Your Events Roundup: Week of 11/13/17

Tuesday 11/14

A Taste of Burma & Bengal - An Evening to Support Rohingya Refugee Children

Join us for a vibrant night market inspired food and cultural experience at the Gibson to help create Safe Havens for the 360,000 Rohingya refugee children that have fled into Bangladesh. This is Washington DC's way of saying that we care and we're here to support! 

Your ticketed donation will immerse you in Bengali & Burmese culture as you sample Burmese inspired cocktails and enjoy aromatic food and flavors from the region, created by local chefs and mixologists. 

Nom Nom Nom: Stories about food and festivities

Named the “gold standard” in storytelling by the Washington Post, voted one of the top 3 open mics in DC by the Washington City Paper, and nominated for the 2012 DC Mayor's Arts Awards for Innovation in the Arts, Story District is one of the most well-known and respected storytelling organizations in the country. Our monthly storytelling series -- our first program -- has been taking place on the 2nd Tuesday of every month in Washington, DC since 1997. Over the years, we've added tons of other shows and events, but our monthly show remains Story District's backbone. Tonight's show, like all of our shows, will feature a mix of eight to ten first-timer storytellers and regulars, who will take the stage to share their twist on the night's theme. And if you have a story to tell on this theme, pitch it to us! If your story is selected, you'll have a rehearsal and the support of our most senior coach, Stephanie Garibaldi.

Wednesday, 11/15

Cheese Club by Cheesemonster at District Space

A General Cheese Club Ticket gets you into the party. You'll get to taste the cheese of the month, try a few cheesy dishes, and sample a few beverage pairings. If you want to bring the party home, however, you might want to spring for a Premium Cheese Club Ticket: you get all the trimmings of a general ticket, plus you get to take home a quarter pound of the cheese of the month!

Thursday, 11/16

Whaley's & Anacostia River Keepers

Join us November 16th to celebrate the 1 year mark of the Whaley's and Anacostia River Partnership. We have sold over 50,000 River Keeper oysters and raised over $2500. To mark the occasion we will have $1 River Keepers all night and 10% of all sales will be donated to the Anacostia River Keepers. Help us clean our city's forgotten river!

Shake & Bake Block Party!

From Thursday, November 16th to Sunday, November 19th, Knafeh and their band of Bearded Bakers will join forces with Z&Z and Cotton & Reed Distillery for a weekend long block party full of baking, shaking, and cocktail making.

Cotton and Reed, DC's first rum distillery, will be hosting Knafeh and Z&Z bakeries all weekend while crafting clever cocktails out of their very cool space. Knafeh will be serving their signature Middle Eastern sweet cheese/cream dessert topped with a crunchy coating, pistachios and rose water syrup finish - but a night with the Bearded Bakers is always more than just desserts. Z&Z will be whipping up their popular Mana'eesh - middle eastern flatbreads in a unique setting that DC has come to know and love. 

Saturday 11/18

FotoDC: Styling, Staging and Social Photography Workshop

Join us for a discussion and demonstration with UrbanStems Head of Products Cameron Hardesty and acclaimed product photographer Laura Metzler. During the class, Cameron will create a modern, eye-catching centerpiece using fresh stems while Laura will masterfully stages and captures the finished product.

FotoDC: ACreativeDC Digital Curation Workshop

A Creative DC promotes emerging, established, and diverse DC perspectives across new media, showcasing and acknowledging creative community, and our local creative economy. Our website features photos from the hashtag with a weekly gallery curated by Makeda Solomon, and a photo-of-the-day curated by Pamela Carroll. On November 18th, Makeda and Pamela will give a brief Q&A on what we look for while curating the homepage, and on creating a narrative through digital curation.

