Food Porn: Le Diplomate

Certain holidays are associated with gluttony. Who am I kidding? Most of them are! You wear your comfy pants (as my nephew calls them) and you just resign yourself to overindulgence. Easter Sunday is like that for most people. Many people give up something for Lent (often alcohol or sweets or something challenging) and once Easter Sunday arrives, it's all you can do to pry them away from the bar. A few years ago, I attended Easter brunch with a friend who had given up cheese for Lent. She picked an Italian restaurant for our brunch and there was a table with chunks of parmesan cheese upon entering the restaurant. Coincidence? I think not. In honor of Easter brunches past, I had to order cheese. And let me tell you, I could lap up that truffle honey shown here all day. Damn. I digress...

As for me...I didn't give up anything. I do not celebrate the religious nature of Easter, but I do celebrate gluttony. So that's what I did this Easter Sunday.

My friend and I had made reservations at a French restaurant in DC that had opened about a year ago. Le Diplomate had been popular from the very start and we were excited to finally get around to checking it out. My friend Lauren was working there that day and her first recommendation, rather she insisted on this notion...was to get the bread basket. As you can see, the basket contained a wide variety of breads including one that contained anise and as my friend kept saying, "It's like eating a gum drop. Oh god, it's like a gum drop." Yeah, we enjoyed every bit of bread in that basket. Bunnies got it going on.

And when it comes to gluttony and holiday meals, you have to go big or go home. Which is what this Gruyere and Fresh Herb omelette, along with some amazing potatoes, was all about. Because once I made it through half of this, it was time to go home. And take a nap.

If you haven't been to Le Diplomate, please go. And enjoy the bread and cheese for me. Heaven. It's the kind of organized religion I can get behind.

Food Porn: Montreal

Two weeks ago I traveled to Canada for my yearly international trip. The pact I made with myself a few years ago to take one international trip year has taken me to some amazing places, most recently Thailand. Food always plays a big role in my travels and I'm not afraid to admit that I look to what the food will be like (as well as the other sights and attractions of a country...but let's be real, food is a driving force).

This year, I opted to take a short trip to our neighbor to the north: Canada. My visit to the United States' hat was filled with food and I was provided a checklist of sorts for things I needed to eat while I was there. From smoked meat sandwiches to poutine to raw cheese...I hit them all.

Much like the city of Montreal itself, which is a bachelor party dream from the peep shows to sex shops to late bar hours, the food in the city is incredible sexy. It's French. It's rich. It's meaty. Food-gasms abound. Enjoy the recap.

While in Montreal, I had the pleasure of going to two foodie staple restaurants: The Liverpool House and Au Pied de Cochon. The former is a sister restaurant to Joe Beef, one of the most celebrated restaurants in the city. They're known for their meat dishes (including a foie gras double down...no joke). But I elected to go to their more fish heavy restaurant. This is where I probably ate my favorite dish of the trip. This scallop and pork belly dish (pictured on the right) was cooked to perfection and I loved the combination of flavors.

The visit to Au Pied de Cochon was a bit more on the rich side. While there, my dining companion and I indulged on meat products, namely something referred to as the "melting pot." Essentially, this was every type of sausage and pork cut you can imagine, placed in a bowl over mashed potatoes. Good God. The blood sausage put it over the top. Get a load of that bowl of sausage. Hot, isn't it?

I also had yet to have poutine during the trip, so here is where I tried my first Canadian poutine. And it was covered in foie gras. I had to be rolled out of this place. But a girl's gotta eat.  But we elected not to get the Pig's Head for two. You have to draw the line somewhere...

I'm not usually much of a rich food eater, but there are two areas that I do like to regularly indulge in: cheese and craft beer. I got to do both while in Montreal, enjoying a hibiscus beer (wonderful on a hot day) and visiting Atwater Market, home to what I'm told is the best fromagerie in Montreal.

I can't even begin to describe how amazing the cheese was, in particular the non-pasteurized variety. Raw cheese is wonderful, and I stocked up on the good stuff before spending a day at the botanical gardens. I also had a great black rind cheddar cheese that was salty and velvety. This particular cheese came at the recommendation of the foodie tour host, who I talked to at great length the previous day of where to go and what to eat in the city.

Something highly amusing happened while I was at the fromagerie. Amidst all these amazing cheeses, raw and non-raw, every type of specialty cheese you can imagine, the cheesemonger was faced with a very tough question by one of the counter visitors.

The question was not of the technical variety, like "how is cheese made?" or of the sympathetic to goats variety like "were the goats in a happy environment when their milk was taken for use in this cheese?" (though I would love to hear the answer to that one!)

No, the question was this: "Excuse me, do you have Kraft cheese?"

The below photo was taken at the botanical garden and pretty much sums up my reaction to this question.

 

'Merica.

Food Porn: Chez Billy

I have a coworker who talks about this place all the time. I finally had a chance to check it out for a friend's birthday celebration. So after a day out at Lincoln's Cottage, we headed over to nearby Petworth to check out this restaurant. I absolutely loved the interior of the restaurant, especially the big open bar space.

We started off with some oysters and frites, as well as some beers in the back patio before heading in to what would be a very rich, filling dinner. My French food experience is fairly limited. I tend to lean toward more spicy and complex (in a different way) dishes. This is not to say that French food isn't complex, but they do an amazing job of making something seem so simple, but I'm sure the process to get to that point was far from it.

I opted for a salmon special which sat on the most buttery potato puree I've had in a long time, accompanied with mushrooms and bacon. The birthday boy offered for the classic French duck dish. The sauces were truly divine so it lived up to what French food really is: an indulgence to be experienced fully and perhaps only once in a while. :)