Eat me. Or not.

What’s kicking, my friends?

This Thursday I had possibly one of the coolest gastronomical days ever while cruising around DC.

And by coolest, I may or may not mean that I essentially purchased three different lunches and then stuffed my face with two different desserts at dinner.

Is anyone surprised?

My godmother gave me her Starbucks birthday gift card, and when the barista told me she could make me whatever drink I wanted for freeee, I really had to fight the temptation to order the largest, most extravagant drink I could think of.

However, Stuart and I behaved and stuck with a tall skinny peppermint mocha with soy milk.

I’m not a big fan of Starbucks, but it was a pleasant start to the day.

After walking around the Capitol Hill area for a little bit, I headed over to Capitol South/Pennsylvania Ave with the sole purpose of visiting these two restaurants:

Good Stuff Eatery and We, The Pizza. What’s so special about these two places, you ask?

They’re owned and operated by this man:

Recognize Spike Mendelsohn from Top Chef: Season 4 and The Next Iron Chef: Season 4?

I ordered the ‘Shroom Burger, which according to the menu consists of: Organic Portobello Tops Stuffed With Muenster & Cheddar, Flash Fried With Panko Crumbs, Ruby Tomato, Onions, Lettuce & Pickle With Good Stuff Sauce.

I panicked when I first bit into it because I thought I had grabbed the wrong order since the burger was so juicy and chewy and well, meaty. After a careful inspection with bated breath, however, I realized it was just Mr. Mendelsohn working his culinary magic.

It’s also too convenient that he opened up a pizzeria immediately next door.

A slice of the spinach and artichoke pie, which despite being a little greasy, was absolutely delectable.

I can’t help feeling a little more red would have made it tastier, though, even if it was just in the form of a tiny dab of red sauce or red pepper. (Or maybe I should just get my butt on Top Chef first and then criticize.)

A little stroll to work off some of the calories…

And onto U Street, which used to be the largest African-American cultural hub until it was overtaken by Harlem, NY! 

The U St. metro exit is one of my favorites:

Famous for several things, U St. hides Duke Ellington’s childhood home, a jazz music scene, many quirky independently-owned shops, Ethiopian food, and of course, Ben’s Chili Bowl.

Awww yeee!

This place has fed everyone from Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Martin Luther King, Jr., President Obama, President Sarkozy (of France), Anthony Bourdain, Oprah, and of course, Bill Cosby is the only customer allowed to eat here for free.

You might ask, why in the world would anyone package a mess of vegetarian chili fries into aluminum wrap? It doesn’t make sense, right?

…that is, until you dig further down, and find one of those little cardboard baskets very feebly holding in the huge overflowing mass of chili and fries.

Oh my god, so glorious.

And then, on a random whim, I decided to boogie over to Chinatown afterwards.

Stuart and I decided to take a break and digest our food in the (indoor) courtyard of the National Portrait Gallery.

He quite fancied Andy Warhol’s Marilyn

and also Warhol’s Michael, because I mean, c’mon, it’s MJ.

The cool thing about DC is that directly from Chinatown, I can ride the metro maybe 4 or 5 stops to get to the Reagan National Airport and pick up my momma!

My godmother had been cooing about this French/Belgium restaurant for days, and by the time our 9pm reservation rolled around, I still wasn’t hungry, but I was incredibly excited.

Et Voila is owned and operated by two chefs, the executive chef being Chef Claudio Pirollo who was (according to my godmother) the executive chef at the Irish Embassy, and the pastry chef being Chef Mickael Cornu, who was a White House pastry chef.

Still drooling thinking about it.

I loved the series of Tintin posters along the wall; they added a really whimsical touch to an otherwise very swanky restaurant.

My momma is in DC yay!

My godmother ordered a charcuterie of salami, mortadella, and prosciutto, which also came with picked cauliflower and pate.

Plus a pumpkin soup.

Her husband ordered a really glorious-looking French onion soup

With pate, a small side salad, and pickled cauliflower

And escargot

While my tiny momma (who eats like a bird) was hit with this giant crockpot of leek and garlic mussels and the most amazing Belgium fries evaaaaar.

A modest little vegetarian plate, consisting of spinach and roasted garlic, stewed tomatoes (my favorite), a warm salad of julienned carrots and celery (blech on the celery), buttered haricot verts, and the fanciest plop of mashed potatoes I had ever seen.

But dessert.

Holy moly dessert. We ordered two to split between the four of us… and I wished I had kept everything to myself.

Belgium waffles with a rhubarb compote and chantilly cream… so absolutely perfectly amazingly fluffy and crispy and delectable. I didn’t care much for the cream, but the compote was simply lovely.

And then my favorite thing of the entire day: profiteroles with a dark chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream. 

Is there such a thing as a food-gasm? If so, eating these babies definitely achieved that for me. I was basically in heaven. 

Died. Gone to heaven.

Be back in five after I finish digesting a week’s worth of food.