Weekend Report: Dinner at Zengo and Playing Outside

DC is like a big playground for adults. Ever since the weather got nice, I've spent every weekend mostly outside, riding my bike from place to place, meeting up with friends and stopping for snacks, music, or to sit in the sun along the way. It’s pretty great, and this weekend was no different.

Friday night started off right with quite the fancy dinner at Zengo (yes, that is two Zengo excursions for me in one week…don’t judge). We had a coupon for the chef’s tasting menu, and it was delicious! The meal started with their shaved papaya salad and some edamame, then progressed to appetizers, entrees, and dessert. Zengo is usually a small plates (Latin/Asian fusion) place, but these plates were anything but small.

Yucca Con Chicharron
singapore style beef stir fry/togorashi aioli/pickled cabbage

Crispy Chicken Wings: prawn glaze/lime/cabbage slaw

I’m having a hard time picking favorites – the yucca fries were unreal, as was the pork belly-yucca mash under the chicken. Yummm and the chicken wings.

Char Sui Chicken Breast
pork belly-yucca mash/anise tomatoes/garlic mojo

Chile Crab Legs: watercress salad/chili glaze/carmelized plantains

And the crab of course…basically it was all perfect. The only thing I didn’t like was the caramelized plantains with the crab, but that’s not Zengo’s fault, I just don’t plantains ever. The dessert was a bit difficult to eat, but ooooof the toasted coconut tuile holding it all together was SO good. I just want to snack on pieces of that forever.

Malanga Ice Cream: mango mousse/toasted coconut tuile

Part 2 of Friday night was attending and volunteering at BikeFest, the Washington Area Bike Association’s speakeasy-themed fundraiser inside Eastern Market. I got dressed up in a flapper dress, fringe and all, and enjoyed some live swing music, attempted (and failed miserably) at playing casino games, then helped clean up. (I forgot to take pictures, whoops, blogger fail.)

Saturday was what has become my typical weekend day-in-the-sun: coffee from Peregrine enjoyed sitting on my front stoop, biking to a friends’ backyard for more sitting outside, then yoga (Bikram for the first time in months! I am sore.). Post-yoga, LOTR-Emily and I finally made it to Union Market for ice cream (the creamery is only open on Saturdays, and for some reason I’m always there Sunday afternoons), and it was just as good as expected. They have regular and soft-serve, but the soft serve is literally their regular ice cream, just churned into smooth rich and creamy deliciousness.

Then we headed back to my apartment for more stoop-sitting, and watching the sun-shiny spring-timey world go by.

Sunday I went on a pretty epic bike ride up to Bethesda, then back through Rock Creek Park. It was a beautiful day for a ride, and biking the closed-to-cars-on-the-weekend roads in RCP was so fun! Sunday evening I got on my bike again and rode up to a friend’s house for some grilling followed by the Drum Circle.

(route details)

My legs are a little bit tired, and my arms are a little bit sunburned, but all in the best way possible. Hope you had a good weekend too!