Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Weekend Report: Jess Visits DC

This weekend I talked to Jess


If this were some sort of minimalist blog, that would be all you need to know. We talked, in various DC locations, from Friday night through Monday morning, only stopping to sleep. 

I always talk a lot, and I talk a lot with most of my friends. But something about Mollie + Jess = talking at a speed/volume/level of excitement unknown to most normal humans. The sheer level of our shared conversational-ADD is generally of epic proportions. (I stole that from this article, which pretty well sums it up – mostly we talk about everything.)


Friday night Jess arrived from very cold Boston to very cold DC. We went to dinner at ShopHouse, the much-talked-about Asian Chipotle. It is around the corner from my house, opened 5 months ago, and I can’t believe Friday was my first visit! Like the burrito chain, you choose your base, your protein, then an assortment of toppings and sauce. We were starving. I went for brown rice, grilled satay chicken (LLC says the pork and chicken meatballs are the best, so that’ll be my next visit), eggplant with Thai basil and green beans with caramelized onions, and spicy curry. The server asked which garnishes I wanted – green papaya slaw, herb salad, pickles, toasted rice, crushed peanuts, or crispy garlic – umm all of them well duh?  

Delicious. But I will warn you, I’m no whimp when it comes to spicy food, and this was HOT. The veggies themselves were spicy, and the sauce was too – next time I’ll probably go for the mild sauce option.

And then we got fro-yo and talked at my house. 

Saturday we started with a Bikram yoga class. Last time Jess visited we did Bikram and she hated it, but some major change of heart came over her in the past year, and this time she actually enjoyed it. For the rest of the day we shopped in Georgetown, then did some cooking of our own (recipe tomorrow). 


We met up with one of my friends-from-home-since-birth who was also visiting DC for the weekend for a late dinner at La Tasca. How’s this for a small world moment – four people at this dinner were Petalumans! Who knew so many of us made it to DC?

Anyway, now let’s get to the important part. Sunday morning all-you-can-eat/order brunch at Masa 14 was the anticipated focal point of our weekend. (I've been once before - read about it here.


We worked out beforehand to ensure maximum hunger, then headed to the restaurant to arrive when it opened at 11 am. There was a moment of panic-face anxiety when they told us they didn’t have any tables, even though I could see many many empty tables! Unbeknownst to me, they do take reservations, but they’re booked months in advance. And they don’t have a wait list for tables of people who have canceled. (Yes, agreed, this makes absolutely no sense and is incredibly inefficient.) 


But Jess worked her magic and within 10 minutes we were sitting at a table: Jess, myself, SpeedyKate, and Jess’ friend Matt. 


Then the ordering commenced. Over the course of 3 hours, we ordered (and consumed) 22 small plates (read the menu here, we ordered almost everything). Considering that Matt left over an hour before the rest of us, this is a lot of small plates. By the end our waiter gave us a nod in admiration – You know girls, I have to say I’m impressed. 



Go here for a great photo slideshow. Above you see the Wild Mushroom Flatbread, Pain Dulce, Masa Chicken Salad, and Chilaquiles,

We rolled ourselves home and spent the rest of the afternoon lying around, watching the Golden Globes, and talking non-stop (of course). 

Sadly, Jess left Monday morning, but I'm looking to when I should visit her in Boston this spring...

Hope you had a great weekend and Happy Martin Luther King Day!