Ropa Vieja (4/5 NOMs)
Puerto Rico meets Spain with a unique fusion dish Ropa Vieja from Busboys and Poets, a Hispanic, Cuban, and Arabic fusion restaurant in Takoma, DC’s neighborhood we sometimes think is in Maryland. This restaurant is no stranger to serving dishes that are unique and often with their own interpretation. So this time, we went with their take on a popular Spanish and Cuban shredded beef. One way to describe this dish is a reverse Mofongo, a popular Puerto Rican dish with a large cake stuffed with meat. In this case, the meat is outside, and the cake is much smaller. It comes with a whole lot of beef in tomato sauce with green and red peppers. I like that flavor-wise. It’s primarily dominated by the beef and not the red sauce. The meat was defiantly the star of this dish and pretty much overpowered the Mofongo patty. The cake is made from fried plantains and vegetables mashed together into a very dense patty. It is not an overly large dish since it cost $18 and kind of left us wanting more and hungry for more. That’s a good excuse to order some desserts.
Fried Chicken
Fancy up your Fried Chicken with a crispy halal order from Busboys and Poets, a unique fusion restaurant in Takoma, DC’. We love fried chicken, so we just had to try out their version. It’s more like eating one huge cornmeal-crusted chicken steak served with a side of Chardonnay white sauce. Oh, la la, that sounds so fancy. I wasn’t sure if it was for mash potatoes or the meat, so we just poured it all over everything. A lot of chicken, but overall the serving is pretty thin, so each bite was soft and juicy. It comes with a nice order of collard greens that were good enough to be their own dish. Of course, like any fried chicken, it comes with mashed potatoes. The best way to enjoy this order is with a little bit of everything in every bite. Not the cheapest dish at $16, but it’s a lot of food so that you might have some leftovers. A very hearty and heavy dish, so careful you might fall into a food coma later on.
Pecan Pie
This year, celebrate the winter holidays with a nice slice of thick Pecan Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream from Busboys and Poets’ new location in Takoma, DC. We are not big fans of cold weather, but we are huge fans of pecan pie season. It’s one of our most favorite desserts, so not many can meet our high noms expectations. This slice surely meets and exceeds all of our nomnom desires and would make any day warmer Such a thick and dense pie made every bite so enjoyable. The filling was so sweet that it made our taste buds very happy. It’s so dense that you might have to put in an extra effort to cut through it. We won’t complain since we are a big fan of thick things—a pretty large slice for just $6 and enough to share with a friend. Unless you are pie greedy and want to eat it all by yourself, we won’t blame you unless you are not sharing with us!
