Food Channel or Travel Network?

No the title is not a mistake.  It was intentionally done.  A good friend of mine recently pointed out that the Travel Channel has seemingly become the Food Network with all of their food related programming.  Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, Man VS Food, Food Paradises, Food Wars, I think that's all the food related programming that they serve up [no pun intended]. That's a lot for what's supposed to be a channel about travel!  Granted, you need to travel to these places to eat, but still I think there's a little too much focus on the food.  I know that Keith Famie (best known for being a contestant on Survivor and lesser known for his short lived show Keith Famie's Adventures, which was shown on Food Network) says "you haven't really been there until you've eaten the food" but there is definitely more to a place than just eating!  So the question is really, what's with the Travel Channel encroaching into the Food Network's space?  Maybe the Food Network should start traveling to difference places and reviewing the non edible attractions!

Pho Capital Menu and Hours - Fairfax, VA

I've been checking the Google Analytics and I've seen more than one person has been searching for the Pho Capital's Menu and their hours.  According to Pho Capital, their hours are:  Mon-Sun: 10 AM – 9:30 PM.  It looks like Pho Capital has a website (I'm not going to link to it because I reviewed the site and give it 2 thumbs down for both usability and accessibility and doesn't even appear in Google's top 10 search results) and it looks like they're trying to leverage social media by using Facebook (too bad not everyone has Facebook) and the helpful and genuine folks at Yelp haven't uploaded any pictures of the menu so I'm going to help everyone out by posting some pictures of the menu that I took.  Please keep in mind my previous review when perusing the menu.

Shamshiry - The Best Kabobs That I've Had

Shamshiry
8607 Westwood Center Dr # 100A
Vienna, VA 22182-7506
(703) 448-8883
www.shamshiry.com/

Front page of the menu at Shamshiry

I first went to Shamshiry back in late 2005 with a former coworker. It was and still is the best kabob that I've had. The restaurant is Iranian, which are a little different from the Afghan style. I'd guess that Afghan style are more common, but I'm by no means a kabob expert.

We arrived at Shamshiry a little before 6pm on a Friday night. 

Bread (thicker than usual)

It wasn't super crowded because it was a little early for dinner, but there were still a decent amount of people in the restaurant.  A word to the wise: come early or you'll likely have to wait for a table.  After sitting down a pitcher of water, bread (the bread uses to be about as half as thin before, I'm not sure why it's so thick now), butter, and a spicy pepper relish are placed on your table.  I think they leave an entire pitcher of water on the table because the pepper relish can be a little bit spicy!

Pitcher of water on the table

Anita and I both knew what we wanted so when the waiter came I ordered for both of us.  I always get the Chicken Soltani because you get both a chicken kabob and a barg. Since kabob meat is usually on the thicker side it is often overcooked. Not here!  The large pieces of chicken are moist and tender. The barg is also perfectly seasoned and moist.

Spicy sauce for the bread and/or kabobs

The kabobs are served sans skewer (I think only homemade kabobs are served on those cheap wooden or bamboo skewers) on a huge bed of fluffy rice. The burnt part bit of rice at the bottom of the pan is called "tah digue." This is usually served on the platter when available, but I've rarely seen any on my plate. Just as well, because I personally do not like it, but I know a lot of people love this delicacy. You also have the option of getting a raw egg yolk served on top of the rice that you can mix in. I've tried this once and wasn't crazy about it. I prefer the light individual grains of rice.  Raw onions, a roasted tomato, and lemon wedges are served along with the rice and meat.

You get a lot of food here!  After filling up on a little bit of the bread neither Anita or I could finish out plates.  We packed our individual leftovers to go.  Combined, they completely filled a to go box.  It was literally enough meat and rice to make a new order of Chicken Soltani!  Our meal would have been perfect, except we had to wait for a while for our waiter to bring out check.

Chicken Soltani

The verdict? If you've never had kabobs you definitely need to check out Shamshiry. Even if you have other kabobs, come give Shamshiry a try. I'm pretty sure you're gonna like it!  Make sure to come hungry!

Pho Capital Fairfax, VA - NOVA Pho Challenge

Pho Capital
9412 Main St
Fairfax, VA 22031
Mon-Sun: 10 AM – 9:30 PM.

