There has been a flurry of news lately regarding the chemical Bisphenol-A, or BPA for short. Nalgene, the producers of reusable water bottles, went under attack last year for using polycarbonate plastics containing BPAs, and have since stopped producing bottles using the toxic chemical.

Sigg, the producer of the trendy aluminum water bottles that took off in popularity after the exposure of Nalgene’s BPA problems, have also recently been uncovered to have had similar issues with their bottles as well.

So what exactly is Bisphenol-A?

In basic terms, it’s a chemical traditionally used in many shatterproof plastics, food cans, and beverage cans. It has been shown to cause numerous health issues in test cases, some of which are highlighted below.

Credit: Enviromental Working Group

Reusable bottles marked with a 3 or a 7 on the bottom have had BPAs used in the production of the bottle, while bottles with a 1, 2, 4, 5, or 6 on them do not.

So how does this relate to food? Well, as I mentioned before, it’s a highly prevalent chemical in food and beverage cans. This table shows detection of BPA in canned consumables such as pasta, soups, and sodas at 100%, 89%, and 42%, respectively. Even if you’re doing your best to eat zone and paleo foods, you’re still likely to have a stock of canned foods at home. Even I do. Canned artichokes. Canned tomatoes. Canned cheesecake.

Well. No canned cheesecake, but if they sold it, I’d totally buy some.

Maybe.

The point being is that, if you have the choice, buy your preserves in glass bottles, paper Tetra-Pak containers, or ideally, fresh. These choices will help reduce the likelihood of cancers forming in your body from BPAs, especially with prostate cancer in men. Start clearing out your stockade of canned foods. Longer lives, more deliciousness intake. Everybody’s happy.

And just so I’m not a total Debbie Downer, I’d like to direct your attention to the following image.

Don’t hate. You know you love it.

Here’s another recipe that doesn’t take too much prep time, but can be extremely rewarding, and extremely versatile. You can substitute in almost any vegetable combination you can think of, and they’ll generally work out great. For this one, leeks and peppers seemed to be the right combination for this recipe.

That, and it’s what I had in my fridge. So nyah.

What makes this a little bit more fun is the inclusion of Sriracha sauce. Legend has it that many centuries ago, a Thai farmer came across a magical talking catfish, who had inadvertently found its way onto the land, but was unable to get back to the pond that it lived in. The farmer, upon hearing the cries for help from the catfish, ran over to see what was causing so much noise near his farm.

The catfish said, “Please sir, help me! I cannot get back to my home in the water! If you help me, I will grant you any wish that you desire!”

The farmer, knowing that catfish are dirty liars and cheat at Monopoly, took the fish home and fried it for dinner in a delicious Sriracha sauce.

Okay, back to semi-seriousness. If you’re going to make a frittata, you need an oven safe pan. My recommendation is to get yourself an 8-inch Lodge cast iron skillet. Be forewarned that a great cast iron skillet is much like a Waffle House, the greasier it is, the better, just without the lingering aroma of truckers coming off an 18 hour meth-fueled drive to deliver crap to Wal-Mart. These skillets are also super cheap, which never hurts, either.

Ingredients:

• 1 organic red bell pepper (also called holland pepper)
• 4 cage free eggs
• 1 leek
• 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/8 to 1/4 tsp tsp Sriracha Sauce
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to bake at 350 degrees Farenheit, with the cast iron skillet in the oven.
2. Cut and discard the bottom 1/4 inch and the top green leafy part of the leeks, then peel off the outer layer of skin, and discard that as well. Rinse well, and cut into 1/4 to 1/2 slices. Set aside.
3. Cut the top and bottom from the red bell pepper, and discard. Remove and discard the seeds and center inside, and then proceed to cut the pepper into 1/2 inch chunks. Set aside.


 

4. Dice the 2 garlic cloves, and set aside.
5. Take four eggs, beat well until bubbles begin to form, and set aside.


 



6. Remove the cast iron skillet from the oven and place it on a burner on the stove, with the heat set to medium high. Add two teaspoons of EVOO, and coat the skillet well.
7. Add chopped garlic and leeks to the skillet, cooking for about two minutes until leeks begin to caramelize.

 

8. Add the chopped peppers, and 1/8 teaspoon of sriracha sauce. The peppers will start to loose their color as they cook, and it’s okay if the leeks come apart in the skillet. Keep stirring the vegetables so they cook evenly for about five minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.


