As the year wraps up, we are very excited to release our best of, favorites, and most drooling dishes in the Washington DC metro area, Top NOMs 2017! We wish we could write about everything we ate, but there are only so many days in a year. This is a DC metro area tri-state (that’s right, we count DC as a state as it should be), and we also include dishes from Maryland and Virginia. We hope you enjoy these dishes as much as we wanted them.
Best Cheese Dish
Short Rib Grilled Cheese @ GCDC: I like my grilled cheese. I want my man, who is big and gooey, like The Short Rib Grilled Cheese’s amazingness from GCDC Bar. The dinner theme is a lot of cheese and nothing else because we are about to bite into the most amazing grilled cheese ever. That extra cheesiness and gooey make this one of the best-grilled cheese sandwiches. Of course, the short-rib meat helps make it even better. We can’t wait to return and try other delicious dishes from there. Please read our full review for that extra gooey goodness.
Best Ice Cream
Smores Galore Stir Fry Thai Roll @ Class 520: There is no better way to enjoy smores than this Smores Galore Roll ice cream from Class 520. Stir-fry ice cream is truly amazing, where anything can be turned into it. Here we are, enjoying this traditional American campfire snack in a new way. No dessert can match the flavor and joy this treat brings to you. Watching it made is just as exciting as the flavor makes our taste buds happy. Read our full review to get the sugar rush.
Best Cocktail
North Remembers @ Game of Thrones Popup Bar: The drink for a true King of the North! This was by far our favorite drink at Game of Thrones Popup Bar. It’s a giant wooden mug filled with the sweetness of coconut and pineapple. Be careful; this drink is potent. Mix 3 alcohols: scotch, oloroso (wine), and Cointreau (orange-flavored liqueur). We are big fans of alcohol and sweets, so this combination truly earned it a rightful place as one of the best drinks in the area. Sadly, this is no longer available, but the memory stayed with us. Please read our full review and hail to the King of the North.
Best Fast Casual
Tofu with Purple Rice Bowl @ Bibibop: Purple rice is like magic; surprisingly, this casual fast food place is on par with many other fancy places. It goes so well with any protein or sauce; this time, we are going vegetarian with Tofu. It doesn’t hurt to go outside the meat box. Their organic Tofu is just as good as all their meaty goodness. We just fell in love with the quality and speed of this new fast-casual chain. It is excellent for those on the go who need to grab a quick bite. Please read our full review and enjoy some purple rice.
Best Burger
The Impossible Meatless Burger @ Counter: OMG, we finally got to try the Impossible Burger, a meatless plant-based burger patty that bleeds and tastes like a real thing. This is a creation of science! Smarty Pants foodies at Impossible Foods created a new meat replacement with all-natural ingredients like wheat, coconut oil, and potatoes. You heard it right. A meatless burger is our favorite burger of the year. It was so memorable and unique that we had to put it on our Top NOMs list. Read the full review and discover the meatless burger that bleeds.
Best Vegetarian
Veggie Okonomiyaki @ Uzu: Prepare for the taste bud-blowing dish Veggie Okonomiyaki savory pancake from Uzu in Union Market, DC. This dish literary means “how you like” in Japanese as in its prepared the way you want it to. The reason why this is one of our favorite vegetarian dishes is that it’s not like anything we’ve ever tasted before. The flavor of this dish and the joy it brought us was so much that it just had to be featured on the Top NOMs list. Please read our full review and try this fantastic vegetarian dish.
Best Breakfast
Smoked Salmon Hashbrown Benedict @ Summer House: No brunch without a fantastic egg dish like these perfectly poached eggs. It takes a lot to impress this nomster as we are big egg lovers. During this weekend’s brunch, they didn’t just make a great dish but raised the game to a new level that not many restaurants can match. Every bite of this dish is such joy that it had to be placed on our Top NOMs list as a favorite egg dish. Read our full review and fall in love with the runny yolk.
Best Sandwich
La de Pernil (Pork) Arepa @ Arepa Pues: Pork, pork, pork! La de Pernil quickly became one of our favorite orders because of all that pork shoulder goodness. It was so flavourful and tender that you might orgasm in your mouth. Seasoned to perfection and combined with their special sauce. All this together made for one of our favorite dishes of the year. Now, is it a sandwich? We don’t know but don’t care either. It’s so good that it would have made it on the list one way or the other. Please read our full review and discover the fantastic world of Arepas.
Best Ramen
Tonkotsu Black Ramen @ Jinya: After all the drinks and starter dishes, we are excited to try Tonkotsu Black Ramen’s main course. This standard pork ramen comes with everything that Ramen lovers expect, like nori-dried seaweed, green onions, fried onions, and seasoned soft eggs. This might be a newcomer to the DC food scene, but they quickly made a big taste splash. Please read our full review to stay warm on a cold day.
Best Side
Vegan Mozzarella Balls @ Pow Pow: I tried vegan meat, and I liked it! It is very exciting to try vegan sweet and sour pork seitan from Pow Pow, a New Asian cuisine that brings Chinese, Japanese, and Korean techniques together in the H Street Corridor neighborhood. As one of our first dishes at EmporiYUM, it makes for a grand entry. What caught our eyes is their vegan and veterinarian selections. They might be small, but they are mighty in taste and cheesiness. Even though it’s not real cheese!!! This really could have fulfilled us if we didn’t know any better. Please read our full review and enjoy some balls!
Best Fusion
Doffle (Donut + Waffle) @ BToo: The creation of an evil scientist, a tasty combination of Donut and Waffle to bring us Doffle from B Too, one of our favorite Belgian restaurants in DC. We are familiar with this restaurant and dish but can’t pass up having it again at EmporiYUM. It has everything you love in one bite: a donut’s softness and a waffle’s texture. The fact is, we can’t figure out a category for it. Best Donut? Best of Waffles? Best of Desserts? It’s the best of Fusion since it combines two things so well! Regardless, it’s a tremendous and must-try dish for you. Please read our full review and let us know what category to use.
Reader’s Choice
Game of Thrones Pop-Up Bar: Welcome to Game of Thrones Popup Bar in Washington, DC, where you can take a trip all around Westeros and Essos, which are brought to you by the fantastic people of The Drink Company in Shaw/U Street. This place deserves Fan Pick of Top Noms! This is by far our most popular review of the year. For a good reason, this is a fantastic place! Please read our full review and join the fight for Westeros.
