eatonville

eatonville
2121 14th street NW (between v street & w street), washington, DC 20009
tel: 202) 332-9672
hours: monday-sunday 11:30am-2:30pm, 5pm-11pm

what was consumed: gried green tomatoes (topped with a roasted corn salsa, red pepper aioli, goat cheese and arugula), hush puppies, crispy chicken breast (with garlic mashed potatoes, braised collard greens and mushroom gravy), shrimp creole (with long grain rice), bourbon bbq baby back ribs (served with black strap molasses baked beans, fresh cut cajun fries, and cole slaw), fish and grits (catfish with jalapeno-cheddar grits, collard greens and tomato butter), three cheese mac and cheese, sweet potato and andouille sausage hash, corn muffins

happy birthday to me! so, where to go and celebrate? hmm ... we tried a couple of different places, but what to do with a group of people and no reservations (totally thought we wouldn't need reservations. who's in town the day before thanksgiving? us and a whole boat-load of other people, that's who. argh.)? after wracking our brains for all of 5 minutes (there really isn't a dearth of restaurants in DC, you know), and making a few phone calls (yay smart phones! they smart~), we headed out ... to eatonville! i'm glad we did! our quick phone call resulted in a table being saved for us, and ready right as we walked into the restaurant.

i got a big kick out of their menu. of course, their menu items were well described; but, in addition to that, they listed a whole bunch of interesting quotes and the like. my favorite was probably zora neale hurston's quote: "sometimes, i feel discriminated againt, but it does not make me angry. it merely astonishes me. how can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? it's beyond me." awesome.

anyway, we ordered drinks (a john daly for me to start ... and it came in a mason jar with a handle - love it! a bit too sweet for me as i think they used sweet tea for the tea. no matter - i enjoyed the entire thing) and soon ordered the rest of our meal. we started with some fried green tomatoes and hush puppies - delicious! while i thought the fried green tomatoes were sort of over priced (you only get 2 - boo! i want more!), the sauces combined with all of the other fixin's was a joy to consume. delicious. and the hush puppy? holy moly. a fist-sized hush puppy that was filled with this delicious shrimp-y gravy that oozes and flavors the entire hush puppy even more than the norm. omg, i still think about it sometimes and it makes me hungry. haha ...

per my usual ways, i 'encouraged' everyone to get different things so that everything can be tasted - yum. i ended up getting the fried chicken (my first choice - yay!) and it was delicious! fried breast meat is often a bit dry, but at eatonville, it was quite delicious. and the side of smashed potatoes and collard greens? a lovely and tasty addition to this cajun? southern? meal. catfish, shrimp creole (sort of like a jumbalaya or stew ... didn't know it was called a creole), steak, ribs, salads ... there wasn't anything i tasted that was too bland, too salty, not good. and at the end of the meal, when we scraped the last bits off of each of our plates, we knew a good choice had been made on deciding not only where, but what to eat - success! hooray!

we got a bunch of sides as well. so delicious! there were so many different options and tasty treats, all delicious. the macaroni and cheese was nicely baked, the collard greens were just as good as the ones on my plate, four corn bread muffins (just a bit sweet and so lovely with a tad of salted butter - cornbread is my favorite! i love it so much), and so on and so forth. but probably my favorite was the sweet potato and andouille sausage hash. now, sweet potatoes are great in all forms. in a hash? of course, delicious. and coupled with delicious sausage that has a bit of hot spice? what's better? once again, i salivate while i write ...

i can't wait to go back! i would go back just for the hush puppies and sweet potato & andouille sausage hash. of course, for everything else as well. delicious!

online: http://www.eatonvillerestaurant.com/

acadiana

acadiana
901 new york avenue NW (between 10th street & 9th street) washington, DC 20001
tel: 202) 408-8848
hours: monday-thursday 11:30am-2:30pm, 5:30pm-10:30pm; friday 11:30am-2:30pm, 5:30pm-11pm; saturday 5:30pm-11pm; sunday 11am-2:30pm, 5:30pm-9:30pm

what was consumed: restaurant week! classic turtle soup (traditional garnishes, dry sherry splash), trio of deviled eggs (crabmeat ravigote, pickled shrimp, duroc ham), smoked chicken and andouille sausage gumbo, southern shrimp & grits (sauteed gulf shrimp, cheddar cheese grit cake, tasso ham), southern style thin crispy fried catfish (with sweet pepper tartare sauce, blue cheese cole slaw), seafood chopped salad (spiced shrimp, crawfish tail meat, marinated crab, cucumbers, grilled corn, shaved radish, fresh basil), chocolate raspberry cake (with raspberry caramel and vanilla ice cream), warm raisin bread pudding butterscotch (with vanilla ice cream, toasted almond creme brulee (with steen’s cane syrup)

in the spirit of restaurant week, friend made reservations for RW at acadiana (thanks, dave!). i had passed this place a number of times and was always intrigued (also, i wanted to go to their summer crawfish HH, which i never made it out to. maybe next year!). i finally got my chance, and i was happy to take up the offer - woohoo!

