Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Research

There's one Venezuelan place in town.  In the entire D.C. area, there is only one restaurant serving authentic Venezuelan food.  I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.  In fact, I should be glad that I live in a metro area which serves any Venezuelan food.  It just comes as a bit of a shock - there are Chinese restaurants on every corner.

In celebration of Chinese New Year, and in celebration of Dave's birthday, and in lieu of a homemade dinner which did not turn out nearly as well (or as early) as planned, our family quite spontaneously went out to dinner last night.  Dave got to pick the place, and he's been itching to hit up La Caraquena since we learned about it.  The chef is Venezuelan, and so are a large portion of the dishes. I kept saying that the time wasn't right.  The girls needed to be in the right state of mind for this restaurant.  We don't want them to leave dinner thinking that they don't like Venezuelan food.  Dave argued that his birthday was the perfect moment, and so we went.

I am no food writer, so I won't make an attempt.  Suffice it to say that Dave and I enjoyed everything.  The menu was rather short, and Venezuelan only made up about half of the dishes.  We ate only Venezuelan food - well, with chicken strips and french fries.  Dave and I really enjoyed everything we ate.  In fact, some things really surprised us.  The girls loved a few things (plantains with cheese) and turned up their noses at others (rice and beans with spiced meat and fried eggs).  Poor little Annika sat in a feverish daze, as she has been fighting something nasty all week.

Now we know that when food is available, it'll be tasty!

No comments: