Bibimbap from Adam Express.
Dish of the Week: Bibimbap
Where: Adam Express, Korengy, Mandu, Yellow Vendor, cart at 14th and K St
Bibimbap is a staple of Korean cuisine, yet every restaurant or home cook makes their version just a little bit differently. There’s always a twist, which is what keeps this otherwise homey dish so interesting.
While the variations are endless, bibimbap is typically a combination of veggies, meat, and fried egg served over rice. Bibimbap literally means “mixed meal,” and tradition calls for topping it with spicy-sweet gochuchang (Korean red pepper sauce) and then stirring the whole thing together like mad. Most of the bibimbap available in D.C. is from food trucks, so if you get the chance to order something called dolsot bibimbap in a restaurant, be sure to give it a try. The ingredients are thrown into a sizzling hot stone bowl that’s been coated with sesame oil, causing the rice to caramelize on contact. The best part is scraping the crunchy rice off the sides and bottom of the bowl.
Unfortunately, one of my favorite places to grab bibimbap, Adam Express, is temporarily closed. The owners of the Mt. Pleasant staple returned to Korea for medical reasons — Prince of Petworth has an image of this heart-wrenching note on the window. The ownership hopes to reopen next month, and we’ll be crossing our fingers.
In the meantime, Korengy is serving up some mighty fine bulgogi bibimbap to tie you over. Any place that spoons the excess meat sauce over your rice can be forgiven for having an abominable name.
Small Bites
OpenTable no more?
OpenTable has long been D.C.’s go-to for online restaurant reservations, but now City Eats (by the same folks that brought you this horror) is hoping to give it a run for its money. Eater reports that the rival reservation website is now the only game in town if you want to snag a much-coveted reservation to Graffiato. While OpenTable still books far more restaurants than City Eats, this sort of competition just might drive Washingtonians to make reservations the old fashioned way: using the telephone.
Pigs and suds
Heavy Seas brewery will be putting on the Capital Bacon and Beer Bash at the National Harbor this Saturday from noon to 9 p.m. The event will feature a dizzying array of bacon, over ten different varieties of Heavy Seas beer, and the chance to see a whole hog being butchered. Tickets are $70.
A Movember to remember
You may have noticed some friends growing out some rather unattractive mustaches this month. And while some might be doing it out of sheer laziness, others are doing it for Movember, which aims to raise money for men’s cancers. Proof will be hosting a Movember fundraiser on November 27 from 9 p.m. to midnight. Tickets are $50 and include complimentary hors d’oeuvres, a craft beer, red and white wine selections, and a specialty punch and cocktail, in addition to a cash bar. Tickets are limited and may be purchased at Proof or Estadio, or via fax. For more information, please call Events Director Kim Burke at 202-737-7663.
Remembering Molly Ivins
Eatonville continues their “Food and Folklore” series this Sunday with a three-course fixed price menu featuring the recipes of late journalist and “professional Texan” Molly Ivins. Ellen Sweets, longtime friend and author of Stirring It Up With Molly Ivins: A Memoir With Recipes, will be on hand to discuss Ivins’ life and sign books. Tickets are $45 per person (plus tax and gratuity). Call 202-332-9672 for reservations.
