Asian salad, bean sprouts, pickled vegetables, jalapeno, scallion oil, crispy shallots, chopped peanuts, fish sauce. $8.75
Asian Box, San Francisco CA
I love the flavors of their boxes, but they’re just not filling for me especially when it’s salad instead of rice. This time around, the lemongrass pork was a bit on the dry side. I’m glad that I got the fried shallots though – they tasted good.
$8
ChurchKey, Washington DC
These tater tots were SO fluffy and soft on the inside. They definitely weren’t your typical tots that come in frozen bags! They were really good!
With salted caramel sauce. $1.35
Duck Donuts, Herndon VA
I love that they make (or at least top) the doughnuts to order. I chose chocolate and bacon, and OMG, they put a lot of bacon on top! SO delicious!
House cut fries, bearnaise, demi-glace. $24
Barking Frog, Woodinville WA
Mmm, this was super good. The flat iron had a nice grilled crust on the outside but was still juicy on the inside. I could have done without the bearnaise since everything was already so heavy, but the sauce was good on its own.
Braised duck legs, San Marzano tomatoes, garlic, whole wheat radiatore pasta, smoked parmesan, pepperoni bread crumbs. Tasting menu $95
Volt, Frederick MD
I thought that this was a very successful dish. I loved the combination of the duck, whole wheat pasta, smoked cheese, and breadcrumbs. It was a hearty pasta dish, but the flavors were great and you can’t get it anywhere else!
Cheeseburger topped with crispy ShackMeister Ale-marinated shallots and Shack bbq sauce. Served with order of French fries. $9.39
Shake Shack, Tysons VA
Don’t get me wrong, this burger was very tasty but I just wish that the fried shallots weren’t SO greasy! I liked how they tasted but not how they felt in my mouth. Everything else was pretty spot on though! Mmm…
Three-chile sauce and napa slaw. Happy hour $9.25
Arnies Restaurant, Edmonds WA
The price has gone up $1 since my last visit, but I will say that this presentation looks cleaner than last time. And the shrimp also looked better, weren’t stuck together and over-sauced.
Stir-fried string beans in Szechuan sauce. $5.95
China King Restaurant, Herndon VA
I liked these, but they were certainly greasy! I think they had too much oil in the wok and the wok was too hot when they cooked these. I did like all the chiles in the sauce though.
Happy hour $7.95
Houlihan’s, Herndon VA
I loved that these wings were SO saucy, but they just weren’t very good. They were super dry and old tasting – liked they’d been frozen for a really long time. Ugh, that’s what I get for eating cheap happy hour food!
Collard greens, potatoes, sunny side egg. $12.99
The Fremont Diner, Sonoma CA
Of all the menu items we tried, this was probably my least favorite. Nothing really sang on this dish especially compared to the other plates. Even the brisket was just kinda “meh”.
Dipped in savory beer batter, lightly fried and tossed in house made sriracha-lime aioli. $10
World of Beer, Reston VA
Apparently this location has since closed! Geez, I must be bad luck, lol! Anyway, these were pretty good. I liked the sriracha-lime aioli, and the beer batter was nice and light.
Lengua, skirt steak, and spicy lamb served on corn tortilla, onions, cilantro, lime. Each $3
Senor Ramon Taqueria, Sterling VA
This place serves food at Crooked Run Brewing, and the tacos were pretty good. They were simple and the meats had enough flavor. I’m kinda biased from all the Mexican food in the Mission in San Francisco, but these were decent.
Vittle Monster 