Cafe Bonaparte - Georgetown, Washington D.C.

Cafe Bonaparte is a quaint cafe located on Wisconsion Avenue in Georgetown. It is known for its fabulous french items such as crepes, french toast and croque monsieurs. Click here to check out their menus for brunch (on weekends), breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 

Georgetown D.C.

This place offers high-quality food at reasonable prices. For brunch, I ordered the Belvedere, 2 eggs (any style) and french toast. This was a phenomenal dish all-around. The eggs were fluffy and delectable with a little bit of herbs added on top. Meanwhile, the french toast amazed me with its moist, soft, sugary goodness. It was a match made in heaven which only costed $12 (which is pretty reasonable for food in D.C.)

Cafe Bonaparte was so incredible for brunch that I had to go back for dinner. This time, I ordered the Marseille Crepe. Usually when I hear the word, crepe, I think of something sweet and jam-packed with nutella or strawberries. However, this dish reminded me that crepes can be savory too and equally delicious. Tender chicken, crispy red peppers, luscious sour cream and extra thick red peppers sauce on top created a lethal combination of flavor. Had I not been a financially struggling college student, I would've definelty ordered a second round of this dish.

(Above left) At night, they have a lighted eiffel tower sculpture in front of the window. For all you young people out there, this just shows you that Cafe Bonaparte is always lit. French food + friends + dining out = fun = Cafe Bonaparte.

Make sure you wake your way out to Cafe Bonaparte for fantastic crepes, french toast, sandwiches, and much more!

- Charles

Happy Hour - Chef Geoff's New Mexico Ave, DC

Did you know about Chef Geoff's happy hour special menu available all day Monday and Tuesday and from 3pm-7pm Wednesday thru Sunday?  You should because it is the happy hour deal of a lifetime. Also, for those attending American University, it's only 2 blocks from SIS!

School of International Service, AU

On the happy hour menu, Chef Geoff's serves up a great deal on appetizers, burgers, pizza, and beer (for those of you over 21). It really is a great buy considering many of these dishes are half off, around the $5-$8 range, or more. However, you have to sit in the bar area to receive the special. Click here for their happy hour menu. (FYI it is really hard to find a table or a spot at the bar with more than 3 people. Thus, I recommend going with 3 people or less for happy hour)

Below is a picture of my utmost favorite happy hour special: the Chef Geoff's Burger

This burger is topped with cheddar, bacon, pickles, tomato, and red onion all inside of a soft bun. It comes with a choice of fries or balsamic greens as a side. But let's focus on the burger, shall we? I appreciated the luscious cheddar cheese melted on top of the meat and the soft yet not too crunchy delectable bacon. I also appreciated the tenderness and the heavenly taste of the meat itself. With this said, this is one of the best burgers I've ever had. 

I asked if I could take a picture of someone
else's beer just for show. 

So make you way out to Chef Geoff's for great deals on delicous pizza, BURGERS, appetizers, small plates, beer, and more!

-Charles

Guest Writer - Superintendent's Corner Blog

This week, I had a great honor I wanted to share with you. 

Superintendent Dr. Renee Foose of the Howard County Public School System, invited me to be a guest writer on her blog, the Superintendent's Corner. She read my recent 2 Dudes blog post about  Petit Louis (the restaurant hosted 200 students from my high school's French classes for a culinary adventure -read it here) and asked me to write about it on her blog. 

Here's a sneak peak below but you can check out the entire blog post here. 

Big shout out and thank you to my French teacher Madame Doff for taking us students on the Petit Louis field trip and Superintendent Foose for inviting me to be a guest writer. 

- Thomas 

Insomnia Cookies - Johns Hopkins University Baltimore

             Insomnia Cookies is a cool store that offers warm cookies and desserts - eat-in or delivered - until 3 a.m. Their locatation right outside the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore makes it a very popular place with students.

In fact, the company was founded in 2003 by University of Pennsylvania student Seth Berkowitz. When baking cookies out of his dorm room and delivering them to students late at night turned into a very successful endeavor, he knew that he was onto something.

In 2004, Seth took the cookie delivery idea and opened his first Insomnia Cookies retail store in Syracuse, New York. Fast forward to today and the cookie store has expanded to 80 stores nationwide with big expansion plans. The Baltimore manager told me that more IC locations will be coming soon to Fells Point and Towson. 

The Insomnia Cookie selection varies from traditional favorites such as Chocolate Chunk, Sugar, Double Chocolate Mint, M & M, Oatmeal Raisin, White Chocolate Macadamia Nut, to deluxe flavors like Triple Chocolate Chunk and S'mores and limited addition cookies. 

I was invited to try their limited time only red velvet cookies just in time for Valentine's Day. This newest addition to the Insomnia Cookies lineup offers the flavors of traditional red velvet cake with bits of soft cream cheese.

Soft and warm on the inside with a little crunch on the exterior, it was a beautiful thing. The cookie really did taste like a red velvet cake with cream cheese  frosting. I washed it down with a cold container of Cloverland Farms Dairy milk complete with its very own insomnia cookies cold sleeve protector. Yum. 

Insomnia also offers Cookie Cakes that can be personalized with messages such as Congrats and Happy Birthday and eight ice cream scoop flavors available in cups or larger to-go containers.

Two things I really liked about this cookie shop:

 whether it's only 1 cookie or a dozen cookies (which was on special for $12 when I visited) - you can get it delivered for only $2. 

Baltimore supervisor Chanelle, me and long-time delivery man Terry

Second, every time an email or delivery request comes in through the computer, the store's speaker system blares Cookie Monster's voice over the speakers saying "Coooookie, num, num, num [...]".

Cookie Monster is right, who doesn't love a warm buttery and sugary delight - especially late at night? And it seems he's not the only one screaming for cookies. I think insomnia cookies will continue to be popular with both the college crowd and late nighters.

If you go to the Baltimore location, tell Chanelle and Terry I sent you. They were both very nice.

- Thomas