FotoDC: Feast for The Eyes

“Photographs of food are rarely just about food. They hold our lives and time up to the light. Food can signify a lifestyle or a nation, hope or despair, hunger or excess. Ultimately, food is not only about literal taste, but also Taste with a capital T—both the lifestyles we aspire to and the building blocks of culture itself.” —Susan Bright

Please join Aperture’s senior editor Denise Wolff for an afternoon of show-and-tell and discussion about the rich history of food in photographs from Feast for the Eyes: The Story of Food in Photography by Susan Bright. Photographers, through a range of expressions, have depicted this most common of subjects, and the resulting works—from the hilarious to the devastating—hold our lives and times up to the light, forming the building blocks of culture and reflecting how we see ourselves. Afterwards, we invite photographers to shoot and style food on site, courtesy of our friends and partners at Whole Foods!

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Compiled by AJ Dronkers, Edible DC. To add your organzation's event to the weekly roundup, email info@edibledc.com with the subject "Event Roundup."

Bowled Over - A Veterans Day Story

Souvenir from Asia is now a family tradition

The Climes with their bowls. Christopher, Robert and Scott.

Words and photos by Victoria Milko (Originally published in 2015)

An unlikely family tradition that would continue for generations began when Robert Clime was drafted during the Vietnam War—and it all started with a souvenir.

Deciding that he would enlist in the Navy rather than be drafted into the Army, Clime found himself at sea on the U.S.S. Enterprise during the war. While on a tour in Southeast Asia, he was granted shore leave, leading to numerous adventures in exotic ports of call. The markets in Asian cities were a major draw, and Clime found himself going stall to stall looking for gifts to bring back for loved ones at home.

“There were these big Philippine mahogany bowls, carved from a single piece of wood,” he says. “I decided to bring some home with me.” Little did he realize at that moment that a family tradition was launched that would carry on for generations.

Mementos and metals from Robert Clime's naval service.

After completing duty in Vietnam, Robert Clime stayed in the Navy. And as is often the case with military life, his family relocated from base to base depending on his orders. As they moved, the Climes would host parties and gatherings, inviting their neighbors over to make new friends and build a new community. When it came to picking out what dishes to bring to the communal table, the Climes had help from a classic source—a Julia Child cookbook. With each passing party, the recipes the Climes attempted became increasingly complex.

“I remember the kitchen being an absolute mess after dinners,” laughs son Christopher. “Those dinner parties got competitive, in a friendly way, pretty quick.”

With their parents spending more and more time testing recipes and hosting guests, the Climes’ children, Christopher and Scott, began to invite themselves into the kitchen, often asking to help prepare the dishes of the evening.

But the boys didn’t start their kitchen careers baking soufflés; they started with something a bit more simple: making a Caesar salad, using the bowl their father had brought back from his time overseas.

A classic presentation of a classic salad.

While the history of the Caesar salad is dicey at best, its creation is attributed to Caesar Cardini, an Italian immigrant who operated restaurants across North America. Legend has it that he invented the “Caesar” salad one night when forced to make do with just a few ingredients after a busy holiday night had emptied the restaurant pantry. Making do with what he had, Cardini mixed a salad tableside, ultimately creating what would come to be known as the Caesar salad; a recipe that calls for romaine lettuce, croutons, lemon, pepper, Parmesan cheese, Worcestershire sauce, olive oil, egg and black pepper. This classic salad lives on today across the world with endless variations.

Robert Clime believes that the key to a good Caesar is all in the bowl. “It made sense to use a big one,” he says. But why choose Caesar salad? His answer is simple: “It’s a salad that goes well with steak. Everybody loves a good steak.”

The Clime family "bowl" being put to use.

With his father often being out to sea on deployment, Christopher began to take a larger role in the kitchen. “My dad was gone six months out of the year. Being in the kitchen with my mom seemed like the best way to spend time with her.”

Working with the family in their household kitchen was the start of Christopher’s culinary career. “I really knew I wanted to be a chef when I was about 15,” said Christopher. “When I wasn’t playing sports I would be working in restaurants, learning the ins and outs of kitchens.”

After attending culinary school at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, RI, he went to South Carolina, working at the prestigious five-star Woodlands resort. Next came stints at a string of high-rated restaurants, ultimately working his way up to chef de cuisine at Passion Food Hospitality and now executive chef at PassionFish in Reston. Christopher is joined at PassionFish by his brother Scott, who is the wine and beverage director of Passion Food Hospitality, a group with several prominent DC area restaurants and bars. Caesar salad maintains a secure spot on their menu wherever they go.

