Falafel, Frites, and Fro-Yo Friday!!!

After much begging, whining, and general annoyingness, I convinced my friends that they needed to take me to get falafel this weekend.   Well, actually, I just asked.  They were (un)surprisingly ok with making a trip out to Amsterdam Falafel.

My roommates and I are kinda weird.  Our plans almost always revolve around food.  We try to go somewhere new most weekends and if a place gets a second visit, then you can bet that it’s pretty darn good.  So, when I say that we have a falafel tradition, you should know how serious that is. 

We call it Falafel, Frites, and Fro-yo Friday.  It’s magical.  And this weekend, I needed some falafel.  I could feel it calling out to me, asking why I don’t visit it more often...falafel’s kinda a needy meal.  Our falafel place is called Amsterdam Falafel, and it is the bomb diggity.  I say that with all of the seriousness and gravitas that I can muster.

It’s a tiny place in the middle of Adams Morgan.  They serve falafel, and frites, and brownies that’s it.  Don’t go in there thinking that you can cheat on falafel with some other sandwich, because they will slap you down.  Falafel is no joking matter.  This couple basically decided that they wanted a falafel and frites shop that could replicate the taste of the falafels and frites that they had enjoyed travelling around Europe and the Middle East.  So, they opened Amsterdam Falafel.

This place is cool for so many reasons.  The first is that I actually knew about it before any of my friends did because my dad and I had found it when were in D.C. for college tours, so it makes me feel like a local.  No big deal, I know this awesome hole in the wall falafel shop, etc.  The other reason it’s awesome is because you can get food there that looks like this. 

                                                                      *Falafel pita with baba ganoush, beets, red cabbage and tomatoes

That’s ma sanditch.  It was a beautiful sandwich, and it fought valiantly, but ultimately, it made the ultimate sacrifice and died a horrible death at the hands of a hungry vegetarian.  For those of you who aren’t familiar, falafel is a Middle Eastern dish that consists of ground chickpeas, made into a ball, fried, and stuffed into a pita.  At Amsterdam Falafel, you are given this sandwich and then told to go hogwild with the most amazing condiment bar in the world.  I always put baba ganoush and a bunch of veggies on mine.  I then inhale consume, in a completely normal and non-rushed manner, my falafel.  Amsterdam has one more thing that makes it completely awesome…

Frites.  Dutch-style French fries.  They’re amazing.  Not healthy, not healthy at all, but amazing.  They’re double fried and shoved into a paper cone for your eating enjoyment.  The seasoning that you see on those fries is Old Bay.  One of my roommates is from Maryland and they put that stuff on everything.  I think it’s mostly paprika, but it’s good so I don’t really care.  If you’re hardcore, which you know I am, you dip these fried sticks of wonderful into Dutch mayonnaise based frites sauce.  Heavenly.  

Of course, after all of this you might think that any normal individual wouldn't need to eat again for an entire year.  But the falafel is only one part of Falafel, Frites, and Fro-Yo Friday.  After we are done in Adams Morgan, the roomies and I usually walk to Dupont Circle (exercise, right?) and grab some Mr. Yogato.

                                                                      *Original tangy with blueberry and blackberry

Now, we're done.  And I don't need to ever eat again, at least until next time...