Taste of Bethesda!

This Saturday marks the best food day of the year (after Thanksgiving): TASTE OF BETHESDA!!!


It's happening this Saturday, October 4 from 11am to 4pm in downtown Bethesda. Tons of restaurants in Bethesda set up shop in the street and sell samples of their delicious foods for 1-4 tickets. Tickets are $1.25 and admission is free :D

I've gone the last two years and I can vouch for its awesomeness. There's lots of variety, lots of deliciousness and it's pretty cheap too :D

Don't miss it!

I'll also mention Art on the Avenue, a street festival in on Mount Vernon Ave in Del Ray is also happening on Saturday. The website doesn't really describe the food available, but I remember from last year the restaurants of Del Ray set up on the street selling their delicious food too :) I also remember that the Del Ray cookoff is judged during the festival, but I don't know any details.

Busy day on Saturday!!

Ray's the Steaks, Arlington

I've been fantasizing about going to Ray's the Steaks for a really long time. Recently, it got worse and I couldn't stop thinking about it...so the date was set and off we all went.
We went on a Sunday which means the menu is a three course prix fixe menu called "A Place at the Table": a certain amount of money from each meal goes to charity. I like charity, but I liked that I FORCED to order all three courses even more :D We got there at 6 and waited about 20 minutes for a table - not bad compared to the hour long wait I was expecting.

When we sat down we were given some rosemary focaccia (I think: there was definitely olive oil and definitely rosemary, at least) and spiced cashews. I also ordered a glass of their cheapest red wine :D

Course 1: We all had the sherried crab bisque. There were three other salad choices. We made the right decision, the crab bisque was amaaaaazing.

Course 2: The price of the meal depended on the cut of meat you chose. There were three tiers: $25, $33 and $38 (at least I think it was $38....). I got the rib eye with horseradish cream on the side, cooked medium rare. It WAS medium rare, and it was glorious. I tasted the other three steaks at the table: a hangar steak, a blackened rib eye, and something else with a the most delicious flavorful mushroom sauce ever. Meat heaven. There was also creamed spinach and mashed potatoes served family style :D Wow.

Course 3: DESSERT!! The choices were: dark, milk or white chocolate mouse, cheesecake, key lime pie, or snickers pie. I got cheesecake (I really needed something heavy after all that...). It was great. I tasted both the milk and dark chocolate mouse as well, and they were also fantastic :D I think I might get one of them next time!

Ray's the Steaks does live up live up to the hype. It was a fantastic meal and the price was amazing (and charitable on top of it!). I'll be back for sure! You should probably go too (unless you're a vegetarian). It's located at 1725 Wilson Blvd, Arlington - between Rosslyn and Courthouse, in a strip mall.

Lavender Moon Cupcakery

A new cupcake shop just opened in Old Town and I was there to investigate :D The shop just opened last Friday, according to the owner, so there was little inside besides a simple case holding the cupcakes and a mini fridge with drinks.

I demanded that the owner describe all the cupcakes to me because they were unlabeled, and she did! It was awesome. Then we each picked a cupcake: I got the banana cream pie cupcake: a banana cupcake, with a pudding filling and whipped cream and a caramelized banana on top! He got a Mexican chocolate cupcake! white cake with a cinnamon chocolate pudding filling and a fluffy chocolate frosting on top!

While we were sitting outside, the cupcake lady brought us another!!! She said she wasn't going to sell them all. It made my day! Chocolate lavender: chocolate cake, and chocolate lavender :D

The cupcakes were all moist, the frosting fluffy! If I had to pick a favorite of my cupcakes in the area, I'd say these were the ones because of the moist cakes and lots of frosting (that's light and not too overpowering). Also, they have unique flavors :)

There's a new stop on Tour de Cupcake next year!! Lavender Moon Cupcakery is at 116 South Royal St in Old Town Alexandria. There's no website, but from what I've read they're closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. I would definitely give this place a try :D