BELTWAY BURN – PART 1

For anyone living around the Capitol Beltway (Washington DC area), or just passing through, here is the first in a series of restaurant reviews designed to help you find great spicy food just minutes off the Interstate in Northern Virginia.

I’m hoping this will be useful to chiliheads up and down the East Coast, because sooner or later, your travels might very well bring you through the DC area on I-95.

Yeah, there are plenty of BBQ joints around here, but I want to start out with an Indian place that has been open a year in Lorton, VA, less than ten minutes North of Quantico Marine Base or South of the I-95/495 “Mixing Bowl”, and just a few hundred yards off the highway. You need to know about My Karma Indian Bistro because; a.) they have some of the best Indian food in the DC metro area and; b.) they are happy to indulge your craving for heat!

The owner, Subhash Gavri, is there most of the time, so be sure to introduce yourself and tell him you love hot, spicy food. He will be happy to make some recommendations. If you have a really good tolerance for heat, make sure he knows what you mean by “spicy”. His Nepalese chef has a heat scale that stops at “double spice”. Insist on a “triple spice level” if you want to be scorched. On my umpteenth visit recently with fellow chilihead and bon vivant, Bob Linn, we came up with the following recommendations:

For an incredible variety of flavors and spices, you have to get a few things that are not scorchers. The best feed on the menu, which is great for sharing, is the Tandoori Mixed Grill, shown here:

This is a sizzling platter of meats and seafood, each one spiced or marinated in its own unique way. Because of the intense heat of the Tandoori oven, these items cook in a matter of a few minutes and they are incredibly tender and moist. Sizzling beneath all of those goodies are lots of sliced onions. I guess you could say this is like an Indian version of fajita.

Be sure to get a basket of the Nan (Indian bread made fresh in the clay Tandoori oven). My two favorites are Garlic Nan and Onion Kulcha. Here, they are served with my favorite spicy dish from My Karma – Chicken Vindaloo.

Vindaloo is traditionally a style of cooking that surrounds a meat (such as Tandoori-roasted chicken) and potatoes with a hot, spicy sauce. Sometimes, there are tomatoes in the sauce, sometimes not, and usually it has a touch of vinegar. The version that I tried for the first time at My Karma a year ago has brought me back there at least once a month! Don’t pass up the vegetable dishes, which can be spiced up on request. They are incredibly flavorful, using spinach, eggplant, okra, onions, tomatoes, chick peas and lentils, to name a few.

For those chiliheads who are unfamiliar with Indian cuisine and might have been reluctant to try it, My Karma is the perfect place to give it a whirl. Subhash is a friendly, informative host. For those who know their Indian food, you will be duly impressed too. It is well worth your making a stop and I would bet once you eat there, you will plan your next trip thru DC to coincide with the lunch or dinner hour.

For information and directions, go to www.mykarmabistro.com .

Laura & I took a road trip over the weekend and made our way to Austin, TX for a small Valentine’s Day celebration. Little did she know that I had ulterior motives and purposfully planned the route so that we could stop by the Southside Market in Elgin, TX for lunch. Having had the Southside Hot Sausage at the Big Apple BBQ and consulting with friends and cohorts, I knew that I had to stop in to try some BBQ.

Elgin sausage is known far and wide as the best in the west. For more than a century, the town of Elgin (say it with a hard G, as in gut) has been famous for all-beef links that are pit-cooked, smoky, and succulent. The Southside Market has been Elgin’s primary meat market since 1882.

It used to be a creaky, sawdust-floored store downtown, but about five years ago the Southside Market moved to a huge, spanking clean, barn-size building on the outskirts of town. While the new place lacks the charm of a well-aged and charmingly dilapidated house of barbecue, it still has a working butcher shop on premises, and it still smokes sausage and beef brisket the old-fashioned way, in big iron pits over slow-smoldering post oak wood. Order your meat by the pound at the pit and carry it to a table.

The sausage is spectacular – vividly spiced, taut, and moist beyond description; but don’t ignore the sliced beef; it too is luscious and flavorful, needing no companion other than a few slices of white bread just to mop its juices. - Micheal Stern

We decided to split the brisket and sausage combo as it was only 11:30 in the morning and we had a long day of eating ahead of us. We were both hesitant to give the brisket a try due to a recent run in with some shoe leather that was being passed off as “authentic TX brisket” but we forged ahead anyways.

