Back at It: Fiola Mare, China Bistro, and Other Good Eats

Hi there, it's been some time. If you're reading this and you're not my mom or my husband, that's amazing! Otherwise, hi, husband and mom. Thanks for keeping me well fed since the last post.

I had the day off and went to Fiola Mare, a restaurant in Georgetown I've been meaning to Uber too for at least two years (Uber was about two dollars more than valet parking). I went more for the Fiola than the Mare (I was looking for some noodles with an al dente bite) and wasn't disappointed. I started with a cold watermelon-lime-rosemary concoction...

 

... as it seemed like a nice complement to the heirloom tomato and stone fruit salad with pickled onions and pesto.  And adorable little greens and edible flowers.

Anything would have been a complement to anything on such a fine afternoon - the sun was bright, the sky was clear, the Potomac looked more drinkable than it is, and my table's umbrella protected me from the sun until just the last few minutes of lunch.

I ordered the half order of cacio e pepe and let me tell you - indulging in this "small" portion made the walk up the hill back to M Street in Georgetown (truth be told, to go to a bakery) a bit of a slog.

 

I was proud, in an olfactory sense, to inhale the scent of my pasta and be reminded of Italy. The pasta water and cheese - a lot of both, I suspect - made the "sauce" thicker than I'm accustomed (noting I've probably had this dish three times) which was slightly off-putting when congealed on my plate. But the pasta was chewy and bite-ful and rich. The escarole was an unexpected touch. I would do without next time but it was a treat.

But this is all highly out of the ordinary - a deliberate trip to a high-end Washingtonian Top 100 restaurant! Fancy drinks in Georgetown, edible flowers, and criticism of escarole are not the norm. The Boca Sola family, after about a year of lots of delicious home-cooking, is foraying back out in earnest to Washingtonian restaurants. We've accidentally hit some top 100 restaurants simply because we have heard or know they are good, ones like:

 

Clarity. In Vienna and a robust #37 on the list. On the left is a jenga-like tower of smoked and compressed tomato. On the right is calamari that resembles pasta.

Sorry, just one more. Pattypan squash with lemon butter.

We also dined at Padaek, #50, which has an amazing and fresh Thai/Lao buffet.

But now... now we are making a deliberate effort to knock out as many Top 100 Cheap Eats as we can. Our efforts may shift if and when the 2019 cheap eats list comes out but we're committed to find as many delicious and reasonably-priced meals that happen to be situated in strip malls next to mattress shops or liquor stores or down the street from the delightful Kielbasa Factory (as is the case with the restaurant below).

Last weekend, we feasted at China Bistro. Husband had the bright idea to order from the first few pages so we could try as much as possible; I was considering noodles (midway through the five-ish page menu) too which would have destroyed my ability to tackle as many dumplings as possible.

We started with the corn soup. It was silky and slightly sweet; we ate the whole huge bowl.

 

  

Then we had the green onion pancake. All of it. It was like deliciously savory fair food, made even better when we dipped it in vinegar. 

  

Then we had Mama's Dumplings. The dough was delicate but still hearty enough to keep in a dense filling of chicken and green onion. They were hot, steamy, and wonderful.

We also had the pan-fried chicken and mushroom dumplings. They were chewy with a little around-the-edge crunch and a deliciously tender steamed underbelly where the dumpling didn't get turned over. They were earthy and hearty. It was a great place: the staff guided us through the menu, and we left delighted with a tummy full of dumplings.

 

We also had a great meal at Blue Ocean Izakaya, a long-time mainstay to the cheap eats list, itself between a Total Wine and Chuck E. Cheese. We started with some delicious sushi....

 

... and delighted in variations of egg. I had ramen with a velvety hard-boiled egg, chewy egg noodles, and thin slices of pork. Husband had Oyako Don, chicken, vegetable, and egg over rice.

It's so nice being back. So much has happened since the last blog post, but we'll have to catch up later. There's so many more restaurants to find and write about!