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