Ball or Nothing

Today I went to the Ball or Nothing food truck, and ordered the classic meatball platter with a side of creamy mac and cheese and a crisp apple and almond salad.

 

The salad was sweeter than I had anticipated but it worked. Delicious with just the right amount of salt. Every bite was reminiscent of an apple cobbler. I would have enjoyed a little more spinach in the salad – I ran out of it and had a lot of apple topping remaining.

The meatballs were delicious. Exactly what any Italian would call a typical meatball. The tomato sauce was very fresh and well made, again a sauce that any Italian would appreciate. I have nothing to say against the meatballs aside from I wish I had more than three, only because they taste so good.

The creamy mac and cheese had a surprising hot spice to it that I was not expecting. Very flavorful and not your run of the mil mac and cheese. It complemented the meatballs perfectly, I wish I could have had more meatballs and second helping of the mac and cheese…. Although my mouth is still on fire from the first helping!

The whole meal was $10 which is a bit more than a typical lunch in the DC area, but the flavors and freshness of all the ingredients was evident in every dish. I would also anticipate that I will not be hungry anytime soon as the meatballs and mac and cheese were pretty filling. As is traditional for a food truck, the service was fast and the people were pleasant.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Corner Bakery - Cheddar Broccoli Soup

No picture this time, mainly because its not a very appetizing or interesting picture truth be told. But today I ventured to corner bakery where I purchased and proceeded to devour (as quickly as hot soup can be) a bowl of their cheddar broccoli soup. This would normally be at the very bottom of my list of something I would order but here recently has been calling my name. This soup is absolutely delicious, not too cheesy and not too broccoliy. Just enough salt that it accents the flavors of the soup quite well. I wish it was slightly more filling, I feel certain I will be snacking before making the trek home today. It would be nice if the bread complemented the soup a bit better, the bread provided does wonders with their loaded bake potato soup but seems to miss the mark a little with the cheddar broccoli.

Rating: 4.65 stars out of 5

West Wing Cafe - Gouda Gobbler

Do to the previous success at this place we frequented it a second time! I ordered the Gouda Gobbler which consists of mesquite smoked turkey, gouda cheese, roasted red peppers, red onions and spinach on multi-grain bread.

Aside from the awkward flow of traffic in the actual store there really isnt anything bad to say. The ingredients were again flawless - very fresh and flavorful. The bread was very flavorful as well and not too seedy which some multi-grains can be. The sandwich was all together delicious although I did find that I was a little hungry when I was finished. The staff is friendly and quick both with food service and check out. I would definitely try another.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

West Wing Cafe - Foccacia Turkey Sandwich

Today, I wanted something different so in my walking around, I stumbled on this shop on 20th St, NW called West Wing Cafe. They have a great little sandwich area in the back with dozens of choices and even a soup bar up front. The cafe also offers a variety of chips and snacks (including gluten free) and many beverage choices. This afternoon, I tried the Foccacia Turkey sandwich.

 

 

This sandwich comes with lettuce, tomato, alfalfa sprouts, and chive cream cheese (all of these ingredients were very fresh, by the way). I added a little honey mustard and I thought it was fantastic. I actually could not finish the sandwich. I'll be eating the rest tomorrow and I'll see if my co-worker can find another Captain Cookie sighting :-)

 



Rating:
4.5 out of 5 stars

Very tasty, but a little overpriced. Welcome to DC!!!

Captain Cookie

Today I was gifted a chocolate chip cookie from the Captain Cookie and Milkman truck. I almost forgot to take a picture and had to stop in the middle of my devouring in order to do so (no easy task!). The cookie legitimately did the slow moo gooey awesomeness when you broke it apart. This was the perfect combination of crunchy and gooey with an excellent ratio of chocolate to cookie as well as even distribution of chocolate so that each bite was as delicious as the one before. I wish I had more.....

4.95 out of 5 stars

Corner Bakery - Poblano Chicken Sandwich

 

This sandwich has a healthy serving of homemade chicken (no processed meat) on top of lettuce, avocado, jicama slaw and roasted red peppers and swiss cheese on an artisan bun. I'm not a huge avocado fan (only if the chunks are cut up in salsa) so I took them off of my sandwich after the first bite. I did appreciate everything else. And shout-out to the cook who put like 3 slices of cheese on the sandwich! I added some dijon mustard and mayo since it otherwise seemed bare, but all-in-all, its a great sandwich and I would buy it again.

Rating:
4.5 Stars (only because I didn't like the avocado)

New Orleans Po Boy Shop

Today I ventured to the New Orleans Po Boy Shop (http://dc.eater.com/tags/new-orleans-po-boy-shop) where I ordered and devoured the Cubano Po Boy. 

This po boy was large and in charge and I was reduced to eat it with a fork and knife so that my face wouldn’t be covered with po boy juice after each bite. The meat was well prepared and delicious, however, I did have a couple cartilage pieces which was slightly disappointing. There was too much mayo on the sandwich for my liking (but I am not a huge fan of mayo) but this didn’t really detract from the sandwich. The bread was just the right combo of crispy and soft but if you wait too long to eat the bread will get soggy. I am a serious lover of pickles and did find myself wanting a couple more but when you got a bite with a pickle it was like a little slice of heaven. All in all the po boy was amazingly delicious and I would definitely head back for more!

Whats more, the service is fast and the people friendly!