Wow. Hands down, the best BBQ we’ve had yet in TX. The brisket was so divine that it restored our faith in brisket BBQ and has inspired me to give it a try on my own. The sausage was superb - with a crisp outside and a spicy inside. I will say that the beans did throw me off a little bit - traditional refried beans (not BBQ beans) with a side of potato salad - not a typical choice, but who cares - it was delicious.

We sat there and oohed and ahhed over the food and decided that it was more then worth the 2 hours drive - we immediately agreed that we need to bring any visiting friends and family along, just so they can enjoy the food as much as we did.

And you know you’ve found a chilehead mecca when there’s a jumbo sized bottle of hot sauce on the table - and nothing else.

Southside Market Loot

I’m glad I had the foresight to bring along an ice chest for the trip - beyond the non-perishables above, I also bought 4lbs of the hot sausage to bring home. We’ve already cooked some up for breakfast tacos and I’m eagerly researching the fine art of smoking sausage on the BGE - so look for that post soon.

Bottom line - even if your not in TX, you can order some Elgin hot sausage from the website and I highly suggest you do. It won’t disappoint and your heart doctor will have to learn to live with it. Just order some for him too.

Southside Market
1212 Highway 290
Elgin, TX

In 1897 an Italian immigrant reinvented a Napoletana staple food into one of the worlds most eaten foods. New York City was the birth place of New York style pizza. During the year of 1905, Lombardi’s was licensed by the City of New York, becoming America’s First Pizzeria.

Over 100 years and still coveted as one of the Best Pizzeria’s in the United States. Highly regarded and rated as the Best of New York, a City of Pizzeria’s.

After 2 years of living in New York City, we finally made it down to Lombardi’s. And before we leave, we’re going to go back again! Anywhere in America that you live, I bet you’ve heard of Lombardi’s - in some form or another. Perhaps there’s a Lombardi’s imitation near you. But as Laura & I can attest, there’s nothing like the original.

I’ve traditionally entertained the school of thought that there’s no such thing as a bad pizza - but I never considered what makes a really good pizza. Cholula Pizza is great, but if that’s great then Lombardi’s is gourmet.

We ordered a small original - six slices made with fresh mozzarella, a San Marzano tomato sauce and topped with Romano cheese and fresh basil. One small pizza is just enough to feed two people. You may think that 3 slices is a lot for lunch - but these are thin crust and not like your normal slice with all that added stuff. Plus, the sauce and cheese is so fresh, there’s no way you’ll be able to pass up that last slice.

And, shock of all shocks, this is one pizza I wouldn’t slather in hot sauce. There you have it - something I won’t eat hot sauce on!

Lombardi’s
32 Spring St
New York, NY 10012-4173
(212) 941-7994
Cross Street: Corner of Spring and Mott Street (the number 6 subway line is only a block away)

While Mexican food is my all time favorite food group, good BBQ comes a close second. In NYC, it hard to find a good all around BBQ place - I recommend people to go to Dinosaur BBQ for their ribs and visit Blue Smoke for their pulled pork platter and yes, their mac & cheese. The mac & cheese there is the best in the city - hands down. And they make a mean fried chicken platter that Laura just loves. But enough about Blue Smoke, this is about R.U.B. (Righteous Urban Barbeque). We decided to visit R.U.B. as it’s been in our book of places to visit for quite sometime (we save good food reviews so we know where to go later) - so we trekked down to 23rd on a Saturday night and found ourselves inside of a packed BBQ restaurant.

2 meat platter: Pulled Pork & Pastrami

Collard Greens
I ordered the 2 Meat platter you see above with a side of collard greens and potato salad. Don’t see the potato salad? Well that’s because it never arrived. The pulled pork was good - but after having pulled pork from Blue Smoke, there was no comparison. The pastrami was delicious as pastrami usually is and I even found myself using the leftovers the next day. The collard greens were my favorite part of the meal - nice and salty with good greens flavor.