 

9. Push the peppers and leeks towards the center of the skillet a bit, so that you have about 1/2 inch of space between your vegetables and the edge of the skillet. Pour the eggs around the edge of the skillet, and spiral in towards the center. You can press the vegetables down so they don’t tower above the eggs too much. Let the eggs cook for about two minutes, until the edges start to slightly solidify, but you don’t want it all to cook completely through!
10. Using an oven mitt, place the skillet into the oven, and let it cook for 15-18 minutes, until the eggs have set.
11. Remove the skillet from the oven, cut into quarters, and tuck in!

A few notes about this one. Like I said, you can do any number of things to adjust this recipe to how you like. You can swap out vegetables, add cheeses if they’re in your diet, or even sliced almonds for a nice crunch. If you’re going to add cheese, I’d suggest waiting until just after you’ve added the eggs, and then evenly spreading about 1/4 cup through the skillet. Goat cheese and cheddar are two of my personal favorites. I’ve tried this recipe numerous times, and four eggs (or 1 cup of egg beaters) seems to be the minimum number of eggs to get this recipe to work well, although you could probably go up to six eggs in this skillet size. You can also serve this with a side of salsa, mustard, or any other accoutrement that suits your tastes. If you have other combinations that have worked for you, post them to the comments!

Zone Blocks:
Protein: 4 blocks
Carbs: 2 blocks
Fat: 2 blocks

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I know that for some people, it’s really hard to go Paleo, when your body is absolutely screaming for some refined carbs. So it was rather fortuitous that a few weeks ago at a CrossFit competition up in Baltimore, I met Alyssa D. from CrossFit OldTown, who off the top of her head, gave me this absolutely BANGING recipe for Paleo muffins. She in turn, admitted that she got it from Caveman Food, but she still gets the credit for turning me on to these things. Thanks Alyssa!

On a side note, canned pumpkins are seasonal, so if you like these, stock up on the ingredients!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups almond flour
• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin (make sure it’s the kind that doesn’t have any sugar added!)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3 cage-free eggs
• 1/4 cup of honey
• 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 cup chopped cranberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mix in everything everything except the cranberries in a large mixing bowl, and mix until smooth.
3. Add cranberries to the fray!
4. Spoon batter into 6 or 7 coconut-oil greased muffin cups and bake for 20-25 minutes.

There you have it! Super simple, and this should give you enough muffins to last all week (not all day). Make sure you grease the cups or you’ll have a muffin FAIL coming out of the oven. Not that it makes these things any less delicious.

I had taken a great photo of how these turned out, but Bigfoot was hanging out in my living room, and you know how photos with Bigfoot in them turn out. Oh well. Enjoy!

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Guajillo Grill, more commonly referred to as just Guajillo, is a little neighborhood Mexican restaurant tucked away in the same strip mall as the now infamous Ray’s Hell Burger on Wilson Boulevard. Well, famous if you live in the DC Metro area, anyways. In fact, Guajillo is right next door, and if you can resist the urge to follow the legions of people flowing into Ray’s Hell Burger, you might be a little surprised to find out what you’re missing.

Guajillo doesn’t have the big time restaurant feel to it, which is fine with the people who work there as well as the owners. It comes across more as a neighborhood spot to eat, which completely perplexes me as to why everybody there (well, except one new hostess) seemed to know Jen. Eyes lit up when they saw her, and I heard an endless barrage of greetings, welcoming her back. One guy asked Jen to sign a napkin. One guy brought over a baby for Jen to kiss. People everywhere were in hysterics. One person was crying. It might have been me. I kept peeking out the window through blurry eyes to make sure the paparazzi didn’t see us coming into the restaurant. What the hell?

It's a chip and dip.

Little did I know that it’s really one of Jen’s favorite Mexican restaurants, and the food quality shows it. Jen immediately opted for a large cauldron of Sangria, and I opted for the l’eau de dc, only the freshest in local drinking liquids. A basket of freshly made corn tortilla chips suddenly appeared on our table, accompanied by a smoky, medium-hot bowl of house-made salsa and house-made sour cream’n'onion dip. Ridiculously good. So good I nearly licked the dip bowl clean on my own. Various employees came to stop by and chat, catching up with Jen since her last visit several months prior. Her status there is legendary as one of their most beloved patrons, and a photo of her sits near the cash register under the neon light hues at the bar. To say that we got exemplary service would be an understatement, as we were constantly being checked upon or served by at least three people. Whether or not that was because with Jen or if it’s pretty much standard operating procedure might require a visit of your own.

