The Washington Post Magazine - USA (2021-11-28)

1. Seeing double


2. New color


3. New message


4. Reversed colors


5. 3-D glasses


6. Stained glass


7. New trim


8. No shadowing


9. Looking aside


10. Open eye


11. Blue petal


12. New route

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SOLUTION TO PUZZLE

“PLAYING WITH YOUR FOOD,” NOV. 21

KEY TO THE PREVIOUS SECOND GLANCE

NOV. 21

service as well as connections to Planet

Word. Hence the expanded name,

Immigrant Food Plus.

The lunch drill involves ordering at a

counter in the rear and waiting a few

minutes for something superior to

Subway, Potbelly or similar mass

feeders. Make that the Old Saigon, a

crusty banh mi crammed with

succulent adobo chicken and an Asian

slaw, and Mumbai Mariachi, a bowl of

soft marinated steak on a garden of

spinach, charred corn, carrot threads,

roasted potatoes and more made sweet

and smoky with a dressing of mango

and chipotle. Yes, there’s a lot going on,

but also lots of flavor. In a nod to

Kamala Harris, Madam VP’s Heritage

bowl brings together curried chicken,

turmeric-tinted rice, sweet plantains

and juicy pineapple: a l ittle Indian, a

little Jamaican, altogether lively and

lovely.

The ch oice place to enjoy takeout on

a nice day is across the street, where you

can see how $21 million transformed

Franklin Park. Customers are also

welcome to a stool at the bar, its

laminated counter set with book jackets

and letters from famous immigrants, or

beyond a s heer curtain, in the cozy front

dining room whose rafters are green

with plants. Either landing spot is a nice

break from the office (unless, of course,

you’re still working from home in your

sweats).

Night is when I a ppreciate

Immigrant Food Plus most, though.

The sense of fast-casual is erased by soft

lighting, hosts showing you to your

table and entrees that pair novelty with

sophistication. Chicken Milanesa might

have Italians scratching their heads, but

also eating to the finish. The golden

crust relies on ground cassava versus

breadcrumbs for its crunch; a topping

of fontina cheese and tomato sauce slips

berbere, the warm Ethiopi an spice

blend, into the meld. (Oh, yeah, the

plate also comes with buttery mashed

potatoes and a w ell of chicken gravy,

both fab.) Thai steak is true to its words,

sliced beef cooked the color you ask,

dappled with crushed nuts and a bacon-

laced chimichurri and served opposite a

semicircle of fragrant rice topped with

microgreens. A lighter plate is

swordfish carpaccio, slicked with a

caper dressing and chive oil, and all but

hidden beneath a cover of cherry

tomatoes, diced cucumbers and flat

croutons.

Drinks are priced like the upscale restaurant the venue

becomes at night. They’re also easy to enjoy. My poison of choice

among the classics is the $15, pleasantly bitter Toronto, suited for

the season with bourbon and Fernet Branca. Coasters double as

teach ing moments. Turn them over to find three icebreakers. One

reads: “Name the one who is not an immigrant” followed by a list

of the CEOs behind Tesla, Microsoft, Google, Uber and Apple.

(Correct answer: Tim Cook of Ap ple.)

Your server is likely to pitch the “dim sum experience” for $20 a

person. Take the plunge or miss the biggest thrill on the menu: a

series of “world bites” presented in a three-tiered bamboo steamer.

Revealed first are crisp “Latin” wontons with centers of plantains,

carrots and other vegetables that blossom with a dip in their fiery

chile sauce, and one-bite tacos featuring shiso leaves wrapped

around tuna tartare, fruity and refreshing with minced pickled

pineapple. Cute: The tiny tacos are held together with miniature

clothespins. The second basket — m eaty, minty kibbe and ground

chicken bound in spiky shredded phyllo — leaves me wishing for

more than a morsel per person. The bottom tier extends the fun

with pillowy steamed buns stuffed with shredded pork, st inging

onions and kicky mayonnaise.

As they do with everything they create, Limardo and chef de

cuisine Mileyda “Mile” Montezuma, 30, sketched out on pap er

their ideas for the show. Their plans for the worldly dim sum

involved the most “spiderweb of flavors,” says the chef de cuisine

responsible for all three outlets. (And to think the snacks were

initially meant for customers at the bar.)

Maybe you want less drama. Check out the trio of Middl e

Eastern dips — hot-with-harissa hummus, crunchy-with-walnuts

muha mmara, green-with-herbs shanleesh — accompanied by hot

striped pita. The spread is enough finger food for two or three.

Opened in October, Immigrant Food Plus is still finessing a

few recipes. Alphabet soup, a shout-out to Planet Word, has

“coming soon” attached to its description. Montezuma says she

and her boss are still trying to find a suitable pasta for the letters.

The sweetest link to the museum — the Globe, inspired by one of

its interactive exhibits — is a reality. Diners crack a chocolate shell

to access the coffee-flavored chocolate mousse inside.

Not until my last dinner did I experience the restaurant’s

second dining room, to the side of the bar. The additional space is

quieter than up front, thanks to a ceiling draped with rugs, and it

comes with a link to the 19th-century building’s past: a big black

furnace door that a host might open to reveal ... a w all of white

bricks these days. The restaurant’s mission to get diners to think

about the larger world practically follows them out the door.

Checks are dropped off in what looks like a passport.

Washington’s museum restaurants tend to be afterthoughts,

designed more for refueling than re flecting. Until recently, the

most notable exception was Sweet Home Cafe, the expansive food

court in the National Museum of African American History and

Culture. Immigrant Food Plus goes a step further, staying open

after Planet Word closes for the day.

In every way, the restaurant is a plus.

Chef Enrique Limardo and chef de cuisine

Mileyda “Mile” Montezuma.

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