episode 15: Cheeto cake and ice cream spreadsheets
yes, i'll tell you about the Cheeto x Milkbar cake, my summer ice cream adventures, a restaurant week recap, and more!
restaurant week roundup
alternative headline: Aditi Spent Too Much Money and has No Self Control. after discussing the summer restaurant week options with you all last month, I ended up going to four (yikes) restaurant week meals this year. here are my thoughts and reviews.
taqueria xochi: 4/5 - I just love this place and it can basically do no wrong for me! $40 for one person, you basically get two meals: equites, chips and guac, nachos or bean tacos, an order of 3 tacos, and either a tres leches or a chocoflan for dessert - plus a jarritos soda. their service is quick and easy and since they only do to-go. I got the chicken tinga tacos and the nachos, point off for the nachos which were just ok, but go with the tacos all the way and you’ll be set.
gravitas: 3/5 - when I mentioned wanting to go to Gravitas a few weeks ago, a few of you mentioned that the service was off when y’all went there. unfortunately - we had the same issue. when we were seated, I noticed the AC unit in the ceiling of the warehouse restaurant was dripping, so we mentioned it to the waiter, only to be moved to another parallel table…still underneath the dripping unit. it took a third move to be relocated to the upper level to escape the AC.
normally, service isn’t something I care about too much, but I was slightly annoyed they weren’t more proactive about ensuring we didn’t have AC condensation in our food, and they didn’t think to comp something on our bill to make up for it. the actual food was good - though nothing I walked away from was super memorable besides the mezcal cocktail. 3 courses for $55 was a decent deal for a Michelin star restaurant, and the dishes were well executed, but the service was a detractor.




l’ardente: 4/5 - we did the $25 brunch and I thought this was a really fantastic deal. smart of the restaurant to limit their restaurant week menu to lunch and brunch, i’m sure they made much better margins. the Caesar salad here rocks, they had a lovely layered chocolate cake, and the restaurant has some fun and glam vibes. this is what restaurant week is meant to be - a good deal at a nice place.
tonari: 4.25/5 - I went to Tonari in January for winter restaurant week which was fantastic. for summer, they did a $55 menu inspired by the tv show, The Bear, with 5 courses plus a welcome drink. the spiked ecto-cooler, Sydney’s mushroom adobo, Michael’s family meal pasta, Marcus’s donut - everything was so fun! Tonari’s normal pasta menu is some of my favorites in the city, so while I really enjoyed this meal I think their other menus are better. regardless, this is a consistently fantastic restaurant and would always recommend a meal here.
Cheeto Cake
yes, I ordered the Cheeto x Milk Bar collaboration cake. we’ve talked a lot about food collaborations in this newsletter, and for the first time, I bit the bullet. last week, a heinous-yet-intriguing picture of this Cheeto-orange birthday cake came up on my Instagram feed. allegedly, a Cheeto dipped in a vanilla frosting is Milk Bar founder Christina Tosi’s favorite snack, and so they turned it into a cake for Cheetos’ 75th birthday. they’re only selling this cake by the slice in NY and LA stores, so what is a DC Cheeto girl to do? find 10 friends and split a whole 6” cake, of course.