Jen and I both ordered the enchiladas, hers, the cheese filled ones, and mine, the chicken filled ones. Both were great, covered in savory enchilada sauce, topped with fresh queso, and served with sides of Mexican rice and refried beans.

Guajillo's Enchiladas

I clearly did not care for my meal.

The aftermath.

While the chicken enchiladas here are pretty damn good, the cheese enchiladas are even better. After helping Jen take out the rest of her meal, I somehow managed to coerce her into sharing a dessert with me. The sopapillas were enticing, and as I found out, enormous.

Sopapillas

These things are each about the size of a slice from a medium pizza, soaked in cinnamon, honey, and caramel, optionally served with a giant dish of vanilla ice cream. It tastes a good bit like a plate of churros, just with a different shape.

A definite winner. I’d come back again for sure, but like I said, it’s hard to walk past Ray’s Hell Burger like everyone else and get sucked into their burgers. If you’re in the mood for Mexican food, and good Mexican food at that, Guajillo is a place you shouldn’t pass up.

Good for:

• The Three Amigos
• Nobel Peace Prize Winners
• Casual Diners
• Sour Cream and Onion Dip Fantatics
• Things That Go Bump in the Night

Not good for:

• Sigfried
• Roy
• Supernintendo Chalmers
• People Who Hate Knees
• Sabretooth Tigers

View Guajillo on a map here.

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Is your Friday moving a little slow? I’ve found that Mark Sisson’s blog, Mark’s Daily Apple, is a great blog for getting you ramped up on the Paleo Diet. The Primal Blueprint Carbohydrate Curve is a excellent quick read for those of you who want to get a better idea of how excessive intake of carbohydrates, particularly refined carbohydrated, have had a profoundly negative impact on our society. He also speaks to the proper food pyramid, and effective exercise in managing your weight.

Go check it out!

If you are a vegetarian or vegan, DON’T GO! Taking a bite into a dish that was served to us as “mango???….” was the worst experience I have had in a restaurant (even the meal that turned me into a vegetarian wasn’t as bad as this mango anchovy dish). I inspected the inside of the mango??? before dipping my spoon in for a small taste. I really did almost heave at the table. I was pretty embarrassed and was super cautious for the rest of the meal. Also, TWO of the vegetarian dishes come covered in a sunny-side-up egg. I still eat eggs in cupcakes where they are well disguised, but many vegetarians can’t look a little chick fetus in the face and then devour it. Odd, I know. Feel free to judge and call us hypocrites. That’s fine, but veggies be warned. You’re better off at a steakhouse. At least they serve you a beefsteak tomato salad and you know it isn’t going to secretly have anchovies stuffed inside.

On a positive note, I enjoyed the company, the wine, and the ability to walk home rather than deal with the car, parking, etc.

Busboys & Poets has becoming a thriving chain of restaurants in DC, and their success is well deserved. One part bookstore, one part lounge, and one part restaurant, mix well, and you have what’s become a distinct DC name that’s hard to turn down as a favorite place to eat.

The menu tends to stick with simple comfort foods, both carnivores, herbivores, and omnomnivores alike, which of course means it’s a pretty easy pick for Jen and I when we’re looking to get a casual meal on any given night.

We opted to start with the sweet potato fries, which are slightly crispy and sweet, and well paired with a large dollop of sour cream. The wait staff is always super relaxed and friendly, which only enhances the casual dining atmosphere.

Sweet Potato Fries with Sour Cream

The ravioli here is a vegetarian’s treat, with the only complaint from Jen being the inundation of sun dried tomatoes that come with the dish. The porcini mushrooms hardly stood a chance. I tried to take a bite out of one, but Jen bared her teeth and threatened to cut me with her knife.

Asiago Porcini Ravioli

That’s not in anyway a statement to give less credit to their meatloaf. It sounds trashy, but hey, it’s comfort food, and very well made comfort food at that. I’ve the meatloaf on several occasions, and have yet to not be impressed. It’s flavorful and comes in a tart red wine sauce, complete with a bed of creamy mashed potatoes.

