Restaurant Review: Bread Furst

I've been curious to try the bakery and cafe Bread Furst since it opened this spring, especially after hearing that it was being run by DC's "preeminent baker" whose goal is to try and fill some of the void we have in DC in terms of good bakeries. In particular, I've been looking for a place to buy really good bread.

My first impression was that it was as bustling shop that is intentionally trying to not be a coffee shop - they had a sign on the door asking that laptops and cell phones be put away, and is full of lots of fresh and unique offerings. So this isn't a place to come and get work done on your computer. I went on a Saturday morning, and it was very busy, but it didn't take that long to get through the line, and it made the environment more vibrant.

My second impression was that Bread Furst puts a lot of emphasis on being artisanal. In addition to their really impressive array of baked goods, they also have a wall of canned goods, cheeses, olive oil, and probably other things I didn't see.

I bought an incredibly random, but possibly representative, bundle of goods: a loaf of whole wheat bread, a jar of pickled root vegetables, a mini blueberry pie, and a couple of bagels. By far, the loaf of bread was the best: it had great texture that wasn't too dense or too fluffy, and just seemed expertly done. The pickled root vegetables were also pretty great.

I didn't get any of the hot food, but it seemed like a lot of the other customers were picking up one of these menu items as their Saturday-morning brunch (they had bagel sandwiches, an egg sandwich on an English muffin, and vegetable frittata), as well as coffee. 

One of my thoughts was that this would be a really great place to get a gift for a foodie - it would be really fun to try some of their other canned items and cheeses, and since those things were a little pricey, something someone might not buy for themselves. 

The thing I was most curious about when leaving was an intriguing item that was new to me. Conceptually. A tomato bacon jam, with maple syrup and chili powder, which sounds like it would be amazing on an egg sandwich or potatoes. The problem was that it was $22, for a 24-ounce jar... so I think this may go on my list of recipes to try and respectfully imitate.

All in all, I'd love to make this a regular place to buy bread. The only issue is that the location is a bit random, as it's in Van Ness, next to a car wash, so I'll probably just pick up a few loaves when I'm in the area. I really hope this business does well, though, since I think DC needs more artisanal (ugh, sorry for using that word) bakeries, so I encourage you to check it out!

"Foodie Getaway" Union Market in Northeast DC

Standing out for its shiny new facade and golden-lit aisles among warehouse buildings that probably haven't changed much in decades, it's easy to see why Union Market is called a "foodie getaway." They're probably referring to more than just the location, since it's also trying to carve out a niche type of food options, mainly artisanal grocery items and small-scale restaurants. After hearing about it for the past few months as a unique place to shop and eat, I checked it out last weekend.

Union Market just opened this past September near Florida Avenue and 5th Street NE in a building originally built in 1967 as an indoor food market and used for several decades as a wholesale food retail space. It has now been revitalized as a food market, event space, and series of restaurants, all contained in the wide aisles of the industrial space.

Walking up to the Market gives you a sense of its history, since it was actually not on Florida Avenue, but behind several rows of other warehouses.

Inside, my first impression was that it was a welcoming space with wide aisles consisting of different small vendors - either stands or counters selling grocery items, or small restaurant counters. I really liked the concept of different small restaurants in one place, but that is something I'll have to come back for next time; when I went, I was actually assuming that it was much more of a market, and was hoping to find some unique and hard-to-find cooking ingredients. There wasn't as much of that as I would have hoped, although I was able to find some spices for Thai cooking that I looking for.

All in all, there was a lot more there than I had time to try, and since it's only been open a few months, I will definitely try and go back sometime. When I was there, the woman I bought spices from said that they are planning to eventually open a beer garden on the second floor, which would be a cool addition. But to give you a better sense of what you'd find if you went, a partial list of businesses I saw:

• Diner restaurant counter
• Wine bar
• Home decor and specialty food items shop
• Spices shop
• Meat counter
• Korean taco counter
• Hot sauce kiosk
• Artisanal honey kiosk

There were a few things that I felt could be improved. For one, I felt like the market part could have been expanded and could have had more unique options. It's not necessarily that unique to sell artisanal cheese; there are a lot of places in DC where you can buy that. But I think if they had expanded options, it would make it more worth it to go there. It would also be interesting to get away a bit from the typical "foodie" options of fresh ingredients and lots of meats and cheeses, and have unique options in terms of ethnic foods or other food ingredients that are hard to find at typical grocery stores.

 

All in all, though, go if you get a chance! But if you go, maybe just don't buy into the developer's description (bordering on condescending to the neighborhood?) of the adventure that it is to go there because of the neighborhood it is in:

"Located in the middle of a patchy wholesale district where few shoppers have tread for a generation, getting there is part of the adventure... McLean thinks people are willing to pay extra for the story they can tell about exploring an industrial district of Washington in search of a foodie paradise" (Washington Post).

You don't really experience the industrial district, since Union Market is completely different than all of those types of businesses that are around it, other than the fact that the building its in used to be a part of that. Developers have to make up a story I suppose. But I'm looking forward to seeing what else comes to this space in the name of good food!

Restaurant review: Thai X-ing

I went to a Thai restaurant here in DC on Sunday night that I've been wanting to try for a long time, so I thought I'd break my long no-posting spell with a new type of post: a restaurant review!

Thai X-ing is a home-cooked-style Thai restaurant in the Shaw area of DC (http://www.thaix-ing.com/). The restaurant itself fits into some of the themes of this blog, mainly the idea of seeking out interesting and novel food experiences (seen in this prior post), since Thai X-ing is definitely one of those places not just to get something to eat but to have a food experience.

The restaurant is located in a row house that I believe the owners live in the top floor of. It definitely (and uniquely - I can't say I've been to a restaurant with the same feel) has the feel of being in someone's home. We sat in the first floor, where there were only three tables, all of which were unmatched and set right up against each other.

Magical entrance:

 

But really the main star is the food. I love Thai food, and went to Thailand for work in November, and this is probably the best Thai food I've had in DC. The downside is that you don't choose the dishes you eat (we went to the vegetarian night, which is Sunday, but I believe each night is a fixed menu). 

You will be very happily stuffed - for the vegetarian night, we ate spring rolls, green mango (I think) salad, and lemongrass soup for the first course, pumpkin curry (their specialty I believe) along with mushroom and tofu curries for the second course, Pad See Ew (again, I think) with some kind of green vegetable after that, and then sticky rice with mangoes for dessert. 

All of it was delicious. I was particularly impressed with the lemongrass and tofu soup, mushroom and tofu curries, and green mango salad. All of them had really complex and interesting flavors, and, not that I'm an expert, but everything tasted really authentic.

You might spend less if you were to out to another Thai restaurant and just ordered one entree (the meal is $30 or $40 per person, depending on group size), but the up side is that Thai X-ing is BYOB, so you are at least not spending a lot on wine or beer. And the other up side is that it's worth it.

In conclusion, go! It's a meal you won't soon forget.