Rating: 4.5

Tasty Kabob Food Truck

So I ventured to the Tasty Kabob food truck today for a chicken with rice meal which comes with
chicken over rice, a small side salad and a choice of side (which I chose chickpeas). The small side salad is perfectly described by small – but there is so much food that I find that salad is sort of unnecessary even in its deliciousness. The chickpeas are amazing and quite possibly the best way to serve chickpeas (the only other way I will usually eat chickpeas is when it is something similar to hummus) – I could have made a meal form those chickpeas they were so good and flavorful. The chicken and rice was amazing. They give a very healthy portion of chicken so it isn’t like having 5 scoops of rice and 2 strips of chicken that you get some places. There is enough chicken to get a piece with each bite of rice – to the point that I was kind of wishing I had slightly less chicken. The chicken was very flavorful and the rice complimented extremely well. One good dish and one I plan to eat more of!

I give it a 4.5.

Pret A Manger

Welp! Today I decided to see what the craze was all about with Pret-A-Manger restaurants popping up all over DC. When I went in, I found an open refrigerator style setup where you pick up pre-made items in boxes and take them to the register. I chose the chicken and bacon sandwich (after all, bacon makes everything taste better, right?!).

The verdict: the sandwich itself was pretty good. I didn't realize the chicken was actually chicken salad (but the chicken salad was delicious). The greens are in the box behind the sandwich so you have to put them on the sandwich yourself which is weird. I also got a bag of kettle chips which were also pretty good. The only drawback is that you can't "add" things to your sandwich because it's pre-packaged and a bit overpriced. They have boxed sandwiches in 7-11 that taste just as good and cost half as much (I'm just sayin).

Rating:
2.5 stars

It did taste pretty good... but it IS overpriced for the size ($6.95). Frankly, I could have made a better sandwich at home.

Chopt - Jerk Chicken Wrap

Chopt - 19th St NW
Tobago Jerk Chicken Wrap

I'll have to thank my co-worker for turning me on to this place... it's really, really good.

The first time I went in, I got a southwestern salad with chicken added in. At first, as big as the salad was, I never thought I'd finish it, lol. The nexts time I went, I tried a Tobago Jerk Chicken salad and had them put it in a wrap.

Now of course, growing up around Caribbean peoples, I'm used to the extra spicy flavor from Jerk Chicken that makes you grab a teaspoon of honey and wait for your next bite. This sandwich, however, was not that spicy at all.

In fact, I added peas, pepper jack cheese and jalapenos to my sandwich to give it somewhat of a kick. It already comes with mesculun lettuce, jicama, carrots and pickled onions. I topped off the salad with plain ol' ranch dressing, had it rolled up into a burrito wrap. It makes for a delicious, filling lunch that doesn't leave me with "The Itis".

Payow!!! (PI-ow)

Score:
5 Stars

Can't seem to find anything wrong here! :-)

Baja Fresh (second opinion)

So today I ventured with my fellow coworker to Baja Fresh. Although it may be difficult to believe this was my very first trip to this establishment! I have frequently occupied chiptole and qdoba but have never ventured to this third of the oh-so-large mexican chain stores. I ordered the chicken baja ensalada (sorry no pictures from me - I am sadly stuck in the dark ages of cell phones, which is 100% on purpose - but that is a different story).

General review:
I ordered the Chicken Baja Ensalada - which the menu states is made up of Romaine lettuce, ripe Roma tomatoes, Cotija cheese, freshly made pico de gallo & tortilla strips. First off I think they just named tomatoes twice to make it sound fancier because the salad was romaine lettuce with a couple tortilla strips (that were not very crunchy) and pico de gallo (aka tomatoes and cilantro). I could not taste or find a hint of cheese but somehow with the ever fattening ranch dressing (which for some reason they watered down??) I globbed all over the salad it still satisfied me. I was rather taken with the "salsa bar" - a very clever idea and had I not been stuck waiting for the man in front of me to finish filling his 8 buckets it would have been an altogether pleasant experience. Now I only tried 2 of the salsas - the pico de gallo and some sort of black concoction - I was too afraid of the remainder as my mouth and stomach do not react nicely to overly spicy foods (some might even venture to say mildly spicy foods). But the salsas I did have were tasty.

All-in-all it was not terrible but the amount of food left me wanting more but I also know I will be hungry again in an hour. I give them a 2 - if I return in the future I will not be ordering this same salad.

Food Experience Synopsis - Baja Fresh (02AUG12)

Well, today, I went to Baja Fresh on K St in Washington, DC. I felt like a little seafood to mix up the monotony of cold cuts and chips, so I got the shrimp burrito enchalada style. Shrimp, black beans, rice, onions, etc all rolled up into a burrito wrap with chips on the side. Add a little chile sauce and cheese, and voila!



The good:
The shrmip wasn't overcooked, and it wasn't a rice roll-up (hooray!). It was especially good with a side of their mango salsa. On top of all that, it was soooo huge... I couldn't finish it all. Not at work anyway... I'd pass out by 1:15.

The bad:
I kinda wish my chips were not covered in chile sauce (I'll have to ask for those on the side next time). And I think the person who made my burrito must have really liked black beans because there was a half a can of them in my meal. Three bites I cut off of the side of it had nothing but black beans in it. (see below).

Score:
I give it 3.5 stars. It was tasty, but if it had more shrimp than large servings of beans, I'd like it a lot better.

--DH