As the years go by Christopher and Scott, having since being gifted their own wooden bowls, continue to bring their bowls with them to family gatherings, making a Caesar salad at almost every party they attend. While some of the bowls get more use than others (“You’ll notice mine doesn’t have many scratches in it,” jokes Scott), there remains no clear answer as to who makes the best salad. One thing is certain: The Clime family takes tradition very seriously … and hospitality even more so.

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Victoria Milko is a multimedia journalist and writer based in Yangon, Myanmar. She is also currently the Multimedia Editor for Frontier Myanmar.

A Culinary Research Journey Along the Silk Road

Grandmothers Provide Inspiration for the Maydan Team 

By Lani Furbank, Photography by Jennifer Chase 

The team behind popular DC restaurant Compass Rose recently returned from a 36-day trip through Morocco, Tunisia, Georgia, Lebanon and Turkey. Owner Rose Previte says with a laugh, “It wasn’t a vacation. [We] came back with scars, and I’m proud of them. I think we all are. We’re, like, ‘We did it. And we said never said no to trying anything.’” 

Their eight-person caravan traversed more than 15 cities and 10 open air markets, tracing the path of the Silk Road and ancient migration routes. Leaving no stone unturned, the team started their days with 5am wake-up calls, then long drives across rural countrysides and transcontinental flights in the middle of the night. It was all in preparation for their new venture, Maydan, which is set to open this October.  

Inspiration for the forthcoming restaurant stems from the shared use of the term maydan throughout the Caucasus, North Africa and the Middle East, which Previte first encountered while living in Russia. The word, regardless of varying spellings and pronunciations, refers to a town square or a central gathering place in a city. “It’s an Arabic root to the word, but all these cultures use it, whether they speak Farsi or Georgian or North African dialects of Arabic,” Previte explains. 

Owner Rose Previte is flanked by her two chefs, Chris Morgan (left) and Gerald Addison (right).

Maydan will embody the energy of a city’s center. “We are trying to create a gathering place, or somewhere that everyone can come together,” Previte says. “We really just want people to mingle and gather and make friends with strangers.” As guests enter the restaurant, they’ll walk into the square, which will house a wood-fired hearth and a large bar. On the mezzanine level above, there will be 60 seats for family-style dining.  

The menu will feature cuisine from the countries the team explored on their trip, as well as Iran and Syria, which weren’t on the itinerary due to safety concerns. Previte refers to these areas of the world as forbidden lands. “I think these cuisines are underrepresented in the U.S., but it’s because they’ve been kept from us. The average American can’t go there,” she says. Still, they gained insight into the cooking traditions of Iran and Syria through Georgia and Lebanon. “We got as close as we possibly could. At one point, we were 12 miles from the Syrian border,” Previte says.  

The culinary history of these regions is intertwined with migration patterns. “A lot of dishes that once started in Old-World Persia, you’ll find in Georgia,” Chef Chris Morgan explains. “You’ll try something in Morocco, and then you’ll go to Lebanon and have something that’s almost the same dish.” That’s where the lines become blurred. “Everyone always argues where everything comes from,” he says. “‘We were the first to do this’ is one of the most common lines I think I heard the entire trip.”  

Maydan Muhamara 

One way to trace the evolution of food traditions is by taking a deep dive into baking. “You can really see how migration affected food,” Previte says. “The easiest way to see it is the bread.” 

“It’s really wild to see how similar the breads are between those countries,” Morgan adds. “Everyone in those countries uses bread as a vessel, and it brings people together. Everybody breaks bread at every meal, which is something we find really exciting and want people to do at Maydan.” 

To that end, Maydan will have a traditional bread oven, which is called a toné in Georgia. The clay vessel is similar to a tandoor, and variations of it can be found throughout the region. Mastering how to use it was a top priority during the team’s research endeavor, but instead of turning to cookbooks or highly trained chefs, Previte wanted her team to learn from the true experts: grandmas.  

