New Love – Found in Eden

I have been dealing with a serious case of wanderlust, you know it, don’t you? The feeling that you want to board a plane and go just about anywhere the looks, smells and is different than home and that requires the use of a passport?  With no real plans just a desire to see and experience something different?  Well – given the spike in oil prices and the new smartness of airlines in cutting flights and calibrating routes, tickets have been out-of-bounds expensive and I’ve been stuck stateside. 

In the mean time, through a journey out to Michaels and through my favorite food blogger Tyler Cowen, I’ve been introduced to the joy that is the Eden Center.  Located in Falls Church, the Eden Center and surrounding environs are an international mash up of Vietnam (Eden Center), pan-Asian vegetarian (Sunflower Café) and the Grand International Mart (everything you need for Asian cooking).  The signs of the Eden Center, even those that demarcate the parking lot (the lanes have street names), are in Vietnamese.  You can sample all kinds of Pho, Vermicelli Dishes, Tofu (there is one store front that only does tofu), Boba Tea and glassware.  

We ate at Houng Viet, which seemed pretty Western friendly.  The menu was in both languages and the décor was inviting and blingy with metallic decorations. The prices are super reasonable at about $10 per item and the menu included a long list of Vietnamese style favorites ranging from Pho, to Vermicelli (yum, light noodles covered in raw vegetables, fresh herbs including cilantro and mint and some protein of your choice), exquisite soups (like duck leg and rice noodles) to caramelized stir fries.  

Near to the Eden Center is the vegetarian and vegan friendly Sunflower Café.  As the name implies, the spot is tricked out in sunflower memorabilia and has a cozy atmosphere.  The entrees are a mix of Western, Asian and fusion and include all veggie/seitan/tempeh stir fries, pastas, udon noodles and raw mixes.  We had a kung pao faux-chicken dish, spring rolls and a gingery lo mein stir fry mix.  Lately, I’ve been especially into vegetarian restaurants for health benefits and Sunflower rose to the top of my list. 

I can’t wait to check out the rest of the area… Any suggestions?

Mid-City Cafe - Perfect!

Sometimes you go to a place and from the moment you step into it, you know you will be back many many more times.  Thats how I felt when I walked into the Mid City Caffe in Washington, DC.  It sits perched above Miss Pixies, a 14th Street Vintage and unique furniture and trinket shop.  I opened the door and immediately smelled fresh coffee with a tinge of cardamom to the scent.  The space is made for people to come and work on their computers, have coffee meetings and relax in a serene off beat environment.  One room has booth backed seats and big pull out chairs around tables with ample plug space.  Anticipating solo coffee shoppers, there is also a bar pressed against the window lined completely with plugs to facilitate easy work. Of course, Mid-City has free wifi, which again makes you feel comfortable coming here to work a little on the computer.  A second room juts off to the side, painted in light blue/grey with all high seat bar seats and a poster on the door announcing the DC English Writers Meeting each week.  

Walking up to the coffee bar, I noticed a slew of community even fliers waiting on the counter.  One that particularly caught my eye is the "Neutral Uke Hotel" night produced by Golden Bloom on Aug. 25 that will offer a sing-a-long to Neutral Milk Hotel songs played by the Neutral Uke Hotel and opened by Twins of a Gazelle on a UKELELE.  Really sweet. Their menu is a pretty classic, coffee, tea, espresso, french press and hand brewed fresh ground coffee.  There are a few light food choices and some delicious looking muffins and cookies.

Sitting here in the sun, I get the sense that I will be back here many more times to get personal work done, to write, to think, to drink coffee and to enjoy myself.  Among the coffee shops that I've been to in DC, Tryst, BusBoys and Poets, Qualia and Big Bear, Mid-City so far is my favorite.  I still need to try Sova on H Street to complete my tour.  Any other suggestions of indie shops that I've missed?

