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Photo by Andrew Chriss
Where: My Bakery, Don Arturo's, Llajtaymanta.
On a recent trip to Bolivia, I had a craving for sopa de mani, which is a traditional peanut soup. It is mystically available in the D.C. area only at certain hours of certain days in certain weeks during certain lunar cycles. The venue was a peña in downtown La Paz, where men playing charangos accompany traditional dancers with disco lighting. However, the sopa de mani that was served was a watery white soup with vegetables and a grain resembling quinoa, with little flavor and nothing texture-wise that would suggest that peanuts were even in the same kitchen. When I asked the server if I had received the right soup, they responded that they didn't serve REAL sopa de mani to tourists because the altitude (La Paz is about 12,000 feet above sea level) messes with the digestion.
Thankfully, Arlington and Falls Church are filled with Bolivian restaurants and bakeries closer to sea level that prepare and serve sopa de mani the right way. Sopa de mani ingredients aren't exotic, but a lot of time goes into each pot. Onions and carrots are slow-cooked, followed by the addition of potatoes, stock, and ground-but-not-completely-powdery peanuts. A dash of cream toward the end of cooking provides some added thickness and brightens the color a touch. Beef and lamb are also commonly used and give the soup a stew-like consistency, but are not required. It's a heavy dish, and while sides are not required, a warm glass of api and an empanada are great accompaniments and should fill you up for the next day and a half. Even better, the soup costs about four dollars a bowl.
As noted above, sopa de mani is not served very often. Sundays and Wednesdays are the most common days to get the soup, and even then, a strange occurrence may portend the soup's availability. On Sundays, plan to show up early to beat the post-church crowd. My Bakery in Falls Church opens at 9 a.m. on Sundays, and it's a good idea to get there right when the door is unlocked. Don Arturo's in Arlington and Llajtaymanta in Falls Church have similar sopa de mani schedules.
If you don't have the patience to hunt it down (or the transportation) you can check out this recipe from The Houndstooth Gourmet.
Small Bites
Speaking of nutty
Tom Sietsema's review of Jackson's Mighty Fine Food and Lucky Lounge in Reston ponders how modern science and restaurant staffing go hand in hand: "The servers are bright and engaging, useful for recommendations and quick to clear dirty plates; most of them are good arguments in support of human cloning."
The longest job interview
Andy Shallal, of Busboys and Poets fame, is employing a week-long contest to hire a chef at Eatonville, a forthcoming southern-food restaurant across from the B&P V Street location. Shallal and Top Chef finalist Carla Hall have narrowed the field down from 200 to 10 finalists.
We still love Carla
Speaking of Ms. Hall, she will participating at Share our Strength's Taste of the Nation at Mellon Auditorium on March 30. You can either pay $85 to get into the event or $150 for VIP treatment, including hands-on demonstrations and a VIP dessert bar.
A post-dinner beatdown
A man dressed as a Chick-Fil-A mascot was recently attacked in Fredricksburg, VA. Details are unclear as to whether the assailant represented the cattle industry, was vegan/vegetarian, or was from another fast food joint looking to rip-off a Chick-Fil-A sandwich.
Chocolate lovers, rejoice
The National Museum of American History is hosting another Smithsonian chocolate event on March 7. Demonstrations on chocolate processing and recipes will take place from noon to 4 p.m. For the real chocolate nerds, there will be a symposium about the cultural and historical aspects of chocolate.
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Mio on Vermont Ave serves a peanut soup that looks and tastes exactly as described here. It was on their Restaurant Week menu (which is available until tomorrow), and I had it twice!
RE: A post-dinner beatdown
Vegans attack people? I didn't realize we were such a violent group, guess I should go break a carrot or something.
That attack makes me think of Plankton (of SpongeBob fame) going after a Krabby Patty...Ah HA! The secret recipe is finally mine!
Too many Earth Crisis shows in my past.
For another really good peanut soup option, go to the Bread Line on Penn & 18th. One day a week (can't remember exactly which) they do an African peanut & chicken soup which is incredible.
It looks like one could go swimming in that soup bowl, the way that photo is cropped. Mmmmm, creamy.
Pretty sure the restaurant at Mount Vernon (the George Washington one) serves peanut soup.
I thought ole George just ate goober peas and chopped up on some cherry trees. I shoulda payed attention in skewl.