Dinner at Rice... It appealed to the Asianess in my roomie

So a few weeks back a Julia came down from Baltimore to experience life outside the ghetto. (J/k Julz, you know I just like giving Baltimore a hard time.) So Erin and I figured having Julia in town was a perfect excuse to try a new restaurant. We decided on Rice, which Erin has wanted to eat at basically since the day we moved down to DC. (Erin's a total rice fiend. I wasn't kidding about Rice appealing to her Asianess.)


Rice, like it's sister restaurant Simply Home: Eat Drink, doesn't take reservations so we showed up hoping it wouldn't be packed. Of course it was, but fortunately the staff at Rice moves fast to clear tables and seat new people. A 30 minute wait turned out to be barely 10 minutes. Erin and I had only just ordered a drink by the time we were sat (a testament to how fast the wait staff and hostess were turning tables and to how slow the bartender was in getting to us... boo! stinky bartender!).

Sitting down to the menu turned out to be much harder than getting a table. The menu wasn't huge, but everything on it looked amazing. On top of all the regular meals, there was a list of specials that seemed even more appetizing if that's possible. None of us could decide on just 1 thing! So basically we sat here staring at the menus like this for at least twice as long as it took us to get our table. Finally we decided on some appetizers and various curry entrees.

Julia went with a ginger soup to start, which she adored. Erin got some ginger, fried veggie app. She liked it a lot but was overwhelmed with the portion size. I went with the dumplings filled with crab and other stuff. They were alright, but not particularly crabby. I think next time I would go with a soup. Julia's constant lip smacking and finger licking seemed to indicate that it was waaaay more flavorful than my dumplings.

When the entrees came out, my faith in Rice was completely restored. I went for the green curry chicken. Not only was is it dirt cheap by DC standards (a mere $12), but the portion was great (if only I hadn't wasted some of my appetite on the less than crabtastic dumplings). It was a perfect level spicy, enough to make me pause after every bite and let the heat curl around my mouth before I could take another. Double plus, the rice they give you as a side is suuuuuper delicious. I mean, it makes sense. If Rice was going to do anything right, it should be their rice, and when it comes down to it, they don't disappoint. It's a little sticky and has a nice coconut flavor to it. I'm nowhere near the rice fiend that Erin is, but I'd still have spent all night there finding excuses to have another order of that rice.


Search for J Street's final verdict? Rice has its flaws, but it has a cool ambiance and does Thai food better than probably any other Thai I've had so far in this city. If you go, do not pass up some of their more classic Thai dishes and definitely don't pass up the rice... Mmmmm... riiiiiice.