So, the trip’s itinerary was crafted to put the two executive chefs, Morgan and Gerald Addison, in the kitchens of women who build these ovens themselves and brave flames and 500° temperatures daily to perfectly craft their bread by hand. “I quickly learned my threshold for heat is not as good as theirs is,” Morgan jokes.  

Previte found these international hostesses thanks to the Compass Rose clientele and their wide-ranging social and professional webs. “You can find people anywhere in the world through a restaurant in DC, I swear by that,” she says. “I don’t know if any other city in the country you would have connections like that.”  

The skeleton of their trip was built on contacts from friends of friends, but many of their days morphed into something entirely different. “Every person I talked to would just be so kind,” Morgan says. They’d say, “‘Oh, you want to learn how to make that? Let me call my aunt,’ and they’d literally, on the spot, call that person, and then an hour later, I’d be at their door, walking in, and then they’d give you a hug, sit you down, and just put you to work.” 

“You have to wonder: Would that happen here? I don’t know,” Previte muses. “Can you imagine the opposite—someone coming from Morocco and walking around Ohio being, like, ‘So, can I come in and cook?’” It’s not for lack of hospitality, she says, but rather an overreliance on scheduling. “This is our plan for the day; this is our plan for the week. We can’t just drop everything. The beauty of the rest of the world is if you meet someone the day before or that morning, they’re going to make time for you that afternoon.”  

Maydan Betenjen Wardeit Leymoun -- Marinated Eggplant in Orange Blossom Water. 

As the trip unfolded organically, Previte and her caravan were welcomed with open arms in each city they visited. “You walk into someone’s home and it’s like you’ve known them your whole life,” Morgan says. He recalls fasting for Ramadan in Morocco and sharing iftar, the traditional meal to break fast, with generous families. “The feasts at night, you see food that you wouldn’t see any other time of the year,” he says. 

Unlike many chefs in the western world who closely guard their prized recipes and proprietary methods, the grandmas Morgan and Addison met were eager to pass on their secrets, especially once they learned of the team’s plans to share the culture’s culinary heritage with the residents of DC. “A Georgian woman on the side of the road in Georgia wrote a recipe for me in Georgian, which I have yet to have translated, for a bread that we baked with her out of her toné,” Morgan says. 

Of course, not everything was laid out in black and white, and many grandmas would simply toss in a pinch of this and a handful of that. “I was tasting constantly,” Morgan says. The best way to pick up these techniques was trying it himself. “Even just stirring the pot,” Morgan says, “that’s how I learn, is by doing.” That, plus lots and lots of notes. “Whether it was with my phone and my Notes app, or my little notebook, I was constantly writing things down.”  

For Previte, this hands-on style of learning recipes and techniques is unmatched. “I don’t think there’s any other way,” she says.

“I believe so much in the power of travel. I am from a tiny town in Ohio, and when I went abroad and studied in college to Spain, I came back a totally different person, and I promised I would never stop traveling, and I never have.”

Travel has since become ingrained in her business model as well. “It was such a part of my growth as a human being, and such a part of creating Compass Rose and now Maydan, it would be, in my mind, hypocritical to not show everybody what I’m talking about.” On this particular journey, Previte had the opportunity to reconnect with her family’s roots in Lebanon—she visited the village where her great-grandparents lived and ended up meeting a distant cousin.  

Back stateside, Previte, Morgan and Addison have their work cut out for them as they try to replicate the global flavors they discovered abroad. “You almost feel a responsibility,” Previte says. “They were giving us this gift of ‘this how my grandmother did it, and my grandmother before her,’ and I think we’re feeling the responsibility of executing that.” It seems the payoff will be worth the effort. When they debuted one of the first recipes they brought home, a Tunisian octopus dish at Compass Rose, the memories of their voyage came rushing back. “I immediately felt like I was sitting in the woman’s home again,” Morgan says.  

When re-creating these dishes, Morgan and Addison will have the added challenge of finding local sources for the array of exotic ingredients. “Some will have to be imported, but we are really going to try to produce everything that we can ourselves,” Previte says. They’re experimenting with unique peppers in rooftop gardens, and they plan to work with farmers to bring in larger quantities of specialty crops.  

