Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Food Porn: A Week of Thai-tanic Proportions

Back in January, I had what I would coin a food week of Thai-tanic proportions. Though I must admit, only two of the meals were true Thai food, but I'm hard pressed to find a better way to describe the amount of Asian food I consumed in one week. The total came to 18 Asian dishes in 7 days. Not bad for a cold week in January. Prepare to be insanely jealous.

Toki Underground
On a Saturday, I braved the cold with three others to wait in line (my first of two cold line waits of the week...good food can do that) for Ramen at Toki Underground. Toki is one of those places that people will wait in line for an hour or more just to get on the waiting list to get a table. The space is intimate and the food is fantastic. While waiting, a Toki staff member brought out hot tea. Fortunately the cold scared many people away from waiting for extended periods of time (which would be the case again at my second dining location the following week). We were able to get in for an early seating and what came next was just amazing. We ordered some stiff drinks and their fried chicken steam buns to start. Served like a traditional pork steam bun, the flavors and the dipping sauces were just awesome. You just can't go wrong with a sweet chili sauce.

There are several types of Ramen you can get here, with a number of add-ins from pork belly for fried prawn heads to their Toki Endorphine Sauce. I opted for the Red Miso, which included pulled pork, kale, egg and pickled ginger. Others tried a similar Ramen that also included Kimchi. Bottom line: this place is worth the wait and you should go in the Winter and arrive in late afternoon. The line will be shorter and the warmth of the food will warm your heart and your soul.

Little Serow
On the Wednesday after Toki, I went to Little Serow to celebrate a friend's birthday. Previous trips there had involved an hour or more wait in line with the slim chance of getting a table. The cold scared away most people and so I probably could have arrived a little before they opened at 5:30 and snagged one of their tables for 4. This was my third visit to this little gem and while I can't share photos with you (I respect their request for no photos in their restaurant) I can say that each time is a different experience, with some overlapping dishes. Probably one of my favorites this time around in the 7-course meal was the Chiang Mai Catfish Laap with shallots and spices. The heat levels at Little Serow are no joke for most people, but I find it to be comfortably spicy.

BaJeng Thai Pop-Up Restaurant from Capital Taste
The last stop in my Asian Tour-de-Force was a Thai pop-up restaurant hosted by Capital Taste. I had met Chef Mackenzie Kitburi at a foodie networking happy hour last Fall and was happy to finally check out his food after weather got in the way of several previous Farm-to-Table style events. The event was held in the Mess Hall, a relatively new space for chefs interested in holding events such as this. The space featured an open kitchen so that you could see the team at work from a distance. You can watch a great video about the event and the chef here. (And yes, you'll spot me at about the 5-minute mark.)

The meal was inspired by the chef's grandmother and celebrated the diversity of Thai cuisine. Many of the dishes in the 9-course spread  nailed the complex flavors that make Thai food so unique and diverse. Not to mention the fact that each dish looked like a piece of art and were beautifully executed.

The dish (pictured first on the right) contained an assortment of mushrooms, Thai sausage as well as lychee. The crumble, which I believe was peanut-based, had a meaty taste to it as well and really brought this dish together.

My favorite dish of the night was the giant prawn with seafood dumpling. This was cooked to perfection and the dumpling was sublime. While the spice levels overall were relatively mild, this dish included some shredded chiles (that Doug ate like candy) which really gave the the dish a nice level of heat.

Capital Taste hosts a variety of unique dining experiences throughout the year. I encourage you to check one of them out and support a hometown chef who is making a name for himself in DC.


1 comment:

  1. One of the things I miss most living where I do is Asian food. We do have a great sushi place, but that's about it--no Thai, Indian, or Vietnamese at all, and two Chinese places that are just kind of OK. But of course you've got it covered and then some living in DC!

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