Junk Food Nation, quick thought: ever watch movies where our hero or heroine is running from / in pursuit of the bad guys? And then they swipe some keys and go running into a parking lot or garage, clicking away on the key remote so that the car will beep so they can locate the auto, hop in, and go speeding away from / towards danger? Well, my random question is: are they hitting UNLOCK or LOCK?

My own car only beeps when you lock it, yet a friend’s car only beeps when you UN-lock it.  Does anyone else see the problem here? You never see a movie scene where two people are running through a parking lot trying to find a car; one guy who is clicking away furiously yells in frustration, “Nothing’s beeping, NOTHING’S BEEPING!  WHERE IS THIS CAR?” and the other yells, “Push ‘Lock,’ PUSH ‘LOCK!'” But in reality, it seems this would happen more  often than not, no? Am I right? ……Am I the only crazy person who thinks of these things? Yes? No? Bueller?

Sigh.  Anyways, today I thought I’d review my experience at ShopHouse, a fast casual restaurant created by (drumroll) Steve Ells, founder of Chipotle!  Essentially, this is the Asian Chipotle, with food inspired by Thai, Malaysian and Vietnamese cuisines.  Nom.

Now, I’m not going to review this place – it’s been out since mid-September, and there have been LOTS of reviews on ShopHouse, including my favorite one by Serious Eats (Click to read, and the slideshow plus comments are detailed…great review!) Read the review if you want a good breakdown.  No, I just wanted to give you my OWN personal experience (via photolog) with ShopHouse. These pictures have been a long time coming, since I went there the weekend after it opened…so my apologies for the delay.

This for all of you out there, East to West coast, who love Chipotle and are curious about their next big chain venture.  Just happened to initiate here in DC!  Enjoy the photos and comments, and at the end, I’ll give you my take on the whole place!

So there you have it, my photo experience with ShopHouse, Chipotle’s attempt at fast-casual Asian cuisine.  What did I think?

Service: Line moved really quickly, and the people working were super friendly.  Payment was easy.

Seating: Despite the small space, seats became available very quickly.

Condiments: Sriracha. Nuff said. A++

Spice Factor: The food was pretty spicy, like make my forehead sweat-spicy.  Which *I* liked, but not sure everyone would go for.  Just be aware – if you’re eating at ShopHouse, you better have a prepared palette.

Flavor: Curry flavors for both the green and red were both really good.  Silky and coating, I wish there was MORE of in the bowl – I’d like my carbs drowned in it, please.

Rice vs. Noodles vs. Sandwich: This is my only point of criticism / insider tip for all of you.  I am used to Asian food being very hot, temperature-wise.  And I love noodles.  The problem, however is in creating a fast-casual concept, they needed to figure out a way to plate these base carbs quickly.  Rice is easy – it can stay in the rice cooker until service, keeping it hot.  Banh mi rolls are easy too – it’s just bread. Noodles, however, are a tough cookie – you can’t be boiling them all day to order, that’d take too long.  But you can’t let them just sit there in hot water, or else they’ll get waterlogged and soggy. So, in order to keep the noodles at the right firmness, you have to remove them from water once cooked and “shock” them in cold water to stop them from cooking – which is (presumably) what they did here at ShopHouse.  Then what do you do? Market them as chilled rice noodles.

So what’s the problem? The problem is once you dump hot curry over chilled noodles, the whole dish ends up lukewarm – not my ideal temperature for eating Asian dishes.  So while the flavor of my noodle bowl was on point, I can’t help but think it would’ve been AMAZING if served steaming hot.  My dining companion’s rice bowl, in contrast, was piping hot and awesome.

SO, flavor-wise, ShopHouse is a winner.  Just get the rice or banh mi when you go.  I’ll be going back soon enough.

Thoughts? Hit me in the comments below or hit me on Twitter @junkfoodguy or on my Facebook Page. (Am I REALLY the only one who thinks about that movie car key thing? Really?)

Sincerely, Junk Food Guy