hello cupcake (Washington, DC)

I've been to so many places last week but I haven't gotten to blog about any of them (including a DIY oatmeal post) because I've been kind of busy. Anyway, I visited hello cupcake, Dupont Circle location, on June 17.


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Premise:

One day, out of the blue, a participant of the Cornell in Washington program brought in two dozen cupcakes from hello cupcake to share. They were so pretty, so I wanted to visit the store itself. I can never get enough sweets... Yelp gave the store a 3-star average rating. It is right across from the Krispy Kreme and Panera Bread walkway (which I visit... very often)

My Experience:


I walked into the store, and I realized that it was kind of small. I visited Georgetown Cupcake (DC Cupcake) a few weeks ago and their store was bigger and, in my opinion, had better display of the cupcakes.

I ended up buying three cupcakes, at $3 each.

By the way, I just want to say that I hate Blogger. WHY CAN'T I ADD CAPTIONS???! Wordpress has been doing that for years.

Anyway, the cupcakes were packed in cute boxes with a sticker to close off the box.

And inside, the cupcakes are nicely stored by a cardstock separator. The flavors I purchased were "Heart of Darkness," "Prima Donna," and "Peanut Butter Blossom".

*OKAY people I might switch back to Wordpress because it is just plain annoying having to use Blogger's outdated system. I can't even edit my photos??! Wow. Lame.*

The cupcakes do look very cute. Oh all right - all cupcakes are cute! (Above: peanut butter blossom; below: heart of darkness)

Rating:

Price Range: $$

The cupcakes were all for $3. I gave this one two money signs because the store is on the more expensive side of cupcakes (well, compared to how much I would normally spend on dessert).

Environment: 3/5 - average

I didn't find the store to be very "cute". I think it was too sparsely decorated, and the seating (of which I neglected to document) was too open. The tables and seats were in plain view of the cashier's station, so I didn't feel that the setup was cozy enough. Good thing is that the store is in Dupont Circle, which is easily accessible.

Food: 3/5 - average

I don't know if it was because I went to the store in the evening (8pm), but the cupcakes I had from there were always too dry. The sides of the "muffintop" were definitely too dry and hard for my taste.
The icing was pretty good - fluffy and nice, not grainy and overly sweet. I appreciated that hello cupcake understood the aesthetics of food, because the packaging and decorations were done correctly.
I liked the cupcakes, but they weren't all that special.

Overall: 3/5 - average

Why average? Well, for one, the cupcakes weren't amazing. I had cupcakes at Georgetown Cupcake (DC Cupcake) that were better than the ones here, and the ones at Georgetown Cupcakes were cheaper ($2.75), too!
To get the most bang out of your buck, go to Georgetown Cupcake where the atmosphere, display, price, and taste of the cupcakes were much better than hello cupcake. I guess DC Cupcake had its own show for a reason.
I would visit hello cupcake if I have an intense craving for cupcakes. Otherwise, I would much prefer to get cupcakes from Georgetown.

Tono Sushi (Washington, DC)

First destination of this blog: Tono Sushi of Washington, DC!


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Premise:

Ever since arriving in Washington, DC for my Summer in Washington program conducted by Cornell, I've been looking everywhere for places to eat. Since I live in a two-person studio apartment, I have to 1) cook, 2) starve, 3) eat out, or 4) buy delivery. I chose to do (3) today - that is, eat out!

After searching on Yelp for good Japanese places, I stumbled upon Tono Sushi which has a 3.5-star rating on the website. Since it's a short distance away, I chose to go with it and eat there right after work today.

My experience:

After sitting down and looking at the menu for just a few seconds, I can tell you I was disappointed.

Why, you ask? The menu didn't have a single Japanese word on it! Be it hiragana or kanji, the least that a "Japanese" restaurant could offer is some authentic Japanese!

Anyway, after my initial disappointment, I spotted the Salmon Oyakodon, which I have had at this awesome place in New York City (more on that in a future post). I decided to give it a go instead of ordering separate sushi items (Happy Hour apparently had a $1 per piece of sushi deal. I didn't feel like sushi today, though).

This is what the Salmon Oyakodon looked like. I was actually a bit shocked when the waitress was bringing me my food because I had expected it to arrive in a bowl, nicely garnished. I guess I didn't read the menu category heading that said "Sushi-Dinner," which should have provided enough of a hint that it would be raw salmon (the awesome salmon oyakodon I had in NYC had cooked salmon with roe, and it was delicious in a warm bowl of seasoned rice). Sadly, the rice wasn't hot, and it didn't look sparkly white like regular sushi rice. The dish came with wasabi, ginger, rice, sesame and nori pieces over the rice, 10 slices of salmon sashimi, salmon roe sprinkled on either side of the plate, radish shavings for garnish, and lemon and cucumber slices for garnish. The entree came with miso soup and one side dish.

Rating:
Price Range: $$

Entrees were in the $10-$20 range, mostly. Happy Hour sushi deal. They charged me $2 for green tea, which is ridiculous. Most Asian places I have gone to do not charge for tea!

Environment: 3/5 - average

The decor was pretty average. Still had the Americanized feel to the joint. Waiters/tresses weren't authentic Japanese, either. Served miso soup with a spoon (uggh).

Food: 3.5/5 - above average

Nothing spectacular. For the price, it's nothing spectacular. Fish was fresh, presentation was nice, but that is all. No "wow" factor.

Overall: 3/5 - average

I don't think I'll go to Tono Sushi again. The environment and food aren't so captivating that I'd opt to eat in than to order delivery. If I need a quick meal, I might just order it. I've been to five Washington sushi/Japanese joints so far and this one would rank number two, because the Japanese places in Washington are less than average. The only place worth recommending is Sushi Taro, which had a very reasonably priced yet delicious lunch.