Cafe Green

Mr. Yogato has a new shiny, green next door neighbor! After many months of looking at a "coming soon" sign, we were thrilled when Cafe Green finally turned their (environmentally friendly) lights on.

You might be familiar with Cafe Green's older sister Java Green (see our thoughts here). Both serve organic, vegan cuisine but Java Green is the more casual, quick-service of the two. Cafe Green is set in a cute rowhouse on 17th Street between Dupont and Logan Circles. There is a bar area on the first floor and a dining room on the second floor.

A variety of couches and tables (including a large communal table) make for a comfy yet eclectic feel. Think Seattle coffee shop.

The Seattle vibe doesn't end with the furniture. The vegan menu and emphasis on socially-responsible cuisine transported us back to our West Coast days. But don't worry if you're not vegan (we aren't) or vegetarian (we aren't) or even very socially-responsible (sometimes we are). While I don't generally go out of my way to eat vegan or veggie, I like to eat interesting, tasty food. Luckily, at Cafe Green I found further evidence that vegan can be both interesting and yummy.

Our very sweet waitress recommended a variety of dishes that all sounded tasty. We decided to sample several by beginning with the Starter Platter: mandoo (korean veggie dumplings), drumsticks (soy and wheat drumsticks with agave mustard and homemade bbq sauce), and two "Che" panini bites (grilled ciabatta with soy "chicken" breast, vegan cheese, and veggies, one with a sweet and tangy sauce and one with a very spicy chili sauce). While all 3 dishes were packed with flavor, I like the spicy panini bite the best.

For my entree I had the Avocado Temptation (grilled tempeh with avocado, baby spinach, tomato, and soy cheese on toasted whole wheat bread served with a side salad and half an avocado). While I was a bit worried this sandwich would be bland, I was pleasantly surprised by how flavorful it was. Tempeh (a soybean cake) can be dry or very chewy, but Cafe Green knows how to cook it. You could've told me I was eating a classic club sandwich and I would have believed you. I didn't miss the meat at all.

B ordered the Massaman Curry (sauteed eggplant, lemongrass tempeh, bell peppers, and green beans in a creamy coconut base with spicy thai red chili and ginger served over brown rice). Holy thai chilis, Batman! This dish was spicy but somehow the spice level didn't overwhelm the coconutty-lemon grass flavor.

After a weekend in Madrid where we ate way too much ham and saw a bullfight (sorry bulls), it was nice to escape into the vegan oasis that is Cafe Green. While the menu might not appeal to everyone, I would encourage you to let Cafe Green shatter your preconceptions about vegan food. I think your tastebuds might be pleasantly surprised.

Second Thoughts from B

Timing is everything and in the case of Cafe Green, their timing couldn't have been better. After a great experience at Java Green, we'd been eagerly awaiting their debut. Fortunately, it coincided perfectly with our need for a protein cleansing.

As J said, we had just returned from Madrid, and as evidenced by our appearance at a bullfight, we fully embraced the mantra, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." And in Spain, this meant a lot of ham. After all, they did have as many Museo de Jamon (Ham Museum) restaurant/delis as we have Starbucks...

It all reminded me of a song I used to listen to as a kid by Dan Crow that told the story of eating too much ham. It went something like this:

I had ham. I had ham.
I had ham, again.

Now ham's okay maybe once a day.
Or how about once a week.
But to have that ham as much as I am
No hog's that good to eat!

Well, that just about summed up my feelings going into Cafe Green. No more ham and no more meat for a while. But eating vegan doesn't have to be about what is not on your plate. People often dwell on all of those ingredients that are missing, and fail to realize the huge number of options that talented chefs still have to work with. Some dishes taste like meat and some don't but at Cafe Green, everything tastes good. So next time you're looking for something wholesome and flavorful that won't make you fall into a food coma, stroll down to Cafe Green and give those nice people a chance. I bet it'll surprise you.

Mixtec

In our continuing quest for decent Mexican food in D.C., we found ourselves at Mixtec in Adams Morgan. It was Cinco de Mayo and we were headed to Madrid the next day, not to mention we still hadn't packed, so we just wanted to quickly partake in some margaritas and Mexican food.

We were hoping that Mixtec would be everything that Lauriol Plaza is not, and from the outside and inside it looked promising. It seemed like a nice hole-in-the-wall style, family Mexican restaurant.

