.  Just check out this ride:

Yes, I got permission (in writing...sort of) to use this image.  Because you know, it's shady to take pictures of people's license plates (I'm talking to you, Facebook friends who think those mobile uploads are an Olympic sport).


Pete's New Haven Style Apizza
4940 Wisconsin Ave NW
Metro: Red Line to AU/Tenleytown or Friendship Heights--it's really in between.  Maybe a little closer to FH if you take the Jenifer St exit.

Friendship (Heights) Friday

I'm having a personal dilemma about whether or not I should get the KitchenAid ice cream maker attachment from Amazon or Crate and Barrel.  Notice the $20 difference, then combine it with the fact that I have C&B gift cards, so it would be "free."  But wouldn't it be better to pay less for the item and use the C&B for something else?  Perhaps presents for upcoming weddings, and additional table linens that I neither need nor have the proper table for?

Enough of my boring problems, let's get down to the week:

Yet ANOTHER Whole Foods opened in the Bethesda--Georgetown Corridor.   We Love DC, Mango & Tomato, and Two DC all checked it out on preview night.  We went the next night to check it out and pick up dinner.

I feel strongly that all supermarkets should have mushroom displays that show them in their natural habitat.

 Burger area - mmm bison!!!

 We headed to the Shish area. As in, kebab.

Lamb kofta with tzatziki, veggie salad, and stuffed grape leaves.

Beef shwarma with tabbouleh (thumbs up!) and rice.

Pretzel roll.  I couldn't help it after thinking about this  and this for a while.  

MacarONs, silly WF.  MacaROONs are our coconut friends.

Towers of sweets!!!  Macarons of all flavors and colors!

 Caaaaandies!  Not sure who Sandra Boynton is, but I bet her quote is right above there...

The bear-filling station.  Adorable.

BTW, I meant to share this with you earlier: an article from the Kitchn (via T) about how the name Whole Paycheck may be a tad unfair sometimes, depending on what you are getting.  I had a nice time at the new Foods.  It was packed, and the place was huge and full of treats and fun that Clarendon (and teensy River Road) can only dream about.  The only thing I really wanted but didn't get was a popsicle.  I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities this summer to wander over for dessert (or a post-run frozen treat!). 

Also, I made these cookies from State Dinner tonight, and yummmm.  Thanks @ElyssaK!

So I only have one baking sheet that fits in our new (smaller) oven.  Instead of baking in two shifts, I put a few in a large muffin sheet.  They came out just fine, in their own special shape.

Enter the cream cheese filling....

Now that I've gone on and on, here are a few notable links from the week:  Selling babies for beer.  Toasted coconut chocolate chunk cookies from Eat, Run, Read.  I like these little caviar topped apps from Mango & Tomato (especially the semi-homemade nature of it--good for a hostess with little time).  How about those hoe cakes at Art & Soul (and how about Angela for passing the notoriously difficult California bar?!), from I Flip For Food. I want to go to Pies 'n' Thighs just because of the name, from The New York Times. 

Enjoy the weekend people, whether you're in town visiting the newly named Andean bear cubs or heading out of town for a little foodfest.

Sushiko

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EMILY!!!!!

::ahem:: back to your regularly schedule food-blogging.

On a recent blizzard-y evening, a few of us went out to try Sushiko.  It was quite nice!  Not as dive-y as our former neighborhood sushi places, but not totally out of reach (price-wise), either.

The menu is pretty huge, and one "problem" I encountered was that I wanted to try all the soups and salads.  Warm baby spinach salad with mushrooms and bamboo shoot?  Yes, please!

Here's what we enjoyed:

Edamame:  Keep in mind that when your server asks offhand, "would you like some edamame?" before you've cracked your menus (in a way that other restaurants mention bread) that it's not free.  Just FYI.  It won't break the bank though, $4.50.