“The Short End” - Pork Spare Ribs
Laura ordered the “short end” of the pork spare ribs which are “the last 7 ribs off the slab-the tender end”. She enjoyed the ribs - but they were not nearly as tender as the ribs at Dinosaur BBQ. And the R.U.B. ribs cost just as much as an entire rack with 2 sides at Dinosaur BBQ. But she did give them a thumbs up for giving her white bread with the ribs - even though that didn’t make much sense, I think she was just happy to have white bread as it’s not something we typically have in our house.

Overall: R.U.B. receives a lot of hyped up reviews in the New York publications. And their all hype. Maybe folks that are born and bred in the city think it’s a great BBQ joint, but I think it’s a great pseudo BBQ place. The fact that all of the meals are served on metal trays with butcher paper is what gives R.U.B. it’s authentic feel, but that’s about it. Would I go back to R.U.B. again? Maybe - but not if I was the one paying or choosing the restaurant. It’s good like the way McDonald’s is good for burgers - it’s a burger and it’ll satisfy some sort of craving, but you won’t be completely satisfied until you get a real burger.

This past Saturday, the wife and I ventured down to the East Village to check out Crif Dogs. We’d never been there, but had marked it on our list of places to try after reading about it in Time Out New York. It was quite a trek downtown and then a few avenues over before we finally found the infamous hot dog shop.

Crif Dogs is housed in a very small lower level establishment and the counter is all the way to the rear of the one room restaurant. The small room also contains 3 old school arcade video games. While we were there, the only music we heard was that of Sublime - taking us back to out junior high and high school days. All in all, a very laid back “don’t rush me or I’ll kick your ass” attitude to the place.

I ordered:
Good Morning - A Bacon Wrapped Dog Smothered with Melted Cheese & a Fried Egg
Spicy Redneck - A House Dog, Bacon Wrapped, with Chili, Cole Slaw, and Jalapenos

The Spicy Redneck was excellent, though not spicy enough for the likes of me. The Good Morning was good, but a little boring. Next time I’ll be sure to order extra jalapenos on the Good Morning Dog - or bring with me some spicy mustard (maybe both!)

The Wife ordered:
Chihuahua - A Bacon Wrapped Dog Covered w/ Avocados & Sour Cream
Tsunami - A House Dog, Bacon Wrapped, with Teriyaki, Pineapple & Green Onions

All of our hot dogs were very good (albeit a little spendy for a hot dog) and we both agreed that it’s definately a place that’s worth going back to. You can check out their complete menu here on Menu Pages. And if you’re ever in New York and looking for the quintessential lower east side experience, check out Crif Dogs. Or if you’re in the city around midnight, hit Crif Dogs up from some of their infamous hot dog packages (aka Stoner Packs)

Catherine and Pappy Bosley bought the Moonlite for $50,000 from Sonnie and Sadie Bertram and J.C. & Betty Stinson. The Bosley’s used the 5,000 dollar profit from selling their house to make the down payment, moved in with Catherine’s mother and entered the restaurant business with no experience, and little formal education. Then, the Moonlite was a fourteen year old barbecue joint with 30 seats including stools at the counter. He was 48 and she 42, they had five children.

Pappy drove a cab for Veterans Cab Company, and worked at Fleischman’s Distillery. Catherine was a foreman at Glenmore Distillery. It was Pappy’s layoff from Fleischman’s that caused them to reexamine their opportunities. The owners of Moonlite were ready to sell, as they were looking to retire. The restaurant had been around then for 14 years and was well known to the Bosley’s being near Catherine’s mother’s house. Their five children grew up working next door to the Moonlite at the Big Dipper (a local hamburger joint).

In this time of large chains and merged companies Moonlite has grown as a family business. Hugh and Catherine, along with four children and several grandchildren work together to keep things going and growing at a slow, steady rate that now requires a staff of over 120 dedicated members working various facets of the business. These areas now include a 350 seat restaurant, a U.S.D.A. inspected processing plant, an extensive catering department (capable of serving 15 to 15,000 with unparalleled quality and professionalism), a wholesale division serving the region with Barbecue and related products through distributors in a four state area, as well as a busy carryout department.

