NoVa Sushi & Ramen Explorers - Plus International Foods!

Join us at Pink Tiger on the Wharf for a retro-glam Southeast-Asian American dinner!

From the rerstaurant: **For parties of 7+, we can’t do separate checks but can split the bill across up to 6 payment forms** - (this is probably for an even split - ugh).

Restaurants are allowing fewer tab splits these days, so please be prepared to settle up your portion of the bill with cash, venmo, or paypal. Thanks in advance for your understanding!

Eater DC:

The dolled-up replacement to Kaliwa calls for sake flights, sizzling wagyu with ponzu, and a groovy makeover is the inaugural project for D.C. restaurant group Be Our Guest. Pink Tiger’s director Brooke Demetriou has existing ties to Kaliwa as Chef Cathal Armstrong’s longtime business partner. “Kaliwa was Cathal’s love child and his whole thing. I wanted to create my own idea,” she tells Eater. (The James Beard-nominated chef shifted his attention across the Potomac in recent years, going on to open Irish pub Mattie and Eddie’s and Corso Italian in Arlington.)

Whereas Kaliwa's kitchen prepared Korean, Thai and Filipino dishes, by the book, Pink Tiger's menu is going for "Southeast Asian fare with American flair", says Demetriou.

Demetriou who loves to throw a good dinner party, leans into her hostessing skills and on-site neighborhood knowledge to construct the kind of dining destination she says the Wharf is missing. “I took the time to figure out what it really was that would do well here,” she says.

Kaliwa was one of the first two tenants to sign on at the Wharf, so she’s seen it all. Eight years in, the $3.6 billion, multi-phase development is now home to an influx of restaurants and bars that compete for attention from concertgoers, boaters, tourists, and locals living and working on the same scenic, one-mile stretch. She calls Kaliwa’s closure “bittersweet” but “necessary” — it’s “run its course.”

She categorizes Pink Tiger as "fun" fine dining , which sets itself apart from what "the Del Mars, Limanis, and more casual places at the Wharf are doing," she says.
“We are finding space somewhere between there.”

Pink Tiger’s newly named Filipino chef Joe Castro, who’s classically trained in French and Italian cuisine, most recently worked at Mussel Bar and MGM’s Voltaggio Brothers Steak House before that.

Openers under his watch include miso deviled eggs topped with truffles, scallions, bacon, and Gochujang; hot crab Rangoon dip with Sriracha cream cheese, scallions, sweet Thai chili sauce, and wonton chips; and thinly sliced wagyu beef cooked tableside atop a “hot rock” (lava stone) with ponzu sauce.

Castro, who grew up in the Philippines to parents who were both chefs, stays true to his roots in some cases; he won’t mess with pad Thai, lumpia, and adobo at Pink Tiger. “He has beautiful recipes and there’s some things he didn’t want to fuse,” she says. He also plans to revive some Kaliwa favorites like its spicy crab curry entree.

The bar will serve sake along with a strong list of Asian beers, hemp-based nonalcoholic spirits from Aplós, and what she calls a “very funky and cool” martini menu that toys with oceanic flavors like dashi-infused vodka. Aside from making more room for drinkers at an 18-seat bar, the bones of the two-story space framed with soaring windows and a patio remain largely unchanged.

Its new life as Pink Tiger naturally calls for pink touch-ups, as spotted in playful tiger prints and an LED-lit fireplace, as well as funky new art and ube-hued floral furniture that a bobbing captain could spot out front.

Join us for a delicious adventure at Ambrosia, a newly opened Vietnamese restaurant in DC's Chinatown!

Restaurants are allowing fewer tab splits these days, so please be prepared to settle up your portion of the bill with cash, venmo, or paypal. Thanks in advance for your understanding!

We'll enjoy a modern, elegant Vietnamese dinner featuring an extensive and beautifully presented menu. Since Ambrosia just had their soft opening, reviews are still in the wings - but that makes this the perfect chance to discover it together!

Come hungry, curious, and ready to try something new. Let's check it out!

Celebrate Lunar New Year with us over a delicious brunch at Michelin Guide Recommended Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao (National Harbor)!

*Restaurants are allowing fewer and fewer tab splits these days, so please be prepared to settle up your portion of the bill with cash, venmo, or paypal. Thanks in advance for your understanding!

Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao is a Michelin Guide Recommended restaurant known for its handcrafted soup dumplings, authnetic Shanghainese cuisine, and traditional preparation. The restaurant has received Michelin recommendations for nine consecutive years!

New York Times (Diners Journal):

Over the past three weekends, two Sundays, and one Saturday, I have woken up at 8 a.m. to indulge my newest obsession. When the alarm goes off, I leap from the bed, and squeal, “Soup dumplings!”

I live near Union Square in Manhattan, 10.9 miles from the source of my devotion: Nan Xiang Dumpling House in Flushing, Queens. The 30-seat place, which Julia Moskin wrote about last summer, makes what I think are the best soup dumplings in New York City, if not the world, and that includes China. (My five companions are divided on this point. Four say they’re the best in the world, and one says they’re the best in the United States, but that there are ones in Beijing that come close.)

By 9:30, I’m at the N-train platform by Bloomingdale’s, for the ride to Queensboro Plaza and the 7 train to Flushing. When I arrive with my friends at Nan Shian, at 10:15, there are no lines outside. By 11, there are.

The Nan Shian dumpling has a thin, delicate skin, a huge burst of hot soup, and a small, loosely packed pillow of minced pork and a smidgen of crabmeat.

We get two orders of dumplings, which are called steamed crab meat and pork buns and a second, small dish.

While the dumplings steam, the side dish arrives. One week, it’s turnip puffs, each the size of a 50 cent piece, a tablespoon of cooked, shredded turnip wrapped in flaky pastry, crusted on one side in sesame seeds. Another week, it’s the golden, puffy, piping-hot scallion pancake wrapped around a slice of sauteed beef, with a dab of hoisin sauce. A third time, it’s a bowl of the salt soy bean curd, with a long, savory, deep-fried cruller.

Finally, the dumplings arrive. We each put one in a soup spoon, ladle a bit of ginger-flecked vinegar on to it and bite the tip. We let the steam shoot out, and slowly, gingerly, bite more deeply into the dumpling, savoring the broth, and the morsel of meat.

Nan Shian has a communal feel. Since you sit nearly elbow-to-elbow with the people at the next table, you talk to your neighbors, who tell you what they’re eating, so that you can explore the menu.

But tranquility reigns. No one rushes you, even when 8 people are waiting outside in 28 degree weather.

Join us for great food, festive conversation, and a welcoming celebration of Lunar New Year!