Smoked mussel and eggplant miso:  T liked this dish a lot; at first she was hesitant because she tends to shy away from smoked fish/seafood, but our server told her it didn't have that saltiness that you find in lox or anything, it's basically like normal mussels with a little smokey flavor, in a good way.  She believed him, and it turns out he was pretty trustworthy.

Aged tofu with chili daikon and ginger broth:  Mm, yum.  I love me some cubed, lightly fried 'fu. And look at those teeny tiny mushrooms!  Freakin' adorable!!!!!

 

Pan-fried chicken shiso gyoza:  AKA potstickers!!!   These were tasty and light, you could pop 'em all night long.

Next dish was a special, something about tuna + Napoleon, and they were basically little tuna sandwiches on these thin crisps.  Bite size treats!  They came highly recommended by our server, and I'd definitely get them again.

Next up: ROLLS! California, spicy salmon, spicy tuna, and eel, avocado, & egg.  I liked them all, but could definitely order a few of the eel rolls just for myself.  That sauce is yum yum yum.

Now, we needed dessert the way the DC area needs more snow--seriously, we were full.  But J sees "fried" and his eyes light up like a pinball machine.  Enter the fried banana and coconut ice cream.  It was pretty good--I probably wouldn't do it again.  I'm not sure I can get behind the concept of fried fruit, despite the fabulous alliteration.

We'll definitely go back to Sushiko soon, either to dine in or takeout.  Friendly service and good food, even in a blizzard.

Sushiko
5455 Wisconsin Ave
Chevy Chase, MD
Metro: Red Line to Friendship Heights

Lia's

Lia's in Friendship Heights is part of the Chef Geoff family---they email me often, but not as often as the crazy PR people behind some other local restaurant groups.  I think they offer some quality food at pretty reasonable prices, and the big menu can please picky eaters or big groups.  Pasta?  Check.  Pizza? Check.  Sandwiches?  Check.  Steak?  Check.  And more.

Even though we couldn't get anywhere for Restaurant Week, we managed to make reservations for RW part 2:  The Bethesda-Chevy Chase edition.  Unfortunately, our Saturday night reservation at Grapeseed was canceled due to mini-snowpocalypse.  By the way, I love how now anything under a foot of snow doesn't qualify as a snowpocalypse anymore---what is WITH this weather!?  ANYWAY, in a pinch, we traipsed over to Lia's, where we hadn't been since moving day.  They offered their whole menu on RW, so options were aplenty.

We started with the beet salad and the rosemary beef skewers.  The beef was delicious, and the cold crunchy cucumber salad on the side was a great contrast.  I could have had 10 or so of those for dinner :)   The beet salad had mache (aka lamb's lettuce) and goat cheese, it was very good and ubercolorful.  I'd certainly have it again.

Next was dinner: I had the Italian pot roast (which J had the first time we went to Lia's) and he had the scallops.  The pot roast itself was pretty good--the meat was very soft, but I didn't feel like on its own it had so much flavor.  On the other hand, the sauce/gravy root vegetables that were around and beneath the pot roast were really to die for.  Talk about comfort food on a cold, snowy night!  I wanted to take all that and put it in a bowl, add some pieces of pulled brisket, and call it a chili.  MMMMM.

The scallops came on a butternut squash risotto, again so now.  J says his meal was good, but he wishes there were a few more---maybe that had to do with it being RW, but maybe he was just a little too hungry.

Last was dessert---we were sort of full, and although we disagree on little (food-wise), J doesn't like coffee.  At all.  Not the drink, not the flavor--so no ice cream, frappucino, chocolate covered beans (what's up Trader Joe's, I'm talking to you!!!).  

I had the espresso y zeppole---espresso semifreddo with mini Italian donuts (they were generously dusted in cinnamon and sugar, oh my).  The donuts were warm, the semifreddo was SO GOOD.  Semifreddo means half cold, so it was almost like espresso gelato, but not frozen, but also not liquidy or runny.  It had the amazing texture of a very cold mousse, and I loved it.  J had the gelato/sorbet assortment:  chocolate and espresso gelato (I picked at the espresso, but really liked my semifreddo much better), and lemon sorbet.  I'm a fan of homemade frozen treats, and these were no exception.