Morgan and Addison’s intent in developing the menu is not to elevate or modernize the traditional recipes they learned. “We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel,” Morgan says. “If we love a dish, and you see it on the menu, it’s because that’s how we saw it prepared.” Guests can expect lots of charred meats and vegetables; flavorful spreads, dips and sauces; and, of course, bread. You’ll have to go to Compass Rose for their signature khachapuri, it won’t be on the menu at Maydan, but Previte hinted that we might see some new styles of the dish that they picked up on their trip.  

Even with pages of copious notes, a vast collection of photos and countless stories, the team’s research isn’t done yet. Previte is already talking about future excursions. “There’s so much more to see,” she says.  

When Maydan opens its doors, Previte hopes it will further her mission to showcase underrepresented cuisines and educate people about global cultures through food. In addition, she sees the restaurant as a symbolic way of highlighting the common ground between countries that are often at odds.  

“We can see from the outside how much all this food has in common,” she says. “Food defines how similar we all are.”  

Maydan is scheduled to open this fall at 1346-B Florida Ave. NW; maydandc.com. Compass Rose is located at 1346 T St. NW; compassrosedc.com.

A Passion for Tea

Words and Photos by Jai Williams 

While most Americans choose coffee as their caffeinated beverage of choice, DC resident Nadia Stevens would prefer a spot of tea any day.  

Her passion for afternoon tea is a love affair that began when she regularly visited family in London as a child and with relatives in Antigua and St. Thomas who enjoyed hosting traditional teas. Years later, as an adult, she completed a 10-month stint in London after graduate school and, with her cousin, popped into places like Harrods and The Dorchester for afternoon tea.  

But when Smith returned to the States, she missed the ritual of gathering over afternoon tea and decided to start hosting her own.  

“I fell in love with tea service in England because it reminded of the feeling of having tea with my grandmother and Aunt Rosalie, in Antigua. Their teas were not formal by any means, but they made me feel special and loved.  ”

Starting small, her first party only had a few attendees, but Nadia knew she was on to something as guests loved the ceremony of afternoon tea and the opportunity to connect with others while winding down after a long day. She did more research locally, with tea trips to Washington hotels the Willard, the Hay Adams and her local favorite, The Henley Park Hotel. She decided she was ready to make her tea parties larger and more elaborate. 

Walking out onto Nadia’s deck in DC’s Bloomingdale neighborhood one beautiful Sunday afternoon, revealed a scene reminiscent of The Secret Garden. Bright orange campsises popped from under lush green vines that intertwined down the stairwell to a patio area formally set for guests who would soon be arriving. Invitations are sent to a rotating list of accomplished women who range from tenured government officials to prominent attorneys.  

Nadia’s tea party is now in its ninth year. Previously held in the spring, she has shifted hosting to the cooler autumn months. Guests arrived in their Sunday finest; the styling and setup elicited “ooohs” and “aaahs.” Inspired by the host’s upcoming cruise to the Mediterranean, Grecian blues and whites permeated the space. White plates sat atop fine silver chargers from a collection amassed over many years, as are her four tea services. Delicate Turkish teacups were accompanied by matching spoons with a Nazar Boncugu amulet within their handle, thought to protect from bad luck.  

Delicately folded lace napkins and quotes from writers like Henry David Thoreau with individual bottles of Blanc de Bleu de Cuvee Mousseux and bouquets of purple cockscomb celosias created an elegant ambience at place settings. Local soprano Chinwe Enu was on hand to begin the tea with a spiritual rendition and for those few minutes even the youngest guest, age 2, listened to her angelic voice without interruption.  

With a Mediterranean influence based upon her upcoming travels, the menu displayed extravagance. An autumn salad composed of English cucumbers, mixed greens, French lentils, shaved Italian black truffles, drizzled with a champagne vinaigrette appeared as edible art. Next, well-portioned sandwiches were passed around by the host herself. Selections ranged from pan-seared Branzino with mock Romesco mayonnaise to koftas scooped into flaky puff pastry cups topped with a refreshing choban salad and tzatziki sauce. Though all were tasty, the roasted capon with sage pesto, apple and Cambozola on a croissant and fried Halloumi cheese paired with basil, Turkish orange eggplant on Asiago focaccia left many speechless.  

