Lunch at Coffee Nature, Tenleytown, Washington, DC

I wrote about breakfast at Coffeee Nature here. I had walked over after hearing they’d suffered a break-in during the night, as had Sol, and DeLouise Custom Tailors in that same strip on Fessenden off Wisconsin. I won’t repeat all the homey details of the earlier post, but I’ll enthusiastically repeat my praise for their coffee and breakfast sandwich. I’ll also repeat this —

As I enjoyed my breakfast, I looked around and saw that in addition to predictable sandwiches and wraps, Coffee Nature offers a number of Korean dishes — salad bowls, rice bowls, and bibimbap with ribeye or spicy pork bulgogi, or Korean barbecued chicken.  I’ll be back to Coffee Nature for lunch to try those.

I’d recently eaten at Yummy’s (ramen burger, bulgogi, spicy pork) a Korean place down in Lexington Park, across the Patuxent from Solomons. I’d enjoyed it, but expected the food to be spicier. So, tardily true to my word, I returned to Coffee Nature for an early (11:00 am, so I’d be in plenty of time to pick up Lily at CCBC) lunch and ordered a spicy pork bowl ($10.49). The bowl emerged after a short wait, preceded by a wonderful fragrance.

This was more like it! It was delicious, pork, garlic, seasonings, and gochujang, the Korean hot pepper paste. The dish had a wonderful flavor, and was genuinely spicy. As you can see, it came with plenty of rice which, for those with tender palates, is effective in taming the heat if it starts to be too much. The serving was just the right size, not too much, not too little.

It was a beautiful day, 65 degrees and sunny, so I sat at an outside table. Around me were two tables of women studying, and one occupied by a woman on a conference call. Sundry people were drinking coffee, and some parents with their college age daughter, and two German au pairs chatting away (I’m guessing at all of these relationships), and there was a steady stream of customers coming and going. I would have taken a picture, but Nancy might roll her eyes at a picture with a lot of attractive young women. The point is that Coffee Nature has the same warm community atmosphere outside as well as in, where they’re featuring another local artist on the walls, whom Ill give some publicity,

and making people feel at home. We’re lucky to have Coffee Nature in the neighborhood. If you haven’t been, do give them a try. Coffee Nature has a lot to offer.

***

And while you’re at it, click “follow” on our front page to receive blog posts in your email box.  Or bookmark us and check in from time to time.  If you’re planning a trip, you can “Search” the name of the destination city, state, or country for good restaurants (in Europe, often close to sites, like the Louvre or the Van Gogh Museum, that you’ll want to visit in any event). And stick around for news, all manner of recipes, hotels, and the occasional book or movie review and fine arts and architecture commentary.  Comments, questions, and suggestions of places to eat or stories to cover are very welcome.  And check out our Instagram page, johntannerbbq.

Advertisement