Eat First, then Eat Seconds and Thirds
Though much of D.C.’s ever-diminishing Chinatown can now be found over in Rockville, a few stalwarts remain to pacify the tourist set with beef and broccoli, while delighting locals with more obscure fare. Eat First, along with Full Kee and Chinatown Express, is part of what we consider the trifecta of D.C.’s great Chinatown dining.
The tiny vestibule that leads into the restaurant is festooned with all manner of coloful photocopies of local food media accolades, but the actual dining room is decidedly drab and spartan. We’ve read testimonials to the excellence of some of the standard Chinese restaurant fare listed on the main menu, as well as some of the hot pots and assorted offal-oriented appetizers on the shorter menu at each table, but our attention is always commanded by the specials posted on the far wall, which serve as a showcase for Hong Kong cuisine. The specials are not cheap, averaging around $14 each, but two specials are plenty for two to three people to share.
We find that it’s best to consult one of the waiters about a special that seems intriguing, as the perfunctory descriptions posted on the wall tend to leave out any references to all but the main ingredient. The best example of this phenomenon is the tersely worded "Sauteed Lotus Root," which turns out to be accompanied by just about everything in the kitchen: sweet and spicy pieces of Chinese sausage, roasted fatty bits of pork belly, snow peas, carrots, scallions, at least two types of unusual mushrooms, menacing slivers of garlic, and, of course, the fibrous and Swiss cheese-holed slices of lotus root.
Not surprisingly, this also happens to be our favorite. It’s a peasant food extravaganza, the sort of thing we would expect to encounter at a remote village potluck. The Chinese sausage and the pork belly manage to cover the full spectrum of sweetness, and their chewy textures are a perfect complement to the crisp snow peas and crunchy lotus root.
We always start off with their cold seaweed salad, which would not be out of place at a sushi restaurant. The greens are rubbery and crunchy, heaped on a mound of lightly pickled and shredded carrots and turnips, sprinkled with sesame seeds and chili peppers, and dressed with rice wine vinegar and ginger. It’s always a refreshing start to a heavy meal.
When we’re not having the sauteed lotus root, we opt for their stir fried baby bok choy with Chinese sausage. The baby bok choy turns out to be a tender green, and the Chinese sausage once again shares the stage with the unbilled pork belly.
We’ve mentioned this before, but we’re hardcore greens fetishists, so we always make space for their “Stir Fried Sweet Potato Leaves.” The sweet potato leaves are acutally about two-thirds stem to one-third leaf, making for occasionally awkward eating, but enjoyable nonetheless.
The “Aberdeen Peal Stir Fried Jumbo Shrimp with House Special Sauce” is one of their more regal offerings. Six enormous shrimp arrive deep-fried, and nestled in a mince of fried pork, red chili peppers, and garlic. Sure, their heads are still on, but the batter thankfully obscures any unpleasant beady eye contact.
Eat First has a number of other interesting specials, too, including a variety of whole fish, a lamb hot pot that is sadly unavailable until the cooler months, and a lobster with XO sauce, so there’s always the prospect of an unusual food adventure. And those encumbered by squeamish dining companions can feast on some of these Hong Kong rarities while allowing their less adventurous friends to take refuge with General Tso's on Eat First’s regular menu.
Eat First
609 H St. NW
(202) 289-1703