Smith loves jasmine green tea, Irish blended tea and Earl Grey for her personal use, and for her tea parties she has been making her own blends. Sage tea is very popular in Greece, so for this party she blended sage tea and apple teas. Light in color and subtle in flavor, its herbaceous and fruity notes required no sugar.  

Once the sweets were laid out, everyone’s eyes got round as an impressive smorgasbord fit for royalty sat before us. Greek lemon rolled wafers, Turkish apricot and crème fraîche scones, Manchego cheesecake, mini palmiers and pomegranate pound cake were complemented with mock Devonshire cream, lime curd and limoncello marmalade. Thinking of everything, pastry boxes awaited guests who couldn’t take another bite.  

What inspiration keeps this busy attorney to keep hosting these glamorous parties? She explains, “Simply put, it is creating the connectivity through food and atmosphere. I invite people that know each other, encourage them to bring one or two guests. My seating chart places a person between a guest they know and one they don’t, which creates great conversations and energy among the group.” 

Your Events Roundup: Week of 11/6/2017

Tuesday, November 7th

Shop Made in DC "Maker Night" (FREE TO REGISTER) 

From the Shop Made in DC's Facebook page : "Sip and shop while putting faces behind your favorite #madeindc products! Check out their latest inventory, sample cafe goods and learn more about this round of Shop Made in DC producers. RSVP to win a #madeindc Gift Bag filled with delicious products!"

Thursday, November 9th

November Evenings at the Edge: After Hours at the National Gallery of Art (FREE TO REGISTER)

On November 9, the National Gallery comes alive after hours! Throughout the night, highlights include performances by DC artists Christylez Bacon and Nistha Raj blending hip hop and classical Indian music, experimental short films, and pop-up talks that explore how ideas and identities merge. Light fare and drinks available for purchase.

Friday, November 10th

FotoWeekDC Opening Party 2017

To celebrate the 10th annual FotoWeekDC festival, FotoDC has partnered with Spain Arts & Culture and the Mexican Cultural Institute as the 2017 FotoWeekCentral Campus. Join BYT for an exciting evening of photography exhibitions, open bars, small bites, photobooths, music, and more spread across our two-campus FotoWeekCentral as we launch the 10th Annual FotoWeekDC Festival!

Saturday & Sunday November 11th & 12th 

The EmpoirYUM DC (20% off any/all tickets with code "EDIBLEDC")

The very popular food-centric event, EmpoirYUM, makes its return back to DC this weekend. The tagline for the event, "Meet. Eat.Shop", explains it all. Grab some friends, sample amazing food and drink products from across the country, and purchase what you like - perfect for upcoming holiday season! There will be tunes from a DJ, plus sips and samples from dozens of vendors.

Crafty Bastards

An epic exhibition and sale of handmade goods from independent artists taking place at the Nationals Stadium this weekend. According to their website, "You will find talented artists handpicked by a select jury for their DIY chops and singular vision. There will be surprises at every booth including unique homegoods, clothing, punk-rock baby clothes, handcrafted jewelry, plush toys, DIY kits, screen-printing, original art, locally produced food, and much more."

To view more events visit http://edibledc.com/local-events/

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Compiled by AJ Dronkers, Edible DC. To add your organzation's event to the weekly roundup, email info@edibledc.com with the subject "Event Roundup."

Add Tico to Your List of Lunch Options

TICO RAMEN: BUCKWHEAT NOODLES, BEEF BROTH, SHRIMP DUMPLINGS, CORN, PORK BELLY & JALAPENO, $12.

By AJ Dronkers, Edible DC

With the exploding dining scene on 14th Street NW and Shaw, securing a dinner reservation for Friday or Saturday can feel like an impossible journey, let alone trying to get a table as a walk-in someplace popular. But the middle of day is another story. Other than fast casual, this neighborhood has been short of lunch options for those who don't work downtown. That's why we when we heard that Tico, Michael Schlow’s Latin-inspired American restaurant, is now serving lunch from Monday through Friday from 11:30 am to 3:00 pm, there was applause in the office.