Picture of the outside of Pho Capital

I've heard of and seen other pho challenges in other states, most notably California (I guess there's a large Vietnamese population there), but nothing around here.  I've been trying to eat at practically every pho place in northern Virginia but there are a lot to choose from.  A brand new pho restaurant named Pho Capital opened up in the Picket Shopping Center (the former location of Popeyes,

Unusual seeing booths at a pho restaurant

I still don't know why they closed that location AND the location in Fair Oaks Mall, luckily there's a new location in the same shopping center as Fast Eddies in Fairfax). I first saw the coming soon sign a few weeks ago and then a couple weeks later the sign changed to say Grand Opening.  This was about as exciting as when I found out about Pho Deluxe (until I ate there and was disappointed).  Sadly, Pho Capital was also a disappointment.

Condiments with disposable chopsticks on table

The first thing we noticed when we walked into Pho Capital were the booths.  Anita commented that this is probably the first pho restaurant that she's been to that has booths.  Normally you only find tables.  Once we sat down at the table I noticed that there was no napkin dispenser, toothpicks, or spoons.  In my opinion these are requirements for a pho restaurant.  The chopsticks were also disposable.  Anita said that's a good thing because the traditional long plastic chopsticks could be dirty especially since they're stored eating end down.  I think it's easier to eat with the longer traditional plastic chopsticks.

Summer rolls

We ordered our "usual" order of summer rolls, order of spring rolls, and 1 large and 1 small bowl of the "everything" pho.  The summer and spring rolls came out first.  The summer roll's peanut dipping sauce appeared to be very brown and thick, which is a good thing. 

Greasy spring rolls

Anita said it wasn't bad especially when you compare it to some other pho restaurant's thin sauces.  The spring rolls were very greasy.  I believe they were par cooked before and then fried again to give the final crisp.  I think the oil temperature wasn't hot enough.  The summer rolls weren't rolled very nicely.  There was probably too much vermicelli noodles inside and barely any shrimp.  I didn't care for the basil in the summer roll, but that's just me.  I know a lot of other restaurants include basil since a lot of people like it, just not me.

Pho soup

When our bowls of pho arrived I noticed how thin the beef was sliced.  1 "slice" was actually 3 or 4 thinner slices that were still stuck together.  Thinly sliced meat is usually a good thing, however, not if it's done as a means to make a little bit of meat go a long way!  There wasn't too much meat in the soup.  The broth had a very mild flavor.  It was in fact too mild!  The temperature of the broth wasn't quite hot enough either.  The bean sprouts didn't really cook.  What a shame.  Anita said the noodles were a little overcooked.

Bean sprouts, basil, jalapenos, and limes

They were ok for me.  I was hoping that this pho restaurant was going to be a hit.  I was cautiously optimistic because of 2 favorable reviews on Yelp.  Just one more reason you can't always trust those reviews on Yelp.  If you want the real scoop you gotta hear it here first!

Menu's description of the Pho Challenge

While I didn't take on the SUPER Bowl Challenge, I did inquire about its size.  The waiter said that it's equivalent to 3 large bowls.  WOW that's a lot of pho to eat in 15 minutes!  Maybe I could do it if I was really hungry and I had more time.  The real challenge is trying to ingest hot soup and noodles in a very short amount of time.



Here's the description of the SUPER Bowl Challenge transcribed from the menu:

Are a self-proclaimed pho-natic?  Do you have what it takes?  Have you tried and sampled all the Pho at every corner of the street in the Nation's Capital?

Now, do you dare to explore out biggest and boldest challenge to conquer our ginormous bowl of Pho: the SUPER Bowl Challenge.  It's going to take colossal determination to finish our whopping Super Bowl Pho Soup.  The contestant has exactly 15 minutes to finish the entire bowl of soup to its last drop of broth. (sorry, no sharing!)  Whoever finishes within this time frame accordingly shall eat it for free, without paying even a penny!

$14.95 Finish it all and it's FREE!

The verdict?  If you've been in search of a pho challenge in Northern Virginia then Pho Capital may be the place for you.  As of this writing 2 or 3 people have been able to successfully complete the challenge.  That means it is possible, but I don't think 15 minutes is enough time especially considering it is a hot soup.  You could of course just order the challenge sized bowl for a seemingly good deal at $14.95 for the equivalent of 3 large bowls, but I wouldn't waste the money on a below average bowl of pho.

P.S . a coworker pointed out that the restaurant is named Pho Capital, but they have a picture of the Capitol building in their logo.  Does that mean the name of the restaurant should be Pho Capitol instead??

Ethiopian for Lunch?

