What we ate over President's Day Weekend

President's Day weekend of eating started in Fort Lee, where Dan and I picked up my mom's car to drive down to Silver Spring. There was fried chicken waiting for us. My parents are pretty damn awesome. They don't just love us, they love us TWO BOXES worth!



We had tastes of both the garlic soy and spicy, and the latter especially did not disappoint. The chicken had plenty of flavor as well as a penetrating heat that I've found lacking at other Korean Fried Chicken joints.



The leftovers were consolidated into one box and came along for the trip. Moments after arriving at Dan's parents house, Stone Groove attacked a drumstick in a way that reminded me of that famous scene from Nature or Wild Kingdom. You know, the one where the cheetah gets eaten by the hippo in the river, or something like that.

For dinner, we headed to Jackie's, located in a converted garage on Georgia Ave., in downtown Silver Spring. The space was....eclectic. There was mood lighting and clunky furniture like these oversized plastic chairs that reminded me of jelly beans. The rounded edges made it very difficult to drape your coat and hanging your bag was out of the question, too.

Dan and I split a beet, goat cheese and grapefruit salad to begin. I think beets belong on the list of delicious foods that Dan that did not realize he loved for no good reason before meeting me. There are a bunch, but Buffalo wings and bleu cheese are the only two I currently recall. Oh I nearly forget that despite having snacked on a chicken leg before dinner, Stone Groove attacked the bread with the same ferocity he had shown earlier! Someone get my father-in-law a pastrami on rye!



The evening's blue plate special was roast beef, which is what Stone Groove and I ordered. Meowrilyn, Amy and Dan went with the hanger steak. The beef was really peppery, which I liked a lot and I cleaned my plate, which was not difficult because there was not a lot of food on it. The trio of steaks caused some problems. No one was given the doneness that was requested and Dan unfortunately got stuck with a well-done steak even though he ordered it medium rare to medium. The servers took it away and promised a replacement but it didn't show up until after the rest of us were finished eating!



The cut of the second steak made it look even smaller than the original and the portions of sides had shrunk, too. I was annoyed. I'm not sure if the owner saw us talking to the server or if the server went to the owner afterwards, but within moments a lady was at our tableside. She turned out to be JACKIE! She explained that the kitchen was having issues and then offered to comp not just one of the hanger steak dinners, but two, a gesture we all thought was super cool. I was thinking best case scenario, they'll comp Dan's dinner and we just won't ever come back. Now, we'd consider eating here again for sure.

To cap off the evening, we ordered a trio of desserts: cheese, fruit-base, chocolate base. I was in charge of ordering the cheeses and chose the Oregonzola, a Maryland cheese and a third, possibly the Pleasant Ridge reserve.



The following day we went out for barbeque at Urban BBQ, suggested to us by Mooney. I had the pulled pork platter with macaroni and cheese and cornbread on the side. I didn't have high hopes when I saw the mac and cheese, but it turned out to be pretty good! The meat was a little on the wet side and the bread for those who ordered sandwiches did not hold up too well.



The space is a little cramped, but it's cute. There's a sauce bar in the back, baskets of atomic fireball candies and they use those little pats of butter sandwiched between a piece of cardboard and wax paper.



That evening we ate at a place called the Potomac Grill in Rockville. The food was whatever, but the service was truly bizarre. The waiter sort of looked like this Donald Lynch from that show Home Movies.


His shtick was to repeatedly ask us how everything was and while we were answering or in some cases before we could answer, he'd repeat himself or go onto a new question. Like while asking us if we wanted water. If you told him you didn't need more water (because say, your glass was already pretty full), he'd go ahead and pour out an eighth of inch of water anyway. Throughout the evening, his manner fluctuated from obsequious to standoffish without warning. It was difficult to tell if he was being an asshole or as DMR put it, acting in a one-man performance art piece.

Kyedong Chicken First Taste

We visited the Palisades Park branch, which is actually an annex in a Korean food shop. Its location threw us for a loop. We were confused and hungry. Our original intent was to eat at Baden Baden which is more of a sit down place, but they weren't opening til later in the afternoon.


I love how each chicken chain has a distinct way of packaging the goods. Kyedong's chicken is packaged in a container that's flatter than its competitors. It features an opening where a free can of Coke is placed. The ajushi on the box reminded me of someone - maybe an actor on a Korean drama I watched when I was a kid?


We went with two large orders of wings, one sweet and one spicy. The crust was nice and crispy and the chicken was well-cooked, but both flavor varieties were lacking in intensity. I did enjoy their radish kimchi, which was spicier than what you usually get due to some sliced jalepenos thrown into the mix.


A couple containers of rice and two varieties of kimchi from my parents' fridge round out the meal. Dan and Dave dig in.

KFC at home

I was craving Korean Fried Chicken big time earlier in the week. After work I hopped over to Bon Chon in K-town and picked up a large order of the #1 that I had placed about 20 minutes earlier. The #1 is called the special and is a mix of wings, drumettes and drumsticks. I asked for a mixture of hot & spicy and garlic soy.

I must admit, I was quite self-conscious toting my big Bon Chon bag on the subway. The word chicken is written in the bottom corner and though I brought a plastic bag to help rein in the smell, I'm sure the other passengers were noticing something was up! I just kept telling myself that there are many smells one can encounter on the train that are a lot worse than spicy fried chicken.




Bon Chon holds up ridiculously well. After the hour plus commute, the skin was still crispy and the chicken still hot. The box was divided in half, which each side containing 2 full drumsticks and 5-6 small pieces, maybe even more!



To drink, we busted out a bottle of Hitachino Red Rice Ale. The beer's sweetness played really well with the chicken, especially the spicy pieces which were at extra strength that day.