Steam Bathes and Irish Soul Food

It’s been a while since I last posted so I figured it was about time I change that.  It also helped that with in the last week I have gotten to do some pretty cool things and to eat at some pretty cool places.

Let’s start from last Saturday:

Both my Roommate and I have been going through rough patches in our lives as of late. For me it came in the form of a failed relationship and a rejection from the Navy’s Officer’s Candidate School mixed with paying 280 bucks to get my roommates car out of the impound lot. For my roommate it was in the form of being in a long distance relationship and the impending sequestration that will see him lose 20% of his salary.

So after agreeing that women are the root cause of all pain in the universe ( I kid I kid!) we decided we needed to have a “Man-date” and some decompression time. What did we decided to do on our man-date you ask? Well, we went to the spa.

“THE SPA????” 

Yeah I know how it sounds, but how about you let me explain before jumping to conclusions huh?  Anyways, let me explain that both my rommie and I and great lovers of Russian bathhouse (Banya). My roomie lived in Russia for about 2 years where public steam bathing is a way of life and I was exposed to it via the Schvitz in Cleveland (still the best Banya in the U.S.) Russian steam bathing (or Schvitzing for you Yiddish speakers) isn’t like the steam bath at your local gym or club. It’s about 50% hotter, though with less humidity that a normal steam room. There is also a cold pool (and it is COLD) that you take a dip in every once in a while to help tone and relax your body. Let me tell you, for a guy there is little else in this world that is as relaxing as going for a good hard schvitz.

Thinking that since we are in DC and there a TON of Russians here we figured it would be easy to find a Banya. Turns out there is only one place within 100 miles that comes even close to what we wanted. SpaWorld (see now why I said we went to the Spa) is a Korean bath house located out in Centerville. Having never been to a Korean Bath house I was a little hesitant, but it turned out that SpaWorld was just what we needed. At $40 bucks the entry fee is a bit high but I am told it’s pretty easy to get discount tickets. 

The first thing I noticed when we walked through the front doors was just how big and clean the place was. The Bath houses I have been in have generally been very small and utilitarian, But SpaWorld was large and pretty modern with free wifi and electronic keys that tracked all your purchases (for extra things like food or massages) so you don’t have to haul your wallet around.  Most of the staff’s English is only so so but they have plenty of people there that are native English speakers so it wasn’t intimidating at all. The first part (and probably the most important in my opinion) is the gender separated bathing rooms.  These are where the Saunas, steam rooms, hot tubs, Bade Pools (think GIANT Jacuzzi) and cold pools are. They’re gender separated because everyone is completely naked in these areas. Since this is pretty standard schvitzing/Banya procedure neither my roomie nor I were much phased by this.

Both the Sauna and the Steam room were near perfect, though they both could have been slightly hotter in my opinion, and I spent at least an hour and a half going from one to the cold pool (which at 60 degrees felt like ice, so in other words: perfect) to the other. I didn’t really get to try the hot tubs because they were full of bulky old Russian men who kept giving me hard stares if I ventured too close. Not saying that these dudes were Russian mafia or anything, but they definitely didn’t seem to want to share the hot tubs.  The Bade Pool (yep that is its actual name) was a pleasant surprise. As I said before, it’s like Jacuzzi that is the size of a large backyard pool. The jets are about 1000 times stronger than a Jacuzzi’s, so sitting at one of the many “stations” within the pool is like getting a full body massage for free. The water is only lukewarm which makes it perfect for the very end of your bathing when you’re trying to bring your body temperature back to something more normal.

Another part of the bathing area is the “scrub down” station. This is where workers use a VERY course towel to scrub off all the dead skin and dirt that you build up over time.  The processes feel like someone is using 4-0 steel wool to scrub your body and they scrub EVERYWERE. Being kinda of a wimp when it comes to pain it wasn't all that enjoyable, though my skin was certainly smoother than it has ever been. Probably not something I will do again, but it was worth the experience.

Beyond the bathing area is a co-ed communal area (clothes are provided for you to wear) with “poultice rooms” made out of different materials that are supposed to have medicinal qualities. In all honestly I found these to be little more that semi-hot saunas. I probably will not waste my time with them in the future. There is one room though that the floor is covered in a 2 inch deep layer of clay marbles which once you are laying on them feel pretty good. The room needed to be about 30 degrees hotter though.

Anyways, So once we had steamed ourselves into oblivion, my roomie and I decided that we needed grub. The first problem we ran into was that we were both so relaxed that even moving as far as to get to my jeep seemed to be an unnecessary burden.  Lucky for us there was a Korean restaurant right next door that seemed promising.

