Dining in and around D.C.

• Take-home, various ingredients at Fresh Fields grocery store (Leesburg Pike, Falls Church).
• Almost anything at Taste of Saigon, 8201 Greensboro Drive, across from Tyson's Galleria (Tyson's II mall). In the mood for chicken coconut curry or venison stew? Best value for money: lemon charred chicken with vermicelli noodles, m'mm! For dessert, try the taro root pudding. Also in Rockville, MD (Rockville Pike)
• Busara, a new Thai place just behind the Silver Diner and J.R.'s stockyard, opposite Tyson's Corner Mall. Wimpy me liked their tofu pad thai, while my friends enjoyed the burning curries. The decor is somewhere between art deco and Asian lacquer. 8142 Watson St, McLean, VA. Also Bethesda?, MD (Wisconsin Ave)
• Salmon tandoori at Haandi's (Leesburg Pike, Falls Church).
• Oyster po' boy, or different-but-good bouillabase, or most selections at Legal Seafood (Tyson's Galleria).
• Dim Sum, especially the crab balls, at Fortune (11-3, seven days a week, Leesburg Pike near Bailey's Crossing).
• The lunch buffet (kim chee, miso, mysterious items great; sushi good but not exotic) or the sizzling cast-iron pot sticky rice thing at the Korean Songbird (off 123, just south of Rte. 7/Leesburg Pike. Sort of behind the gas station and Taco Bell).
• Shredded pork pupusas & spicy cabbage at El Zunzal (Salvadoran, next to Hole in the Wall books & Boston Market, Leesburg Pike, Falls Church).
• Japanese and Thai offerings, ranging from miso soup and Tom Ka Ghai (chicken, coconut, lemon-grass soup) to sushi/box lunches and red curry/ green curry dishes, along with more exotic things which are too hot for me (so I don't remember what they're called) at Asian Flavor. They have a great black sticky rice dessert (not as sweet as most American desserts) which comes with mango in season and some sort of green custard with cream (?) now through spring. Fairfax, near Vienna Tap and Grill (but on the east side of 123, in a little strip of stores, opposite a Mattress Discounters/Warehouse pair), definitely south of the Giant/CVS/ Outback Steakhouse. Very reasonably priced, except perhaps the sushi.
• Wild field salad and other tasty fare matched by a pleasant atmosphere (the fire, the stone walls, the sunlight, the staff) at La Madeleine (Leesburg Pike, next to Bailey's Borders). Also Tyson's Corner, VA and Rockville, MD.
• Last but not least, the glories of pho at Pho 75 (50 & Graham). Also in Rockville, MD.