We were seated quickly and this was a welcome surprise given the fact that it was 8:30 p.m. on Cinco de Mayo.

I saw a neon sign on the window for fish tacos so I ordered them Baja style. The flour tortilla and bright purple cabbage were a bit of a shock to me as I'm used to Baja style being served on corn tortillas with green cabbage. The fish was fried into a rectangular stick with rather severe edges, so I can't vouch for the freshness of it. Overall, it was flavorful and after a few margaritas, I almost forgot I was in DC. Almost.

B asked the waitress to order for him and she chose the tacos al pastor: classic marinated pork tacos served with a piece of pineapple on top.

Remember when I said I almost forgot we were in DC? Well DC-reality smacked me in the face when I realized how overpriced this place was. They charged $6 for chips that were straight out of a bag (and mostly stale) and a tiny cup of salsa. Don't expect Mixtec to be your neighborhood taqueria with dirt cheap eats. Go to Taqueria Distrito Federal for that (see our thoughts here).

Second Thoughts from B

To say that Mixtec "gets it" would not be off the mark. The problem is that they "get" the basics of economics rather than anything pertaining to fine dining.

We've used this space, time and again, to lament the lack of authentic Mexican food in DC. Usually this statement follows a trip to a place serving Tex-Mex or some Americanized equivalent as an excuse for Mexican food. Mixtec would be the exception. It is authentic Mexican food. In fact, I think I said to J that I felt we had been invited over to someone's grandma's house for dinner. Perfect home-style Mexican cooking. So what's the problem? Grandma wasn't a very good cook.

In my case, the pork was dry and lacked favor. Still, this didn't prevent it from costing $15 at a place that was more hole-in-the-wall than upscale. Seems a bit much when you're seated close enough to the door to check IDs and right underneath a fuse box that tripped 3-4 times over the 60 minutes we were there. Still, the place was packed. Maybe Cinco de Mayo helped but my guess is that it had more to do with simple economics.

When I was little I remember playing a kids video game with my dad where you had to sell bananas to monkeys. It was basically a jungle-style Lemonade Stand that taught the the concept of supply and demand. In this case, Mixtec would have all the bananas in this banana-less city. Unfortunately, that makes us the monkeys...

Cafe Atlantico - Latino Dim Sum

Check another one off the TwoDo List! When B asked me to pick a brunch spot for a Sunday morning, I jumped at the chance to check out Cafe Atlantico's Latino Dim Sum. You might ask what makes it dim sum and not tapas. Cafe Atlantico calls it their "spin on the Chinese traditional family-style brunch" and it is served only from 11:30am to 1:30pm on Sundays. Think of it as tapas that you eat during brunch. So I wouldn't go expecting classic dim sum dishes because there isn't a char sui bao in sight...

Cafe Atlantico is located on 8th Street near the Navy Memorial in a multi-level building. The steep stairs can be hell after drinking more than one of their amazing cocktails. Do NOT attempt the stairs without the handrail after partaking in the wine pairing at MiniBar (see our thoughts here). Though the stairs can be tricky, the unique set up provides amazing views of their open kitchen. Our table was perched one level above the kitchen and we had a great view of the masters at work.

Cafe Atlantico is known for their cocktails. The reputation is well-deserved and I recommend their mojitos. The cotton candy mojito is more fun than tasty, but it is worth a try once. For brunch, we just weren't in the mood for booze so B tried their Dominican Lemonade (cranberry, lemon-line, pineapple, orange, grapefruit). This sunset-colored beauty was as delicious as it was pretty. I was delighted with a refillable pot of their chai tea with vanilla syrup.

Though our very kind waiter offered us a chance to look over the menu, we were on a mission and went straight for the Chef's Selection Tasting Menu. For $35 you get 14 dishes ($25 for 12 vegetarian dishes). Given that the cost of a regular old french toast and mimosa brunch is inching toward $20 a person at many local restaurants, this is a real deal. Factoring in the inventiveness and creativity behind each of the 14 dishes, it makes you feel like you're stealing a seat at MiniBar for a fraction of the price.

I now present to you, Latino Dim Sum (cue the trumpets playing and angels singing):

Endive with queso fresco espuma, walnuts and mandarin oranges. My piece of endive was a little soggy so it watered down the cheese a bit, but I liked the crunch of the walnuts contrasted with the creamy cheese.

