DC Food Roundup, in which I almost barf.

I ate a ton of interesting food in the last few weeks.

To recap:

For the weekend of the 4th, we went to The Passenger, a pretty fabulous cocktail bar. They roasted an entire pig, served with delicious potato salad, coleslaw, beans, and chips, for the occasion. I also had a perfect rye old fashioned to drink. My photos are kind of sad, because the interesting former-theater-turned-pretend-railcar venue was on the dark side. But it was amazing.

I got a random extreme mussel craving, so made some mussels in a fennel sauce, with a side of ravioli and a glass of white wine. Fennel is delicious, but it was a bit odd with the mussels. I wasn't a huge fan, even though there are plenty of mussel and fennel recipes out there (ie, it wasn't a crazy Gen idea).

Perhaps most noteworthy, I discovered a food that makes me want to barf. I don't think this has happened in the history of What Gen Ate- I'll try almost anything, and I don't *hate* any of it. Even McDonald's didn't faze me. Steamer clams, however, apparently do.

I'm not an East Coast girl, and mussels are a lot cheaper out west, so I'm much more familiar with those bivalves. I'd had deep-friend clam strips before, and steamed Cherrystones, once. So I thought clams were much smaller, and chewier. Which is what persuaded me to order a whole bucket of them in Annapolis.

Turns out, they have huge squishy insides that remind me exactly of a soft-boiled egg yolk. Did I mention I don't like eggs? And Jon does not eat bivalves, period. So I found myself trying in vain to choke down an entire bucket- we're talking close to thirty- of these huge bastards. As repulsive as peeling skin off the siphons was, at least they were chewy and bland. I eventually gave up and focused only on the siphons, and succeeded in not vomiting.

Ok, that was gross. Let's end on a happy note.

We also finally checked out Port City Brewing in Alexandria, which is awesome. Seriously, they've been open for less than six months, and their beer is perfect. Especially their pale ale (Jon's pick; great session beer) and their IPA (my pick) are fabulous. I highly recommend their beers- get a growler at their facility and go on a tour to check out their hop cannon, or find it at Whole Foods in NoVa, among other places.

This is Bill Butcher, PC's founder (who gives the tours sometimes- how cool is that?) with the hop cannon, a brilliant invention of theirs to dry hop without oxidation.