WiseguyNY Pizza in Chinatown, Washington D.C.

Wiseguy NY Pizza located at the edge of Chinatown is a place I came upon when I was on the craving for good pizza. Coming from NYC, good pizza that matches the standard of a snobby New Yorker is hard to find in DC. My company and I eventually decided to go for a try at this place after seeking the overwhelming positive reviews created by happy pizza lovers on yelp. The place is filled with classy hippy old money hipster vibe, with limited amount of seating area, and decent music volume.

You can order their pizza by slices or whole. We grabbed a quick bite hence got a couple slices with different toppings. Their pizza is delicious, no doubt. They are similar to NY pizza, but not exactly the same. 

I ordered a only cheese pizza and a slice of mushroom pizza without pizza sauce on top. On the side was a small bowl of fresh motz salad with fresh mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, basil in light Italian dressing and a piece of garlic bread on top. I have had the best tomato salad and the best garlic bread of my life here. Nothing I have tried beats that small  bowl of red, yellow, and green goodies. The garlic bread is buttery, soft, and fresh. They showed me what amazing a freshly baked garlic bread can be. This place is my current new favorite pizza go-to place.

Hannya in Miami, Florida

Sushi! was not always the first type of food I think of when I am starving. I visited this restaurant when I was on the crave for Ikura, or sushi with salmon roe on top. There isn't a lot of good Japanese restaurants around south beach Miami, but the quality of raw seafood served in Hannya was definitely much better than some of the fish I have had in D.C. or Maryland.

I stopped by this restaurant during lunch time, at a time where this little corner area wasn't welcomed by many customers. Exposed bricked walls and wave-like lighting adds more of a rustic rather than zen-like feel to the surrounding, fitting right into the culture of materialized Miami.

Thai Ice Tea with milk was authentically American. Yummy.

Gyoza was deeply fried with pork and vegetable fillings inside. It was crispy and warm. Perfect for my acid-filled stomach as an appetizer. The prices for their appetizers are fairly reasonable, and it seems like Hannya does pay attention to the presentation of their dishes.

I ordered Ikura sushi thanks to my sudden craving for salmon roe and the freshness of their fish, I had my best time in Miami with these rolled up pieces of sushi. Crispy seaweed combined with fairly large load of salmon roe. I first consume half of the salmon roe as appetizers. Pop the eggs in my mouth, taste the saltiness and the smoothness of its membrane. Then I consume the whole sushi with about 5 salmon roe eggs left on top for the perfect degree of salt to rice pairing. Absolutely delicious!

By the time I finished those sushi I was too full to get to the vegetable Udon Stir-Fry. I packed it home to enjoy it later. The udon was still chewy and delicious after 2 hours, and bak-choy was fresh, crisp, and sweet. Mushrooms, even through it is canned, is still flavorful. This dish did not disappoint me, I would definitely go back again the next time I'm in Miami.

Season 52 in Rockville, Maryland

Season 52 is a chain restaurant that specializes in dishes below 500 calories and fine dining. How exactly did they determine the calories of their dishes, I do not know. After I have heard about the limited calories, I tried imaging burning up the food in a calorimeter, but seems like a lot of work for chain that alternates different menu on a weekly basis. 

Not only with bar and booth setting, they have a very nice Californian style wine room/cabinet behind the warm fireplace featuring a larger than normal list of wines. How cozy.

Ahi Tuna Tartare: layered with wasabi-avocado mousse, tropical salsa, Hawaiian sea salt crisps. I forgot the snap a picture of the Hawaiian sea salt crisps, but I have to say the sea salt crisps was quite disappointing. It was no more than crackers strangled with large amount of black salt crystals -- very salty. Other than that, the layered avocado with tuna tartare was delicious. Fresh tuna combined with mashed avocado reminds me of a healthy meal.

Caramelized Grilled Sea Scallops: Creamy lemon risotto, Baby broccoli, roasted asparagus. I am not a fan of the creamy lemon risotto, and the sea scallops were bad quality with large amount of seasoning. With that said, the steamed baby broccoli was great with the risotto. I would not order this dish again due to the bad quality of sea scallops served.

Cucumbers in Chili Oil Mix

This recipe was created by an inspiration or a knockoff from one of the dishes I tried in a Chinese restaurant called Panda Gourmet. It quickly became one of my favorite dish, hence my desire to reproduce it in my own time. There is nothing hard about the cucumber itself. The success of this dish really solely depends on the sauce.

