isn’t the only thing the kitchen does well. Tender lamb meatballs in a zesty tomato sauce, and fritters that crack open to a fluff of potato and cheese, tempt you to make a meal of appetizers, while the crisp cannoli stuffed with sweetened ricotta and pistachios practically demand that you stay for dessert. // 400 S. Maple Ave., Falls Church; 703-226- 3460;
www.pizzeriaorso.com. Open: lunch Tuesday through Sunday, dinner daily. All major credit cards. Entree prices: $7 to $18. Sound check: 67 decibels.
★★ PRALINE BAKERY & BISTRO The skeptical looks on my friends’ faces as we pull into the parking lot of a generic shopping center turn to smiles once they enter Praline and spot a display of elegant macarons, tarts and chocolates in the cheery ground- floor bakery. At the top of the stairs, we’re given the option of dining in one of several snug rooms or outside, on Praline’s brick terrace. A fine fall night makes the decision easy, and soon we’re being schmoozed by a genial French host and charmed by the flavors flowing from the kitchen of chef Christian Gautrois. Lush chicken liver pâté, model French onion soup, and tender and garlicky snails, mopped up with chunks of a crusty baguette, are followed by chicken potpie with an airy saucer of puff pastry, rib-eye carved for two and served with hand-sliced french fries, and marshmallow-soft, hard-to-find pike quenelles in a rich puddle of lobster sauce: a taste of Lyon in Bethesda. Dessert is nonnegotiable, and one is not enough: Walnut dacquoise and lemon meringue tart, s’il vous plait. // 4611 Sangamore Rd., Bethesda; 301-229- 8180;
www.praline-bakery.com. Open: lunch Monday through Saturday, dinner daily, Sunday brunch. All major credit cards. Entree prices: lunch and dinner $8.50 to $28, brunch $9 to $17. Sound check: 69 decibels.
★★★★ RASIKA I keep waiting for Rasika to disappoint me. How can any restaurant, let alone one that serves lunch as well as dinner, maintain the impressive standards set by
chef Vikram Sunderam since he arrived from London five years ago? In the case of Rasika, it comes down to some of the most seductive and original Indian food I’ve encountered. There’s nothing on the chef ’s menu that I wouldn’t relish eating again. Packaged in a shiny banana leaf, skate in a paste of tomato, garlic, curry leaves and so much more is dynamite tempered by its salad of diced roasted beets and shaved coconut. Soft patties of fresh ground chestnuts and fava beans garnished with turmeric-tinged apple and set on minted red onion make up one of many meatless dishes that could persuade me to become vegetarian. Mahi-mahi stings the tongue with red chilies, tamarind and mustard seeds, a sauce that begs to be mopped up with Rasika’s superlative breads, maybe my new favorite: kulcha stuffed with grated potato, cauliflower and paneer, all zipped up with cumin and fenugreek. Sunderam is a genius with spicing, but I also appreciate the way the Bombay native marries fresh ideas with traditional ones: Veal vindaloo, anyone? (Some of his skill is attainable: Rasika caters to discerning home cooks with jars of the chef’s makhani, Kashmiri and Goan sauces for $6.) The service is cosseting and the backdrop fetching, with its shades of orange and gold. True, the restaurant is hard on the ears. But that’s a small price to pay for a gem of a meal — and I’m talking a diamond. // 633 D St. NW; 202-637-1222; www.
rasikarestaurant.com. Open: lunch Monday through Friday, dinner Monday through Saturday. All major credit cards. Entree prices: lunch $15 to $28, dinner $17 to $28. Sound check: 76 decibels.
★★ RED HOOK LOBSTER TRUCK Waiting for the crew of the city’s most transporting food truck to set up shop once they’ve tweeted their location for the day is like watching the warm- up for Bon Jovi. The anticipation in line — and there’s always a line — is palpable. The dude ahead of me is snapping photos with his cellphone; the gal behind me tells me this is her fourth attempt at sampling the seafood rolls since the business rolled into town from its (grounded) base in Brooklyn in
THAIPHOON Real Thai Cuisine
Dupont Circle
2011 S Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009 Tel: 202.667.3505 Fax: 202.667.8018
Pentagon Row Plaza
1301 S. Joyce Street, Arlington,VA 22202 Tel: 703.413.8200 Fax: 703.413.8868
Visit us at
www.thaiphoon.com
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