Honey Pig turned out to be a Korean BBQ joint that does table top preparation.  To put in terms that most people will understand think of it like Mongolian BBQ but done at your table instead of on a giant round metal griddle. We got the Bugogi and the Spicy Chicken and Oh.My.Gosh was it good! Per normal Korean BBQ there was a never ending supply of fresh lettuces leaves to rap the BBQ meat in and delicious pickled and spicy sides (their Kimchi was great) to put on top. I am fairly sure they mixed some crack in with the Bugogi seasoning, it was that good.  If the cooking plate hadn’t been scalding hot I’m sure we would have fought over who would get to lick it clean.

Once finished with our meal and resigned to the fate of having to return to the real world we made our way back to my jeep and forlornly drove home.

I will definitely be making a return visit to Spa world, though given the price it’ll probably have to be only a once a moth kinda of deal. And while I can’t complete attribute my change in attitude towards how things are going (Scripture study, faith, prayer, and plain old stubbornness have help me more than anything) I can say that it helped lighten my outlook for long enough for me to see how great the rest of my life is!

So will there be future visits to SpaWold? You better freaking believe it!

So that brings us to this Saturday.

First I spent the day at the Alexandria St. Patrick’s Day parade (not sure why they held it 2 weeks early). It was a lot of fun if cold, and I got a lot of good picture.

I also found this lady selling cupcakes on the sidewalk and figured I needed to try one for the sake of the blog. 

The cake itself was moist if a little on the overly dense side and had a good bitter chocolate flavor. The frosting was the winner though, not overly thick or sweet but with enough body and flavor as not to be over powered by the cake. I wish I had had the presences of mid to get the ladies business card…

Tonight a friend of both my roommate and I’s came into town. In keeping with the “Irish Heritage Month” theme we decided to hit up The Dubliner. This place has been a DC landmark for almost 40 years and puts on one of the best St. Paddy’s Day parties in the area. Back in the late 70’s and 80’s it was also rumored to be the hangout/meeting place for the IRA in the US (Irish Americans made up a major funding source for the IRA up until the mid to late 80’s), thought I’ve only hear that as rumor so it’s probably not true. Needless to say I've been wanting to try it out for a long time and I finally got my chance to go. 

Having been in my fair share of "Irish" pubs in my life time I had pretty low expectations in terms of atmosphere. Most "Irish" pubs here in the states are just college bars that put up a couple of Guinness signs  and possibly show a soccer match every once in a while. The menu tends to be limited to things like "Irish Stew" and "corn beef" both of which taste like they came out of a can. The first thing I noticed when walking into The Dubliner was that instead of blaring cheap pop music they had a live ban, and that ban was playing actually fiddle music. I love the fiddle and have been even known to tool about on one now and again, so finding real fiddle music with a Bodhran backing it up was a nice surprise. 

the next thing I noticed was the food selection. While not overwhelmingly large neither was it limited. It also covered the basics like corn beef and cabbage (a staple of Irish communities in the US until the mid 1900's) and Shepard's Pie, but expanded into uncharted territory with things like baked Brie and Mako Shark steaks. 

We ordered one of the baked Bries as an table appetizer. While portioned well for two it was clearly not enough for three people: 

We destroyed the cheese, bread, and fruit within five minutes, it was that good. Who's ever idea it was to pare the warm melted brie with the sweat tang of oranges and Pineapple is a genius. The almonds unfortunately didn't add to either the texture or flavor of the Cheese so I have to assume they were only meant as a garnish. In the end we all decided that we simply needed more, so we ordered another plate. 

While searching the menu I decided I really wanted to do something different. I skipped over both the stew and the Guinness burger and finally settled on the Beef O'Flaherty. The best way to describe the dish to say it was a kind of casserole with bread on the bottom with a layer of sliced roast beef, blue cheese, and home fries layered on top.

It was good, though a little on the dry side for me. Personally I would have added more of the melted blue cheese to add flavor and moisten the meat. The roast beef part was excellent though. 

My roommate got the Fish and Chips which he enjoyed thoroughly.

 I found myself singing along with the live band as they covered old favorites like "Whiskey in the Jar." This may have been a little embarrassing for my roommate and friend (I'm not a very talented singer) but I was having a grand old time. 

For dessert I went with the Bailey's Cheese Cake. 

 This was hands down one of the best cheesecakes I have ever had. Creamy and fluffy yet packed with flavor. Honestly I could have eaten the whole cake if they had let me. The one downside was that it did still have a slightly alcoholic taste to it, nothing overly offensive but noticeable to someone who doesn't drink like me. Nonetheless I will most definitively be ordering another slice next time I'm back there. 

So after about a month of hard times, Things are really starting to look up! Which means it's time to get back on the foodie trail and make some more restaurant discoveries......