Homemade Meatloaf with mashed potatoes, sautéed mushrooms and spinach in a red wine sauce

No meal here, however, can be complete without one of their desserts. We opted for the bread pudding and coconut ice cream. Well, actually, I ordered the bread pudding to trap Jen, because I know she can’t resist.

I’m not evil, I swear.

heh.

They also have a key lime pie on the menu, which is my other weakness, but that’ll have to be saved for next time.

Bread Pudding with Coconut Ice Cream

Here’s another highly recommended place to dine if you’re looking for a place you can roll up into wearing jeans and sneakers without a second glance from the hostess. The menu is affordable, and with two locations in DC and one in Arlington, you’d have to reason not to check it out. The bar scene is also very casual, with open mic nights frequently held at each restaurant.

You can find the locations of each Busboys & Poets on their website here.

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This is by far one of my easiest recipes, and one of the most rewarding. It’s simple, doesn’t require a ton of ingredients, and if you make enough, you’ll have plenty leftover for any unwanted or wanted house guests you may have.

Just sayin’.

So let’s get started.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. of brussel sprouts
• 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, truffle oil, or lemon oil
• 1 lemon
• fresh ground black pepper
• sea salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Farenheit, or whatever that converts to in Celsius. Let’s say, 90,000. 90,000 degrees Celsius. (It’s actually 204.4, just so you don’t set your house on fire)
2. Cut each brussel sprout lengthwise, and place in a large bowl.

 



 

3. When you have cut all of the brussel sprouts, add the 2 tablespoons of EVOO, about 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of ground pepper. Toss the brussel sprouts with your hands until they have a fairly even coat of oil on them. Don’t worry if they’re not completely coated, just get them as even as you can.

 



 

4. Place each halved brussel sprout on a large baking pan face down.

 



 

5. Place the pan of brussel sprouts in the oven, and set the timer for 35-45 minutes. Temperatures may vary depending on altitude, climate, and whether or not you’ll likely be watching a really good show when the timer goes off.
6. While the sprouts are cooking, cut a lemon into quarters, removing any seeds that are visible.

 



 

7. Check the sprouts once the timer has gone off. They should have a slightly browned appearance, but you don’t want them completely charred! Take them out and place them on a surface that can handle hot temperatures, like the stovetop, or a granite countertop.

 



 

8. Juice and drizzle each of the lemon quarters evenly over the brussel sprouts.
9. Tuck in!

Now tell me that wasn’t easy. The lemon juice is crucial here, and gives the brussel sprouts a nice taste. Add more salt and pepper if you need to, but the lemon goes a long way. You can always top your dish with some lemon zest for a little bit extra something, you fancy devil, you. Look at you, cooking all fancy in your ascot.

Zone Blocks:
Protein: 0 blocks
Carbs: ~4 blocks
Fat: 18 blocks

Every 1 1/2 cups of cooked brussel sprouts should give you 1 block of carbs, and somewhere around 4 1/2 blocks of fat.

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Cafe Atlantico holds a Latino Dim Sum brunch every Sunday morning up until 1:30 in the afternoon, and after reading a glowing review, I decided to get a few people together for their tasting menu. The tasting menu consists of 14 dishes for $35, or a 12 dish vegetarian tasting menu for $25, which was great for Jen. The restaurant is painted in bright, cheerful colors with large abstract paintings hanging from the walls. It’s a bit odd to have separate hostesses on both the first and second floors, but I didn’t really question their policies. We were seated quickly, and just barely catching the tail end of the tasting menu offering in the early afternoon.

We were first treated with a canape style dish of cherry tomatoes paired with cantaloupe and heavy hits of parsley, which really weren’t too impressive, and actually had me slightly worried with such a weak starting dish. Not to say that it was bad, but it wasn’t particularly flavorful, and seemed like an odd dish to serve as a palette cleanser.

Tomato and Cantaloupe

Then the flurry of dishes began. We were served with raw oysters with a mango lime oil, mango-anchovy ravioli, and tuna ceviche with coconut. The server was clearly not very confident in his English speaking abilities, and trailed off in his announcement of the mango-anchovy ravioli, so we were all under the impression that it was just a mango cream ravioli.

Including Jen.

She took a bite, and almost threw up on the spot. Think of bringing a glass of water to your mouth and taking a deep gulp, only to find as it burns your esophagus to lava that you’re drinking a glass of straight Kentucky Moonshine. I don’t blame her, and actually felt really bad, because anchovies aren’t exactly a mild flavor. In fact, I actually enjoy anchovies, and even I found these things pretty disgusting.

