So this weekend the very lovely SarahP made the arduous journey from Connecticut (don't forget the second c! ) all the way down to Washington D.C. to see me. We did little but ate much...cue surfeit of photos!
We went to one of the few restaurants in the Chinatown here...it's actually kind of sad to visit the area because there's only a single block of shabby Chinese restaurants and stores. It's never very crowded, there are no fish markets or exotic fruit stands, and there seem to be more Chinese signs than people. I think it used to be more bustling at some point in D.C. history, or that's just what I like to tell myself :(
In any case, dinner was at Tony Cheng's Seafood Restaurant -one of the more impressive buildings on the block with a pseudo-marble facade and high entranceway. The funny thing is that while the second floor of the building, where Tony Cheng's is, was jam-packed with happy eaters, the first floor was another restaurant that was completely deserted. There might have been one or two people having lonely little dinners and a handful of waiters lounging around looking for something to do.
I am enthused for Sarah's arrival and delicious Chinese food made by Tony Cheng's loving hands.
The second floor with all the waiters in action. You can tell how quickly they were zipping around from the speed lines hehe...I was so excited 'cause when Eunae, Sarah and I were first seated, I understood little snippets of the conversation around me! One waiter was saying "No, I don't want to! I don't want to!" and that's actually ...uh...all that I picked up. Hehe
Vegetable fried rice...nothing too special. At one point I found what appeared to be a huge web of fried egg buried in the rice. My reaction was first "Woahh!" when I picked it up with my chopsticks, but it unfortunately did not taste any different from its smaller fried-egg brethren. I thought its size might have changed something about its flavor...
Look at the glistening MaPo tofu! I had hoped for a burning-hot tofu entree with plenty of red peppers, but it was not in the stars for me last night...(and don't be deceived by the bright redness of the dish in this photo!)
:D
Our photographer of the night, Eunae! All credit goes to her for the photos in this post- thanks love!
I think Tony Cheng's is supposed to be a family-style restaurant, meaning that the portions are bigger and meant to be shared with other people. And by "bigger" I mean that our plates were actually the size of platters...or perhaps deep dish pie pans. Really big deep dish pie pans. I don't know what I'm talking about right now...I'm incredibly sleepy and I miss baking cookies and cakes here haha. O well. Tony Cheng's is pretty much your typical Chinese restaurant, but judging from the number of diners at the fairly late hour that we went there, it must be well established. High marks all around! :D
Tony Cheng's Seafood Restaurant
www.tonychengrestaurant.com
619 H St NW
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 842-8669