Ingredients:

5 tablespoons of Soy sauce

3 tablespoons of Olive Oil

1 tablespoon of Chili Oil

1 tablespoon of Red pepper flakes

1 clove of Garlic

2 Cucumbers

Instruction:

Get rid of skin on cucumbers and cut it to bite size. Leave the cucumbers in a bowl size good for tossing. Peel off skin on garlic, dice it up. In a skillet, pour in olive oil and diced garlic, heat on high heat until oil starts to sizzle. Throw in red pepper flakes and soy sauce, let heat for 1 minute on medium. Turn off heat, pour mixture onto cucumber. Pour Chili oil onto cucumber as well. Toss well and serve.

Restaurant Week at District Chophouse & Brewery, Washington D.C.

A fancy bar/traditional American restaurant is what this place reminds me of. In a way I find it comparable to Woodmont Grill in Bethesda, in a way District Chophouse isn't as snobby as the ladder. The first impression after I walked into the restaurant was even a bit loud and chaotic, which surprised me since I have heard this restaurant to be a higher scaled restaurant for people that are more established. With people talking in loud voices and trying to over power one another, I find the atmosphere of this place uncomfortable.

The restaurant week menu features a number of the most favored dishes. I went for the BBQ shrimp, New York Strip with Mushrooms, and strawberry glazed cheesecake.

Their complimentary corn bread was quite unusual, since most other restaurants go for oven baked French bread with less sugar and butter. However, the butter does not go well with the already butter-drenched corn bread.

BBQ shrimp, even through it is hard to see from this image, is neatly positioned on a piece of hard French bread. It was delicious. The BBQ shrimp was tender, seasoning was just right, and the sauce was all absorbed by the hard bread, all making this a fantastic dish.

I like my steak rare, so I asked for the New York Strip a bit under cooked. The sautéed caned mushrooms were nothing impressive. And it seems like the chef forgot to season the steak with any salt and pepper. I did not like the steak. Not only with the lack of flavor, I also question the quality of meat itself.

Cheesecake was almost as enjoyable as the BBQ shrimp. The cake was sweet but not too sweet. The strawberry glaze was just extra icing on the cake adding fruity flavors to the well-made original cheesecake.

I would not go back to this restaurant again for their main meal, but the BBQ shrimp and the cheesecake was something that made my experience at District Chophouse better.

Vanilla and Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Icing and Grape Jelly

I have always wanted to make a finer, more complicated cake as dessert, so there I go:

Vanilla cake base

Ingredients:

3 eggs

1.5 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 cup of butter

1 cup of powdered sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 cup of all purpose flour

Preheat over to 350F, grease pan of choice. Mix melted butter, sugar, and eggs together first, then add baking powder, salt, and purpose flour. After it turns into homogeneous mixture, add vanilla extract. Pour mixture into greased pan and place in oven for 30 minutes. Take a tooth pick, stick into the raised cake base. If the bottom of tooth pick appear liquid-like, place cake base back into oven and bake for 5-10 minutes.

Chocolate cake base

I used Hershey's Kitchen's "Perfectly Chocolate" recipe.

Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients:

8 tablespoon of butter

1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar

4 oz cream cheese

3 drops of lemon juice

3 drops of vanilla extract

Do not melt butter prior to mixing, melting butter will ruin the texture of icing. In a pan, mix butter, powdered sugar, and cream cheese until mixture turned smooth and creamy. If mixture seem to hard to mix, leave mixture in room temperature for a longer period of time for it to turn softer. Finally, add lemon juice and vanilla extract and mix well.

To make the cake in picture above

Ingredients:

All of the above plus commercially available grape jelly

Cut chocolate cake base and vanilla cake base into small squares of desire size. Stack alternating layers one on top of another, add grape jelly in between layers for stabilizing and taste. With some extra cream cheese icing, coat them outside of cake until the entirety are covered with icing. If you want, you can create different patterns with forks or spoons. The patterns of icing shown in picture are created by the tip of a small fork. Lastly, for appearance, dap some grape jelly on the plate around the cake. Depending on the size of the cake you want to make, you are going to have some extra. With those, you can make another cake just like these, or you can use it for other purposes.