During our visit to the Moonlite I had the opportunity to spend some time with Pat Bosley. He was more than happy to take us on a tour and show us his operation. Part of the tour was his schpeel about the process; it was obvious that he had told this story more than the one time. It went something like this;

“Our Bar-B-Q is slow cooked over a Hickory log fire in our custom built pits. This method of cooking imparts a distinctive flavor to our beef, chicken, mutton, pork, and ribs. Real Bar-B-Q, according to government standards, must be cooked to lose at least 30% of its original weight. This can be done in many ways, but the only way we do it is with our slow cook method, our pit cooks dipping (basting) each piece several times during the process. We don’t even put sauce on our meats until after it’s cooked. Most places are afraid to let their Bar-B-Q be tasted unless it’s swimming in sauce. (At this restaurant, you put the sauce on at the table.) When we started we had 30 seats, today we BBQ and average of 15,000lbs of meat a week.”

“Our Burgoo is a thick hearty soup made with lots of mutton, beef, chicken, and vegetables. In this part of the country, early settlers made a stew that consisted of any meats and vegetables available. That often meant game meat such as deer, squirrel, raccoon, rabbit or quail. As time passed, each cook fine tuned his or her recipe by adding special ingredients that made their Burgoo the “best”.”

Now that you know everything there is to know about the Moonlite BBQ Inn let’s talk about the food a bit. I wanted to try as many different things as I could so I opted for the buffet; a steal at $8.75. It was hard to focus on what should be a simple task of getting a plate of food. I have never seen a BBQ buffet of this magnitude before, come to think of it, this may be my first BBQ buffet ever. There was every kind of slow cooked meat you could imagine, and equally as many side dishes. Know the limitations of both my plate and stomach I realized I would have to be somewhat selective in my sampling.

Since we were in Kentucky; famous for BBQ Mutton and I had never had mutton before, I know this was where we would have to start. I also added some chopped beef and sliced pork to the plate. On the side was some bread dressing, green beans and ham and beans. Oh I threw in a tiny bit of mac and cheese, out of curiosity.

So let’s start with the sides; the green beans were sweet and tender with just a little vinegary tang. The dressing was moist and flavorful with little pieces of celery and onion; it was better than most dressings I’ve had on a buffet but maybe not as good as Mom’s. The mac’n’cheese was good as well, again better than most buffets. The bean’s and ham were awesome. The beans were tender but not mushy, the broth was sweet and salty at the same time and the chunks of country ham melted in your mouth. These were without a doubt some of the best I’ve had.

Onto the meat; I found the chopped beef to be just that, chopped beef in BBQ sauce. I was tender and it tasted just fine, but to me it lacked excitement. I think perhaps it may have been chopped down to fine for my preference and I found it to be a step away from pulverized. The sliced pork should was very good, it was minimally seasoned with just salt and pepper and barbecued to perfection. It was tender and juicy and took to the sauce quite nicely. The mutton was definitely the star of this show; having been unimpressed with the chopped beef I selected the sliced mutton. The sliced mutton was fantastic; also minimally seasoned it was barbecued to a moist and tender perfection. It was extremely flavorful and surprisingly not gamey as I thought I might be. There was the perfect amount of caramelized crust on the outside pieces that created the slightest crunch. I also tried the mutton dip; this sauce is basically an au jus for the meat. Its purpose is to add a little moisture and bring out the natural flavors of the mutton. I found the dip to be a winner. If you were to taste the dip alone you might be disappointed, however it truly comes to life when applied to the meat. There were other sauces on the table to help enhance your meal; a sweet barbecue sauce for the meats other than mutton, and a hot cayenne pepper sauce; which I would have like to have it hotter. It was definitely a pleasant upgrade from the typical Tabasco you usually find on tables.

Overall I give the Moonlite Bar-B-Que Inn a two thumbs way up! I truly enjoyed the food. The dining rooms and buffet areas were well maintained and clean, and the staff and owners were extremely hospitable and friendly. If you are ever in Owensboro, KY make sure you go there. If you are anywhere nearby it would be worth the detour.

Carrillo’s Tortilleria
Mexican Delicatessen
- Since 1974 -

One thing that struck me while driving through the streets of LA - there’s a plethora of Donut shops, cigarette stores and taco shops. Now I can go without the first two, but the taco shops are my weakness. You see, a good taco is hard to find in NYC, unless you venture to the outer boroughs - which I seldom do. But in LA, everyone has a car so getting places is a snap.

