If you have heard of or been to this place before I applaud you. On second thought, there is no way you have ever heard of or been to this place so allow me to enlighten you. A friend of mine and I decided that this would be the venue for one of our weekly "power lunches". Thank god I had the day off because I left so satisfied and stuffed that the rest of my day was a scratch.
When Schoener told me there was a great Bolivian place near his office I thought to myself "great compared to what? the maybe one other Bolivian place in the area??". He assured me that it would be worth the trip and that it wouldn't k.o. my wallet either. I got to the restaurant before him and it was pretty much the Latino interpretation of that scene in animal house when the white frat guys walk into the black club and the music stops. Nobody in the joint spoke a lick of English which assured me that this was gonna be really good.
The menu here ranges from 6 bucks for sandwiches to around 50 for family-portioned dishes meant to be split between several. Schoener and I both decided on the house specialty Silpancho. Silpancho is a traditional Bolivian food that is carb fest and verrry delicious. There is a base layer of white rice topped with chooped and boiled potatoes. Then, covering the entire plate is a "meat pancake" esque layer of a schnitzel type meat. On top of the meat there is two fried eggs with a helping of diced tomatoes, onions, cilantro, onions, and parsley. Ok so this sounds like a lot...because its a shit ton of food. My one worry was that the dish would be dry because of all of the potatoes and rice, but this wasn't the case at all. The silpancho was delicious and there seemed to be different sections of flavor depending on what you got in your bite. The eggs mixed with the meat and fresh salsa was very refreshing and filling at the same time. I couldnt finish my portion as hard as I tried, but what I had was fantastic and I will definitely be back.
The atmosphere is travel channel worthy and would be a great place to watch a world cup match. The dish I had was fantastic and I am anxious to go back and try something else that I have not heard of so I can add that to my list of favorites as well. For a cheap, quick meal in Arlington I give Don Arturo a mid A.
Highlight: Authenticity and the Silpancho
Lowlight: Service is slow, but they don't pretend to be a high-end restaurant.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Perry's - 1811 Columbia Road NW
It's been a while since the last post on here. Im going to go ahead and blame that on me starting a new job rather than plain ol laziness. Ok so the weather is now nice enough to eat outside during any time of the day. This mindset led myself and a few friends to the Perry's top deck a few weekends back.
I had eaten at Perry's before, but it was when it was still cold as shit so we were sitting inside. There were a couple things that led me back here: 1) I wanted to try out this famous top deck and 2) I wanted to try the caipirinha's as well. Caipirinha is Brazil's national cocktail and I figured these would be even better than the one I had in Athens, Ga during college. The drink is made with fermented sugarcane so it makes for a great summer drink...couple that with sushi and you have a pretty chill meal.
One of the knocks I have on Perry's is that the dinner crew kinda hates on the people there for the bar scene so it was hard for us to make the transition from caipirinha to sushi which sucked. After we got seated everything was cool though. I started with the seafood ceviche which turned out to be a de-constructed plate as opposed to traditional ceviche. Everyone else went ahead and ordered their sushi which covered the whole spectrum from traditional cali rolls to interesting BLT roll (applewood smoked bacon | romaine | tomato | green tea mayo). 20 minutes later out comes out sushi orders on a Hummer Tire sized plate. This was perfect for sharing and thats what ended up happening (partially because the waiter didn't tell us what was what). The drinks kept flowing and we had a great table overlooking Adams Morgan. The sushi here is great because the list is extensive and the rolls are HUGE. I have not tried too many of the tapas here because I personally think tapas are a bit risky considering the size/price ratio. Case and point is the ceviche here which was good, but not great.
We were at Perry's for like 2 and a half hours just chillin and having a good time. Get there early to avoid long bar lines and the dinner haters. Seriously, try the caipirinhas because they are awesome. This is the perfect place to enjoy the weather and have drinks and dinner with a group of 5 or 6. I think my total for the night was around 60 bucks everything included which is not too bad. I give this experience a very high A and the food like an A-.
Highlight - Scene, eclectic croud
Lowlight - smug host seating dinner crowd.
I had eaten at Perry's before, but it was when it was still cold as shit so we were sitting inside. There were a couple things that led me back here: 1) I wanted to try out this famous top deck and 2) I wanted to try the caipirinha's as well. Caipirinha is Brazil's national cocktail and I figured these would be even better than the one I had in Athens, Ga during college. The drink is made with fermented sugarcane so it makes for a great summer drink...couple that with sushi and you have a pretty chill meal.
One of the knocks I have on Perry's is that the dinner crew kinda hates on the people there for the bar scene so it was hard for us to make the transition from caipirinha to sushi which sucked. After we got seated everything was cool though. I started with the seafood ceviche which turned out to be a de-constructed plate as opposed to traditional ceviche. Everyone else went ahead and ordered their sushi which covered the whole spectrum from traditional cali rolls to interesting BLT roll (applewood smoked bacon | romaine | tomato | green tea mayo). 20 minutes later out comes out sushi orders on a Hummer Tire sized plate. This was perfect for sharing and thats what ended up happening (partially because the waiter didn't tell us what was what). The drinks kept flowing and we had a great table overlooking Adams Morgan. The sushi here is great because the list is extensive and the rolls are HUGE. I have not tried too many of the tapas here because I personally think tapas are a bit risky considering the size/price ratio. Case and point is the ceviche here which was good, but not great.
We were at Perry's for like 2 and a half hours just chillin and having a good time. Get there early to avoid long bar lines and the dinner haters. Seriously, try the caipirinhas because they are awesome. This is the perfect place to enjoy the weather and have drinks and dinner with a group of 5 or 6. I think my total for the night was around 60 bucks everything included which is not too bad. I give this experience a very high A and the food like an A-.
Highlight - Scene, eclectic croud
Lowlight - smug host seating dinner crowd.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)