Beautiful Bubbles & Perfect Pho: Living it up at Eden Center

Recently, I made my third trip to Eden Center: mecca for all things Vietnamese food.  My great lady-friend Alix turned the big 2-7, so I figured I would take her out for a weekend in the ‘burbs, chock full of discount shopping, a trip to Grand Mart - and a serious brunch at Eden Center.

Alix and I not only spent our time in Eden Center getting full on pho, but we also had the best coffee drink I’ve ever tasted, and bought banh mi sandwiches to-go. If you haven’t visited the center yet, read on for a couple of recommendations!

Pho: Though a number of the original Eden Center pho restaurants have relocated from the shopping center, a handful still remain.  A tried and true vietnamese restaurant that has won many accolades (even making note in this 2005 NYT article) is Huong Viet.  This was the starting point for our food tour through the center. 

Huong Viet serves a variety of Vietnamese specialties - from noodle and rice bowls, to all kinds of chicken, steak, and seafood dishes.  We were greeted immediately upon entry to the restaurant, seated, and given a couple of moments to order.  While I ordered my usual Pho selection of Pho Bo (rare steak) and spring rolls (pork and vermicelli in a fried wrapper, with fish sauce), Alix ordered Pho Ga (chicken) with the garden rolls (shrimp and fresh veggies in rice paper, served with peanut sauce).  Alix ordered the salted plum drink, while I had a lemon soda.

The rolls we started with were delicious.  I usually prefer the spring rolls to have a thin, crispy wrapper, making these a little heavy for my liking, but the garden rolls were fresh and sauces were on point.  The pho was spot-on good.  Both of us are pho “editors” - we like to throw spice into the broth - and my one regret is that the restaurant brought us lemons instead of limes to mix in.

As for our drinks?  While Alix’s tasted like salt water, she loved the plum at the bottom.  The lemon soda was seltzer, with a pile of sugar at the bottom and lots of lemon.  I did drink it all, though! 

You may be told that for great pho, you have to go to a place that serves pho and nothing else.  My experiences at Huong Viet, Pho Royal in Sterling, and Minh’s in Arlington suggest otherwise.

Bubble Coffee: Filled to the brim with pho, rolls, and fizzy Vietnamese pop, we headed to Song Que to pick up our very first Banh Mi sandwiches to save for later.  We entered the deli and the first thing we noticed were the large durian fruits sitting on the counter - which we remembered from an episode of ‘Bizarre Foods’ as tasting sweet and smelling like rotting flesh. (Let’s be honest: I’m pretty sure Alix snuck one home).  But really, it’s not like either of us remember much of the deli once we were introduced to the star of the Song Que show: the bubble tea menu.

Song Que has a ton of bubble tea flavors - from orange to coconut to cherry and strawberry; from redbean to avocado; and our seemingly generic selection: coffee with sweetened condensed milk and tapioca bubbles.  The coffee was beyond perfection: rich and creamy, a perfect contrast to the slightly chewy bubbles.  When I go back, I will head straight to the counter and order the coffee with bubbles again.  Not worth trying another flavor just yet, as that drink is perfect.

What was not perfect, however, was the Banh Mi.  We both ordered a #1 - pork with pork skin.  We should have ordered the grilled pork, extra meat.  That’d be the #8.  The one we ordered had great fresh veggies - but absolutely NO meat at all.  So when (not if!) you go, get the #8 with the grilled pork, and get extra pork.

When heading to Eden Center, be sure to come hungry and give yourself plenty of time to peruse the groceries that line the shopping center.  And if you are smart enough to bring home a Banh Mi to-go, note that the special sauce on the sandwich is a mix of oil and egg; a vietnamese-style mayo that does NOT keep well in a car during a shopping trip.

For more info on Eden Center, visit Tyler Cowen’s Ethnic Food Guide.

Utter Fashion Joy: Rachel Roy at Macy’s

I want to let you in on a little fashion secret that I discovered Sunday, shopping at Macy’s in Tysons Galleria.  If you are like me at all, you are pretty tired of the same old designs being pumped out of the Gap, Banana Republic, and J. Crew.  At their prices you should get garments that knock your socks off - not settle for style that only sort-of fits, well, you.

Meet Rachel Roy: a designer with an eye for fun, flirty, and well-fitting pieces that make a statement while costing no more (and perhaps, slightly less) than the stores I’ve listed above.  Fun fact: Rachel Roy attended Columbia Union College, now Washington Adventist U, in Takoma Park.

Her new ‘Rachel’ collection is exclusively featured at Macy’s (and also available for purchase online at Macy’s, where a number of pieces are on-sale).  On May 22, you can visit Tysons Galleria, meet the designer herself, and enjoy an afternoon of fashion, food, and DJ-spun-slick tunes. For more information check out the Macy’s event page. 

This weekend, I walked away without any Rachel Roy pieces.  And now, all I can think about is going back to get one of her comfortable-yet-seductive looking tops to wear with one of my 20 black skirts or my skinny jeans.  With cinched waists, billowy dresses and tanks, ripped leggings… I’m pretty sure I’m dreaming of fashion tonight. If you have a favorite piece, please feel free to share!

(And, yeah… I’m not sure what is going on with the placement of these pictures - I’ll figure it out soon enough!)

     

Screen on the (Key Bridge) Green is Underway

If your idea of a great Friday night is hanging out on a blanket, in a green green park with a little picnic and perhaps a bottle of your favorite beverage**… well I have some summer fun for you.

Every Friday at dusk until September 4, Rosslyn BID will host it’s annual Summer Film Festival at Gateway Park (right across the Key Bridge from Georgetown).  This year’s theme is I <3 The 90’s, and from Clueless to Cry-Baby, the list has a little somethin’ for everyone.  I even have a chance to finally catch “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?”  That’s right - I still haven’t seen it.

So, while you wait for the District to get its act together regarding a 2010 Screen on the Green before the summer is finished, come check out the best thing to happen to Rosslyn since Piola’s free food happy hour. 

Hopefully I’ll see you there.  Once I get myself a big ol’ soccer-mom style folding chair, that is.

Clueless (1995) April 30 Wayne’s World (1992) May 7 My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997)  May 14 Edward Scissorhands (1990) May 21 Happy Gilmore (1996) May 27 Office Space (1999) June 4 Cry-Baby (1990) June 11 Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) June 18 Bio-Dome (1996) June 28 Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead (1991) July 2 Home Alone (1990) July 9 What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? (1993) July 16 Empire Records (1995) July 23 Dumb and Dumber (1994) July 30 Romeo + Juliet (1996) Aug. 6 Airheads (1994) Aug. 13 The Wedding Singer (1998) Aug. 20 The Birdcage (1996) Aug. 27 Billy Madison (1995) Sept. 3

**We’re pretty sure they don’t allow this sort of thing - officially, anyway.  It’s a public park after all.