Ravi Kabob and Boccato in Arlington (With Special Appearance by Shake Shack in DC)

Portrait of Summer Happiness

It's summer! Finals are over for half the brigadiers (the other half didn't have any), and we finally have time to work harder than necessary for our next meal. I know I said we were going back to our roots last time, when we went to Present for Vietnamese, but this time, we really went back to our roots. We dug deep right into the root tips. I think I have sufficiently mixed my metaphors, such that our eating club is a military formation that is also a potted plant.

Based on a recommendation from a friend of Julia's, we headed out to Ravi Kabob in Arlington. Our desire to eat kebab from a metal shack in Leesburg has been put on hold due to the fact that Leesburg is really, really far away.

We headed out just as a Pakistani family of 20 was settling in.

It turned out that there were two Ravi Kabobs, in shopping centers on opposite sides of Glebe Road. Which one did we pick? The one we had to make a U-turn for, of course. Like I said, we work for our food. Based on our previous experience with eateries that have expanded into neighboring shopping centers, we decided this was a good sign.

The man behind the counter was very patient with us, as we tried to figure out a way to order basically everything on the menu. We started with vegetable samosas, which were good; a little spicy, with a sour, creamy but light dipping sauce.

These came out right away, which was good since we were starving.

For our main course, we ordered the Ravi Kabob special, which was beef and chicken kabob, along with the lamb kabob. We got rice, vegetable sides of chickpeas and spinach with potato, and lots of tandoori bread.

Anticipation!

It was all really tasty. The meat, particularly the beef, was really well spiced, without being overwhelming. (Which was good, since Marta had apparently woken up that morning and decided it was a medium-spicy day.) The spinach was good, especially slathered on the bread, and the the chickpeas were delicious. Adam is still partial to Kabob Palace though, and if it's actually better than this, we have to get ourselves there soon.

This outing really lived up to all of our principles, especially "cheap," which we had moved away from a little: this was all about nine dollars a person.

As we enjoyed our post-large meal lazy contentment, our thoughts turned toward dessert, naturally. Ah, the joys of gluttony. Although Boccato in Clarendon does not really epitomize any of our Brigade tenants, they do have delicious gelato. We tried the Samoa, carambola, and toasted almond flavors.

Sun! Outdoors! Plants! Gelato!

In other news, you may have heard, since it was a Very Big Deal, that Shake Shack, the famed New York burger and shakes place, has opened in DC. (Now we are "on the map!" Before this, no one knew where DC even was!) I'm not one to wait in long lines for over-hyped food, but after many drinks at a Friday happy hour, we decided to try the DC Shake Shack experience. Verdict: yum! A step up from Five Guys, but still doesn't approach Ray's Hell Burger. Alas, Ray's frequently has long lines as well. And those concretes, which are blended frozen custard shakes, are deadly. In an amazing way.

Felipe the exchange student is back! He has adopted the curious American tradition of bunny ears in photos.

You'll notice Tom is absent from this outing, even though he recently released his Spring Dining Guide. We found it unhelpful. Step up your game, Tom!

The Brigade probably won't reconvene until after Memorial Day weekend. Any suggestions for where we should go next?