so, we walk in, our reservations are ready to go, and we are promptly seated ... boy, were we glad (there was a whole taxi debacle on our way over - ask about it and i will tell you the tall tale, but i won't get into details here. no one got hurt, so that's a plus?). we were quickly greeted by a bubbly, but not too saccharine, server who kept our water glasses filled, answered all of our questions, and was an overall great server - hooray! enough about that. once seated, our meal began with some buttery biscuits (i love buttery biscuits!). what made it better? the "jam" and butter. more butter on buttery biscuits makes it all the better. but the jam! i will have more of that, please. it looks like some strawberry or other sort of berry jam. but, when you dip into its reddish gooey-ness, spread it over your biscuit, and put it in your mouth, you realize it's more of a spicy jam. DELICIOUS. i'm not a big bread person, but i was tempted to risk filling my stomach more than i should with another biscuit just to have more of the jam. at this point, i was already sold (am i too easy to please? hahaha).

our meal continued with our appetizers. i was sorta torn between the crab soup and the turtle soup. our server even did mention that the creamy crab soup was her favorite (though she did also mention that the turtle soup was super popular and definitely worth the try if i hadn't ever had it). i succumbed to my intrigue and ordered the turtle soup ... and i'm glad i did! turtle (my first time) had the consistency and flavor of beef, but a bit more chewy. the soup had a sort of reminded me of dishes with okra in that it was sort of ... slimy? not in that gross way, but yeah, slimy. also, i have to admit, it was a little salty for me, but that did not prevent me from eating all of it, every last drop. delicious. the turtle soup also came with a splash of sherry. our server told me that i was to add it to my liking. what did i do? eat the turtle soup and down the sherry as a sort of 'after.' hahaha ... i also got to try dave's deviled eggs and gregg's gumbo - both delicious. i wish i had a bigger stomach to eat all of their selections as well, but silly me - i shouldn't be so selfish. haha ...

next, entrees! i had the shrimp and grits. when my dish arrived, i was sort of glad that i didn't get the crab soup earlier because the shrimp and grits were in a cream based sauce. my shrimp were nicely grilled/cooked and the grits - oh joy! they were cooked, then packed into a nice triangle, then fried. who doesn't like that? also, the grits were really really smooth, more like polenta (which i love as well). i can't really say if i knew whether the grits were actually polenta and not grits (usually grits are more ... gritty?). no matter, both are corn based and i love them both. the combination of the shrimp, grits, and the cajun cream sauce was ... delicious. and filling. and rich. yum ... oh yeah - dave's fried fish were light and crispy and gregg's salad was big, filled with seafood, and so fresh. please see aforementioned comment about larger stomachs and selfishness (haha).

dessert, dessert, dessert! i'll admit, i didn't finish my dessert, per usual (dave did for me - thanks!). i had the chocolate cake and it was chocolate-y and rich without the raspberry and even more rich with the raspberry. bread pudding? creme brule? rich. sweet. and oh so delicious. even for a non-dessert person like me.

i can't wait to go back to acadiana ... yuuuuuuuuuuuum~

online: http://www.acadianarestaurant.com/

the boiling crab

the boiling crab
13892 brookhurst street, garden grove, CA 92843 (this is the location i visited; there are a number of different ones in so.cal ... and the new location in san jose is apparently now open. there are also locations in texas, but who knows if/when i'll ever be out there - ha!)
tel: 714) 636-4885
hours: monday-friday 3pm,-10pm, saturday-sunday 12pm-10pm

what was consumed: blue crab, shrimp, corn on the cob, red potatoes, all in the medium/hot "the whole shbang" (rajun cajun, garlic butter, and lemon pepper) ... oh, and sweet potato fries

who would've thought that there'd be a place in the middle of no-where-town, "asian-ville," orange county, california that offered cajun style seafood ... and have it be as popular as it is! nick first told me about this place when i was in SF and said that when i got back to so.cal, i should definitely look it up and check it out. i'm glad i did.

upon entering, the dining area is filled with long, wooden, picnic table-like seating in the center and wooden booths around the perimeter. i had heard that there is high possibility for a line to form, so i made sure that we avoided primo dining hours. since our party was small (3 of us) and it was a little late for lunch/early for dinner, they immediately sat us in a booth (our preference). the table was covered with white paper and no utensils. we would soon figure out why.

the server came around to take our drink orders, and when she returned soon with our drinks, she took our food order. they were out of the king crab legs (the seafood is available according to the season, so we expected there to be some absent items, to our disappointment of course), so we ordered shrimp, blue crab, red potatoes, corn on the cob, and sweet potato fries. the server then proceeded to ask what sauce we wanted. i had read about their special "the whole shbang" sauce and proceeded to order the whole shbang (once in medium and once in hot).

the fries came out first and while we were munching on the fries, the rest of our meal came out ... in large plastic bags. the idea is that while the seafood is all steamed (to order) in the kitchen, the sauces are then infused into the contents. after the server brings out the deliciousness, you then proceed to either take pieces out of the bag and eat with your hands or spill the entire bag's contents out onto your table and then proceede to eat with your hands. i recommend keeping the contents in the bag because it makes less of a mess and it allows the remaining contents to continue seeping with the delicious spices and butter. YUM.

after my frist visit there, i told christine to go when she goes back to so.cal. and even despite the google-y shrimp eyes, she tells me she totally enjoyed the experience!

and so, when you are ready to get your hands covered in sauce and eat steamed seafood with delicious cajun spices, let's go to the boiling crab!

online: http://www.theboilingcrab.com/