Recently, the Capitals Stadium was renamed from the Verizon Center to the Capital One Arena. The new name wasn’t the only change; new restaurants also opened inside. To continue the theme of changes related to the Capitals, I decided to do a food review of two new restaurants. Since there were too many new restaurants to choose from, I ignored the fact that Thanksgiving was the next day, and I decided to have two dinners!
1. FUKU
The first restaurant that I visited was FUKU. FUKU is a fried chicken restaurant that combines Asian and American cuisine. FUKU is a branch of Momofuku, which is a Noodle Bar. Since the restaurant started with a spicy chicken sandwich, I chose to eat that. FUKU also has chicken tenders and french fries. The spicy chicken sandwich was essentially a big piece of chicken placed in between a bun with two pickles. I think that the simplicity makes the sandwich very good. The chicken had a crunchy, buttery exterior, and the spicy rub complemented the sweet bun and sour pickles. I also had the opportunity to sample the fries. Don’t be deceived by their basic appearance. Although they look like a typical McDonalds fry, they are seasoned with a heavenly mixture of sweet and spicy seasoning. If you're looking for the new Popeyes sandwich without the line, this is the place. The restaurant is located in section 117.
2. Street Tacos 202
For dinner number two, I visited Street Tacos 202. This restaurant is available on multiple floors, so it’s not as special but it is still new this season. What makes Street Tacos 202 so unique is the Taco Bowl. This contains Korean beef, wasabi cream, clear/glass noodles, beans and a variety of other toppings in a bowl-shaped taco shell.
However, I didn’t think it was worth $16 to eat something I wasn’t very interested in, so I chose the soft-shell chicken tacos. I topped them with cheese, corn, salsa, and sour cream. Although they tasted fine, I wasn’t very impressed by the basic flavors. The cheese was obviously basic packaged cheese. It was also very hard to eat an overstuffed taco with a soggy tortilla when you’re surrounded by angry hockey fans. For me, the one highlight was the Tostitos chips that came in the fun tray pictured below.