I remember eating here when they were on M street. A friend took me when after a conversation we had about Southeast Asian cuisine. I was sad when it closed and had assumed it went out of business. I'm now sad again that I could have been eating here the last 10 years and now they are gone...
It is sad when small mom and pop businesses fail. In a rough but up and coming neighborhood across the park from me, there was this great little Peruvian joint that was run by a couple who had been operating a food truck. They were young-ish, ambitious and had plans to expand. We procrastinated in going there, as we had not gotten in our current habit of dining out or getting takeout once a week yet. Non home-cooked foods were more of a once a month thing a few years ago. We finally got some takeout from there and WOW is was good. We got more the next week. Then they closed a few weeks later because the couple broke up and they could not find an amicable way to divide the business. Shit. Then a caterer took over the kitchen but left to go to a cheaper, more industrial location. A few weeks ago, happy to say, a place called Cocina Filipina opened up and we plan to get some of their food next week, not gonna wait a year and a half for this one.
Overall, my favorite kind of restaurant is one like the Malaysian joint you wrote about. Small, one of a kind, mom and pop joints, often run by immigrants, are the best bet for quality and quantity at a good price. Forty years ago, I bet that would have described a over third of the restaurants in town, including 90% of the Mexican ones, 60% of the Asian ones and eastern European ones and probably 40% of the Italian ones. Now it is probably down to a fifth of the total restaurants with trendy fusion and shared plates and artsy sandwich joints, as well as national and regional chains making up the difference. Even this new Cocina Filipina joint advertises itself as "fusion" - so it goes. I think the chef is a Mexican immigrant. The reviews are good and the prices are fair.
I remember eating here when they were on M street. A friend took me when after a conversation we had about Southeast Asian cuisine. I was sad when it closed and had assumed it went out of business. I'm now sad again that I could have been eating here the last 10 years and now they are gone...
"a sense of loss does not necessarily imply that another outcome was possible." well said and true of so many things.
It is sad when small mom and pop businesses fail. In a rough but up and coming neighborhood across the park from me, there was this great little Peruvian joint that was run by a couple who had been operating a food truck. They were young-ish, ambitious and had plans to expand. We procrastinated in going there, as we had not gotten in our current habit of dining out or getting takeout once a week yet. Non home-cooked foods were more of a once a month thing a few years ago. We finally got some takeout from there and WOW is was good. We got more the next week. Then they closed a few weeks later because the couple broke up and they could not find an amicable way to divide the business. Shit. Then a caterer took over the kitchen but left to go to a cheaper, more industrial location. A few weeks ago, happy to say, a place called Cocina Filipina opened up and we plan to get some of their food next week, not gonna wait a year and a half for this one.
Overall, my favorite kind of restaurant is one like the Malaysian joint you wrote about. Small, one of a kind, mom and pop joints, often run by immigrants, are the best bet for quality and quantity at a good price. Forty years ago, I bet that would have described a over third of the restaurants in town, including 90% of the Mexican ones, 60% of the Asian ones and eastern European ones and probably 40% of the Italian ones. Now it is probably down to a fifth of the total restaurants with trendy fusion and shared plates and artsy sandwich joints, as well as national and regional chains making up the difference. Even this new Cocina Filipina joint advertises itself as "fusion" - so it goes. I think the chef is a Mexican immigrant. The reviews are good and the prices are fair.