Tag: food

Dangit old Engine 12- Spark Restaurant Review

Dammit. I really had hoped this would be better. Maybe they’ll change things up or find their audience or something, because I was mildly disappointed with the new Spark restaurant that took the place of the old Engine 12 Firehouse restaurant.

I had high, maybe too high, hopes for the new restaurant in the old space, when I saw bone marrow on the menu. The last time I had bone marrow was at Eat the Rich (RIP) paired with some jam. It was soooo good. I had those same expectations when coming to Spark.

Bone marrow at Spark 12

 

Okay, let me start off with what I liked. It was bone marrow. There was nice crusty bread. There was a little of a pickle side to cut the fat of the marrow. There was a nice funky tool which to use to scoop out the marrow. There was salt at the table so I could season bland tasting marrow. Yeah, that’s my one complaint, it was bland tasting. Maybe it was because the marrow was ‘smoked’ and not braised or whatever the heck Eat the Rich did. It lacked a richness, and just tasted like fat. I’m fine with paying $16 for a plate of bones and bread, if it is yummy bones and bread.

My main reason for getting a sitter and making Spark 12 our date night outing were the bones. Ignoring the bone marrow, everything else was meh, ‘alright’. The people at the next table were loud and even after they left, we still had to speak with a raised voice to hear each other. The service seemed a little slow, but since they’d only been open about a week, that was forgivable. The Old Fashioned I ordered was fair tastewise but packed one hell of a boozy punch. The Help ordered a chocolate atomic fireball non-alcoholic drink. It was like a chocolate manhattan with the cinnamon spice candy along the rim and at the bottom of the drink. I thought the chocolate tasted watery and the strong cinnamon was a little overwhelming. If I hadn’t had a big lunch I might have been hungry for more, and if I were, we would have left to check out Big Bear or ANXO.

The experience left us a little sad. We really want the space to succeed. The previous restaurant had mediocre food. This, although they just opened and there is a ton of room for improvement, is also mediocre. This would be a great restaurant if they could just get the food right and in this neighborhood we expect more out of a sit down restaurant. A friend pointed out that if they wanted Caribbean, (Spark has some island dishes) they would go to Jam Doung down the block. This neighborhood also hosts Red Hen, Bacio, and DCity Smokehouse, places known for their great tasting food.

Maybe the problem is that I just got a super mediocre meal. The Help, my date, seemed content with his beef patties, but he’s easy to please. I haven’t written Spark off, I’ll try them again and hope for better. But next time we’re bringing the kid and skipping the sitter.

That is one pretty salad

Fishscale Romaine SaladSo for lunch I ventured out and was hankering for a Halfsmoke dog but they were closed on Tuesday for lunch, so I walked back in the direction of Truxton Circle to fix myself lunch when I was drawn into Fishscale at 637 Florida Ave NW.

See that salad. That sure is one pretty salad. I did not order that salad. I ordered a fish burger with the sunflower slaw. It was good. Was it $15 worth of good (incl tax)? Unsure, but it was good. I liked it. I may come back to check out the salad to see if it tastes as good as it looks.

Monday Ramblings

I must say I love, love, love the Bloomingdale Farmer’s Market. I ran into my ex-roommate who, though lives 2 blocks from me now, I lost contact with. Reunions, yay! Also Painted Hand had bunny rabbit. Add a sticky-bun and a apple danish, good times.

Since I’m in the general area, congrats to the Big Bear for being in a commercial for a cable company and NBC Universal (YouTube). Yes, BBC you are a beautiful indy coffee shop and would make a lovely filming location.

This weekend a family began moving off the block, and I was told it was the schools that did it. We’ll miss this family as the mom threw some pretty great neighborhood parties. There was the one they held in the middle of the snowstorm, and one where the back gate was opened and the party got extended down the alley with small children running up and down. Add to this with another family with small and very socialable kids who are also planning on moving this year, our little section of the neighborhood is going to lose some of its character. The good kind of character and I hope whomever takes their place will add to the awesomeness of the block, or at least someone else fill the spot of “cruise director”.

Lastly, let’s talk sibling rivalry, that is Thai X-ing vs Beau Thai. I like Beau Thai’s Pad Thai better than Thai Xing’s Pad Thai. However, I like Thai X-ing’s Panang a tad bit better than Beau Thai’s, mainly because there are some odd veggies thown in (last time I had the Panang Tofu) the Thai X-ing version. Beau Thai’s Panang is good, the sauce is good and thick and hangs on to the rice. As a left over for lunch I liked it even more.

BACA/ NE Shaw- I wanna have a small canning party

Here’s the thing. I want to have a small canning party. Thing #1 my kitchen is crowded with 2 people in it and three people it just isn’t happening. Thing #2 I know some folks out there are curious about small scale canning, which is what I tend to do as I hardly ever use up a whole pint of anything to justify canning that much and I’d like to share what I know. Thing #3, I’d like to share my knowledge close to home.

Yeah, I could post what I know on-line but there is something about hands on learning.

So if anyone has a kitchen that would work well for show and tell and wants an intro to canning (I’m no Master, I just do my own canning and so far, so good) and has a few friends who want to learn as well,

UPDATE- A canning party has been organized. Thank you.

Do you give a fig?

Lunch today will be some goat cheese from the 14th & U St farmer’s market, some charcuterie boar meat stuff from the Cork Market on 14th, and some figs from the next block. I can’t believe I have never noticed this fig tree in all the years I lived here. I know about the plum tree at 3rd & Q, but the fruit is too high and the resident at the place there couldn’t tell me if the fruit was any good. But a few days back  I was running some finishing things related to Flower Power that was held back on June 26th. While running around I noticed this fig tree, with rip figs, and picked a few that were hanging over the sidewalk and they were delicious. I snuck back the next day picked a few and more from the sidewalk. Today I noticed signs of someone being home, knocked on the door and asked if I could pick their figs.
I was given permission and started throwing figs in my bag. About halfway in my picking another family member came out and asked how would you know when they were ripe for picking. It’s just like tomatoes, you give a gentle tug and if they come off, they are ready. I will wash them, as I also picked up some of the perfectly fine looking fruit that fell to the ground (I trashed the ones that looked like the birds or ants got to them).
The take away from this experience is to ask people with fruit trees if you can pick and the reward is some sweet lunch.

Small Scale Canning

“The food that we canned from last summer is gone and I’m busted.”

-Song Busted (sung by various but I’m listening to Ray Charles)

Last year I ran out of strawberry and cherry preserves. I tend to use them to flavor yogurt and top ice cream. So this year I’m trying to make sure I’m well stocked. When I do visit the farmer’s markets I’ll go for the cheaper seconds and the nice pints to turn the produce into a simple fruit sauce.

I do have the big canning operation with the large black pot and the rack and all the fun tools. However, when working with smaller batches I turn to the 4 ½ quart pot I cook rice in and ½ pint jars,which hold about 8 oz. It uses less water and is less of a hassle. This week I picked up even smaller jars at 5th St Hardware that hold only 4 ounces. Now I don’t know the official stance on using a smaller pot, but I have used the small pot for dealing with small batches 2 or 3 cans of tomatoes and other things. I’ve gotten some mixed results. Some things sealed nicely, some other things, no so much and I just put them in the fridge.

Cherries are coming into season and I will can a bunch and toss a bunch into a jar of vodka. Yes, my other form of preservation.

This page contains a single entry by Mari published on June 10, 2010 7:57 AM.