Intipuqueño

2504 Ennalls Ave. Wheaton, MD 20902

Rob and I were out running errands last night and decided to grab dinner while we were out. Our original plan was to go to either El Puente de Oro or Granja de Oro (I have no idea if they’re affiliated, but they are about a half block from each other, so I assume so). However, as we were driving down Ennalls Avenue, I noticed that there was a new Salvadoran place where Sebang used to be. We tried Sebang, an Indonesian restaurant, once and it was very tasty and they made Rob’s dish really spicy. We never did make it back, and they have since closed down due to the increased rent on the location. Anyway, we decided to go ahead and try Intipuqueño and save the Oros for later.

The outside of the restaurant looked pretty much the same as it did when it was Sebang, however the new owners added some red and green neon to the main window. There is now a large bar area toward the right of the entrance, which was about half full. Other than that, there was only one other table seated and they were some kids from the band that was playing later that night. It looked like there were still some Asian decorations on the wall left from the previous owner, and there were the ubiquitous beer posters en Español. Our hostess/waitress didn’t speak any English which I thought might pose a problem, but she just brought the manager over to talk to us when we needed anything.

When we started looking over the menu I immediately noticed that it was much smaller than the other Salvadoran restaurants we’ve been to, and that it skewed more toward Tex-Mex than authentic Salvadoran dishes. The salsa we were served with our chips reminded me a bit of the Rojos brand that you can buy in grocery stores with some hot sauce added to it. It was much chunkier and spicier than the salsa we’ve gotten at most other restaurants, but I enjoyed it. I ordered grilled chicken and Rob got his usual carne asada (I took the picture above with my cell phone – it looked much more appetizing in person). Our meals were served with black beans, seasoned white rice, an avocado half, pico de gallo, and tortillas. Rob’s also came with a few fried plantain chips and a small block of crumbly white cheese. The portions were generous and my grilled chicken was marinated and tasty. I ate most of my chicken off the plate, but did make a little fajita-esque rollup with one of the tortillas. Rob didn’t bother with the tortillas but did mix up his rice, beans, and this time meat.

As we were finishing up our meal, the band members started setting up their instruments on the stage behind me and playing really loud Latin pop over the sound system, making it hard to hear our conversation. Although I wasn’t disappointed with our meal, we have definitely been to better Salvadoran/Tex-Mex places in Wheaton and there are still plenty more to try, so we probably won’t be back to Intipuqueño any time soon.

We also went to Fajita Coast in Four Corners (and technically Silver Spring) over the weekend with some friends. Maybe I’ll write about that later this week. We go there a lot so I don’t really know where to begin, but I definitely have plenty to say!

Woomi Garden

2423 Hickerson Dr. Wheaton, MD 20902;301-933-0100

I must admit, as much as I like to go out to eat, I had not been very adventurous in my choice of dining establishments. I think it’s because my mom is a bit of a picky eater, so growing up she didn’t make us anything too crazy and we didn’t really go to many international restaurants. Plus I grew up in a small town so there weren’t many restaurants around anyway, and especially not international ones. Anyway, I now live in an area that has SO MANY different types of restaurants, all authentic, and Rob and I want to try different types of cuisines. Luckily a lot of the restaurants in Wheaton/Silver Spring are pretty inexpensive so we can go out a few times a week and try new things. That’s one of the reasons Rob wanted to start this blog, so we could keep track of the new places we try and see where we’d like to go again.

I’ve wanted to try Woomi Garden for a while, and I got my quarterly bonus yesterday so Rob and I went out to celebrate. Woomi is a sushi, Japanese, and Korean BBQ place, but the reviews I’ve read online focused mostly on the Korean BBQ. When we walked in, Rob immediately commented that he liked the look of the restaurant. To the right of the entrance was the sushi bar, which I didn’t get a good look at, and immediately in front of us were 6 or so large tables and shoji screens for walls. There may have been more seating on the other side of the screens, because the building was pretty big. There was also a koi pond right up front which we took a closer look at on the way out – it was kind of neat.

After we sat down we ordered our drinks and beef negimaki for an appetizer. The menu was nice because it had pictures of everything, and since I have never really been to a Korean restaurant, I had an idea of what we were getting. We both ordered BBQ items for the main course – bulgogi for me and jyeyooh gui (that’s what I wrote down, but I think that’s wrong) for Rob. We were served a surprise bowl of miso soup while our waitress brought the raw meat tableside and cooked it on a little gas grill that’s built into the table. Along with our meat we were served steamed rice and an assortment of pickled vegetables, which I now know is called banchan. The veggies were kind of a mystery to us; we didn’t really know what each was before trying it. We were also served a plate of leafy lettuce that we had no idea what to do with – we didn’t end up eating any of it. I knew two of the sides were kimchi and sprouts, and I think the others were yams or potatoes (or something else starchy), kale, a sweet slaw of some sort, and a few other things that I couldn’t identify. Oh and there was a really good ginger dipping sauce for the beef, Rob didn’t try it until after most of his food was gone and was mad that I hadn’t told him how good it was earlier.

For dessert we were served a small bowl of sweet juice with I think rice and some nuts floating in it – we had no idea what it was or how to consume it. Since we didn’t have any spoons on the table I figured we were supposed to just pick it up and sip it, although I felt silly doing it. This started a conversation about how stupid we feel in new places sometimes when we’re not familiar with the customs, how we should eat things, how I’m not very good with the chopsticks, etc.

Although Woomi wasn’t terribly expensive, it was still pricier than most of the other restaurants in Wheaton; most of the main dishes were around $20. We both saw other things on the menu that we’d like to try and the experience last night was great, so hopefully we’ll be back soon to check out their other offerings.

Los Chorros

2420 Blueridge Ave Wheaton, MD 20902(301) 933-1066

Last Friday, Rob and I went to Los Chorros for dinner. We had been there once before after one of Sean’s co-workers said it was the only decent Latin restaurant in Wheaton (he is Latino). We got there around 6:30 and the place was empty, but it filled up pretty quickly after we sat down.

I ordered a margarita and the chicken fajitas. They put tomatoes in their fajitas and some other sauces – I think the menu even said they use soy sauce. It was served with corn tortillas (boo), pico de gallo, and guacamole. Onions and peppers were mixed in with the chicken as well. The portions were larger than what I normally get at Fajita Coast, I think the chicken was a bit tastier as well, but it was a different flavor than FC’s. The fajitas also came with a side of refried beans which I wasn’t crazy about…I prefer whole beans.

Rob got some sort of beef dish – bistec encebollado maybe? It also came with refried beans and rice – Los Chorros serves white rice, but they do season it and it has some veggies cut up in it. Rob usually mixes his beans and rice together and he did again and then ate his side dishes first. I think he said the steak was good, I usually pick off of his plate but I didn’t this time.

I think I like Los Chorros better than Los Cabanos, although I think Los Chorros may have a smaller menu. The service was better and there were no street peddlers coming in trying to sell us jewelry.