I gathered my friends and we served the cake with a Flaming Hot Cheetos margarita. (it was just as bad as you would think). like a normal person, I required my friends to complete a Google form with their thoughts on the cake. the reviews have started to come in, and thus far the average rating is a 3.25. overwhelmingly, most agree that the cake tastes….normal. if you put the Cheetos cake in front of a blind taste tester, they likely wouldn’t have a single clue it was a Cheetos cake. it tastes like Milk Bar’s normal birthday cake, with an extra layer of cream cheese frosting and an orange cookie crumble on top. as one friend said, “… the Cheeto is understated and overhyped. I wanted to take a bite and be transported in my mind and tastebuds to Chester Cheeto’s personal cheesy grotto. Instead I felt like I was at milkbar eating a very good cake with cream cheese frosting.”
I really think the cake would have been more interesting and worth the marketing gimmick if they committed to the bit a little harder and had a strong Cheeto flavor in the frosting. as another friend said, “I was expecting a stronger salty/cheesy note that would complement the frosting more thoughtfully (like a french fry and ice cream/milk shake situation). while not opposed to its existence, I believe that the cake had significant unmet potential.” the cake actual tasted better served with a crushed Cheetos garnish, for a little flavor and savory balance. if you try the cake please let me know your thoughts, and thank you for coming on this journey with us!
garlic girls
calling all garlic girls! when we use garlic in different recipes, the preparation called for might be different - minced, chopped, crushed, etc. how important is it to follow those directions? admittedly, sometimes I just stick it through a garlic press regardless of the recipe (it’s so easy!), but that can actually impact the flavor. this fun graphic from Cooks Illustrated shows how time, knife work, acid, and heat all impact the flavor of garlic on your dish. click to see more!
ice cream spreadsheet
at the beginning of this summer, I set out on a lofty task to try every ice cream scoop in the city of Washington, DC. it is now mid-September but not officially the end of the summer (I have until Sept 23!) and no, I am not finished with my mission. :/ regardless, here is an update on my progress thus far.
I have scoured every sub-par listicle of DMV ice cream shops and frankly, they always disappoint me! these lists always include too many spots far-out in VA and they miss some great ice cream found in unlikely places in DC. I cobbled together the below list based on these articles and my experience living here for 5 years, that being said - please let me know if I missed any that I need to add to this list.
here is the spreadsheet I have made should you wish to stay updated on my progress.
rules for my list: must be located inside DC proper. standalone ice cream shops are the best, though I am counting restaurants with a reliable ice cream/soft serve option (like Yellow) but not a restaurant that sometimes has an ice cream dessert option. gelato, custard, and Italian ice are not ice cream, and therefore not included.
though I have been to most of these spots in prior years, I told myself I must try them again with fresh eyes, for science. I have tried spots I know I don’t love to get accurate pricing and quantity observations (like Jeni’s) and I relished in the opportunity to go to my favorites for the millionth time (Happy Ice Cream and Mt. Desert Island <3) feel free to send me your reviews of these spots, or fight me in the comments!
discrimination on H St
ANCs (advisory neighborhood commission) are hyperlocal government bodies in DC that make decisions about neighborhood-specific issues, like parking, sanitation and liquor licenses. an investigation by DCist’s Amanda Michele Gomez found that ANC6A, representing the area around H St has protested liquor license applications by Black-owned businesses at a higher rate than other businesses. KitchenCray, a restaurant on H St owned by Chef James Robinson, a local Black restaurantuer, was met with complaints by the AMC committee members when they went before the committee to request a different liquor license. the writer explains more history and context behind protests between H St businesses and the ANC in the article, and you can read more in the DCist piece, here.
breakfast as we know it
yet another depressing look at global warming’s impact on food (read if u won’t get sad). Insider Food did a piece called Future Foods, What’s for Breakfast in 2050. basically, many of the foods we see as breakfast staples now may not be as accessible, or accessible at all in 25 years. foods like a breakfast sandwich may be seen as a luxury in the future as opposed to a cheap to-go food as it is now. with increased heat, something like pork in a bacon egg and cheese would get expensive, rain and heat impacts wheat production, making an English muffin more scarce, and eggs will definitely become pricier as we have already seen with supply chain issues and heat-impacted diseases. the article much better explains the science and economics changes to our breakfast than I can - you can read more here!
restaurant review: Pizzeria Beddia (in Philly)
had some great food in Philly a few weekends ago - but the standout was Pizzeria Beddia, a pizza and small plates restaurant. literally everything here was fantastic. we got the miso-roasted vegetables, the chicory Caesar salad, the corn and tomato pizza, and the tomato pizza with pepperoni - plus a little soft serve to end the night. i’m stilllll thinking about how fresh the corn pizza tasted weeks later!!



f*cked up food
will my love of the Caesar salad extend to this modality? time will tell.
d.c. happenings
HUGE - Ice Cream Jubilee on T St closing location
Sala Thai opened in Hill East
the café at the National Museum of the American Indian is closed for renovations
ala opening in Bethesda this fall
new Italian spot in Mt. Pleasant
Cinnabon coming to Union Station
Yellow in Navy Yard is back, but weekends only
Tom’s Watch Bar in Chinatown closed
Foxtrots coming soon to 14th and Columbia Rd
new bakery coming to 14th and Park Rd
home cooking: pad thai


perhaps suspect of me to use a white man’s recipe for pad thai, but here we are. during the pandemic, we took a virtual cooking class through work where a professional chef from Thailand taught us how to make pad thai and of courseeeee I can’t find the recipe for the life of me. so, I turned to NYT, and honestly this was a pretty good recipe. the color looks super light and nothing like a restaurant noodle dish, but I promise it tastes way better than it looks lol. in a classic Aditi move, I didn’t measure the noodles and made like 6 servings, but that’s what leftovers are for!
thanks all, have a great week!
I just stumbled across this newsletter and...I think we should be friends. I *also* created a list to try to hit as many ice cream shops in DC this summer as I could (I made it to 11 before fall), and the surprise winner on my list was Here's the Scoop. It's a lovely local shop, reasonable flavor selection, solid texture. If you're a fan of soft serve I would also add Little Sesame, their chocolate Turkish coffee + vanilla tahini swirl soft serve is delicious.
Can't wait to see what's next!
Like your ice cream spread sheet.