Skyline Cafe
3821 S George Mason Dr
Falls Church, VA 22041

Page 1 of menu with no descriptions

A few people in the office were going to Skyline Cafe for lunch.  Initially I passed on the offer.  I think when I was 7 or 8 my dad took me to an Ethiopian restaurant (it may have been a completely different cuisine, but all I can remember is that the main course was a glob of something that was served on a banana leaf with no utensils).  I guess you could say that experience scarred me for life, but upon "further review of the play" I reverse my decision and decided to go because it would be good team building as well as great meal to review on this blog.  I had heard of the infamous injera aka Ethiopian Bread.  Someone in the office compared eating it to "chewing on a neoprene suit."  Mmm sounds delicious right??  The injera is a spongy chewy flatbread made with yeast and some sort of unique type of flour.

Page 2 of menu with no descriptions

Skyline Cafe is conveniently located just a block or two away from work.  So close in fact we actually walked there.  Skyline Cafe is situated in a very diverse strip shopping center.  One could easily get confused as to which restaurant is Skyline Cafe because frankly they all seem to be Ethiopian or something else very "exotic."  I guess there's technically only one other Ethiopian restaurant in the same strip mall, but there are several other middle eastern restaurants.  I think one of them is Egyptian, I'm not sure about the others.

Page 3 of menu with no descriptions

The restaurant itself is very small and doesn't seem to accommodate large parties very well.  We managed to get a large enough table to seat 6 people.  We were expecting a vegetarian lunch buffet, but for some reason there was no buffet on the day we went.  Maybe it's hit or miss?  There's a big sign on the front door that says there's a daily buffet for $8.99.  Maybe this wouldn't be too bad afterall.  Some of the diners were a little apprehensive about going to a vegetarian only buffet.  They like their meat!  Half of our table got a vegetarian platter for 3 and the other half of the table got a meat platter for 3. 

Drink page of menu

After placing our order we waited and waited and then waited some more.  The restaurant didn't seem that busy.  After I think 40 minutes of waiting someone finally asked where our food was.  Our waitress said 5 minutes, but only a few moments after walking into the kitchen she emerged carrying both platters of food.  It makes us wonder if the food had been prepared a long time back and they just forgot to go check to see if it was ready.

The platters that our food was served on were very large!  On the vegetarian platter there were spicy brown lentils that were surrounded by what looked like yellow lentils, chopped up greens (I think it was spinach - or something else green, maybe collard greens?), salad, and then some type of veggie curry. 

Meat Platter

The surrounding dishes repeated 2 more times around the perimeter of the platter.  The meat platter featured some type of chicken and hard boiled egg dish.  I guess the eternal question still remains: which came first: the chicken or the egg?  Surrounding the chicken centerpiece were 2 different lamb dishes (we had to ask, we thought one of the meats might have been beef) and the chopped up greens described above.  One of the lambs was spicy and the other was not.  One of the hard boiled eggs was really over cooked and dark green from the sulfer in the egg.  I think this happened because the eggs were overcooked since they were twice cooked: hard boiled and then cooked again after being peeled and put into the gravy (sauce).

Vegetarian Platter

The verdict?  Don't bother coming here if there's no buffet and you have a limited lunch break.  The food wasn't bad and the spongy bread wasn't as bad as others have made it out to seem.  Some of the dishes had a little bit too much heat in them, but they were nothing like Biryani Point.

Why I like BJs

Ben and Jerry's
11928 Market Street
Reston, VA 20190
www.benjerry.com/reston/

Cherry Garcia

After eating at Paradise Biryani Pointe, we ventured down the road to Reston Town Center to get some ice cream from Ben and Jerry's. It was a very refreshing treat that really cooled down my palette. Fine, I don't really like Ben and Jerry's all that much, I just wanted to say I did in order to have a catchy title. I pretty much only get one thing - one scoop of Cherry Garcia in a cup whenever I go to a BJ's. Has anyone else noticed that the ice cream served at the BJ's stores is completely different from the ice cream you buy from the grocery store?? The texture and even color of the ice cream is noticeably different. Controversially, I prefer the Cherry Garcia in the grocery store, but that might be just because I've grown accustomed to it. When I go to any other ice cream shop I will almost always get mint chocolate chip ice cream as long as it's green and the chocolate chips are a decent size. If it's not green, it might as well just be regular chocolate chip ice cream. The chips also have to be the right size - sometimes it'll be more like chocolate shavings which don't add the same texture to each bite. This is one of main reasons why I like Cherry Garcia because of the nice crunch that the thick chocolate chips add. The cherries compliment the chips perfectly.

If you're in the mood, get some BJ's (ice cream) - either in the store or from the grocery store.