WARM QUINOA, AVOCADO, CAULIFLOWER, APPLE & WILTED GREENS $13 COMBINE IN THE CHOPPED KITCHEN SINK SALAD, $14.

Tico, one of our go-to brunch spots, has talented Chef de Cuisine Rodrigo Perez at the helm. We stopped by on Friday to sample the menu. Chef Rodrigo explained that the menu is his homage to the cultures and cuisines on 14th Street, so Tico can be your one-stop shop for getting that experience. From the cocktail menu (that has my personal favorite is the Hibiscus Margarita) to the crudos, salads and inventive takes on Latin American food, delicious options abound whether you want to grab a bite at the bar and or relax for a multi-course meal.

One important piece of advice. Do not skip dessert. We will repeat that. Do not skip dessert. Pastry chef Alex Levin just kills it in this category, whether it was the sweet and tart passion fruit creme brulee or my absolute favorite cinnamon sugar churros, you must try something from Levin's menu.

CRUNCHY EDAMAME FALAFEL, SPICED HUMMUS, SWISS CHARD & TAPENADE COTIJA, $14.

YOU MUST TRY THE DESSERTS FROM PASTRY CHEF ALEX LEVIN AT TICO. THE CHURROS ARE SUBLIME CINNAMON SUGAR CONFECTIONS.

We've go the full Tico Lunch Menu here:

BOWLS

• GRILLED CHICKEN CAESAR WITH MARCELINO'S FAMOUS DRESSING $13
• TUNA POKE WITH BRAISED CABBAGE, CRISPY RICE & MINT JALAPENO $16
• CRUNCHY EDAMAME FALAFEL, SPICED HUMMUS, SWISS CHARD & TAPENADE COTIJA $14
• TENDER PORK CARNITAS, CILANTRO RICE, BLACK BEANS & TOMATILLO SALSA $13
• TICO RAMEN, BUCKWHEAT NOODLES, BEEF BROTH, SHRIMP DUMPLINGS, CORN, PORK BELLY & JALAPENO $12
• WARM QUINOA, AVOCADO, CAULIFLOWER, APPLE & WILTED GREENS $13
• CHOPPED KITCHEN SINK SALAD $14

SANDWICHES

• CRISPY CHICKEN SANDWICH WITH SPICY FENNEL SLAW & ANCHO AIOLI $12
• FRIED GREEN TOMATO BLT $12
• ALL AMERICAN TICO CHEESEBURGER $15
• CUBAN WITH TENDER PORK, HAM, ANCHO CHILES, SWISS & PICKLED JALAPENOS $13

TACOS

• TWO TEXTURE BEEF WITH MORITA CHILES $5 each
• PORK AL PASTOR WITH GUAJILO, GRILLED PINEAPPLE & AVOCADO $5 each
• CRISPY FISH WITH CHIPOTLE, CABBAGE & PICKLED JALAPENO $5 each
• "STEAK & EGG" WITH TOMATO, ONION & RICOTTA SALATA $5 each
• CARAMELIZED CAULIFLOWER WITH SPICY CORN SALSA, PICKLED RED ONIONS & AJI AMARILLO $4 each
• SHRIMP A LA DIABLA WITH CHIPOTLE CREAM & CRISPY QUINOA $7 each

TICO SIGNATURES

• SOUP OF THE DAY
• SALMON CEVICHE with rocoto leche de tigre, mint $9
• HAMACHI CRUDO with sea urchin, pickled cucumber $11
• BLISTERED SHISHITO with shallots, lime & sea salt $9
• SHREDDED CABBAGE SALAD with spicy salsa verde $8
• CRISPY CALAMARI with ancho-lime aioli $10
• ROASTED CAULIFLOWER with crunchy fava, cotija cheese $8
• CRISPY MANCHEGO with spicy pomegranate-honey sauce $9