I'm definitely going to go back to Lia's for happy hour and brunch sometime soon--it's so convenient, and I know it's reliable.  I'll check back in when I do!!!

Lia's

4435 Willard Avenue

Chevy Chase, MD

Metro: Red Line to Chevy Chase

Indique Heights

While in Boston with my sister a while back, the two of us enjoyed lunch at an Indian buffet.  I think that's why I felt like we should have Indian cuisine together on her recent visit!  Also, eating with actual family is like eating with M & F or J & J - SHARE CITY!!!!

We had never been to Indique Heights, but we did go to Indique in Cleveland Park...err maybe 4 years ago?

Enough background, on to the food.  The Street Snacks are where it's at--you can even see pictures online, although really, it doesn't do the taste justice.  Let's do a rundown:

Papri chaat: AMAZING!  My favorite dish.  it was a yogurty, chutney-y, creamy delicious happiness in a bowl, with some chickpeas, crisps, and potato pieces thrown in for interest.  I made sure to scrape the sides of the dish before I let anyone take this away.

Vegetable samosa chaat: Mmmm, yummy.  And pretty!  Sort of half-deconstructed samosa, easy to share.

Syrian lamb fry:  Super tender boneless lamb cooked with cardamom, cloves, fennel, cinnamon, and ginger.  A really great flavor combo, and the texture was yum.  And visually, there's nothing quite like a pile of meat!

Chicken mini-dosas: This crepe filled with a finely chopped chicken mixture was delicious--the chicken wasn't at all evenly distributed, so if you try to cut this up and divide it among the group some people will get an empty piece of pancake.  The chicken filling was a little spicy, super flavorful, and I could probably have two or three of these for dinner any night of the week.  Table shot!

Saffron malai kabab:  Superduper tender chicken breast chunks marinated in yogurt, cream cheese, and saffron.  Really yummy, the chicken definitely melted in your mouth, and most importantly, it came to the table piping hot.  I thought the saffron flavor was pretty light, but that may be best--the most expensive spice in the world is pretty potent!

Dal makhani:  Mmm, lentils in the tomato/garlic/ginger happiness, apparently simmers in the oven overnight.  A perfect complement to the paratha and chicken.

We had the perfect amount of food for the three of us--not a bite was leftover, and we were too full for dessert, but we didn't need any wheelbarrows or helpers to get us home.

The service was--well, I guess one word is attentive.  But maybe too attentive.  Our server re-filled water glasses after almost every sip we took.  He came back to our table two or three times to see if we were ready to order while we clearly had our menus open and were discussing our options (and we didn't do this for a longer-than-normal time).

And then there was the staring--I'm not a fan of staring, generally.  Servers who were not otherwise engaged stood at the stand with the computers (where they print the checks, etc) and chatted while staring at patrons.  If you're going to stand around and talk, do it somewhere else.  Or at least look at EACH OTHER.  People do not like being watched while they are eating!  REALLY.  WE DO NOT.

I guess if we weren't sitting in view of that waitstaff stand then we wouldn't have had this problem.  We were straight into the restaurant from the hostess stand and then on the right.  The place is huge, but it was mostly empty on a Friday night.  So when you visit (and you should), ask to be seated somewhere else!

My only other complaint is that the restaurant can be hard to find.  You have to take the escalator upstairs at the little bus pavillion by the Friendship Heights Metro, and there's a small sign advising you of that. But then you go into a building that looks like a bunch of doctors' offices, and you think hmmm where did we turn wrong?  Walk straight past the reception area for the office part of the building and the door to the restaurant is on the left. 

P.S. - follow me on Twitter!


Indique Heights
2 Wisconsin Circle
Chevy Chase, MD 20815
Metro:  Red Line to Friendship Heights