St. Elmos Coffee Pub - Alexandria Part 1

The Kleiner and the Kleinette went to the Arlington Costco to get a copy of the Audacity to Win by David Plouffe signed (and to do the sample circuit...) and decided to bring their laptops and explore a hood they had not yet sampled, Del Ray in Alexandria.  A quick search for wifi/Del Ray alerted them to what seemed to be a great spot -St. Elmos Coffee Pub.

The St. Elmo's Coffee Pub is adorable and for the most part typifies the kind of coffee place that I would love to see open on Mt. Pleasant Street or somewhere in Columbia Heights.  First of all, Mt. Vernon Street, is adorable.  Filled with spas, quirky shops and art stores that encourage patrons to make art in their midst, it feels like a little artists colony.  St. Elmos Coffee Pub fits in well on the street, painted blue with white cloud sculptures with pigs flying on them adorn the big bay windows that face out onto the street.  Inside, the coffee 'pub' is spacious with couches, large tables with chairs a la Pain Quotidiene, a variety of vintage cushioned chairs and a coffee bar.  The walls are brightly colored in orange and marbled green and each one features a different artist showcasing water colors, pop-arty and photography for sale. The one strange thing was that they were playing opera on NPR which lent itself to a very quiet atmosphere.  Families, couples, friends and singles gather here to work on their computers, read novels, study and catch up.  There is community library in its own separate section of the coffee pub.  Finally - on Friday and Saturday nights - live free music!  Fantastic.

I had a gingerbread latte and the Kleiner had an iced White Chocolate Mocha that he found to be delicious and over Starbucks par.  I also liked the gingerbread latte, but, would like to try the vanilla toffee latte next time or one of the many other creative drinks on offer.  One menu offered daily drink concoction specials, while the rest of the menu was a typical coffee house menu, lattes, espressos, cappucinos, cafe au laits, teas all reasonably priced at Starbucks or just below Starbucks levels.  The bakery looked delicious, many muffin flavors, papusas (this is Northern Virginia), quiches, sandwiches.  Biscotti is present in abundance and the flavors included Pumpkin (this is November.... no menu of anything is complete without something squash infused).

St. Elmos is an adorable place to spend some time on a weekend afternoon, especially after a quick trip to Costco, however, I must give a word of warning.  They offer free wifi, but it has an extremely frustrating level of connectivity which makes it difficult to plan on coming to St. Elmo's to do any sort of web related work.  This may be a 'my computer' thing, but, I witnessed 'could not be loaded pages' all around me.  That said, I really wish someone would carbon copy this place with slightly livelier music right onto Mt. Pleasant Street - given the crowds at Heller's, I'm sure it would be packed :)

First Look at Columbia Heights's Newest Offering: Tynan Coffee

After months of ‘walking by down Irving Street’ anticipation, Tynan Coffee has finally opened. I had about 45 minutes to kill while waiting for the Kleiner, so I decided to pop in, have a café au lait and a biscotti and settle in to reading my book of the month (or at 700 pages, maybe book of 2-3 months) Nixonland. Tynan Coffee serves the usual variety of espresso and coffee drinks, a few different chai tea lattes, smoothies, cold drinks, beer and wine and a short list of the usual coffee place casual lunch and dinner options. The atmosphere is slick, rather than homey, with light colored walls, high top seats by the window, and many two seater regular tables. There are a couple of plush, yet modern styled chairs in the back. In a nod to creating a community atmosphere, there is a bulletin board atop a bookshelf of shared reading material.

I wanted to like Tynan – really, really wanted to like it. I absolutely adore a good independent coffee shop for its ability to create a community and offer a place that people feel comfortable meeting and relaxing . I also really wanted it to offer above par espresso that I would want to pay close-to-the metro- Columbia Heights prices for instead of Starbucks (or dare I say, Dunking Donuts ). I wanted it to be a place that I could enjoy a Chai Tea Latte (a personal favorite to try around the different places I go) and a place where I could relax while reading or writing.