Mango-anchovy ravioli. This is a prime example of why you need a good waiter to deliver your dishes when dining like this. Our waiter was fantastic but he didn't bring out this dish and the guy who served it couldn't tell us what it was. My eyes grew wide when I realized that the "ravioli" wasn't pasta but rather a thinly-sliced piece of mango. So creative and so good, and one of B's favorites.

Tuna ceviche with coconut. Dainty in appearance but packed a flavor punch.

I would be an oyster fan if every oyster tasted like these babies. The mango-lime oil masked the oystery taste of the oyster and made for a silky smooth treat.

Taking mashed potatoes and turning them up to an 11, the chefs created a mousse of potato and vanilla, squirted it out of a whip cream dispenser and layered it over American caviar.

Jose Andres and his team of molecular gastronomers (think of them as food astronauts) are masters at contrasting temperatures. This hot and cold foie gras and corn soup was so interesting that it almost made me forget I don't like foie gras. I thought I tasted CornNuts on top and I was right. How can you not smile when you're eating a dish that pairs foie gras with CornNuts?

The conch fritters get an A+ for presentation (love the little to-go boxes) but a B for eatability because it squirted all over me and the table when I bit into it. Would have been good if the person who dropped it off mentioned the liquid center. Be careful, it was hot!

A smile just crept onto my face when I saw this picture. Pineapple unagi (eel) with avocado sauce, topped with crispy little quinoa nuggets. More please!

If you've watched Top Chef or any other cooking shows, you might have heard about the 63 degree egg. Someone figured out that an egg white begins to set at 63 degrees Celsius (63 degrees Fahrenheit would just give you a runny tepid egg). B can probably explain the science behind all of this but from my completely non-scientific point of view, this egg was dreamy. Cracking the yolk and letting it mix with the meaty/salty mushrooms is a little bowl of brunch heaven.

When our mostly mute non-waiter set this down he said simply "carne asada." I couldn't have described it better myself. This was carne asada. It was good carne asada, but not so interesting.

For some reason, toward the end of the meal the kitchen started sending out two of each dish. According to the waiter, you're only supposed to get one dish to share between two people but we didn't complain. Unfortunately, the double the pleasure began with a dish that featured beans and eggs. B doesn't like beans or eggs but he will eat anything that Jose Andres deems worthy of serving. He managed to eat (and enjoy!) his own little bowl o' beans with a fried egg on top.

Lucky for me, we also got two of the next dish: coconut rice, crispy rice, and ginger. The waiter kept saying that we didn't "have to finish it if we didn't want to," but I'm glad he didn't try to take it away from me. I might have bitten his hand. I love coconut rice and this version was the best I've ever had.

At this point I was really getting full but who am I to turn away a fat slab of pork belly with a passion fruit oil glaze? The passion fruit oil was bruleed on the top which made for a crackling finish. Sorry arteries.

The final piece of this gastronomically-dazzling puzzle was the pan dulce with cinnamon syrup. It tasted just like the cinnamon toast my sister and I used to make as kids but with fancier bread than the Weber's white bread we used to use. Luckily I have a separate dessert stomach that comes in handy in marathon meals like this.


Second Thoughts From B

As J mentioned, this was like Minibar-lite. A completely delightful circus of flavors, aromas, textures, temperatures, and colors. Food as art, in Jose Andres' signature style. All of that would be great but here's the thing... it was $35.

In their Latino Dim Sum, Cafe Atlantico has created the gateway drug for future foodies. Never has elite fine dining been so accessible. Chef Andres is playful and creative, yet his food never feels exclusive. It is familiar, yet so interestingly different at the same time.

I think it was captured particularly well in the recent 60 Minutes piece on Chef Andres that you can see here.

J and I love treating ourselves to chef's menus for special occasions. We have come to appreciate some of the finer nuances of the kitchen, so this is right up our alley. But we also know that not everyone cares. For many, a simple burger is all they need. However, for anyone slightly intrigued by this, for anyone who enjoys food as more than just nourishment, find your way into the good hands of Chef Andres because there's a whole new world out there for you.

Two DC is now on Twitter

Sorry for the gap in posts but we've been working on our latest project. As you may have noticed, Two DC is now on Twitter! We hope you'll follow us as we report on events that we're looking forward to, places we're returning to, new blog posts, and all the wonderful excitement of DC in 140 characters or less.