What inspired you go meatless for the month?
It was a combination of different factors: eating less meat, wanting to know where meat comes from, losing weight. I thought we'd [with husband John Porvaznik] go cold turkey so then it'd be easier to eat less meat when we reintroduce it.

What did you miss the most?
Pho with brisket and flank steak from Pho 75. And I've been craving Peruvian chicken even though I don't normally eat it. Every time I drove home, I thought, "I could go for Super Chicken."

Where did you find the best meatless eats about town?
Anytime I went Asian, I was happy. Four Sisters has a whole vegetarian section and Dino had a vegetarian tasting menu from two different farms and that was terrific. I'd never been to Asylum before and was in Adams Morgan reviewing Dr. Horrible at DCAC and tried their vegetarian cheese steak and it wasn't bad.

What was the hardest part of staying meatless?
Making sure you asked beyond the menu descriptions. I wanted an asparagus soup but it was made with chicken broth so I didn't get it. It's hard at places that are least descriptive with their menu. And bar food was hard to find anything other than fried cheese.

What did you learn?
Restaurants are becoming more conscious. Carmine's had a entire separate menu for different allergies and restrictions (garlic, dairy, wheat/gluten and vegetarian and vegan menus.) It wasn't as challenging as I thought it was going to be in the beginning.

What would you say to encourage someone trying to eat meatless for a month?
Try to do as much home cooking as possible. We made tempeh, but was not a fan, and seitan. We also made mushroom masala and seitan stroganoff.

Would you do it again?
I think in general I will just eat less meat and I'm probably going to stay with not eating meat for breakfast and lunch. I would have no problem to do it again, but it was more about adapting to a more conscious style. We're trying to be more of a flexitarian and know the source of our food. If we've gone back to our old ways we might do it again next March. But if someone invites us over for a chicken dinner we're not going to say no. We're not going to turn into a Portlandia sketch.

Photo courtesy Joanne Lawton/Washington Business Journal

Red Hook Lobster Pound truck: street food makes the Dining Guide

WaPo's Tom Sietsema released his 2010 Dining Guide online yesterday, and in between other tasks, I've been combing through it to understand how the critic views the current restaurant scene. Before I get to the nuggets that I've mined, though, I should note what Sietsema's MO was for this year's guide:

To make the cut this year, a restaurant didn't just have to be performing well; it had to be a place folks are talking about. That means you won't be reading about all of the area's better-known addresses or popular standbys for sushi, steak or pizza. Chances are, you already know about them. Chef changes excluded a handful of contenders from consideration, as did a noticeable dip in quality at some of the region's most popular (but no longer most praiseworthy) restaurants.

Using this as his guiding criteria, Sietsema shook up his guide from a year ago, sometimes radically so. Among the notable picks, omissions, and star movements:

• CityZen, chef Eric Ziebold's taste laboratory in the Mandarin Oriental, went from four stars in the 2009 guide to completely off the list this year. This is the biggest fall from grace I can ever recall.
• Other notables from the 2009 guide that didn't make the cut this year: Marcel's, the restaurant that topped the Zagat food ratings this year, was dropped from Sietsema's guide after earning three stars last year.  Other three-star performers from last year that lost their spots: Present, Corduroy, The Source by Wolfgang Puck, Proof, and Zaytinya. (The Zaytinya snub is understandable.)
• Other sacred cows that got tipped this year: 2Amys, Four Sisters, and even 2941, which earned three-and-a-half stars from Sietsema last year.
• Citronelle regained its fourth star after losing it two years ago. Michel Richard's flagship moved up to three-and-a-half stars last year, but made a full recovery this year.
• Michael Landrum, despite opening the high-profile Ray's the Steaks at East River, has no restaurants on the list. Not even Ray's Hell Burger.
• Birch & Barley, Estadio, Kushi, Pizzeria Orso, and Masala Art all made impressive debuts, scoring either three or two-and-a-half stars.
• The Red Hook Lobster Pound truck made an appearance on Sietsema's list, the first time street food has made the cut. It's a very forward-thinking move if you ask me.
• Similarly, Sietsema gave a huge boost to the craft cocktail movement by awarding three stars to the Columbia Room, mixologist Derek Brown's boozy hideaway, which doesn't even serve formal meals. (Which, frankly, makes me scratch my head why the equally inventive ChurchKey didn't make it.)
• Sietsema ventured into Baltimore Sun territory by including Cindy Wolf's tasting-menu operation, Charleston, from Charm City.
• And, in what must be a very satisfying moment for Little Mexico, Taqueria La Placita also made its debut on the Post list. I'd like to think Y&H helped influence that decision.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Unlike Four Sisters, Fall Church’s other perennial favorite for Vietnamese cooking, Present enjoyed a meteoric rise almost from the day it opened. Yours truly contributed to the hype last year, when I called it, without much hesitation, the “area’s best Vietnamese restaurant.” Like others who’ve visited Present since its initial rush of positive press, I’ve sampled a few plates that haven’t matched its now-lofty reputation, including a deep-fried tuna that hit the table DOA, barely tripping the taste buds. Has this made me reconsider my superlative? Of course. But I’ve come to the conclusion that, despite some recent gaffes, chef Luong Tran and his Present team continue to produce the most thought-provoking and detail-oriented Vietnamese cooking in the area. Is it always the best? I guess that depends on whether the kitchen is hitting its marks, which tells you something about the restaurant’s ability to handle crowds and a crush of ticket orders. Present would do well to study Four Sisters, which has been a model of consistency for years, even when the place is overrun with waiting diners.

6678 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church (703) 531-1881

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

The Margherita at 2Amys: Does it make the cut?