Carrillo’s was the first place the mother in law wanted to show me and she highly recommended it as a Mexican food institution that she once lived near.

We descended on Carrillo’s just before noon on Saturday and there was already a line of people out the door, waiting for their chance to order from the two ladies working behind the cash registers. Even with two registers ringing up customers the wait to order was about 15 minutes.

Orders are taken at the register and then you can be seated until they call out your order - there was some table service but it was intermittent and seemed only limited to chips & salsa service. But who’s complaining? No reason to at a place where the massive burritos only cost $4.65.

Carne Asada Burrito - Massive

Carne Asada Burrito - An Inside Look

I ordered up a Carne Asada Burrito ($4.65) and a Carnitas Taco ($2.25) - had I known that their claim to fame was the simple tamale I would have ordered one of those as well. The wife & mom-in-law both ordered Carnitas Burritos but ended up splitting one and saving the other for later. We also ordered up a pint of guacamole, 1/2 pint of salsa & a 1/2 pint of extra hot salsa for the poker game later on.

The burrito was good - not out of this world, but very good. I was busy fishing out the ton of tomatoes they dropped in there but that didn’t take away from the appeal of the burrito. I thought that the carne asada could have had a bit more flavor.

Carnitas Taco

Now, that carnitas taco was excellent. So much so that I devoured the entire thing before the wife could ask for a bite. Not necessarily the most christmasy thing to do, but that’s what happens when you deprive a man of good Mexican food - no sharing. The one caveat that I will say about the taco - the ones that Cheffy & I came across in Texas were the best tacos I’ve ever had, hands down. While the Carrillo’s taco was great, it wasn’t the best ever. I thought the tortillas, while fresh, were a bit too thick - and it wasn’t double wrapped. If you’ve hit a few taco carts in your time, you’ll know that tacos are traditionally served with 2 corn tortillas - not one thick one.

Carrillo’s Table Salsa

The salsa served at the table was not the same as the salsa that we bought to take home, although I wish it was. As you can see, the salsa is blended slightly with chunks of green onions, cilantro and peppers. Very tasty. While not the caliber of Salsa De Rosa it was an great basic salsa (not any heat).

Next time (if there is one), I’m going to make sure to try out their tamales, but good news folks - on the website you can order tamales online and have them delivered to your door! If I can’t get back there while we’re out here, then you can be sure that I’ll be checking out that mail order tamale option.

Carrillo’s Tortilleria
19744 Sherman Way
Canoga Park, CA 91307
(818) 887-6118

General’s Smokehouse Bar-B-Que…To Go HOT Slaw

Not a typical review, I am only doing this in recognition of the ever growing popularity of hot food and to give props to a fellow Chilehead, Spencer Self, who makes one heck a good tasting Cole Slaw. During the Pilgrimage to Gatlinburg, TN this month, as always we stop off in Chattanooga, TN to visit my Sister and Brother-in-law. On this trip I noticed a very small store front on the end of a multiple business building with a lot of trucks (remember, we’re in TN - more trucks then cars) outside of it. We just caught the name on the sign and decided to ask my Sister what it was.

General’s Smokehouse Bar-B-Que just opened this year, “Oh you have got to try their HOT Slaw” my Sister’s eye’s gleamed. I told them about you and they are going to make up a special batch just for you. So the decision of what to do for dinner was settled pretty quickly. I had to try: “Meal by Itself - “Titanic Tater” is a hickory smoked potato busted open and smothered with butter, sour cream, meat (pork, beef, or chicken), cheese and BBQ sauce…..YUM!“ I was the only one who finished it completely, yeah no big suprise there aye. But it did take all I had and I paid for it later.

Ingredients: your basic cole slaw- amped up!! Spencer starts with a finely chopped cole slaw mix and adds a punch with sliced Jalapenos, Jalapeno juice soaked in, and tops it off with his homemade Hot Sauce ( a very tastey red cajun
styled sauce with a lot of coarse pepper ). One would think it would be loose or watery, but the slaw had a nice consistency and was very smooth.

