Ba Bay is an incredible modern Vietnamese restaurant that opened at the end of 2010 in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington DC. I finally made it down there for a memorable dinner off their recently debuted springtime menu. I was joined by fellow foodie and Ba Bay regular, Leleboo.
I arrived a little early, so I started with a cocktail called the "633" consisting of Brugal rum, St. Germain, & milk punch topped with culantro. It was a fresh tasting starter.
We shared a trio of appetizers. First, we had an "autumn roll", consisting of rice paper filled with egg, jicama, veggies & Chinese sausage. The dip of hoisin sauce and peanut was good. The roll had a nice kick, too from jalapenos inside it.
We got a small portion of their chili glazed wings topped with scallion. They were more sweet that spicy, and they were finger licking good.
The third appetizer was a purple cabbage salad tossed with peanuts & herbs. The magical ingredient though was the dressing, a fish sauce vinaigrette. There was a complexity to the dish combining the bitterness of the cabbage with a little sweet and pungent. It was light and delicious.
For the next course, I ordered their soup special. It was a smoked pork broth loaded with Saigon noodles, which were like segments of udon noodles, topped with braised pork, ham hock, celery, and a soft poached egg. The broth alone was tremendous and complex in flavor.
Leleboo shared her dish, Papa Weaver's grilled pork loin with a fish sauce glaze, accompanied by rice noodles, bean sprouts, peanuts & scallion. The pork was wonderful with a nice crispy skin.
We also shared a side of flash fried cauliflower with chiles. This was also really good.
We ordered two desserts to share as well. First was the Vietnamese coffee milkshake with a small churro in it. They gave us straws normally used to sip bubble tea for this drink, and like Vietnamese coffee, it had a stronger, bolder coffee flavor.
The second dessert was a lemongrass pot de creme with a lime sabayon, pineapple compote and almond crumble. This was spectacular- not at all heavy and a wonderful combination of sweet and sour flavors.
633 Pennsylvania Ave SE
Washington D.C
(202)547-1787
For breakfast, one morning, my friends took me to Fuller's Coffee Shop located in the Pearl district of Portland, OR. It's an old school diner making great straightforward breakfast and lunch food. Inside, the diner has two long U-shaped countertops for customers to nestle into. The service was attentive as well. The waitress made sure our coffee and water was always topped off.
For breakfast, I ordered their "pigs in a blanket". The pancake was light and fluffy topped with powdered sugar, and the sausages were great. It even came with heated maple syrup.
