kg, on a roll

At top, Chinese sesame dumplings filled with cabbage. Below, souffle with smoked Gouda.

Planting cilantro at Monticello

Thomas Jefferson may have favored the French, adding a dome, 13 skylights and a wine dumbwaiter to his  Monticello mansion. But on my visit to Charlottesville, Va., last weekend, I came away most impressed by the Ukrainians, after running into a couple of Ukrainian scientists at a lakeside BBQ and inspecting the ridiculous bounty of mushrooms they had gathered in the nearby woods. And I'll say this, if Jefferson had ever visited the Taste of China (where the kitchen, until recently, was manned by the "mysteriously peripatetic" Peter Chang, profiled in March by Calvin Trillin, who chronicled Chang's career serving up inspiring Chinese eats in uninspiring strip malls in Virginia, Tennessee and Atlanta), he might well have trained his personal chef to cook Szechuan crispy eggplant and cilantro rolls instead of French delicacies. (From the The New Yorker piece, it sounds like Chang's restaurant draws crowds as large as those that used to gather in Jefferson's lobby, decorated with keepsakes from the Lewis and Clark expedition and, unexpectedly, looking a bit like a room in Neruda's house in Valparaíso.)

Other Charlottesville tips: An obligatory stop at Foods of All Nations (check out the Eastern European dips), and an optional visit to the Blue Moon Diner, known for its artisanal bacon.

Soft opening for a soft taco

I'd call it a "dry run," but it was drenched in Sriracha. TaKorean, DC's newest food truck, started selling its Korean fusion tacos ("Korean BBQ with a twist of Mexican style") in Adam's Morgan last night, around 18th St. NW and Columbia, and when I spotted them again tonight, I happily handed over $2.50 for a sample. (I don't know if I should be flattered that they chose my neighborhood for their "soft opening"; it makes me feel both special and small-time.) The Bulgogi steak taco (marbled cuts of beef marinated in a sweet and spicy soy-based sauce) was fresh and delicious, garnished with lively cilantro and sliced radishes.

It might be a good idea that these decidedly not Latino or Korean chefs are still hiding from food bloggers. The "kimchi" that comes standard on their beef, chicken and tofu tacos (all 1 for $2.50, 3 for $7) is distressingly unfermented, and any marinade that may have met the beef is completely subsumed by Sriracha. The entire concept, meanwhile, is unapologetically ripped off from-that-coast-that-brought-you-alfalfa-and-avocado-and-sushi-and-Snoop Dog, and has been long ago hyped on the Food Network and in The New York Times.

Still, the tacos are pretty great, and since the owner seems like a good, charitable guy, it will be bittersweet when this truck is ready for prime time, finding glory downtown and leaving us country, uptown folk behind.