The obivious is that the first aroma you catch is the slaw. there is the distinct vinegar smell and a peppery under tone. If you’ve ever had the peppers in vinegar at a Bob Evan’s or a Southern/Counrty Styled Rest., that is exactly what it smells like, peppers and all. The flavor is awesome, to a Heat Seeker it’s on the medium level, but I can tell you out of the four of us that tried it
for the first time, I was the only one not breathing heavy and pounding beer to extinguish the heat. I was just pounding beer for the sheer pleasure of it, if you know what I mean.

Conclusion: Spencer is a true blue Chilehead, his HOT Slaw is incredible! So if you are heading North on I 75, get off on exit 11 - Lee Highway and about two miles down on the right hand side is General’s Smokehouse Bar-B-Que…To Go. Tell Spencer I sent you and ask him for his HOT Slaw, maybe he’ll make up a little special batch for you too.

General’s Smokehouse
BBQ & More…….To Go!
Spencer Self, Owner
9416 Lee Highway
Ooltewah, Tn 37363
423-238-6007

Honey, there’s green stuff on my pizza

Hmmm, CPK in NYC? Yep, leave it to my wife to find the one restaurant that should not be out of the state of California. California Pizza Kitchen. Funny enough, I’ve been to CPK in Las Vegas and New York, but never any in California.

We went to Home Depot one lazy Sunday, stumbled across the famous Dylan’s Candy Bar and while sitting down enjoying our ice cream deliciousness she spotted it: the only CPK in New York. So the next Sunday we treked across town just to grab a slice (well a personal pan pizza).

Side note: The wife is a big fan of anything Californian. We’re both from California, but she’s a very proud Californian, kinda like my mom at my little league games proud - a little bit scary. I think it has something to do with her being from Southern California (I’m from Northern California). Must be something in the water down there…

So with California in the name, it had to be good right? I guess so. The wife loved her Jamaican Jerk Pizza (seen below), and I admit, it did taste Caribbean. However, my pizza was not Southwestern. I mean, the pizza tasted sort of Chipotle Chickenish, but frankly I got more heat from the bell peppers they used in the salsa (shudder).

But $14 for a personal pan pizza? I can pay $1.50 for a slice anywhere in the city and get more gastrointestinal pleasure from it then CPK. I guess I’m just not into all that green stuff on my pizza. (It was a cliantro lime sauce).

I’ll go back, but only to try something other then pizza from the menu.

Jamaican Jerk Pizza

Another great find from the Chowhound’s Guide to NYC (recommended here - tacos found here) - Shopsin’s is the quentissential funky diner that tourists to the city wish they could find.

Who wouldn’t love a place that will throw a customer out if they start talking on a cell phone? Seriously, the wife and I have been here 3 times so far and each time when a cell phone rings the staff will tell the offender to leave. Freakin’ fantastic if you ask me. And don’t expect the staff to wait on you hand and foot - one guy will tell you where to sit, a young lady will take your order and one other guy will bring the food out - that’s about it. Everytime we’ve been there it’s the same set of staff.

Coffee is self serve and you better act fast when a new pot is finished brewing. And don’t be scared if you hear yelling and screaming in the kitchen - just be prepared to cover the ears of young ones if they are prone to picking up cuss words.

Inside Shopsin’s looks like a garage sale threw up on it. Eccletic does not even begin to describe the decor. It’s funky, old and random. Games like Connect Four are scattered throughout the dining room and toys are available to entertain the kids in your group.

Open only from Breakfast, Lunch and Weekend Brunch, Shopsin’s is the ultimate stop for a hungover weekend brunch. The place features over 900+ menu items (menu here - pdf)! 900 items you say? Yeah, and every single one we have tried has been excellent.

S.O.S - My personal favorite, not a dish that I’ve found on any other brunch menu in NYC. And it’s good and huge.

Other menu highlights:
• Fluffer Nutter Sandwiches (shakes too)
• S.O.S.- eggs, creamed chipped beef, on buttered toast
• ho cakes - corn meal, pignoli,caramel hearts
• slutty cakes- pumpkin / pbutter, pistachio, cinn
• 50+ Varieties of Pancakes

If you are in the city for breakfast or brunch, I suggest you check out Shopsin’s - hell, if your in the city give me a call and I’ll go with you - it’s going to take a while to try everything on the menu!

Additional Reading:
New Yorker Article on Shopsin’s