Earlier this week, I was noshing on the roast chicken at Palena Cafe, reveling once again in Frank Ruta's ability to add and coax flavors from this generous, succulent portion of breast, wing, and leg meat. That's when the thought struck me: This is, hands-down, one of the area's greatest dishes. It deserves a spot in some sort of local culinary hall of fame.

The roast chicken is an obvious one, but what other dishes would make the cut? I've been pondering this and have drafted a number of nominees. The list is, by no means, complete. It needs your suggestions.

Once we get a solid roster of nominees, we'll put them to a public vote here on the Y&H blog. The top 10 vote getters will go into the City Paper's inaugural D.C. Dish Hall of Fame. Winners will receive everlasting glory.

The working list of nominees:

• Lobster burger at Central
• Half smoke with chili at Ben's Chili Bowl
• Fried whiting at Horace & Dickie's
• Foie-gras lollipops at minibar
• Parker House rolls at CityZen
• Irish BLT at Restaurant Eve
• Shrimp and grits at Vidalia
• Lobster roll at Kinkead's
• Green papaya salad at Four Sisters
• Margherita pizza at 2Amys
• Floating market noodle soup at Nava Thai
• Butter chicken at Heritage India
• Roasted bone marrow at Blue Duck Tavern
• Palak chaat at Rasika
• Roast chicken at El Pollo Rico
• Mac 'n' cheese at Oohhs & Aahhs
• Spare ribs at Mr. P's
• Pho at Pho 75
• Paella at Jaleo
• Hamburger at Five Guys
• Lingonberry linzertorte at Hook
• Salty oat cookie at Teaism
• Lobster "begula" pasta at Citronelle
• Spit roasted goat at Komi

Chef Hoa Lai of Four Sisters

One by one, we’re running through the 50 restaurants that made the cut on this year’s Young & Hungry Dining Guide. If you have visited the day’s featured restaurant, let us know what you think. If you’re planning to visit for the first time, tell us about your meal when you return.

The members of the Lai family have understood one thing better than any other Vietnamese restaurateur: They’re not in Vietnam anymore. So while their institution’s initial success was based on its ability to appeal to transplanted Vietnamese at the Eden Center, the restaurant has shown an ability to adapt to its adopted country. I don’t mean to imply that chef Hoa Lai has sold out Vietnam’s cuisine to cater to the American palate, because he hasn’t. But the Lai family hails from South Vietnam, an area that has two distinct advantages in competing in the American marketplace: It prefers sweet-and-sour flavors over the chile heat of central Vietnam or the hard saltiness of the north, and the region has shown a historical willingness to adopt outside influences. The Lai family has carried on that tradition well, whether emphasizing the fruits and sugars that play to America’s sweet tooth or dropping the odder ingredients that don’t play at all in the United States. Now, the family has built a new restaurant outside of the Eden Center, a gorgeous space full of dark woods and yellow hues, designed to recall the French colonial period in Vietnam. With this, and its other moves large and small, the Lai family has put Vietnamese food squarely in the American mainstream, and it looks great there.

Addendum: To learn more about the Lai family's rise to prominence, read my cover story, Exit from Eden.

 Four Sisters, 8190 Strawberry Lane, Suite 1, Falls Church, Va., (703) 539-8566

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

The pork-laden product at Pho 14

Salad or garden rolls, not to be confused by their deep-fried cousin, the spring roll, have always been one of my favorite Vietnamese appetizers. These gorgeous, transparent cylinders of rice paper come stuffed with a jungle of rice vermicelli, thin strips of pork, crispy lettuce, bright orange curls of shrimp, and light, refreshing leaves of mint, cilantro, and Thai basil (or some variation on the herbs). When dipped in a "peanut" sauce — which, more accurately, should be a cooked-down hoisin sauce with chopped peanuts as a garnish — garden rolls may be my definition of the perfect bite.

They're meaty, nutty, cool, light, crunchy, fragrant, and gummy in the best way possible. Plus, you eat them with your hands, giving you the soft, tactile immediacy that's often missing in utensil-driven food.

But the key to a great garden roll, for me at least, is balance. Each ingredient must know its place — like a worker in a Socialist production collective — and never try to dominate the others.

Lately, however, I've noticed that garden-roll makers at the new Vietnamese outlets in D.C. — specifically Saigon Bistro near Dupont Circle and Pho 14 in Columbia Heights — have taken to overstuffing their appetizers with pork. Far from giving you more meat for your money, this piggy indulgence merely disturbs the delicate balance of a garden roll. The dry, bland flavors of boiled (or maybe roasted) pork dominate in the most unpleasant way.

I brought my complaints to Hoa Lai, head chef at that Vietnamese institution now known just as Four Sisters, who told me something interesting. He says garden rolls are typically eaten as entrees in Vietnam. When a family has garden rolls for dinner, they will typically spread out the ingredients on a table, so that each person can build their own rice-wrapper meal. Frequently, Lai adds, family members will pile on the pork, to the detriment of the other ingredients in the roll. They'll do so for one basic reason: Pork is cheaper than shrimp.

This Vietnamese household approach to garden rolls may be finding its way into the Vietnamese-American restaurant scene for the same reason: Pork is cheaper than shrimp. Then again, it could be that some Vietnamese cooks just prefer this approach because they grew up with it. Frankly, I tend to think it must be a cultural carryover from Vietnam, since I don't see any less shrimp in my roll than usual — just more pork.

Whatever the reason, I don't like it. Maybe you do. Obviously some Vietnamese like it that way (though Lai himself prefers the more balanced garden roll and serves one of the best at Four Sisters). Perhaps the solution is to serve garden rolls like they do in Vietnam: as a spread of ingredients that we can use to build our own.

Personally, I'd really dig that.