The Monger's Fantastic Sweet Japanese Beef with Vegetables

This is a first for the Monger: I am actually writing about something that I cooked. For full disclosure, I am a pretty bad cook, and when I do cook, I usually am a recipe whore. Any deviation from a pre-set recipe will draw my ire and often when sweetmonger departs from a recipe, my reaction gets me kicked out of the kitchen. However, with this dish, I not only altered the recipe but also created a meal that I would not mind spending $35 on in a restaurant.

I like to cook things that are easy and there is nothing easier than broiling a steak. You simply turn a nob on the oven and it's ready to go. This steak dish is pretty amazing. The marinade is a mixture of salty and sweet that imparts wonderful flavor to a filet.

Here are the ingredients: 2 filets (the size depends on you level of hunger), 1/4 cup of soy sauce (reduced sodium if you like to eat healthy), 3 tablespoons of mirin (sweetened sake), 3 tablespoons of honey, 2 teaspoons of sesame oil and 1 clove of minced garlic. The original recipe called for regular sake instead of mirin, but I accidentally bought the wrong thing at Whole Foods.

Simply combine the ingredients (minus the filets) in a bowl, stir together and then marinate the beef for about 30 minutes. Then broil the steaks for about 10 minutes, turning once for medium rare. While the steaks are broiling, boil the remaining marinade for a minute to create a sauce.

Serve the steaks with your choice of vegetable and the sauce. I like to use steamed asparagus, because the sweetness of the sauce creates a nice contrast with asparagus' natural bitterness.

This may be the one and only recipe I ever mention on this blog, because most of the things I cook are utterly forgettable; however, this one is nothing less than excellent. Enjoy.

Et Voila

Seriously, who names their restaurant Et Voila? It is without doubt one of the worst restaurant names I have ever heard. How on Earth they expect to attract diners with a name like that is beyond me. It's like naming your child Destiny (no offense to Billy Ray) or Ja' Son (yes, that's actually a name I have encountered). Despite the name, sweetmonger and I decided to try this new Belgian bistro in the Palisades neighborhood, mainly because it is within walking distance of her house.

The menu is fairly classic bistro fare with a couple twists but nothing too special. The beer list is distinctly Belgian which is a major drawback because Belgian beer, for the most part, sucks. Sweetmonger and I decided to skip appetizers and just have an entree. She had seared scallops served with an endive and a Hoegaarden based sauce. It was a tasty dish. Neither she nor I had any complaints with it.

I decided to go with the daily special: pan seared soft-shell crabs served with mashed sweet potatoes and topped with a bordelaise sauce. The crabs were fine even though they were slightly on the bland side, but the combination of the mashed sweet potatoes and bordelaise sauce was surprisingly delicious.

Before our entrees, the kitchen sent out an amuse bouche. It was billed as a "cheese puff" filled with some melted french cheese. There was only one problem: they forgot the cheese. Seriously. It looked like a cheese puff. It had a hollowed out center where one would expect to find the cheese, but the cheese was simply not there.

Overall, the food at Et Voila is fairly good. There is not too much to complain about and it makes for a good, simple meal if you live in the area. However, I would not recommend the drive if you live more than a mile or two away.



Et Voila
http://www.etvoiladc.com/
5120 MacArthur Blvd.

Restaurant Eve

Dining at Restaurant Eve is like being taken to a European country dining room in the middle of Old Town Alexandria. This quaint restaurant located in an old warehouse building epitomizes all that is great about the farm-to-table movement: the produce is ridiculously fresh (much from Chef Cathal Armstrong’s own garden) and the meat is from sustainable sources and always top-notch. The combination of wonderful ingredients and the talent of a Food & Wine Best New Chef 2006 make Restaurant Eve one of the best eateries in the Washington, D.C., area.

There are two options at Eve: the more causal Bistro or the upscale, culinary showcase of the Tasting Room. I have dined only once in the Tasting Room, but have eaten in the Bistro half a dozen times in addition to another half dozen lunches at the bar ($13.50 for two courses). All told, every meal at Eve has been really good, and I have tasted more than a fair share of exceptional dishes there.

My most recent meal was of course shared with Sweetmonger and consisted of three courses. The first of which was a plate of housemade lobster and lemon ravioli served with garden peas and basil. It was a culinary delight that was nothing short of stupendous. The main course was roasted Muscovy duck breast served with potatoes, Swiss chard, sauteed onions and topped with an orange duck jus. The duck was immaculately prepared and the orange duck jus provided a hint of sweetness to contrast with the duck’s richness. For dessert, our waiter recommended a strawberry tiramisu since strawberries had just come in season. The cake was full of light, sweet deliciousness and the accompanying strawberry sorbet was excellent. It was another wonderful meal.

I also need to talk a little about the tasting room where diners can choose between Chef Armstrong’s five or nine course tasting menus. When Sweetmonger and I ate there for our anniversary, we went with the 5 course menu, and I still remember the meal vividly. It started with a wonderful Eastern Shore corn custard. This was followed by succulent, butter-poached Maine lobster. The entrée was a delectable, pan-roasted Polyface Farm beef ribeye that melted in my mouth. We finished with a blue cheese dish and a banana crème brulee. It was without a doubt one of the best meals I have ever had.  Restaurant Eve is a great restaurant.



Restaurant Eve
http://www.restauranteve.com/
110 South Pitt St.
Alexandria, VA 22314