Restaurant Review: Oohh's and Aahh's

Oohh's and Aahh's Soul Food Restaurant was recommended by a friend, and I'm so glad it was, because it isn't a place I would have stumbled across on my own (it's in a tiny little row house near the U Street metro). People were incredibly friendly--the cooks chatted with you while they cooked. A man outside asked me first for a cigarette and then for a kiss (actually, I'm not sure that that counts as friendly). While I waited for everyone else in my party to arrive (one of my friends' nap ran over), I sat beside a kind customer who told me all about his time writing term papers for students. I had just read this article and so it was a topic that was very much on my mind. This man said in order to write a believable paper, he would get a writing sample from the student and then copy the errors that that student would have made! He then offered me a job, but I was confused--I thought he was asking me to write term papers, but in retrospect I think he was asking me to work for the company that he's now president of. I responded as if he'd asked me to write the term papers. Oops.

The blackened catfish was remarkably good--we decided it was cooked with something like Cajun spices (we ordered and shared the catfish, a crab cake and some lemon pepper chicken wings). The meals come with a variety of sides--the macaroni and cheese was really good, and of course, I'm crazy about cabbage. This cabbage was, I think, boiled or steamed or something. I need that recipe. The cornbread was delicious! The portions are enormous, and if you share your food properly, it's quite cheap. The food is served in a styrofoam box, wrapped in aluminum foil, with a plastic fork. The clientele was a funny mix of regulars who you knew lived nearby and ate there often, and people who'd read about the place in a magazine and showed up (I fit more neatly in this latter category--the first question I was asked when I walked in was whether I worked on The Hill or for a non-profit).

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