From top left, clockwise: Oysters, Mango-Anchovy Ravioli, Tuna ceviche

The oysters and tuna ceviche were decent, but didn’t really stand out at all. The flavors were bland and uninspired, and there was nothing particularly intriguing about the textures of any of these three dishes.

Oysters with Mango-Lime Oil

Tuna Ceviche with Coconut

This wasn’t heading in a good direction.

The next dish was a vegetarian dish, plantain chips with shaved slices of pineapple. The plaintain chips weren’t particularly remarkable, but the shaved pineapple was definitely something different and worth crediting to the chefs preparing our food. The dishes were a huge step up from the previous three, but only because the three seafood dishes were so disappointing did it really make the pineapple and plantain chips shine.

The next round of dishes were little shooters of potato and vanilla mousse with caviar (sans caviar for Jen). This turned out to be one of my two favorite dishes of the meal, with a great smooth texture and taste. The other shooter glasses were filled with a hot and cold foie gras with corn soup, but these had no substantial taste to them, and seemed to be little more than cups of slightly flavored foam. If there was supposed to be a sublime enjoyment of this as a Picasso of edible delicacies, it was completely missed by me.

Potoato Vanilla Mousse and Hot/Cold Foie Gras Corn Soup

The other dish that turned out to be a solid dish were the conch fritters with a liquid center. Deep fried and slightly crispy on the outside, with a molten hot center, these were fantastic.

Conch Fritters with a Liquid Center

Jen was treated with a jicama-avocado ravioli, which turned out pretty well, but again, seemed odd with the soft ravioli skin on the outside and a creamy avocado inside, with little crunch or texture to offset the flavors. She enjoyed them, but I felt like it was another poorly executed dish, although it did have a very nice aesthetic.

Jicama Avocado Ravioli

The mushroom with egg 63, a sauteed mushroom dish topped with a poached egg, was definitely interesting, but there was almost no way to get all of the poached egg into your mouth with just the mushrooms it was served with. I felt like the dish could have used some sort of bread or absorbent vegetable to help sop up the egg without having it all go to waste. What does the 63 stand for? Probably the number of iterations it took the restaurant to get this dish to even this crappy level of ‘perfection’.

Mushrooms with Egg 63

I feel like at this point, I should really stop going into each and every single dish. Overall, the Latino Dim Sum was a huge disappointment. There are definitely some choice dishes that stand out and salvage the meal from being a complete disaster, but overall, the experience is a giant FAIL. When you are one dish away from the finale, you are allowed to order any of your sampled dishes again, so we had another round of the jicama-avocado raviolis, the mushroom vanilla mousse, and the conch fritters, which helped bring up the enjoyment of the meal a notch. The guacamole isn’t included in the meal, but I put in an order for the table prepped green cream just so we’d have something else that couldn’t be screwed up. In truth, their guacamole is actually very good, and another solid dish that helps balance the army of bad dishes from the tasting menu.

Tableside guacamole

In Paris, they call it L'Avocado Cream de Fattique

The last dish, a dessert, is best described as a crustless french toast with queso cheese and maple syrup. It’s an interesting dish that works, but isn’t richly satisfying as you would expect.

Pan dulce with cinnamon syrup

Jen actually didn’t really care for this dish, but I couldn’t get enough of it. Mostly because I was still drowning out the anchovy flavors from earlier.

While this foray of flavors could be touted as a great value, in the end, I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone as a destination. There are some standouts that don’t make it a complete outrage, but I could be served up with four cold pizzas from the night before, and be exponentially happier. If anything, I think this place really highlights the fact that it does take an adventurous kitchen to create fine foods that are unique and look amazing, but you simply can’t neglect the most fundamental point, that it has to taste good, too.

minibar, a small six seat section of the restaurant, stands as its own entity from Cafe Atlantico, and the two only share the same space, but not the same chefs or menus. I won’t hold Cafe Atlantico’s poor food against minibar, and still hope to one day give it it’s fair day in court.

View a map of Cafe Atlantico here.

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As of today, I’m converting to a new diet to sustain my lifestyle.

I’m going to become the world’s first quadratarian. I’ll only eat foods that come in sets of four. Anything that I can’t eat four of, well, then it shouldn’t be in my diet.

If eating this way is wrong, oh baby, then I don’t want to be right.

Delicious.